Title: Sealaionn 3: Marked a Murderer
Author: TrekPhile47
Summary: B'Elanna is marked as murderer, betrayer and pawn. Will she follow through with Kul's nefarious plan?
B'Elanna has sold her soul to the devil in hopes the devil will make change and enable her to get back to Voyager. Janeway come back for her; will B'Elanna have the guts to do the right thing?
Rated: R, for the "F" word, angst, slashiness.
Disclaimer: No esta mia. Drat. I take them out to play and I put them back, that's the only thing I am allowed to do. All poems by the marvelous e. e. cummings.
Spoilers: You're pretty safe with this one, save "Caretaker" and "Day of Honor."
Keywords: B'Elanna, Voyager
Classification: Angst, Slash
Archive: E-mail for permission.
Notes: Feedback. You must comply. TrekPhile47@hotmail.com.
***
kumrads die because they they're told)
kumrads die before they're old
(kumrads aren't afraid to die
kumrads don't
and kumrads won't
believe in life)and death knows whie
*
Life slowly came towards the higher end of the Bell curve for B'Elanna. Her days began to become routine: she'd pick at the food that was set on the tray by one of Tamrak's lessors (Tamrak seemed to lose all interest in her since he hadn't been the one to break her), and then she would get dressed and meet with Kulkinara-Amet.
Kul had granted her a sleek wardrobe. They consisted of three unitards that were loose and wore like big flannel pajamas, and three tunics that were loose like robes and tied around her waist. They came in three colors, white, white, and white. Simplicity in a complex nature seemed to be what Kul liked best. They were comfortable and provided her with a little bit of self-respect.
She still lived in her cell, but she received showers whenever she asked and she could request an extra serving of gruel to go with the rocks that were called bread. She no longer had to wear the shackles and chains, but she was still treated like a prisoner and was escorted by two guards everywhere she went.
Oh, yes---she was also betraying her captain. An offense punishable by death in ancient times and a court-martial, stripping of rank and pride now.
But, if everything worked according to plan, B'Elanna wouldn't have too much longer to go in this hellhole. She had been here a month and already, she was nearly insane to get out.
She had no idea how she was going to explain herself to her captain. She had formulated the speech many times in her head, but each time, she left out something that was vital, but didn't seem to fit in. Somehow, Janeway wouldn't take kindly to B'Elanna giving away all of Voyager's secrets away. She had no idea how to explain her killing Seven of Nine to Janeway, either; there was no way to explain that.
Today began the same as the others; she woke, bathed, dressed and ate a little bit. She then waited patiently for the guards to escort her to Kul. She looked at herself in the mirror and was nearly repulsed; she looked away just in time.
"Come," the guard said as he came to her door. B'Elanna stood at it and waited as it slid to the side and allowed her to pass. The guards flanked her as she took the long journey, in protection of her or the other prisoners, B'Elanna didn't know; though the other prisoners no longer taunted her now that she was in the consorts of Kul. They figured that she was too high and mighty for them to bother with.
She had taken this path so many times now that she could have done it in her sleep---backwards. Three turns to the right, one to the left, two to the right, on to the left and straight to the end of the hallway. The guards let her go in by herself; she had never made an attempt on Kul before, it didn't seem likely that she would now.
Kul was reclined with a smile painted lazily on her face.
"Good morning, B'Elanna," she nearly sang. "Isn't life beautiful when you aren't living in a rathole?"
"But not when you are living a liar's life," B'Elanna deadpanned.
Kul looked at her slowly and furrowed her brows. She seemed upset that B'Elanna wouldn't allow her seduction, but accepted it. There was always a part of Kul that was a little too close, a little to sexy, and a little to exposed for B'Elanna to bear, but it was able to be overlooked when her mind was occupied with freedom.
Kul looked at B'Elanna from her chair as B'Elanna seated herself across from her. She offered B'Elanna a piece of fruit but B'Elanna declined; so Kul ate it herself. The bright scarlet juice bled and beaded on Kul's lips captivatingly. The lips; two blushing pilgrims ready stand....
What the hell was Kul doing to her?
"So quiet, Butterfly," Kul noted as she wiped the juice from her lips and sucked it off the tip of her finger. "What cocoon have you been sleeping in?"
"Introspection," B'Elanna replied, finding herself drowning in the vast expanse of Kul's nebulous eyes.
"I hope you do not think of your former crewmate."
"Seven?"
"Yes, Seven. ...You know, you really did a number on her," Kul pointed out with earnest eyes.
"No, I was not thinking of Seven," she nearly snapped in response. "I was thinking of Tom."
"The man? Somehow, I thought I would have allured you." B'Elanna could smell her pout and the heavy thickness of a forthcoming tantrum.
B'Elanna was silent.
"You know, from where I stand, you could make an astounding courtesan."
"A prostitute," the snap in B'Elanna's voice was full of static.
"A euphemized version, perhaps. If 'courtesan' doesn't strike your chord, how about 'geisha'?" Kul was starting her erratic flight pattern.
"Why?"
"You are so exotic, and the truth of this is that you are the only Klingon in the Delta Quadrant."
