A/n: Thank you to The Lady Mage for not only giving me this idea but helping me so much with it through beta reading and lots of fun conversations. Check out her brilliant story, 'Falleretque Perfectus'. :)
"At what level should I set the difficulty?" Seven asked as she dialled commands into Holodeck 2's central command console to reset the standard Velocity court to accommodate three players.
"Some would say having three players is difficult enough." The Captain remarked gaily as she completed the obligatory set of stretches to warm up her muscles.
Seven realised the Captain knew the game well enough, she had introduced her to it after all, that she was well aware that Velocity's rules allowed for up to ten players in one game if desired, so she merely arched an eyebrow and responded, "I doubt that opinion could be attributed to any of the three of us."
"You've got that right." B'Elanna said with a smiling snort. Tom would've probably put a bet on there being no one on Voyager as competitive as the three of them. "If it's too much for you Seven, I'm sure Chakotay would play hover ball with you when he gets off Bridge duty, that's much more his speed."
"He plays Velocity…" Seven had automatically raised a defence of her boyfriend's (she still questioned the appropriateness of this term, given that Chakotay was very much a man) capabilities but her in-built, sometimes problematic, sense of honesty thwarted her and she closed her mouth again. B'Elanna and the Captain both laughed, with Janeway putting a conciliatory hand on Seven's arm.
"He does play Velocity." She agreed with a smile, "Just not well." She couldn't stop her eyes from rolling slightly at the memory of their one attempt at a game and B'Elanna snickered. "But no one can be good at every sport."
"No." Seven conceded readily enough, though the set of her shoulders said clearly enough she would prefer to believe herself an honourable exception as she turned to B'Elanna, "We are playing hover ball regularly, the next time he competes against you, he will win."
B'Elanna blew out a breath of air as she rocked back on her heels complacently. "Can't wait." She replied drily, even as her lips curved up again. "At least Chakotay isn't a couch potato, Tom always wants to watch movies when I could be whipping him into shape to thrash the two of you at hover ball."
"Has Miral imbibed Tom's love of the 'flicks' yet?" The Captain asked as she handed out the little Velocity pistols that had materialised next to her.
B'Elanna shrugged, though her eyes lit up unmistakably at the mention of her daughter. "What one year old doesn't love moving, flashing, colourful pictures in front of her? That's what I keep telling Tom. Knowing him he's probably got her sitting at the TV right now." She shook her head fondly, "At least cartoons were made for kids, Tom doesn't have that excuse…"
"He may also have her on his lap at the conn., learning to pilot the ship already." Seven suggested knowingly.
"She'll be an Engineer if I have anything to do with it!" B'Elanna protested, though she was beaming.
"I'm still holding out for Captain one day…" Janeway told her, "But I could do with another Engineer or pilot, it's a shame we have to wait for her to grow up a little more."
"You'd be surprised how quickly she is growing Captain, clothes we replicated last week are going into recycling already!" B'Elanna half groused, half chuckled happily as she checked the pistol Janeway had given her with that Engineer's critical eye, whether it was holographic or not. "All set here."
"What is our consensus on difficulty level?" Seven questioned again, poised sat the console. Both she and the Captain looked at B'Elanna. She'd bounced back quickly from childbirth, had been working as regularly, if not as intensively as before, since Miral had hit three months, but they were reasonable enough to realise that B'Elanna was still building up her activity levels again, just as was sensible and right.
B'Elanna caught both their looks, but they didn't make her bristle as they would've down even when she'd been heavily pregnant and so obviously much more encumbered. "I'll admit having a one year old is exhausting, but it also leads to a build-up in nervous energy. It'll help me to run around here at breakneck speeds shooting little silver disks, and thoroughly beating the two of you!"
"We will first try the most difficult level then." Seven answered, waiting for their certain nods before she set that difficulty and activated the game in the same command. She dived away from the console as it disappeared, pistol in hand, and had hit the first two targets of the game before her opponents could react.
"Hey, foul!" B'Elanna shouted breathlessly as she practically bent over backwards to hit the third target as it appeared, grinning as that ever satisfying bleep of a point scored hit her ears. "It's supposed to give us a countdown! You…"
"You wanted a challenge!" Seven answered. She landed with a grunt on her knees as she misjudged her aim at the next disk. Unacceptable.
"You did ask for difficult B'Elanna!" Kathryn concurred as she propelled herself off a wall for greater speed.
