Nine Months – Voyager 5
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: 01/10/06; minor revision 01/05/07
Note: For more information about Henry Janeway and Shannon O'Donnell, please see Voyager episode 115 "11:59"
Summary: The former captives meet up with Voyager.
Chapter 44 - Stardate: 53018.3 (Jan 7, 2376 4:30 pm)
It had taken two days of discussion to hammer out the basics of how Amazonia would be governed. A civilian led government with control over the defense force, executive, legislative and judicial branches, absolute separation of church and state insisted upon by Lee, and a basic draft of a bill of rights for its citizens. Elizabeth Janeway had been volunteered to be the first governor of the colony, and she had even graciously agreed to accept.
Of the first day, several hours had been devoted to getting everyone to agree that the new colony needed a defense force. Finally, they had gotten a unanimous vote for it's formation with the understanding that its primary role would be as a defensive force, emphasis on the defensive, and secondarily for peaceful exploration when they were able to start producing starships. In short, it was to be based upon the roles that Starfleet performed for the Federation, plus other duties that were more planetary oriented.
B'Elanna and Seven, after a long discussion about what they wanted to do in the new colony, met with Elizabeth. They wanted to help build the colony, but more than anything else they wanted to help design and build the colonies future starships. The newly minted governor had smilingly agreed, and had promptly accepted them into the Amazonian Defense Forces, both at the rank of Commander. B'Elanna was to head up the Engineering Department, Seven the Theoretical Research Division, both would be answering to Tanya Montego the new Commander of the Amazonian Defense Forces.
It had only taken Evelyn a few hours to come up with a series of suitable uniforms for both civilian and military use. The dress uniforms bore a startlingly close resemblance to what used to be termed a Mess uniform. All of the United States military services had used variations of the same style, short waist length jacket, white mess shirt, cummerbund, and striped trousers.
Evelyn had chosen a dark navy blue as the color for the jacket and pants, arguing that white and formal dinners were disasters just waiting to happen. The Defense Forces version had gold stripes on the sleeves denoted rank, and the piping, cummerbund and trouser stripe were scarlet. The civilian government version had no rank, and the piping, cummerbund and trouser stripe were gold. The new uniform only awaited an official function for it's unveiling, fortunately there was one scheduled the very next day.
Commander B'Elanna Torres stared at herself in the mirror one last time; Evelyn had certainly outdone herself with designing the dress uniform.
"It fits perfectly, and looks wonderful on you, stop preening," Sabrina teased her, straightening the scarlet cummerbund of her own Defense Forces uniform in imitation of the half-Klingon.
"Just wait till you see the Starfleet dress uniform, you'll understand," B'Elanna chuckled.
"Speaking of which, we'd better go to the transport room to meet them," Sabrina reminded her, checking the time. The two of them strode into the transporter room a few minutes before B'Elanna and Seven's Voyager guests were scheduled to arrive.
Elizabeth walked in right behind them "Well, I'll give it this; it's a lot more comfortable than the Marine dress jacket." she commented, wearing the civilian version of the uniform, with its gold cummerbund and trouser stripe.
B'Elanna who had seen a sketch Evelyn had made of a jacket she had described as a Marine dress jacket had to agree. The Marine jacket had looked very nice, and very uncomfortable. The bridge signaled and B'Elanna stepped to the controls and coordinated the transport with Voyager.
"Captain Janeway," Elizabeth greeted her as Kathryn Janeway stepped of the transporter platform.
Elizabeth and Kathryn Janeway had been exchanging correspondence for the past few days. Voyager had been coordinating data file transfers from Voyager's computer core to the Artemis, and B'Elanna and Seven had been compiling and transmitting to Voyager the upgrades they had discussed during their captivity. The two women hoped that the information would prove useful to Starfleet Engineering.
The upshot of this was that Captain Janeway was aware of Elizabeth's new position. "Governor Janeway," she greeted her, "You've met my First Officer Commander Chakotay, my Security Officer Lt. Commander Tuvok and the Doctor, may I introduce my Helm Officer Ensign Tom Paris and my Communications officer Ensign Harry Kim. Mr. Neelix is our Morale officer, and this is Ensign Samantha Wildman and her daughter Naomi Wildman."
"Good evening, it is a pleasure to meet all of you." Elizabeth greeted them. "I'd like to introduce my new Defense Forces Head of Engineering, Commander B'Elanna Torres and Communications Officer Lt. Sabrina Gentry."
