Deceptions
Two Days Earlier
"I will not." Came the cold reply from Seven.
In front of her stood the doctor, holding a satin dress, encrusted with diamond-like gems, showing off a remarkable display flashes and colors. Any women presented with such a gift could not resist wearing such a garment, except for the ex-Borg. The Doctor had recently begun part 12 of the How to be the life of the party lesson he was teaching Seven. So far, difficulties had arisen.
"Please Seven. You will look absolutely beautiful!"
"No. I will not go to another of Neelix's parties. You remember the last time."
Two weeks ago Neelix had thrown a grandiose party to raise the draining, low morale of the crew, who now enjoyed repetitive days. The Doctor, on lesson 5, had invited Seven to the party as a 'date'. Exactly one-half hour into the festivities Seven discovered the wine. Being Neelix, it wasn't Synthahol. This event set off a chain of events that led up to Seven having a very close conversation with the food table, resulting in the party ending, and a very big mess.
"I promise it won't turn out like…. that." The Doctor persuaded.
"I will… give it another shot."
"Excellent! I will pick you up tonight at 2400. Please wear the dress. I guarantee you'll love it!" The Doctor quickly walked away.
As Seven stepped off the turbolift and headed for Astrometrics, she saw a shadowy, secretive figure exit the room and run down the opposite hallway. She had no time to see who it was.
'Who could that be?' Seven thought to herself.
The person had been at too great of a distance to see their face, but Seven had deduced that it was a man who had been wearing a yellow uniform. It was either an engineer or security officer.
Seven entered her station, and noticed that the man had left in rather quickly. A tricorder lay on a computer console and some letters lay digitized on the main screen.
T E IS U ING T. E MIN E R AT CE. SHE ST D E.
'Strange.' Seven thought. It wasn't the usual habit of a crewman to use Astrometrics let alone act so strange. She thought about reporting this to the captain but sufficed that her energy should be directed to more efficient tasks.
'Arghhhhhh' Kathryn Janeway screamed in her mind as her temples felt like they were exploding. Headaches... migraines… head splitting open! Her headaches felt as if they had intensified ever since she ate Neelix's Gabiseilosta stew. It was supposed to be one of those dishes where the ingredients are known only by the chef. 'Of course it wasn't the stew. It's because you haven't eaten in three days or gotten an hour of sleep a night. Too much work!' For once, the Captain believed she needed a break from Voyager, just a day of holodeck time and she would be ready for another few years. 'Just one day!' She mentally screamed. Kathryn was in her ready room, lights off, resting on her couch. Several unfinished pad's of crew reports and ship diagnostics lay on her coffee table.
Her hand fell limp to her side as she blacked out. To her, it seemed like she just fell asleep, but in reality, something was wrong.
A/N: Slightly longer chapter. I still want reviews. Even negative ones! I changed the summary because I believe it didn't fit the story. I originally intended this to be a one person focused story but now I want it to be more. I will update when I can but I have school stuff. Reviews help motivate the author, even negative ones, so they would help. Oh yeah, you pronounce Gabiseilosta as Gah-B C Lohs Tah. One more thing. I made it up and a few more things so you need my permission to use them in your own story.