In the closing minutes of the first round, Seven and B'Elanna were tied at eight, with the Captain one point behind. However, Kathryn Janeway was nothing if not a fighter. She spun balletically, her aim absolute, and with a grunt of effort, hit a spectacular corner shot just before the target disappeared.
"Opening round complete." The Computer announced, "Torres, eight. Seven of Nine, eight. Janeway, eight. Three way tie."
"Good comeback!" B'Elanna whistled, admittedly impressed. "Whoa, whose face had you pinned to that target?!"
"Do we want to know?" Seven muttered doubtfully, thinking of all the little and not so little irritants that came to light about their crewmates during her monthly efficiency reports. It wasn't as if she always escaped the Captain's ire.
Panting hard, Kathryn shot her a look. "Have you got a particularly annoying indiscretion to confess?" she queried with a bark of a laugh as Seven looked at her like a deer caught in headlights. "Actually, I was hitting the puffy old face of that blowhard Trigerian Trade Ambassador!"
B'Elanna and Seven both winced as they thought of the protracted negotiations they'd just completed. "At least you were ultimately successful Captain." Seven reminded her.
"Thank God for that, or else I'd be burning a hole in the wall with this phaser!"
Seven blinked, "The safety protocols are on…" She stopped herself with a shake of the head as she realised she was being too literal again.
"How about we just start the next round, then we'll really break out a sweat?" B'Elanna suggested.
Kathryn crouched in readiness as she discarded her water bottle. "I may not have Borg enhancements or Klingon DNA, but I think I can do that."
Seven sighed at their posturing. "Fine." She agreed, allowing herself a smile as she issued the order. "Computer, start next round."
The opening volley of targets spun out above their heads. All three girls chose the same target simultaneously and fired, but their scores remained matched as all their shots missed, hitting almost exactly the same point.
"Whose point would that have been if we'd actually all hit it?" B'Elanna asked with a wry chuckle as they all watched the devious target twist and fly away to the other side of the court.
"It depends…" Seven expertly hit a newly appeared target square on, and B'Elanna instantly suspected the ex-drone's optical implant let her see the photons themselves forming. It must not be that great an advantage though, since the Captain beat her often enough. She could do the same. "…on which shot struck closest to the centre of the target."
"Well, that was mine." Kathryn cut in with a laugh, "It's a Captain's perogat…" She was cut off by a rumbling groan of noise as the holodeck heaved a violent shudder around them. Both she and B'Elanna stumbled forward, almost falling. The court was plunged into darkness for a split second, the warning hiss of short-circuiting wiring punctuating the darkness before the emergency lighting kicked in. B'Elanna's wide eyed face next to her was suddenly contoured by shadow. "What the hell was that?"
B'Elanna shrugged, trying to look unconcerned. "Probably a gel pack. We've had a couple of failures in the past few weeks, and the holodeck demands a lot of power…"
The older woman sighed heavily, "Sometimes I wonder if those gel packs are really the innovation Starfleet thought they were eight years ago." How dependent her ship was on the difficult to replicate packs had caused her several sleepless nights over their journey.
"Don't knock them too hard." B'Elanna responded, a wave of affection and protectiveness for Voyager rushing through her. Feelings she knew the Captain shared. "That bio neural circuitry has helped us along more often than I can count, finnicky or not."
Kathryn smiled ruefully in agreement. "Let's get out there and see what our old girl wants this time then… Computer, end programme." The court remained as it was, unchanged. "Computer, unlock and open holodeck doors." No matter how expectantly she stared at the wall, no door helpfully appeared.
"Voice commands are non-operational Captain." Seven remarked.
"I can see that." Kathryn assured her. "I presume the control console's not going to reappear either?"
"Doubtful." Seven made her way to the right hand wall, where the door should have shown itself, making a beeline for one particular panel with B'Elanna on her heels.
The Engineer was on her knees, squinting at the internal controls, before Seven had even fully removed the outside panel. "At least I'm not hampered by a holographic baby bump this time." She muttered as her fingers began to test different commands.
Kathryn grimaced behind her at the recollection. "And there's no Hirogen on the warpath."
"And no resistance leaders thinking you're sending messages to Nazi troops." Seven added, glancing at her pointedly.
