Evolutions I: An Act of Betrayal

Part Thirteen

"What the hell do you want Janeway?" B'Elanna snarled.

"Why didn't you tell us the Socadan released you?" Janeway demanded.

"It isn't any of your goddamn business. You tried to sell us into slavery."

"Watch your tone Torres or you may find yourself in the brig as soon as we get back to Voyager." Janeway threatened.

"What make you think that we would ever go back?" B'Elanna was seething at the audacity of the older woman.

"It is really quite simple," Janeway said smugly. "Naomi Wildman is underage. Her legal guardian is Samantha Wildman and she wants her back on Voyager. I can't force you to return but I can force Naomi to, and 'ask' you and Seven to join her."

"I won't let you hurt Naomi or Seven ever again," B'Elanna said trying to control her rage.

"Speaking of Seven and Naomi, where are they?" Janeway asked with a look of smug satisfaction on her face.

Janeway knew she had won, and by the look in B'Elanna's eyes she realized that B'Elanna wasn't able to figure a way out of it.

Seven slowly descended from the ship, holding Naomi's hand. "We are right here Captain Janeway," she said.

Janeway quickly turned her head, recognizing the familiar voice. She looked up to see a much younger, shorter and, she had to admit, sexier Seven walk up to B'Elanna.

"What happened to you Seven?" Janeway asked half shocked, half leering.

"This is one of the many things that are a direct result of you trading us to the Socadan." Seven said, gesturing to her body.

"Why is it just you? I thought they wanted all three of you," Janeway said, wanting answers.

"They would only experiment on B'Elanna and Naomi if I died during our imprisonment," Seven said, now openly glaring at the woman she used to consider her mentor.

"Don't get so upset Seven," Janeway admonished as if she were talking to a child. "I have always done what was necessary to ensure the survival of my crew. I admit a few sacrifices had to be made along the way but it was all for the good of Voyager."

"What about what you planned to do to me? Was that sacrifice for the good of Voyager?" Seven waited a few moments for the response that never came. "You disgust me," Seven said in disdain.

Janeway actually flinched at Seven's comment. She had known that it would be a hard to convince them to come back but she hadn't envisaged it being this difficult. It was time to play her trump card, and hope things worked out further down the line.

"I will make this simple for you." Janeway said, glaring as well. "The three of you will willingly return to Voyager or I will force Naomi to return on her own, while the two of you spend a couple of years in the Kisoden prison for kidnapping."

"What about everything that you did to us?" B'Elanna asked the older woman accusingly.

"You don't have any proof Torres. I, on the other hand, caught you red-handed, trying to flee with a minor."

B'Elanna and Seven both paled at this. A prison sentence didn't frighten them; they could easily survive with B'Elanna's strength and warrior skills, not to mention Seven's powers which seemed to be increasing hourly. Naomi was a completely different story though. They simply could not leave her to fend for herself with these monsters they used to call friends.

A silent decision seemed to pass between the two women. They had to go back to Voyager, for Naomi's sake.

"You win Captain Janeway," Seven said sadly. "We will return to Voyager, until Naomi is old enough to make her own decision."

"I am glad that you see things the right way," Janeway said, almost jumping for joy. "Gather your things, we'll be leaving immediately."

"That will not be possible Captain. We have just acquired our own ship, we will need to fly it to Voyager," Seven said.

"Is that it?" Janeway inquired, pointing to the ship in front of her.

"Yes."

To Janeway it looked like a pile of junk, just barely holding itself together. "They sure as hell won't be able to run off with that. I might as well give Seven a show of good faith and let them keep the thing," she thought to herself. "Alright you can bring it to Voyager's shuttle bay. I expect the three of you to be onboard in less than an hour," Janeway said as she and her security officers, as well as the Kisoden officers, left the hangar.

As soon as they were gone B'Elanna allowed her panic to show. "What are we going to do? The ship is nowhere near ready to pose a threat to Voyager, there's no way we can even outrun them."

