Nine Months – Getting to know you
By Kudara
Disclaimer: Star Trek Voyager and all who sail in her belong to Paramount/Viacom and no infringement of copyright/trade marks is intended.
Rating: Adult
Feedback: Always welcome, feedback is what encourages me to keep writing. Please let me know what you like and what you dislike about the story.
Revision History: 11/16/05
Summary: Nine months ago they were captured.
Chapter 6 - Stardate 52235.07 (March 27, 2375 7:17 pm)
"Maybe we should stop talking about this for awhile, Seven." B'Elanna struggled to keep her voice even, and her irritation from showing in it. A quick glance toward the motionless robot in the corner reassured her that she had been successful. They were seated on the couch and had been discussing the relative merits of some technology the Borg had gotten from Species 228.
B'Elanna started the discussion after they finished eating and cleaning up, in the hope of alleviating some of the Borg's boredom, as all the blonde had to do during the day was to learn how to prepare different foods. Seven, not surprisingly, had applied her usual perfectionist standards to the task, and had rapidly become a very decent cook. But, as Seven had stated earlier, it was not the most challenging thing she had ever attempted.
Unfortunately the conversation was bringing up all the feelings of inferiority, and it's associated emotions, namely anger that B'Elanna usually felt when the Borg insinuated that there was something inadequate about Voyager's technology and about her own level of knowledge.
Seven stopped speaking immediately upon hearing the half-Klingon's words. B'Elanna who had grown more used to interpreting the expressions that ghosted over the Borg's face, could clearly tell that Seven was dismayed and confused. Nibbling on her lower lip, she examined the Borg closely. After two weeks of enforced close interaction, B'Elanna was finally questioning whether her stubbornly held assessment of the ex-drone was actually valid anymore.
"Do you really think Federation technology is so far behind Borg technology?" B'Elanna asked, trying not to sound too defensive.
Seven tilted her head to the side and raised one metallic surrounded brow as she considered the question. "In weapons, shield and warp technology, there are areas in which the Borg have acquired considerably more advanced technology. Federation technology is more advanced in some specific areas, such as Voyager's bio-neural system, otherwise the Borg would not be interested in assimilating it."
B'Elanna nodded then sighed, and was silent for a moment, finally she admitted, "I guess I feel that you are saying Voyager's technology is inferior when you bring up these things." She hesitated for a moment then rushed to finish before Seven could say anything, "And by extension, that my knowledge is inferior to yours." B'Elanna frowned as she realized that she had surprised the blonde, surely Seven realized that every modification she suggested implied that there was something inferior with what was currently there, and that the current Chief Engineer was inferior as well.
The Borg was silent, and B'Elanna grew more puzzled, then finally concerned at the silence went on and Seven looked more and more… depressed, B'Elanna finally decided. "Seven?" she asked, "What's wrong?"
Seven still hesitated then in a strangely tentative voice, "It is my function."
B'Elanna waited for more information, but none was forthcoming. "What do you mean?"
Seven drew in a breath, "I was the Tertiary Adjunct to the Borg Queen, that was my function, to analyze the acquired technology and determine whether it was superior to the Borg's current technology. If the technology was superior then I determined how to adapt the new technology to Borg technology, or adapt Borg technology to the new technology."
B'Elanna was still struggling to make sense of what Seven was telling her in relation to what she had admitted to the Borg when Seven continued speaking. "I was the Tertiary Adjunct, the Primary Adjunct and Secondary Adjunct were superior in ability, but they were from Species 567 and Species 894."
B'Elanna frowned, "What? I'm not certain what you are telling me Seven."
"Those species have superior analytical abilities compared to humans," Seven clarified.
Suddenly it dawned on B'Elanna what Seven was saying, "The Queen's Unimatrix, the drones for it aren't chosen by random, their chosen for ability."
Seven frowned slightly, "Of course, it would not be efficient for Unimatrix One to consist of drones that were not the most suited to their tasks."
B'Elanna stared at Seven for a long moment, "I thought your analytical ability was due to your cortical node…" she trailed off uncertainly.
Seven looked offended, "All adjuncts have the same implants."
'She is, or was, the third best at analyzing how to adapt alien technology in the entire Collective.' B'Elanna thought with dawning respect for the woman in front of her, 'and I've been throwing her recommendations right back in her face.' Then she realized something else, but wasn't sure how to ask if she was right. If she was then she had been trampling on the Borg's ego ever since the Tertiary Adjunct to Unimatrix One had first started making suggestions for improvements to engineering.
Approaching the subject in a round about manner, and deciding to depend upon the Borg's honesty, B'Elanna asked, "Did you realize that I felt like you were telling me that I was inferior to you every time you made a suggestion?"
Seven's eyes widened, "No, Lt. Torres I did not." She paused then continued, "I was attempting to do the same duties for Voyager as I did for the Collective." Seven's eyes fell then raised back to hers, "I apologize Lt. Torres, you are a more than adequate engineer, and display an exceptional ability to rapidly solve engineering problems."
Surprised B'Elanna murmured, "Thank you." Regarding the Borg steadily for several moments, B'Elanna finally commented, "I'm sorry I didn't pay more attention to your suggestions, Seven."