"I was never going to shoot you Seven!" Kathryn asserted hotly, then sighed to herself at Seven's arched brow. "Alright, I'll admit the Doctor blocked the Hirogens' programming at the right moment…"
"BaQa!" B'Elanna suddenly cursed, earlier…mishaps on the holodecks forgotten. "We're not getting out of here any time soon." Seven was immediately at her back, her eyes joining B'Elanna's in scanning the circuitry.
"Then I'm calling in the cavalry." The Captain decided crisply, tapping her comm. badge. "Janeway to Bridge." She was greeted by a deafening silence. "Damn it. Comms blocked?"
"Of course." B'Elanna muttered darkly, "The curse of the holodecks continues."
"Curses are irrelevant." Seven ground out as she leaned into the controls as far as she could, "I may be able to get access to communications…" The console began to whine in complaint at her ministrations.
Abruptly it spat out a garbled syllable. "Br…" It tried again. "Br…to…" Static swallowed whatever else the hail may have been.
"Chakotay!" Seven exhaled in relief, perking up at once.
"How could you recognise that?" B'Elanna questioned, her voice incredulous. Chakotay's voice was distinctive, she'd known it the longest, but that mess could've been Tuvok, Harry or even an alien hailing them from another vessel for all she could tell.
"He's in command of the Bridge." Seven huffed, though the blush that dusted her cheeks revealed her wishful thinking.
"Whoever is up there will just have to beam us out." Kathryn said wearily, "Although, I suspect if there wasn't a problem they'd have done that already…"
"I will try to access the transporters from here." Seven cut her off, hands flying.
"Seven!" B'Elanna yanked her away just as the controls exploded in a shower of white hot sparks.
As a singed smell filled her nostrils, Kathryn's temper flared in response to the fright. "Just how many safety protocols did you try to override?" She demanded, glaring at Seven, her hands on her hips.
"All of them." Seven replied shortly as she sat up, "It was necessary to…"
"I would've tried the same thing Captain." B'Elanna intervened, cutting off Janeway's retort as she cautiously approached the control panel, brooding in smoke. "I think it's the underlying problem that caused the blow-up, not Seven…" On a hunch, she picked up her discarded Velocity phaser and fired it into the far corner. A tiny scorched hole instantly opened up in the floor. "The safeties have cut out." She uttered a growl of frustration as she thoughtlessly threw the phaser to the floor, Seven and Kathryn both flinching back in case of misfire. "That means the whole system has probably…"
The Velocity court suddenly dissolved around them, reforming as a familiar rustic room. "…gone haywire." B'Elanna finished belatedly, blinking as she struggled to place the new interior.
"Caterina!" The joyfully crooning voice made her cringe. Da Vinci. The escapee hologram.
The Captain turned to her holographic mentor with a strained smile. "Maestro…" He had her enveloped in a hug before she could move away, voluminous robes billowing around her.
Leonardo slowly pulled back, eyeing her astutely as a hurt pout played on his lips. "You haven't visited in so long Caterina, but I've kept your 'little corner' just as you left it…" He motioned towards the table by the window, overlooking the city of Florence. It was marginally tidier than the rest of his workshop. New models were everywhere. Seven remembered now that the Da Vinci programme progressed his art and inventions a little further every time it was activated. The flying machine that had morphed into a raven in her dreams still hung in pride of place however, always hopeful. Given the hologram's entirely programmed reaction to them, his 'away mission' from Voyager in that very machine wasn't currently in his memory banks.
"Forgive me, Maestro…" Kathryn began in a placating purr as she extricated herself from his gregarious grip. "It's been a busy couple of…years." Had it really been that long since she'd visited her once regular haunt?
"Ah yes, for me also." Leonardo said sadly, "Any day now, I will be leaving my beloved Firenze, whose great and good no longer love me…" He announced dramatically before trailing off as he caught sight of Seven, "Signorina Annetta!" he cooed happily, "You finally come with my Caterina again, hmm?"
"Yes." Seven answered stiffly, backing against the wall.
Leonardo beamed at her benevolently, oblivious to her less than keen reaction. He turned to B'Elanna with a charming, inquisitive look to match her one of mild disgust. "And Caterina has brought another friend to meet her old Maestro…"
"Yes, indeed." Kathryn told him, her pleasantness forced as she glanced between them and the still exposed, still smoking, control panel. "Maestro Da Vinci, this is…Elena. Signora Elena."