"We have to accept it B'Elanna, for the time being Janeway has won. We must do what she says. Returning to Voyager is our only option," Seven said sadly.

"It won't have to be for too long," Naomi said, trying to cheer them up. "I only have to stay until I am legally an adult. After that we can leave and they won't be able to do anything about it. It's only for a few years."

"We will manage," Seven said resolutely.

The other two women nodded as they boarded their ship and started the trip to Voyager.

"This human body is amazing," the doctor said to himself. "No more mobile emitter, nobody being able to turn me off. It was all worth it, and B'Elanna, Seven and Naomi will get over it eventually." The doctor thought, imagining what it would be like to feel his hands on Seven again.

He would eventually tell her that it was his plan all along. She would be so impressed about how well thought out it was. He had started by introducing nanoprobes into the inoculations he was giving the crew to make them do what he wanted. He kept most of the senior officers under this influence just long enough for the trade to be made. The Captain would never find out that she was kept under the longest. The doctor just knew that Seven would be so amazed by what he had been able to do, she would agree to go out with him in a second.

"Janeway to the doctor," chirped his badge.

He let out a sigh as he tapped his badge. Janeway had been an absolute pain since Seven left. "Yes Captain," he answered.

"We just found the hybrids on Kisoden. They have agreed to return to Voyager within the hour. When they get back I want you to do a complete medical exam on Seven. She has changed quite a bit over the past few days."

"What do you mean Captain?" The doctor asked, getting worried. He did not want Seven to be hurt. He'd practically made Seven, and he would be damned if anyone was going to tamper with his creation.

"She seems healthy but... It will all make sense when you see her, just be ready. Janeway out," she said, closing the comm. link.

The doctor sighed with relief, it wasn't life threatening so he was sure that he could easily fix it. As he gathered up his instruments, he fantasized about what he and Seven were going to do once she got back.

The three hybrids arrived in Voyager's shuttle bay with a good ten minutes to spare. The trip had taken a little longer than they had originally planned. They knew that Voyager would be monitoring their movements closely after they returned, so they needed a way to speak without being overheard. They outfitted a special component into the core of their new ship. If the ship was scanned it would send out an interference signal. It would look like the material that the ship was constructed from was built specifically to withstand scanning.

"Alright, I still have my comm. badge. If Janeway wants to talk to us she should be able to easily enough."

"It feels so weird to be back here. I didn't think that they ever wanted us to come back," Naomi said as she looked around the shuttle bay.

"What should we do now?" Seven asked.

"Someone should be coming down to meet us," B'Elanna said.

Almost as soon as those words left B'Elanna's mouth, the door to the shuttle bay opened. Janeway walked in followed by the Doctor, Tuvok, Samantha Wildman and Chakotay.

When Samantha saw Naomi she smiled and ran towards her. "Naomi I missed you so much," she said happily.

Naomi gave her mother a frightened look and quickly moved closer to Seven, burying her face in Seven's midriff. Seven protectively put her hands on Naomi's shoulders. Fortified by this, Naomi turned around and faced her mother.

"Please don't touch me," she said in an angry voice.

"Naomi...? What...? I thought you would be happy to see me," Samantha said, a little hurt.

"I never wanted to see you again. You got rid of me the first chance you got."

"It was a mistake Naomi, and we'll discus it at home." Samantha said as she tried to grab Naomi, growing angry herself.

"I'm not going anywhere with you!" Naomi said letting a little bit of her fear show. "I don't trust you or anyone else on Voyager."

Samantha was shocked. She just stood there looking at the fear in her daughter's eyes. She knew that she'd hurt her daughter that day, but it all seemed like a hazy dream. It hadn't seemed real until now, she'd thought that all she would have to do was talk to Naomi and everything would just work itself out.

"Naomi, I'm sorry," was the only thing that Samantha was able to say.

"Well, if you're sorry then I guess everything is just going to magically work itself out," B'Elanna said sarcastically.

