Nine Months – Freedom 1
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: Mature
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: 01/02/06
Summary: Their captivity ends.
Chapter 33 – Stardate 52918.52 (Dec 2, 2375 06:17am)
B'Elanna stretched, careful not to disturb Seven who was still asleep. She smiled as she remembered the lovemaking of the night before; they had made passionate love, eaten, and then made love again, only this time slowly, and thoroughly. Curling around Seven's back, she inhaled deeply of her lover's scent, and relaxed against her, seriously considering going back to asleep. Suddenly her eyes opened and she frowned, and her brain engaged, notifying her that it was surely past the time she usually was awakened. "Seven," she whispered, and shook the blonde gently.
"Yes," murmured the blonde sleepily.
"What time is it?" asked B'Elanna.
"It is," Seven opened her eyes, suddenly alert, "Six eighteen. We should have been wakened by this time."
"I thought it seemed late," commented B'Elanna as she slipped out of bed and grabbed a robe to cover herself. Stepping in the hallway she looked into the living area, the robot that had been a permanent fixture since their capture was not in its usual spot. She glanced into the bathroom, it was empty.
Seven came out of the bedroom, fastening her robe, she stopped beside B'Elanna, and her head tilted to the side an intent look upon her face.
B'Elanna watched her for a few seconds then took a few steps into the living area and looked around; the robot was no longer in their quarters. Turning back towards Seven she asked, "What are you listening to?"
"It would be more accurate to ask what I am not listening to. There has been a decrease of the ambient noise in our quarters." Seven answered. They were both silent for a few seconds considering what that information could mean, but both to wary after the last several months to dare to comment or speculate too openly just yet.
Cautiously B'Elanna approached the door to their quarters, but it did not open. She frowned at it for a moment before looking back at Seven, hoping the former Borg would have an idea.
Seven shook her head silently, looking indecisive.
B'Elanna began silently examining the room, but she had done this before, and then as now she had seen no obvious way to escape. She had no idea what could be going on, why the robot was not here, and why Seven would be hearing less equipment noise.
"I would like to take a bath and dress," Seven spoke up, her eyes wary and uncertain.
B'Elanna nodded, Seven had a good point that they should clean up and dress, at least that way they would be better prepared for whatever was going on. Especially since the half-Klingon could easily smell the evidence of their previous night's activities on both of them.
Twenty minutes later B'Elanna and Seven were both dressed in black, B'Elanna in her uniform, Seven in her usual loose fitting shirt and drawstring pants.
"What would you like for breakfast?" Seven asked, after they had spent a few minutes silently looking around the room.
"Breakfast?" B'Elanna repeated surprised not having expected the question. For a moment she wanted to ask Seven how she could think of food at a time like this, but then she realized from the blonde's tense face how nervous she felt. If the robots came back, if their captor were watching them right now waiting to see what they would do, it would be she that was punished.
"Something light, maybe just eggs and some fruit?" B'Elanna responded. Seven nodded silently, stepped into the kitchen area and began to prepare the meal. B'Elanna watched her for a few minutes then started setting the table. Unless some brilliant idea came to her she couldn't figure out how to get out of this room anyway, so she might as well do something useful. There was no way she could see to open the door, and the electronics they had access to were so primitive that she couldn't see any way to make a scanning device out of them. The utensils and kitchen devices that Seven was cooking with were of the same era as their fellow captives.
Waiting until the blonde was finished cooking, B'Elanna stepped up behind Seven and wrapped her arms around her lover, holding her tightly. Seven leaned back against her and lifted her face, and B'Elanna kissed her gently. "I love you," she whispered.
Seven smiled in response, "And, I love you." The blonde stayed still for a few moments more before stirring, "The eggs are getting cold, they do not taste pleasant then." Her nose crinkled in remembered distaste as she made the comment.
B'Elanna chuckled, "Let's sit down and eat."
They had just finished cleaning up from their breakfast when a voice was heard from out in the hallway. "This is Senior Inspector Cryayh of the Ilanar Law Enforcement Agency. This compound has been secured by our officers, please remain calm, all the equipment used to control the nerve inductors has been secured and removed, you are safe now. Again, please stay calm, our laws forbid the contamination of less advanced races with our technology, the doors to your quarters will remain closed until such technology is secured. We apologize, but it is necessary. A government representative and medical personnel are enroute to this location; once they arrive further information will be provided."
