Disclaimer: I am not making any money of this fic, nor do I own Star Trek: Voyager, Deep Space Nine, The Next Generation or the original series, or anything else I make references to. If you saw the character on any show, then it is not mine. The same goes for ships, planets, cultures, et cetera. This story will depict a loving relationship between two women and there are no apologies to be made over this. Chapter 20 title is is from "Dried Up, Tied And Dead To The World" by Marilyn Manson, whom I don't think anyone owns.
Genre: Action-Adventure, Drama
Codes: K/7, T/7
Feedback: Please, reviews are the food of the muse… but flames are for candles!
Extra Disclaiming Note: All chapter titles are NOT owned by me and are owned, respectively, by the bands who wrote/played them and their record companies.
Home, Chapter 20
I'll be your lover, I'll be forever, I'll be tomorrow...
"It wasn't always about chocolate and rainbows." Seven sat up in bed, startled. Who had said that? She looked over at B'Elanna, sleeping quietly, the entire sheet wrapped around her like a great tortilla. She realized she had been dreaming. She shook off the dream and leaned down to kiss B'Elanna awake. The woman groaned and wrinkled her nose adorably. "I must begin my shift," Seven said quietly. B'Elanna responded by rolling over and wrapping her body around Seven, pinning her effectively to the bed. After a week, Seven had thought B'Elanna might tire of this tactic, but was pleased to see she hadn't. "I love you, too, but I must—"
"Lay here and cuddle me."
"Obviously." Seven answered, smiling slightly. She carefully disengaged herself from B'Elanna's grasp, kissing her over and over in an effort to distract her (and for the pure joy of it). Finally, she was free and began dressing. B'Elanna watched for a few minutes, then got up and joined her in the land of not-naked. Seven mourned briefly.
In the last week, they had fine tuned the antimatter torpedoes and learned nothing about tracking their enemy. Ship's efficiency was at 120, but… they didn't rest easy. Luii had caught up and sent back the non-essential Shashans to their homes, staying on with Voyager and Jessica. He had brought their daughter with him, the only child they had borne together. She was an odd black and white spotted mix, with Jessica's golden hair and Luii's red spots. A winged unicorn graced her throat as her House mark.
The couple walked out of B'Elanna's quarters just as something hit the ship. Seven caught B'Elanna before she hit the wall. They ran for the lift. Seven got off on the floor for Astrometrics, pecking a kiss on B'Elanna as she left. She jogged to her station and stopped when the Red Alert Klaxon was accompanied by Janeway's call for all Bridge officers to their stations. She turned and ran back for the lift, waiting a few moments for it to return. The ship rocked again and she was tossed to the floor. She heard as well as felt the torpedoes fire. There was an extra rumble as the shielding of the altered weapons ground against the tubes. The Paraepersk. Visions of the sensor readings and what was left of the Shashan ship flashed through Seven's mind. A shiver of terror ran up her spine. She fell out onto the bridge unceremoniously when the ship was struck again.
"Our shields aren't going to hold!" Harry screamed. Seven worked the controls as fast as she could, but the ship wasn't there! She wanted to hit something—no doubt a reaction caused by the bad influence of her significant other. But she couldn't find anything to hit.
"Fire!" Again the rumble, then a shockwave as the shot hit home.
"We have made contact," Tuvok announced, unnecessarily. More were fired, more hit their mark, and Voyager exploded around them. Then suddenly, it was over. The viewscreen showed the ship, black and near invisible, fleeing.
"We didn't die, now did we, you bastards!" Janeway exclaimed, shoving her tousled hair behind her ear.
"Their proclamation does seem to have been made false," Tuvok agreed. Seven didn't know why, but she laughed. Eyes traveled to her, but she started them down, a small smile on her face. She had the Paraepersk ship's subspace signature. She had every right to be happy.
…
"We aren't very far from the Dyrakel. We have to assume that whatever the Paraepersk have in mind—"
"They want to rule the universe." Jessica was matter-of-fact in her statement. No one argued.