"Congratulations on your posting Cmdr. Torres," Captain Janeway said to B'Elanna after a moment's pause. An almost sad expression crossed her face for a moment then it disappeared replaced by a smile.
The other Voyager officers stepped forward after the Captain and extended their congratulations as well, though she could tell that they were dismayed by her posting. It made it that much more final that she would not be returning with them to Earth.
"Thank you Captain Janeway," B'Elanna acknowledged. "I'd like to thank all of you for coming, Seven and I appreciate it," she thanked them. "We should be getting to the meeting room, or I'll be late for my own wedding," she joked.
"Who's performing the wedding?" asked Chakotay interestedly as they walked into the Artemis' huge meeting room. The huge square room had been divided into two spaces for the wedding, one open area for the reception, the other space arranged to present a chapel like appearance. The chairs had been placed to either side with a walkway in the middle, and a raised platform for the ceremony at one end.
"Lee is," answered B'Elanna absently looking around at who was already present. Finally she noticed their puzzled looks. "Sorry, the Reverend Elizabeth Scott," she didn't wait to see who would make the connection, "and yes, she's that Elizabeth Scott, the first president of the Church of Conscious Design."
"Oh Lee's not going to be happy with you," Elizabeth commented laughingly.
The initial stunned looks from several of the Voyager officers faded into confusion, "Why would she not be pleased?" asked Chakotay.
"She wasn't pleased when I told her about her picture being up in just about every Deist Meeting Hall." B'Elanna winced just remembering. "She thinks it's pretty silly to attribute the growth of Deism to her, when the philosophy was around long before she was even born, and will let you know her opinion if you mention it."
"Are you gossiping about me B'Elanna?" Lee's distinctive voice came from behind her.
"Of course," B'Elanna turned and gave the diminutive woman a hug.
"Mind the robes," Lee chided her, as she straightened the gold colored stole she was wearing. "And be polite and introduce me to your friends."
B'Elanna and Lee's relationship had changed rather abruptly one day from acquaintances to friend and councilor; B'Elanna had needed someone to talk to about her guilt over the idea of leaving Voyager stranded in the Delta Quadrant if they chose to colonize. She had originally intended to talk to Maria, but the Hispanic woman had been busy and Lee had been available.
With Lee's assistance, B'Elanna had finally come to the conclusion that no matter how guilty she felt, she could not make a choice that would ultimately harm her unborn daughter. Yet, she still felt that she was abandoning her friends on Voyager. She and Lee had discussed these feelings during a second meeting. To her own surprise, B'Elanna had opened up and talked about her own childhood, her anger toward, and feelings of abandonment by her father.
That was when she found out why Seven held Lee in such high esteem. Pointing out her own seven year old daughter's behavior, Lee had bluntly told B'Elanna that she could expect similar things from her daughter as well, once she was born. Lee informed B'Elanna that she would hear 'I hate you' from the half-Klingon's own daughter many, many times over the course of raising her.
Lee used as an example Virginia's short temper tantrum the day before when her daughter had been frustrated, angry and afraid. B'Elanna had been in the area and had listened frozen, remembering her own past, as Virginia ranted at her mother. Then she had watched amazed as Lee talked to her daughter calmly in reply, and then pulled the girl into a hug when Virginia had started to cry.
Using that incident as a starting place, Lee had finally gotten B'Elanna to think about her father leaving from an adult viewpoint, instead of the childish one she had held onto for so long. No, she had never thought that Virginia actually hated her mother; she had seen from the child's face what she was feeling. No, she would never consider leaving her own child if they said that in a moment of frustration and anger. At the end of that session Lee had left her with the task of considering why her father might have decided to leave.
B'Elanna had struggled with the task, but in the end she had been surprised by the answers she wrote down. Primary among them had been that she would leave because she was hurting her child too much by fighting with the child's mother. Right after writing that down, she had cried in Seven's arms for the first time. It was a major turning point in her life, and since then she had went back to Lee several times to discuss her feelings about her father and mother.
"Elizabeth Scott, meet Captain Kathryn Janeway, Commander Chakotay…" she went on and introduced everyone.
"Well, hopefully I'll have time to talk to you after the ceremony, but I must be going." Lee excused herself and glanced meaningfully at B'Elanna.
"I think that's my cue as well," B'Elanna grinned, she had starting feeling slightly nervous earlier, but now she could no longer ignore it.
As they walked up the middle isle Sabrina, took firm hold of her arm and whispered in her ear, "I have Christina and Brenda stationed at the door if you try and run for it, so don't even think about it."