"Piacere!" Leonardo took B'Elanna's hand to his lips and kissed it.
B'Elanna freed her hand, trying not to grimace. "We've met before actually."
Leonardo chuckled, "Oh, I think I'd remem…"
He was cut off as the holodeck shifted again, so rapidly and completely that even Seven felt dizzy for a moment. The colour had been sucked from the environment, from them, and Seven scowled as she took in her appearance. The suit with the short skirt, the impractical heels, all bleached black and white with her skin, told her one thing clearly. "Constance Goodheart. Captain Proton."
"No kidding." The Captain replied drily beside her. The one glance to see what she meant was a mistake. Laughter bubbled up inside her irrepressibly as she was faced with the Captain in her full costume as 'Arachnia, Queen of the Spider People', including the crown hung with tiny plastic spiders.
"Obviously the costume overlay protocols are working." B'Elanna remarked, "Kahless, this is giving me a perma-wedgie!" She tugged hopelessly at the baggy silver bodysuit she'd been lumbered with, complete with some 20th Century cartoonist's idea of a jet pack.
Kathryn smirked, the expression made comical by her excessive lipstick. "Tom would be proud, you've taken up his mantle as Captain Proton."
"All these years of managing to avoid it and now I'm trapped here!" B'Elanna groused, "Great!"
Seven was shocked enough that her laughter was constrained, "You're married to Tom Paris and you've never been involved in the Captain Proton programme?"
"No." B'Elanna answered succinctly, eyes glittering. "I'm not as easy to rope in as you two apparently."
"That instance was anomalous." Seven retorted defensively, then sighed. "I was bored beyond endurance…"
"And I was saving us from a race of photonic aliens if you'll recall. It's not my fault Tom somehow pictured me in this role…" Kathryn started to complain.
Seven looked at her then, and burst out laughing again, fighting not to buckle over. The giggles became hysterical as the Captain put her hands on her hips once more as she watched her imperiously, waiting for her to stop. "Förlåt…" She managed between guffaws and gulps for air. She was back in Astrometrics, laughing with Chakotay as they watched… It wasn't her fault, exactly, that she and Chakotay had kept the joke running, reminding each other whenever one had to lighten up about something their Captain had said… "Jag kan inte sluta…"
"Apparently, the Universal Translators are starting to fail too." B'Elanna concluded, unable to stop marvelling at Seven's hysterics, which were continuing even as Kathryn shot her a death glare. She wouldn't have thought it possible for Seven to crack a smile for more than a second a few months back, and here she was giggling uncontrollably. With good cause, admittedly. "Speak English Seven."
Part of Kathryn was enjoying seeing her protégé so struck by humour, if it had been at anyone else's expense she would've loved it, but the joke was wearing thin now. "Come on Seven, Constance Goodheart is supposed to be screaming at the sight of me, not laughing her head off." She teased sarcastically.
Seven managed to straighten and heroically look her Captain in the eyes, past the perfectly curled eyelashes and cat eye effect eyeliner. "What do you suggest we do Captain?" The question reverberated back on her own ears as the holodeck warped around her. She could no longer make out B'Elanna or the Captain beside her as programmes seemed to compete to materialise. Sometimes she'd see a flicker of a beach scene in front of her, then an alpine landscape, followed by the dunes of Mars. A movie theatre. More often than not, her optical implant would barely fasten onto the photons crystallising into matter before they'd blow away again, like leaves caught by wind. She cringed against the assault of multiple characters speaking at once, white noise roaring through her brain… She was back in the Collective, but chaos was ruling them all. Voices overlaying each other, fighting for her attention, snatching at her body. The Vinculum. Had they stumbled on another Vinculum? Her head was splitting, her implants burned as they threatened to overload with the onslaught of stimuli. Another failsafe? She couldn't swallow the tears that came, couldn't breathe…
"Seven!" The Captain's voice abruptly cut through them all, though her tone was gentle, her hand on her bare arm. "Seven, it's over."
She realised that she'd screwed her eyes closed sometime during the…event and slowly opened them to reveal the Captain gazing at her in concern, a certain sorrowful knowledge in her face that made her stiffen. "Vad hände?" She shivered at the sound of her own frightened voice and corrected herself, "What happened?"
"I think we were being randomly shuffled through Voyager's entire holographic catalogue." B'Elanna answered with a grimace, "But it seems to have settled on this one, for the last few minutes at least."