"Thank you, Queen Obvious," B'Elanna muttered. Jessica stuck out her tongue.
"They are most likely going to destroy the entire planet," Kathryn finished, a little perturbed. "We have to stop that, at any cost. But Voyager's warp engines are down. It could be days before we get there."
"So you send a hunting party, with just one of those damn torpedoes. I'll put it on the ship myself this time," Jessica said.
"You can't shift through their shields," Luii admonished. Jessica shrugged.
"They won't know we're there."
"You can't fool sensors—" Luii continued.
"I can make them not able to read their sensors—"
"An entire ship? You'd be drained—"
"If my ancestor can think someone out of existence, then I can—"
"Enough!" Everyone turned to Captain Janeway. "We have to stop them, Prime Directive or anything else be damned. I will not watch genocide or take the chance that these beings will take over control of the universe, change the fabric of space/time or whatever they are after. I will not do it and there will be no debate over the subject." Kathryn took a deep breath and continued. "I will pilot the shuttle. Jessica will come with me. Anyone else is a volunteer, but to be honest, I need B'Elanna's expertise on the torpedoes and Seven's sensor data." Seven and B'Elanna nodded their willingness to 'volunteer'. "Chakotay, Tuvok, you are needed on this ship and I cannot let you accompany us," Janeway continued, cutting the two men off. Tuvok merely raised an eyebrow. Chakotay nodded, seeing that this was not the time to argue.
"Then it's settled. Let's go," Jessica said, rising. Everyone rose.
"Meet in shuttlebay one in thirty minutes. Dismissed."
…
Everyone had people to say goodbye to, or write those 'just-in-case' letters to. Even Seven said good-bye to Icheb, Naomi and Neelix before spending fifteen minutes 'saying hello' with B'Elanna. They barely arrived in time, B'Elanna still checking to make sure her uniform was straight. Jessica wiggled an eyebrow at B'Elanna, who ignored her, pointedly.
They boarded the shuttle and took off, no problems. Seven tracked the ship and within an hour, they had caught up. None of them had expected it all to happen so fast, but they were staring down the black ship's hull as B'Elanna aligned the shields to the specifications Jessica stole from the Paraepersk operations officer and they slipped in, seemingly unnoticed.
Jessica prepared to place the torpedo as B'Elanna finished up the last adjustments on the timer. There was a thick air of apprehension laying like a blanket over the four women. Jessica was drumming her claws on the space suit whose helmet she has yet to don when they were hit. The shuttle dislodged from the hull and every woman dove to her station.
"They're throwing mines from the windows," Jessica said. She had taken the tactical/operations stations, the ones she had trained for in Starfleet. Another hit the unshielded shuttle before Jessica finished keying in the shielding sequence. They had been running on minimum power to avoid detection, which was apparently wasted. The station in front of Seven blew, sending the former drone flying into the captain, who hit her head on a bulkhead and fell, unconscious, to the floor. Seven wasn't moving.
Jessica had the shields up now and had time to look over at Seven, cradled in B'Elanna's arms. Seven was going to die, Jessica knew. She sat there, concentrating, and time slipped away. She stood and walked over to the pair, watching B'Elanna move painfully slowly to look at her. She came back into time and knelt by the couple.
"Give me a medkit, fast!" B'Elanna yelled. Jessica looked sadly at her, reaching out and touching Seven. Her mind shot into the drone's body, feeling the nanoprobe shutdown, the beginnings of organ failure. Nothing a medkit could fix. Hell, she wasn't sure that the doctor could. She let it show in her eyes. B'Elanna shrunk back, pulling Seven closer. "No! Give me—" Obediently, Jessica handed over a medical tricorder from the kit. B'Elanna began scanning, tears running down her face. Seven's eyes opened.
"B'El—" Seven managed, then sighed and gasped. B'Elanna looked at Jessica.
"Fix her." Jessica looked at B'Elanna. "Now!"
