Nine Months – Meeting the Others
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: 12/11/05
Summary: B'Elanna and Seven's conditioning has been completed, and they are allowed to join the other captives.
Chapter 18 - Stardate 52562.64 (July 25, 2375 08:45am)
B'Elanna ran her hand up the side of the boot sealing it closed around her ankle and lower calf. Straightening, she absently checked her appearance, black, on black, on black. Black undershirt under a black shirt neatly tucked in at the waist, black pants with a black silver-buckled belt that were bloused into black boots, the only thing left was to run a brush though her hair.
Satisfied with her appearance, she turned and left the bedroom. Entering the main living area, she smiled as she saw Seven wiping her hands dry after washing the last of their breakfast dishes. Seven hadn't noticed her yet, and B'Elanna took a moment to admire the blonde. Her long, golden hair was gathered up in a pony tail at her neck, and hung to just blow her shoulder blades. She was wearing white today, and the cottony material of the long sleeved loose fitting top clung only to her full breasts, elsewhere it hung loosely and swayed with her movements. The white pants were made of the same material as the shirt, and clung to her hips and rear then fell to just above her ankle, on her feet were a pair of white loafer style shoes.
Seven finally noticed her standing there, and quirked one metallic brow at her in a silent question. "Just admiring how beautiful you are," B'Elanna said in a candid tone, as she began walking toward Seven, grinning at the now somewhat embarrassed, but smiling blonde.
Ever since the night she had apologized, things had become more relaxed between them. Seven smiled more frequently, she initiated physical contact such as hugs and kisses more often, and sat close enough to B'Elanna that their thighs touched instead of keeping an inch or so between them. She also talked more freely, and with less pauses to consider what she was about to say.
It had been enough of a change that B'Elanna was dismayed that she hadn't noticed that Seven hadn't been completely relaxed around her before. Of course, Seven had been relaxed compared to how she had acted around B'Elanna aboard Voyager, but now it was clear that Seven hadn't been as relaxed around her as the half-Klingon had thought she had been.
"Thank you, B'Elanna," Seven replied, after a short silence.
B'Elanna could tell the blonde still didn't feel entirely comfortable with the compliment, but when Seven met her gaze, she could see that the blonde did accept it. She didn't know if Seven accepted that she was beautiful yet, but the blonde did seem to accept that B'Elanna thought that she was.
The doors to their quarters opened and B'Elanna turned, immediately wary and alert, the training robot was ten minutes early and she didn't know why, or what it wanted.
"B'Elanna Torres, phases one and two of your training have been completed. You have been assigned to Alpha Squad, Primary Leader Elizabeth Janeway…"
B'Elanna gaped in surprise at the name, wondering immediately if there was some familial connection with Captain Kathryn Janeway.
"You and your hostage will now follow me to Alpha Squad's Community Room where you will meet Alpha Squad and their hostages." The training robot finished.
B'Elanna immediately turned to look at Seven, the blonde appeared frozen, eyes slightly widened, face tense as she stared at the robot. "Seven," the half-Klingon called, and held out her hand. Seven jerked out of wherever she had gone to, and looked over at her. She could see that Seven took a moment to compose herself, then the blonde nodded to her and came over, accepting the reassurance of her outstretched hand.
After their discussions over the past few months, B'Elanna knew that Seven strongly disliked meeting new people. There had been too many times that she had been seen only as a Borg, and treated with hostility and fear, for her to approach such a situation with anything but dismay. Unfortunately, Seven's response was to put up a façade of unemotional detachment and superiority, almost a polar opposite of B'Elanna's anger and aggression reaction. Both reactions, however, were usually equally good at provoking just the response they had expected, thus doing a fine job of justifying their going into it expecting such a response.
Fortunately for them both, B'Elanna had some experience with changing such reactions, having been quite bluntly informed by Chakotay during their first year in the Delta Quadrant, that as the Chief Engineer, she had to stop going into situations with such an attitude, or she would loose her post. Not that well meaning councilors and teachers hadn't pointed out in the past that going into a situation with an aggressive attitude usually provoked an aggressive response, they had, she just hadn't had such a good reason to stop the behavior before.
With the motivation of losing the posting she was so proud of obtaining, the assistance of Lt. Cmdr Tuvok, and her general high regard for Chakotay, she had stepped back, and taken more than the token effort she had taken in the past. Finally, she had acknowledged that how she behaved in situations affected the behavior of others, and that going into a situation expecting hostility often provoked just that response. But even with her determination to change, it had been a slow process to adopt a less aggressive style, and to learn to use Tuvok's meditation techniques to control her anger instead of letting it have free reign.
She had been proud of her success, until Seven of Nine Tertiary Adjunct to Unimatrix One came aboard and forced them into a confrontation with Species 8742. The day that she had been forced to corporate with the drone in installing the Borg upgrades necessary to survive the confrontation had been distinctly unpleasant. The Borg's chilly, dispassionate stare, as she turned the engineer's engine room into a mishmash of Federation and Borg technology, had infuriated B'Elanna. She had lost her temper more than once, as Seven of Nine invaded and took over her territory with cool aplomb, and treated the engineer and her entire staff as if they were her personal drones to order around.
When they had succeeded in driving Species 8742 back into fluidic space, she had thought it would be the last she would see of the arrogant Borg, until Captain Janeway decided to rescue Seven instead of returning her, and had separated her from the Collective. B'Elanna had honestly intended to given Seven a chance, but she had seen no apparent change in Seven's demeanor, no sign that the woman regretted her past at all, and little to no change in the way the Borg treated others. She had decided that the Captain had been wrong, they might have taken Seven out of the Borg, but they couldn't take the Borg out of Seven. And B'Elanna had stubbornly held by that decision until they had been captured, and she had been forced into controlling her angry responses to keep the former drone from being punished. It was only after a month of close contact with Seven that she finally saw that the woman's Borg mannerisms were just the blonde's way of protecting herself.