Don't remind me, B'Elanna blanched.
"Somehow, you seem like you'd be great under...pressure."
B'Elanna nearly broke her fingers from restraining herself from jumping over the table to kill Kul. "My sex life is none of your damned business."
Kul noted the danger in this subject and changed it; "We were speaking of Seven before I got off on a tangent."
"We weren't," B'Elanna corrected as cordially as possible.
"Well, in that case, we are now."
"Do you enjoy torturing me?"
"It is not torture, dear B'Elanna, I am only singing your praises," Kul pouted and wiped another rivulet of juice from her chin. "She was Borg, possessed superior strength, and nasty temper. You were...weak, unsure; yet, you killed her."
"Why are you doing this to me?"
"Your strength is admirable. Perhaps I shouldn't kill you: not only are you strong, but you are smart. You can be useful here as an engineer: we need somewhat a scientific engineer to help breed new ideas."
Thank you for making me sound like a stallion at studding, B'Elanna snarled with her eyes.
"Speaking of which," Kul tapped her padd and shoved it across the expensive-looking desk and over to B'Elanna. She caught it up gracefully in her fingers and lifted it to her eyeview. "What do you think?"
"What is this?"
"Slipstream in transwarp," Kul shrugged her shoulders. "Took damn near forever to think up, but the design is so simple it is almost frightening."
It was, B'Elanna found herself marveling it, poring over it as if it were the Holy Book. It was so simple and ingenious that it made the Starfleet Wizards seem like fools to not have thought of it. Fold space as you go faster than warp. You can appear in nearly two places at once to travel.
"The only bug of it is that ships tend to catch on the wrinkles the slipstream creates," B'Elanna pointed out.
"I know, we can't fix that, though. ...So far, nothing has damaged the ships, it just slows the travel a bit."
"Is this your way of beating around the bush?"
"Come again?"
"Is this what you want me to work on?"
"No," Kul shrugged. "Not for now at least. This is my plan for Janeway."
"Giving her something that can get her home," B'Elanna was puzzled.
"No.... She will arrive here. You will call to her, she will come."
"She won't believe that it's me."
Kul smiled her dentistry's dream of a smile, "She will want to know the truth; she is a scientist at heart, it is her nature. ...You were sick. You were in a coma because of the attack on you and Seven of Nine. You were whisked away to this hidden lab where we treated you. ...Seven wasn't so lucky. Does that seem easy enough?"
"When lies are the truth," B'Elanna began; but it didn't come out right, so she stopped.
"Now that I know Janeway (from your wonderful help), and have this transwarp slipstream in use and it's time for me to put our plan into affect," Kul smiled sweetly and held B'Elanna's forearm tenderly. "And from the shielding of this compound, the electronic waves will knock the slipstream out of commission. ...Once I have lured her by asking her to stay for a bit, it will be her undoing."
"Is my work dome, then?"
"No, call Janeway, of course."
"With?"
"Our comm system is one of the best in the galaxy, it uses transwarp slipstream also, bit it won't catch on the wrinkles; it will reach her," Kul replied.
B'Elanna faltered as she stood at the comm array, her face bearing pain.
"Don't tell me that you are getting cold feet this late in the game," Kul pouted. "This is really not the time for your integrity."
"No, I was just...thinking about being able to see her again."
"She doesn't love you like I do." The words were spoken in truth, and B'Elanna sucked in a breath that she choked on as Kul leaned on her arm, stroking her face tenderly. "I can love you in ways that she and Tom never could, but you were always so icy. ...Do you fear me?"
"Yes," B'Elanna whispered, trying not to breathe in Kul's scent.
Kul turned her head in the exact same way that Tom did and made B'Elanna want to slap her. "Don't. Your heart is so fragile, I wouldn't do anything to it."
Silence as Kul stroked B'Elanna's ridges.
"Call her, everything is in your hands," Kul said, taking her hand over the console and forcing her to press a button. Kul slid away as the hail went through. "You're on; don't disappoint me."
***
"Captain, we're receiving a hail," Harry Kim called from his station.
"Origin," she asked, her voice heavy with fatigue. She needed coffee and she needed it now...a coffee drip would have been great.
"About 83.3 light years away."
"What?"
"That is what I am reading," Harry confirmed and then went into Ensign Explanation mode, "it is riding subspace, the message is nearly instantaneous."
"Whoever it is must really want to speak to us," Janeway smiled with mirth she didn't know she'd had in her since B'Elanna and Seven died. "On screen."
The gasp was in unison and could be heard clear to Earth.
"B'Elanna," Tom whispered as the tears flooded back.
The face was pallid and emotionless...living dead. Her eyes, normally as sweet and beguiling as fine chocolate, were deadened and placid, her cheekbones high and nearly poking through her skin. Janeway didn't deny that this woman looked completely like hell. "B'Elanna?"
"I am...Lieutenant B'Elanna Torres," she assured.
B'Elanna's face twisted in agony and she began her recitation, "Captain, I am alive. People who have treated me well are taking care of me. They have told me now that it is safe for me to call you."
"How? Why hadn't we found you?"