As it was meant to, it startled a laugh out of B'Elanna, relaxing her, "Didn't I say something similar a two weeks ago at your wedding?" she grinned at her friend. Like Sabrina was doing for her now, she had stood as best friend for Sabrina at her wedding with Anuhya.
"And for much the same reason," laughed Sabrina.
"Hey, you were looking a bit grey for a moment, not a good color on you." B'Elanna joked.
The rest of it was a daze of memory for B'Elanna. Making sure Mary had both of the rings. Waiting for the first appearance of Seven, and then watching stunned as Seven appeared in the long antique-white wedding gown that Evelyn had designed for her, so radiantly beautiful it took her breath away. Naomi, concentrating intently on making sure to scatter the flower petals evenly before Seven and Elizabeth, who was her escort. Finally they reached the end of the isle and Elizabeth placed Seven's hand in B'Elanna's, and they stepped up on the raised podium in front of Elizabeth Scott.
Of what Lee said during the ceremony, one thing stood out in B'Elanna's mind, "Cleave together during times of trouble, selflessly lend each other your strength, your courage, your honesty and love, and though you may be bowed and bloodied by adversity, you will overcome it together."
B'Elanna clearly recalled sliding a ring on Seven's finger, and Seven placing one on hers, then Lee was stating, "Before this community, I now pronounce you married."
They stepped toward one another, and B'Elanna's lips met Seven's in a long loving kiss. Slowly they parted staring into one another's eyes for long moment, then smiled in joy at one another, before turning and facing the gathering. Traditional rice was thrown at them during their walk back to the end of the isle much to Seven's bewilderment. As Seven had stated to B'Elanna earlier, the half-Klingon was not male, and did not need any supernatural assistance in making her pregnant since she was already pregnant.
After fifteen minutes of accepting congratulations from people, B'Elanna watched with a smile as Seven, noting Naomi staring longingly at the other children playing, walked over to her and offered to introduce the half-Ktarian. Seven and Samantha spoke for a moment then Seven took Naomi's hand and lead her over to introduce her to Virginia and Mary.
"She's really changed a lot from how I remember her on Voyager," Chakotay commented as he came over to her.
B'Elanna nodded, watching as Seven listened intently to something Virginia was saying to her. "She loves children; you should see her with Karen's youngest Heather," she pointed out Karen who happened to be holding Heather at that moment.
Maria walked up to them, "Tsk, tsk, lost her already to a younger woman." She teased B'Elanna.
B'Elanna laughed, "I can see that happening quite frequently." She nodded to Chakotay as he waved at her and then drifted away to talk to Captain Janeway.
"She is a very loving person, you are a lucky woman B'Elanna Torres," Maria informed her.
B'Elanna smiled softly watching her wife, savoring the fact that she could now use the word in her thoughts to refer to the blonde. "Believe me I know that," she replied to Maria.
Tom Paris stepped into her line of vision, "Nice wedding B'Elanna," he congratulated her.
"Thanks Tom," she replied and watched as he gazed at Seven.
He turned back toward her, "I didn't really understand why or how two days ago," he admitted. "Even though you told me about it, about how your perceptions of her changed, how you two became friends. I didn't really get it, but seeing Seven here, how relaxed she is around everyone, it is like seeing a different person." He trailed off.
"I love her," B'Elanna told him simply.
Tom nodded and smiled, "Yea, you told me that, I guess I didn't really believe it. But I do now, good luck, B'Elanna."
"Good luck to you too, I hope things go well with your father," B'Elanna stated.
"Thanks, I suspect I'll need it," He replied and took in a deep breath.
"On a jet plane?" Elizabeth's incredulous voice drew their attention, and with a glance at each other B'Elanna and Tom drifted over to hear what Kathryn and Elizabeth Janeway were discussing. Seven came up beside her as they approached the two women, and B'Elanna grinned at her, knowing that the blonde was just as curious as she and Tom.
"You have determined that you are related?" Seven calmly inquired as they approached.
Elizabeth stopped staring at Kathryn long enough to nod to Seven, "Yes we have, her ancestor Henry Janeway was my father William Janeway's brother, and my uncle. I went to see Henry and Shannon in May of 2006 at Portage Creek, Indiana while they were still building the Millennium Gate."
Elizabeth turned back to Captain Janeway, "I think we should go for a walk, we can go to my office and share a glass of cognac and whatever poison you prefer and discuss this, I'm afraid your Aunt Martha had a somewhat embellished version of Henry and Shannon's first meeting."