B'Elanna and Seven, who had turned toward the door as soon as the voice was heard, continued staring at it for a few minutes longer, until it was clear that there would be no more said, at least not at this time.
Disbelief, for a long moment that was all B'Elanna was aware of feeling, then it faded, and without volition she smiled and laughed abruptly, as the disbelief was replaced by a feeling of relief so strong she felt euphoric. Seven was looking at her wide eyed, but she ignored her love's surprise and wrapped her arms around the blonde tightly. "It's over, it's over," she murmured into blonde hair.
Seven's arms wrapped around her and the blonde held on to her tightly. After a moment she said, "I still have the devices inside me," her voice unhappy.
"I bet that's what the medical personnel are for," commented B'Elanna. Her mind started churning as she thought about the message, "They have an equivalent to our Prime Directive."
"You are correct," commented Seven after a moment. "I do not believe the Borg have encountered this race, I do not have any knowledge of any race by that name." She pulled away enough to look up into B'Elanna's face, "What will happen now?" she asked.
"I don't know," B'Elanna answered considering the question, "If this were to happen in the Federation I guess Starfleet would make sure everyone was medically healthy, try to limit contact as much as they could, and get them back to their people as quickly as possible. But I don't know what this race will do."
Chapter 34 – Stardate 52918.52 (Dec 2, 2375 09:17am - Location: Ilanar Law Enforcement Interdictor Starship)
"You don't understand Diplomat Mryayh, we cannot make any more genetic modifications to them. The technique Kryayh used is not medically approved, indeed it is forbidden for anyone to even use it. The bonds between the nucleotides in their chromosomes have been weakened; to make any further changes would weaken the bonds even more. I do not even have to run stimulations to know what would happen, the bonds will break, and the human's systems would begin to fail, and they would all die very painful deaths." Doctor Raryayh explained, her tone betraying her upset.
"You are absolutely certain there is nothing we can do?" the Diplomat asked.
"It would kill them," she restated plainly. "The only thing we can do for them is remove those nerve inducers as soon as possible. Not surprisingly, those implanted with them are not willing to believe they are safe while they know they are still inside them."
"And we know this how?" asked Diplomat Mryayh.
"We are monitoring them of course," replied the Doctor, "We weren't certain how they would respond to the information they were given, we know very little about their species, or how they react to stressful events. Almost all the data we have on them comes from the information we recovered from this compound, and I'm not willing to depend on Kryayh's or his father's analysis of them. We need to do our own observations, make sure this information is correct."
Senior Inspector Cryayh rubbed his forelegs together in agitation, "I remember when his father, Narat Kryayh, was arrested for selling technology to less advanced races. We kept a close eye Narat after that incident, but we had no idea he had already kidnapped these people. Well, except for the two he ordered kidnapped nine months ago." The Senior Inspector corrected himself, and then continued, "From what we can determine the ships were automated, they docked at this compound and waited for instructions, keeping their 'cargo' in suspension. Knowing that we were monitoring him, Narat never sent any instructions. But he did tell his son about them. After Narat died, and Trya Kryayh was certain we had ceased monitoring the family, he decided to take up where his father had left off."
"So Narat had intended to start up these 'games' but was arrested before he could," said Doctor Raryayh. "He was the one who came up with this twisted idea of psychological conditioning that they were subjected to?"
"The nerve inducers were apparently Trya's idea, his father had planned on using more physical threats to enforce their obedience. Trya was the one who designed the quarters and robots so the humans could be monitored continuously, and his rules enforced automatically." The Senior Inspector finished.
Doctor Raryayh slammed her primary legs on the floor in anger, "We don't even know enough about these humans to tell how much psychological trauma their treatment has caused, nor how to go about treating it. Thankfully, there seem to be several trained psychological councilors among them; hopefully they will be able to assist themselves. We would probably do more harm than good if we attempted to treat them."
They stood around silently for a few moments contemplating what had been said. "Well let's do what we can, determine how to safely remove those inducers, and begin the procedures to do so as quickly as possible Doctor." Diplomat Mryayh ordered.