"As you correctly pointed out, I failed to take certain considerations into account when I developed my analysis, and they were frequently impractical for Voyager to implement." Seven looked even sadder and B'Elanna was dismayed to note that the Borg looked as if she would begin crying at any moment.
B'Elanna shifted uneasily; quite aware of how successful her trio of stock answers had been back on Voyager. Answer one was Seven's suggestion would take a maintenance yard to complete, answer two had been that no one but Seven would understand how to repair the resulting equipment, answer three had been that the suggested improvements would cause conflicts with existing equipment.
Between the three of them, she had managed to fend off most of the Borg's suggestions with minimal effort. Recently the Borg had appeared to have given up her efforts to even make suggestions, and B'Elanna recalled how pleased she had been that her entrenched determination to not change her engineering had been finally successful. Looking at the Borg's downcast face in front of her now though, she didn't feel quite so pleased or proud of herself.
"What are you thinking about Seven," B'Elanna heard herself asking with some surprise at the soft tone.
"That I have performed inadequately at almost all of the tasks I have been assigned since Captain Janeway severed me from the Collective." Seven finally replied in such a low voice that B'Elanna had to lean closer to the Borg to hear what she was saying.
"Uh?" B'Elanna uttered dumbly, taken totally by surprise at the statement. Seven was confident, self-assured, arrogant and rude… and crying.
"I am malfunctioning," Seven exclaimed, distress obvious in her tones.
B'Elanna stood up, suddenly concerned that the makeshift regeneration their captors had set up for Seven had damaged her optical implant somehow. "Let me see," she ordered the blonde, "can you run a diagnostic on your optical implant?"
Seven looked up at her, "It is not my implant, I cannot suppress my emotions." She explained haltingly.
B'Elanna stared at the Borg bemused, watching the slow trickle of tears continue to flow. Then her training kicked in, "It's stress Seven, you were present in Chokatay's class with me." She referred to the class the First Officer had taught on how to recognize the symptoms of stress reactions and fatigue. "I think this qualifies as a long term, high stress situation, don't you?"
Seven considered her words and slowly nodded. The tears, however, did not stop as B'Elanna had hoped. She sighed softly, "Seven, why do you think you have performed inadequately."
"I failed to give sufficient consideration to Voyager's situation before making my recommendations, I have failed at adapting to my humanity, I have disappointed Captain Janeway repeatedly." Seven trailed off.
B'Elanna stared at the miserable woman before her and felt a warm trickle of gentle amusement, "So you've done nothing right, everything is wrong, and everyone hates you?"
Seven nodded and looked even more miserable, not catching the amusement in B'Elanna's eyes.
"So you aren't the woman who worked with the Doctor to free us from the Hirogen when they took over the ship, you aren't the woman who saved Neelix's life, or the woman who brought all of us safely through the Mutara Nebula, almost killing herself in the process, or helped Captain Janeway escape when you two were captured by Arturis?" asked B'Elanna, still in the gentle tone she had been using since Seven had begun crying.
Seven's eyes widened in surprise and B'Elanna could see that the ex-drone was thinking quite seriously about what she had just said.
"Stress causes people to loose perspective, they will tend to focus on the negative aspects and events and discount the positive." Seven quoted Chakotay's speech from the class.
B'Elanna nodded in relief, a Borg spiraling downward into a depression was not something she felt equipped to handle. Seven's tears had all but dried and she looked like she was regaining control. 'I swear if we get back to Voyager I'm going to review her suggestions and maybe even implement a few them.' B'Elanna thought to herself as she watched the blonde woman seated before her.
A thought flashed into her mind, and before she could censor it, she found herself saying, "Hey Seven, you know those modifications to the deflector dish you wanted to make a few months ago? The ones to increase the range by 0.5?" B'Elanna asked.
Seven frowned briefly, confused by the sudden change in topic then her face cleared, "Yes, Lt. Torres. You pointed out that no one besides me would be able to understand the theory behind the modifications in the case that it needed to be repaired."
B'Elanna fought the desire to fidget, she didn't want to admit that some of the equations the Borg had submitted had been difficult for her to understand, much less her engineering crew. "Could you explain the theory behind those changes again? Maybe I could develop a training course."
Seven looked nervously over toward the robot in the corner but it hadn't reacted. B'Elanna had thought it would not, as they were not talking about escaping, only about a hypothetical action once they were free.
B'Elanna had not given up on the hope that Voyager would figure out where they were and be able to free them, but she was less hopeful than she had been a week ago. Her training had shown that their captors, for someone was certainly behind the robots that watched them, possessed very advanced technology, more than capable, she suspected, of hiding them from Voyager's scans. It made the presence of the primitive equipment in their quarters baffling, unless it was a choice made to limit their access to technology that might aid them in escaping.
"Of course Lt. Torres," Seven's voice drew B'Elanna out of her thoughts of possible rescue. B'Elanna sat back down beside Seven and settled back to listen to the Borg. Usually this was a task that set her teeth slightly on edge, but seeing how much happier the blonde now looked, B'Elanna found that she was feeling rather pleased with herself for coming up with the idea.