"I'm going to stay with B'Elanna and Seven," Naomi said, not looking at her mother.

Samantha nodded dumbly and walked out of the room, her body weighed down by the shame and pain she felt.

Janeway, Tuvok and Chakotay watched the exchange between the four women. What they wanted to do had just grown more difficult. They needed to know what had happened to Seven and if B'Elanna and Naomi were affected.

"Seven, we need to have the doctor look you over," Janeway said, trying to get her original plan back in motion.

Seven just looked at her with contempt in her eyes and said, "No."

"What?" Janeway asked, feeling her plans begin to fall apart.

"I am not a member of your crew or Starfleet. I can not be ordered to undergo any medical procedures."

"If that's what you want Seven. We can discuss it later." Janeway said, knowing that forcing the issue now would be futile.

"If you will excuse us Janeway, we are going to get some rest," B'Elanna said as she, Seven and Naomi started to leave the shuttle bay.

"Hold on Torres," Janeway said coldly. "You are an officer of this ship, and I am your Captain. You will address me as such."

"That's where you're wrong Janeway. I was never a member of Starfleet, I was Maquis, until they betrayed me. " B'Elanna said as she removed the pips from her collar and threw them to the ground. "I quit."

The senior officers were too shocked by B'Elanna's announcement to do anything but stare dumbly as the hybrids exited the cargo bay.

Walking through the corridors on the way to her quarters, B'Elanna noticed the stares of the crew. Some would not meet their eyes, others would quickly move out of the way to avoid her icy glare, but mostly they were looking Seven up and down.

Seven had also noticed the stares, and it bothered her. It was the same way the men at the restaurant had looked at her before they attacked B'Elanna. She moved closer to B'Elanna and relaxed a little as the older woman wrapped her arm around her waist.

When they finally entered B'Elanna's quarters Seven let out a sigh of relief. At B'Elanna's questioning glance she answered. "I did not like the way they were looking at me," she said as she wrapped her arms around herself.

"How are we going to deal with the rest of them?" Naomi asked. "Some of them acted like nothing even happened."

"We have to stay together, and assume that they are going to do something like this again, so the next time we won't be surprised," B'Elanna said with contempt. "From now on none of us should leave these quarters on our own."

"I concur. We will be at our weakest when we are alone. That is when they will try to interrogate us," Seven said.

After some more discussion on the best way to handle the Voyager crew the three hybrids sat down on the sofa to get some rest. Just when B'Elanna was about to fall asleep she was roused by the chirp of her comm. badge.

"Janeway to Torres."

"Torres here."

"We are having a welcome home party for you in the mess hall at 1900 hours. I expect you and Seven to be there."

"You can't order us to do anything, we're not part of your crew anymore Janeway."

"If you come to the party, I won't give you any problems about Naomi Wildman living with you," Janeway offered.

"Fine, but you better not be lying," B'Elanna said as she terminated the link, and nudged Seven awake.

"What is it B'Elanna," Seven said, sleepily moving closer to her lover.

"Janeway wants us to go to a welcome home party," B'Elanna said choosing her words carefully.

"You did not have to wake me up to inform me of your refusal." Seven said yawning.

"Actually I said yes," B'Elanna said quietly.

"EXPLAIN" Seven said, now completely awake.

"Calm down Seven, Janeway said that she wouldn't give us any trouble about Naomi staying with us if we went."

"When are we supposed to attend?"

"She said it was starting at 1900 hours."

"I do not believe that Naomi should attend, it will be difficult for her to deal with her mother now."

"I think you're right, she's still in shock about what her mother did. She needs some time before she'll be ready to deal with it."

"Do you think I should change my clothing?" Seven asked as she looked at her dress.

"Not a chance," B'Elanna said, leaning down and kissing Seven. "I like the way you look now, it's a huge improvement from the bio-suits you usually wear."

"Thank you," Seven said smiling. "How much time do we have before the part starts?"

"We have about an hour, plenty of time to write Naomi a note and get ready."

To Be Continued...