"She wouldn't want that, Bel. You don't want me—"
"Don't fucking tell me what I want or don't want and I don't give a fuck what she wants. You fix her, now!" Seven looked at Jessica, fear in her eyes. Jessica sagged. Anything for a zhanal, even one from long ago. She could never say no to someone she loved. She let the fangs descend, felt the toxin swell in her sacs.
"This will hurt," Jessica told Seven. "But the doctor knows how to reverse it." The ship shook and B'Elanna looked at the panel readings.
"Voyager is here. And we're at the anomaly." Jessica's teeth sank into Seven's tender flesh at her neck. She released the toxin. Seven buckled and began to scream as the neurotoxin began attacking her red blood cells. Jessica ripped open her vein and pressed it to Seven's mouth. At first, the ex-Borg spat it out, but as she felt the pain receding in response to the already converted blood, she latched on. Her wounds began healing, though her nanoprobes began rejecting, bleeding from her skin like sweat. She hungrily took the blood, not noticing that Jessica was becoming weaker and weaker.
B'Elanna noticed. She had her eyes locked with Jessica's, watching the color pale and leave. She felt her heart rip in two as Jessica fulfilled her request. At the last moment, Seven sat up, her blue eyes glowing. She opened her mouth to speak, but all B'Elanna saw was the two new little fangs that had grown. Just like a vampire. Jessica got up, obviously barely able to move. The torpedo disappeared. B'Elanna looked at her.
"No—" but it was too late. She was sitting on Voyager, in the middle of the infirmary with Janeway and Seven. She ran for the bridge. Once there, she watched as the Paraepersk ship drifted, a huge hole in its side, caused by that torpedo, towards the anomaly. She cried as it slid in and disappeared. She heard in her mind, every crew member heard:
"Make a wish. Wish that Voyager was Home…" And then they were. B'Elanna screamed and fell to the deck, pounding it with both her fists. She felt someone lift her, restraining her and barely noticed Tuvok holding her, not tightly. She felt the calm of his mind brush hers lightly, knowing it was a residual of the Shashan's power that she left when she died.
…
"It happened so fast."
"Starfleet is sending the Enterprise to welcome us home."
"Oh, god, how can I see it? It was her first home…"
"She's in a better place, B'Elanna. You know that she suffered every day here. She would rather have gone out like that than to have died from some stupid disease." B'Elanna looked up at Harry.
"I don't want her to be dead."
"She saved me." Every eye turned to Seven. "In every way I could ever have been saved." Seven no longer had to regenerate—her Borg systems had been fried by the explosion and the vennst toxin had healed her of the rest. She was human. "I, too, mourn her death."
"Whose death?" asked a small voice. Seven, B'Elanna and Harry all looked down at Alexandra. She was dressed in white and somehow, looked regal, despite her small stature.
"Your mother's," B'Elanna answered, a little confused. Xandra laughed.
"My mother's not dead." All eyes turned to her. "She entered the anomaly alive. I heard her wish to be free of the Vaggimort. Then I felt her everywhere."
"What do you mean?"
"My mother isn't dead. She changed. She moved on." Alexandra was obviously struggling to put the concept into words. She shrugged and walked off, but paused long enough to answer one last question.
"Will we ever see her again?" B'Elanna asked.
"She'll always be there. Tomorrow."
Epilogue: The Maquis Members of the Voyager crew were given a pardon and those who chose to keep their field ranks were allowed to. Kathryn Janeway was promoted to Admiral and teaches a course on the Delta Quadrant at Starfleet Academy, as well as Borg Studies. Tuvok returned home to his wife and children, leaving Starfleet. Chakotay earned a command of his own, having his Captaincy reinstated. Neelix opened a restaurant that is frequented by Ferengi, Klingons, Romulans and Trill the most, although all races are welcome and it is renowned for its neutrality. Lieutenant Kim became the operations officer for the Enterprise E, following the destruction of its previous officer. B'Elanna Torres and Seven of Nine were married and assigned to the starship Dracco, designed by Lieutenant Torres herself.
All other members of Voyager were reunited with their families and reassigned. Icheb entered the Academy after passing the entrance exams and is majoring in the new field of Astrometrics.
The End.