"The place on the planet I was taken to is heavily shielded, it is of no doubt that I wasn't found," she whispered. Though B'Elanna wouldn't have admitted if accused, the tears were laden in her voice.
"B'Elanna," Tom whispered again. She ignored him to save her heart being shredded by the claws of his pain.
"Safe," Janeway queried with a voice laden with disbelief; she was seeing an apparition of the dead.
"I was ill for quite some time," she continued spinning her yarn, "I was just woken from the coma that I was in for three weeks. They have offered to keep me safe, they have offered me an engineering job, should I choose to take it. ...I hope it won't come to that."
***
B'Elanna wasn't sure she could keep up her lies as long as Janeway was trying to operate on her voice; and the fact that Janeway wasn't using anesthesia wasn't helping the cause all that much. Kul looked at her simply, yet adoringly from off to the side: obviously, Kul had the brains, but not the talent to set traps.
"Who has been taking care of you?"
"Her name is Kulkinara-Amet."
Janeway continued her slicing and dicing. "And where is she?"
"Not present, I am sending this from my quarters."
***
"And Seven of Nine? How is she?"
"I am afraid that she didn't...survive," B'Elanna swallowed. "Her injuries were far worse than mine."
"It's so good to see you," Janeway smiled despite the pang of loosing Seven all over again; but it was so good to see B'Elanna again that she was nearly in tears. "How are you faring?"
"Well enough," B'Elanna shrugged. "I wish that you would come back for me."
"We are adjusting course as I speak," she said and motioned to Tom, who proved that Voyager could stop on a dime and give you nine cents change.
"I'm giving you information on...engineering...that will get you here within two days," B'Elanna said and reached down to press a button.
"Receiving information," Harry called. "Sweet Moth..."
"It is a slipstream device," B'Elanna explained. "It is relatively easy to install; a bit underdeveloped, but it will suit both of our needs."
"Too bad you aren't here to put it in," Janeway tried to get B'Elanna to smile back.
"If I were there, you wouldn't need it," B'Elanna replied almost sourly. "I'm sorry, Captain, but I have to depart. Please, hurry, I need you." The screen erupted into a starfield.
***
"There," B'Elanna said with tears in her eyes, "I am finished.""You did well, B'Elanna," Kul replied. She pulled B'Elanna in for a kiss that was so unexpected; she couldn't fend it off.
Even though it tasted sweet from the fruit and bitter from the illicitness, B'Elanna could detect the rancid taste of betrayal.
***
"That's not her," Tom said from his console, but not looking at his Captain.
"She did seem a little icy," Janeway noted.
"A little,," Tom asked, "she was colder than the arctic in the middle of winter."
"She's been sick." That was a bit of a poor excuse, even for her. "She's been kidnapped, sick and awakened in a strange place; don't you think that you'd be a little bit out of it."
"It was her eyes, Captain," Tom said, finally turning to face her. She wished he hadn't, the pain was enough to rip her guts out. "They were...dead...cold."
"We can't say anything about it, we don't know the full story," Janeway persuaded. "How long until we can activate the slipstream?"
Joe Carey looked at her after consulting his console, "Good Lord, the principles are so fundamental it looks too easy to do."
"In technobabble, please," Janeway replied, suppressing the urge to roll her eyes.
"It defies physics; it bends space without using anything more than our deflector dish."
Interesting technology, Janeway mused; almost too easy to come by.
"And creating it?"
"Just a couple of tweaks and Voyager should be set," Carey said.
"Make it so," Janeway ordered. "I can't wait to get B'Elanna back into Engineering. ...No offence Mr. Carey."
"None taken, Captain," he replied, "being the boss isn't all its cut out to be."
"Mr. Paris?"
"Captain?"
"Come join me in my ready room."
"Aye, Captain," Tom replied and abandoned his station. As the doors hissed shut behind him, he released the tight fists that they had become. He held a hand to his face to keep anything unsolicited from slipping out.
"You don't think it's her," Janeway asked, her voice as cool as the stormcloud gray of her eyes.
"I don't know what to think," he said. It was easier saying that than the truth that would make him cry.
"Try to explain it to me then," she commanded, bidding him to sit.
"Can I be frank, then?"
"If it's what you need."
What I need is a stiff drink, he thought, but decided not to be that frank. "Let me see if I can put it this way: boy meets girl, boy likes girl, girl hates boy, boy woos girl, girl refuses boy, girl and boy declare love for one another, boy and girl fight, boy and girl make up, boy and girl fight again. How's this going?"
Janeway waved his hand for him to continue.
"Boy and girl don't speak for a week, girl dies, boy wants to die with her, boy's hopes for ever finding girl diminish, boy puts girl in ground, boy tries to move on, boy can't deal with girl's death, boy moves on slowly, boy comes to grips. ...Boy sees girl again," he finished finally as his voice cracked.
"So, let me ask you again: do you think it's B'Elanna?"
"No."
"Would you be willing to be proven wrong?"
"I finally have the second chance I have been dying for: to see B'Elanna again," Tom said. "In this case, I'd be damn willing to be proven wrong."
"So be it."
End 3/5