After Seven's recovery from the robots attack, and their newfound friendship, they had begun discussing some of the ex-Borg's experiences aboard Voyager. These discussions often touched on Seven's distance from the crew, and her inability to figure out how to bridge that distance and show them that she had changed. Over the course of a few of these talks, it became apparent to B'Elanna that Seven had always felt defensive and wary around Voyagers crew, and that the blonde hid behind her Borg mannerisms when she felt unsure, and B'Elanna suspected, afraid.
Eventually, seeing the parallels in their behavior, B'Elanna had taken the opportunity to tentatively point out that perhaps reacting to others in a very Borg like manner, might possibly increase the chances that others would only see her as Borg. After considering B'Elanna's words, Seven had been quite dismayed that she had fallen into such self-justifying circular reasoning and actions, but had been at a loss, as to how to rectify the situation. Falling back on her Borg past, and silently declaring her emotions irrelevant, was the only way Seven knew to control her emotions when they threatened to overwhelm her. The candid admission had surprised B'Elanna, and not knowing what else to do, she had attempted to explain Tuvok's meditative techniques to Seven, but they had been designed to help her deal with her anger, and Seven's problem was slightly different.
Glancing down at the blonde woman holding her hand tightly, B'Elanna wondered how effective Seven was finding the techniques. Prior to and during the treatments a few weeks before they had been working on them almost nightly, but more recently they had found other, more interesting, things to do in the evenings.
B'Elanna smiled at the thought of those things, then it faded as she took in the tenseness of the woman walking beside her. She certainly understood why Seven would be tense, not only were they about to meet people that might see her as Borg, but they were about to meet those that had captured them in the first place. She wasn't too certain what she felt about the upcoming meeting either. Even though she knew the other prisoners had only captured them to protect their own hostages, she still couldn't quite dismiss the anger she felt toward them for obeying the order, and thus being partially responsible for the things that had happened to she and Seven since then.
"Seven," she said softly to get the blonde's attention. When the tense, emotionless face of her lover turned toward her, "I thought you were going to give people a chance to see you?" she asked gently. The expressionless mask shattered completely at these words. B'Elanna cursed herself for being so thoughtless. She should have realized that Seven veneer of control would be brittle and thin, given the stresses of the past few months. Seven's anxiety was clearly visible now, and she stood unmoving, striving to regain control over her emotions.
Seeing that the robot was drawing away from them, B'Elanna bent and picked up Seven in her arms, startling a surprised exclamation from the blonde, as she wrapped her arms around the taller woman's neck. "Can't stop moving." she explained, noting that she had at least startled Seven out of the anxious expression she had worn. "They can't treat you too badly you know." she reminded Seven. "And I'll be with you, no matter how this goes." she hugged the blonde more tightly to her. Their eyes met, blue ones searched hers questioningly. Resolutely she met them, trying to let the other woman know that she meant what she said, she would be with, and for her.
Seven took in a steadying breath and nodded. "I wish to walk now," she informed B'Elanna.
Silently the half-Klingon paused for a moment and slowly released the blonde, letting her slide down her own body until she was standing on the floor once again. Swiftly Seven lifted her face, and going up on her toes, she pressed her lips against B'Elanna's, and whispered, "Thank you," then turned and walked after the robot.
B'Elanna quickened her stride for a few steps to catch up with her, and reclaimed her hand. Seven glanced over at her, and a small smile graced her lips in response. They were rapidly approaching the end of the hallway, as the robot approached the doors; they opened revealing a large room beyond them.
B'Elanna gasped shocked, a sound mirrored by the blonde beside her, she had been expecting to see several other women, but not all the children. Tall women dressed in black uniform's like hers' stood beside women of all different heights, dressed in variations of the same outfit Seven wore. All of the couples had a child, or in some cases children, B'Elanna noticed looking at the couple that stood in front of all the others.
The half-Klingon guessed that the woman in the black uniform stood six foot and three inches tall, the same height as herself. She had russet hair and piercing grey eyes, and was beautiful in the manner of those classically elegant. Suddenly B'Elanna was certain that she was looking at Elizabeth Janeway, and if the woman wasn't related to Captain Kathryn Janeway, B'Elanna would eat gagh, which she detested, willingly. Her hostage was a much shorter brunette, caramel skinned woman, and B'Elanna felt a moment of kinship, as she realized that the woman was of Hispanic heritage like herself. The smiling generous mouth, and crinkles at the corner of dark, bright, merry eyes betrayed a warm disposition at odds with the more intense, poised, grey-eyed presence at her side.
The two women stood beside one another, the taller with a hand resting on the shoulder of a brown haired girl perhaps six or so that meet the half-Klingon's look unabashedly. Beside her was a smaller russet haired girl, obviously much shyer, who held onto the shorter woman and peeked uncertainly at the two newcomers. Behind the lead couple stood the rest of Alpha Squad, and taking a quick head count B'Elanna could see that there were well over one hundred couples, and their children present in the room.
The robot had continued moving forward until it stopped a few meters in front of the lead couple. "Elizabeth Janeway, Alpha Squad Leader. Electronics and Communications Specialist, B'Elanna Torres, has completed training, and has been assigned to Alpha Squad. Alpha Squad orientation for the new member will begin in two hours."