Disclaimer: Only the story is mine. Everything else belongs to Paramount. As much as I'd like to say Seven and B'Elanna are mine, 'twould be a falsehood. (sigh) This story contains femslash (yup, women love women here, get used to it) so if that offends you, then read something else. Although if you've read Ghosts, the story before this one, then you're probably not offended by it if you're still reading. And if you haven't read Ghosts—go read it!
Author Notes: Sequel to Ghosts.
Code: T7
Rating: R
Genre: Romance/Drama
Original post date: Feb, 2001
PLEASE REVIEW!
Family, Chapter 9
Mezoti wasn't sure where she was running to, since her mother could track her throughout the ship anywhere she might hide, but first she ran into her quarters. Once there, she began packing her belongings until she dropped the suitcase, that she had replicated for this purpose, and began crying. She did like B'Elanna, but she didn't want anyone else to take her new mother from her.
To her, it became clear that Seven was replacing her, that she didn't need Mezoti in her life now that she had a wife to spend her time with. A tiny voice in the back of her head pointed out that Seven had never sacrificed their time for B'Elanna and was trying to include her, but she argued with it that that was before they were married.
A plan finally formed in Mezoti's mind. The Ssckerellon shipit was still in Voyager's hanger bay, right next to the Delta Flyer II. She grabbed up her suitcase and ran to the turbolift as fast as she could. "Deck nine!" she yelled at it and the doors slid shut.
Mezoti snuck carefully up to the shuttle bay, hiding from the crewman on watch. The crewman was a medium-sized Bolian, but that was still too big of a challenge for the small Norcadian girl trying to evade his alert glances around. She waited until he was looking the opposite way and made a break for it. He spun, yelling at her, "Hey, wait!" but she was already in the small ship, sealing the hatch.
She saw through a viewport as he tapped his commbadge, but she couldn't hear what he was saying. She began attempting to open the shuttle bay doors through a link she established through the shuttle's cockpit. She made a small sound of triumph when the doors slowly slid open, depressurizing the bay and blowing everything that was inside, out into space. She felt a little bad for that, but was glad that the shuttles were securely moored to the deck, so they didn't go anywhere.
Except for hers. She instructed Voyager to release the moorings on her ship and she shot off into the darkness of space, leaving Voyager behind as she keyed the ship into warp.
"Captain, there has been an unauthorized shuttle launch in the shuttle bay!" Harry said, helplessly.
"Lock a tractor beam onto her!" Kathryn was angry at herself for not immediately reacting when she had been informed of Mezoti sneaking into the shuttlebay. She should have immediately beamed Mezoti out of there, but she had stood, stupidly waiting for the next report.
"She's gone to warp."
"Damn! Lay in a pursuit course!" Kathryn sat down in her chair and collected herself before doing the only thing left to do. "Captain Janeway to Seven of Nine."
Seven was frantic. She had gone to Mezoti's room, expecting to find her there, but her room was empty and her things missing. Naturally, she looked next door at the Wildman's, but Mezoti hadn't even stopped by. Seven had searched decks two through four when she heard the captain's call.
"Seven here. Is it about Mezoti?"
"Yes, Seven. She took the Ssckerellon ship and left Voyager at warp speed. I take it you already knew?"
"Not exactly. I was searching for her, deck by deck."
"We'll let you know when we catch her. Janeway out." Seven frowned. That wasn't good enough. She proceeded to Astrometrics, contacting B'Elanna to keep her apprised of the situation.
B'Elanna felt the eyes of her staff boring into her back as Seven finished explaining what was happening. It was obvious, as she looked around, that they all wanted to know what had happened. "Get back to work," she growled and they complied without a word. She immediately began giving the warp core her full attention, intent on catching the fast little ship.
Mezoti felt exhilarated. Never before, in her ten years, had she ever done anything so bold, so illegal. 'So foolish,' her mind added as she saw the warp signature ahead of her. She hadn't been sure where she would run to, but she remembered a space station that Voyager had come across three weeks ago and she had figured that she would start there.
But now she wondered if she would even make it back to Voyager.
She dropped out of warp to turn the ship around and it was there. The Ssckerellon ship loomed up on the screen in front of her, silent until it was almost on top of her. She felt a phantom pain in the hand they had severed and spun the shuttle so fast that the inertial dampeners failed and she was pressed, sickeningly, against her seat. She managed to go to warp a split second before they activated their tractor beam.
She headed for Voyager as fast as she could, noting on sensors that the other ship couldn't pick up speed as quickly as she and a gap was forming. She knew that she needed that gap if Voyager was going to let her dock and raise their shield in time to defend from the bug people.
Seven had already warned Janeway about what was happening and she had faced the ship to give Mezoti the clearest path to the shuttle bay as she could. It was now up to Mezoti to pilot the small ship into Voyager. She just hoped that the girl would be able to do it.
Mezoti turned on the braking thrusters, but she didn't know if she was coming in too fast. The ship bucked as it impacted the deck and she hit her head on the helm. When she regained consciousness, Seven was picking her up. She drifted and the next thing she knew, she was in Sickbay, the doctor was talking to her, and then she was alone until she fell asleep.
On the bridge, Captain Janeway ordered Harry to hail the other ship. Much to her surprise, they answered.
"Lesser beings. What speak/desire you/lesser?" Kathryn flinched at the bad translation and glared at the 'lesser beings' comment before she realized that it was probably how the Ssckerellon addressed all other species. Janeway had to repress a shudder at her first look at one of the bugs. She was unsettled by the fact that, to speak, it merely opened its lower jaw and emitted sound that the computer translated, closing it when finished.
"I am Captain Kathryn Janeway of the Federation Starship Voyager. I simply wish to make it plain that we have no hostile intentions." The Ssckerellon captain had a reddish hue, rather than the ordinary green-blue bug people that she had previously encountered. But it was also almost eight feet tall, if she could judge the smaller, green Ssckerellon that stood next to it, at six feet high.
"We are hostile/not. We demand reparations or we hostile will/be."
"Reparations?" Kathryn came to the realization that this Ssckerellon was female, judging by the tone of her voice, which the computer assigned a feminine quality. She quickly made the discovery that the males were smaller and green, while the females were larger and red, with a separate language. The colors and size denoted gender and dominance, like in several Terran species of fauna.
"Stolen ship/craft you/lesser have/possess."
"We'll give you back the ship, with our apologies, but your race kidnapped our people and to escape, they had to take the ship."
"Irrelevant. Ship/craft you/lesser return, we hostile/not remain. Also criminals you/lesser harbor will/shall be returned."
"What criminals?" Kathryn asked, beginning to get angry.
"Two larvae/lesser that murdered two of our people/superior." Kathryn was beginning to get a headache from the universal translator.
"We will give you the ship, but not the children. That is unacceptable." The Ssckerellon captain darkened to a red-violet and waved her arm, canceling the transmission. Immediately, the hostile ship began firing.
To be continued...