"Minutes?" Seven echoed in confusion, "But I…"
Kathryn squeezed her shoulder, "You were disorientated for a bit there, panicking. I think your implants were trying to interface with the holodeck, trying to make sense of this…" At Seven's mortified expression her eyes grew sadder, "You couldn't help it." She moved back to give her some space, her legs colliding with the opulent four-poster bed they'd been placed around as she did so. "Does anyone recognise this programme?" she asked briskly.
B'Elanna's glanced around hurriedly. "It's a…hotel room?" she surmised. Her toes curled happily into the plush white carpet even as her eyes rejected her surroundings as unreal. Besides the massive four-poster bed with, what were they called? Drapes? Hangings? Curtains? Whatever the name, sumptuous fabric in various blending tones of cream and gold hung over the bed, pooling elegantly on the carpet at each corner like ballgown skirts. There was a mahogany vanity table with a spotless mirror and laden with every kind of make-up under the sun. Three doors. Only one was open, revealing a cavernous walk-in wardrobe.
Seven's eyes had followed B'Elanna to the wardrobe and seeing it made her look down at herself. Gone was Constance Goodheart's secretarial attire. Instead she was wearing a baby blue silk negligee, the cream lace trim of which didn't even brush the tops of her knees. Her knees… The left was lacking the joint augmentation implant… Her legs were pale, exposed and unscarred by the Borg. She held her hands out in front of her, the left matched the right. Shakily, she lifted her fingers to her optical implant, she could still feel it's presence, the lingering pain of her near…deactivation, she felt…bruised, but one look in the room's full length mirror told her all the implants had been masked. She swallowed, nauseated, as all the guilt and insecurity stemming from her holodeck experiments began to roll over her in waves. There was no failsafe to worry about now of course, despite her moment of sickened panic just then, and she'd already confided in Chakotay, who'd forgiven what she'd done with equanimity which still stunned her. If she hadn't been falling love with him before telling him that, she would've been after…
"Chakotay will be having déjà vu right about now as the worry kicks in." She heard B'Elanna comment, the rest of the Engineer's conversation with the Captain having passed her by as she was lost in thought.
"Vad?" She choked out, "Varför…why would he be experiencing déjà vu?" Her stomach flipped as her heart picked up speed.
"Because he'll be thinking of the time he got 'eaten' by Grendel." B'Elanna replied, her gaze narrowing a little as she saw Seven's white face, "He's never told you about Harry's Beowulf programme?"
Seven nodded slowly, "Oh…yes. He did." She glanced about, perching on the four poster for support and giving a start as the mattress…wobbled slightly beneath her.
Kathryn muffled a chuckle at Seven's utterly perplexed expression. "I think it's a water bed."
That explanation didn't clear up Seven's bemusement at all. "A water…" She shook her head. Irrelevant. "I doubt there are any man-eating monsters here."
"Unless we're meant to be it." B'Elanna muttered, giving a little spin in her deep crimson negligee, complete with matching silk wrap. "In these outfits…"
"Hmm." Kathryn breathed, considering. Her own outfit gave some credence to the idea. She was wearing a decidedly slinky full length number in black, topped with a short kimono, also black but embroidered with hot hit orchids. Her hair had been fluffed out, and as she brought a hand to it, she found red rose petals. They were clinging to B'Elanna and Seven too, drifting randomly down from the ceiling…
B'Elanna cursed again in Klingon as she stared open-mouthed at the mirror. "We're in soft focus! ¡Dios mio!"
Seven squinted at the mirror, then down at herself. "The optics in this programme do seem unusual…"
B'Elanna barked a hard laugh, "We've walked into mid-century cinema or something! Back then they used to soften the image of women…"
Seven stared at her blankly, "Why?"
"I don't know! To look more angelic, or vulnerable, or more in need of the male lead's rescue and love…" B'Elanna snorted angrily.
Kathryn suddenly moved to the bed, tearing back the burgundy throw, discarding the plumped pillows, the goosedown duvet. As B'Elanna and Seven watched her in bemusement, she carefully stroked the sheets. "Egyptian cotton sheets." She declared with authority, lips pursing.
"What does that signify?" Seven demanded, bewildered.
Kathryn locked a grim gaze on the two of them. "Ladies, we're trapped in a romantic holonovela."
A/n: Please review! :)
