A Perfect Mate – Chapters 6-10

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.

Warning: Contains f/f ?… f/m?... situations between… err consider yourself generally warned of sexual content.

Rating: M (Mature teen and older)

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:

Notes: Experimental work: development of culture for non humanoid race; androgynous character. Sources for Rana behavior would include lion prides, wolf packs, and the behaviors of chimpanzee and gorilla groups.

Chapter 6

I was pleased later when Seven, as I had, shed her clothing before lying down with me to sleep. Our dream time that night started out strangely tentatively given what had happened during the day or perhaps because of what happened during the day. There was a hesitant acknowledgement of the changed relationship between us and the feelings for each other that went along with it.

I think Seven was surprised to find that I had been entirely sincere when I said that I had not guessed I would feel so much for my mate and that I had been extremely proud to introduce her to my parents. After the initial hesitancy there was a sense of discovery as we explored each others feelings and memories of the day. By the time we were done we were comfortable again with each other, and I felt as close to her in the dream state as I knew I was physically close to her.

A self depreciating sense of amusement came from Seven and I got the image of a human male, dark haired and dark eyed looking panicked as Seven asked him whether or not he was in love with her. Then he looked even more panicked as she asked whether he wished to copulate and instructed him to take off his clothing. He fled right after Seven assured him that she wouldn't hurt him.

I was confused as a Rana would not look at another Rana in such a manner unless they were supposed to be mates. Seven's emotions in the memory were ones of curiosity and the feeling that the male was acceptable but not any strong feelings of affection beyond a mild one.

Seven sensed my confusion and slight hurt, "I would not do such a thing now," she reassured me. "Humans, unlike Rana, copulate for recreation and there need not be any permanent relationship desired. I was curious about the physical process and wanted to research copulation but now I am pleased that Ensign Kim did not accept my proposal."

Behind her words was the clear sense that she had not realized there was anything significant to the physical act. She had simply been curious as to what it entailed and why humans though it was so important, so she had wanted to experience it herself. However after today, she understood why humans attached so much importance to the act of physical intimacy.

There was a sense of genuine thankfulness toward the male that he had not accepted her offer, she acknowledged that it might have been a pleasurable experience but it would not have been anything like what she had experienced this morning. Feeling her contrasting the cool clinical curiosity of herself then with the memories of the intense need she had felt for my touch this morning, my confused feelings and hurt vanished.

"I am your mate," Seven assured me with no hesitation.

I was content until I remembered Voyagers alpha and her possible reaction.

A sense of resolve came from Seven, "I will not allow her to part us."

Then images came into her mind of her alpha saying to her, "Have you ever thought about trying it yourself? Romance I mean."

Close behind came Seven's hopeful thought that perhaps once Captain Janeway saw the two of us together she would have no more objections. Then hesitantly Seven asked me, "Your family…"

I understood immediately what she meant; seeing me with my parents and sisters tonight had shown her how close I was to them. She was confused now about what to do since she did not want to ask me to leave them to go with her but she could see no way for her to stay here and she wasn't certain that she wanted to leave Voyager.

"I am your mate," I told her and knew that she understood I was telling her I would go wherever she decided. Then I asked curiously, "What is this romance?"

"I am uncertain, the official meaning is to give gifts to the object of one's affection, to do things that express ones love, to speak eloquently about one's feelings, but I have not experienced romance.

Then she hesitated and I felt a sense of wonder from her.

"I am incorrect, according to what I just stated I have experienced romance," Seven regarded me warmly and I saw flashes of me offering her kaltan seeds and my words to her before we walked into my parents' camp.

I felt a quick flare of pleasure at this then I had to ask another question, "What is love?"

After hearing her confused explanation I realized she was not certain she understood what love was. I rumbled at her affectionately and said, "Then I love you, for I feel all those things toward you. We do not have a word though for them, they are just part of what one feels for ones mate."

I felt her wonder and a seeking search from her as the dream connection faded and I began to waken. Not that it was that unpleasant for I was still holding Seven in my arms and I caught my breath as she stretched against me and her eyes drifted open. When they focused on me I could see them darken and Seven's hand which had been curled up on my arm opened and she pressed it palm first over where my heart beat.

"You love me," she said wonderingly.

I had seen something from her while she was thinking of what romance was, two humans a male and female with their lips pressed together in something called a kiss. Her eyes widened some as my face approached hers, then I paused for a moment, "I doubt I will do this correctly."

Her lips twitched and her amusement was reflected in her eyes, "Then further experimentation will be needed until satisfactory results can be obtained."

"Ah," I replied satisfied and then touched my lips to hers. I did not know the specifics of what to expect, only what she had read and what she had witnessed between the members of Voyager. I was surprised when the feel of her lips on mine proved to be as pleasurable an experience as it was. Encouraged by the feeling I tried moving my lips against hers, the results of which led by necessity to further experimentation. By the time we broke apart I felt that I had a decent understanding of the process and that humans should be congratulated for coming up with the idea.

"Seeker," Seven said to me softly and pulled me down again for another long series of kisses. Afterwards I found out that she responded very well to kisses placed anywhere on her neck and especially well to those placed just below her ear. Looking at her with her head thrown back and her eyes closed, her lips slightly parted and her neck arched toward me, I found my breath catching in my throat at how beautiful she was.

I could not do anything else but lower my lips to the offered skin and trail my way slowly down until they rested over the hollow of her throat where I felt her pulse beating strongly.

There I swirled my tongue around the depression and listened with satisfaction to the moan this produced. I worked my way slowly down towards her breasts and was rewarded with further vocalizations. By the time I was resting between her thighs the sounds she was making had a pleading tone that I was quite happy to satisfy. I had been touching her for a few moments when I felt an increasing pressure within my groin.

Confused I paused and gasped causing Seven to open her eyes and question, "Seeker?"

I did not verbally answer her but moved up along her body until I was pressed intimately against her. I could see the question in her eyes, then they widened as her question was answered. By then I was focused on the incredible sensation of such a sensitive part of me being inside her.

I moaned overcome with the sensation of her around me and dazedly opened my eyes to look into Seven's. They were wide, and the deep blue I now associated with full arousal, and there was a startled expression in them which disappeared as my instincts took over and I began to move.

I think we were both lost then within the sensations, acting more on the ageless instinct of the mating dance that our bodies knew even if our minds did not. When she came I felt a sharp moment of pleasure, then thought left me as the sensitivity became suddenly magnified.

I opened my eyes and heard a yowling moan erupting from my throat and dimly realized it was mirrored by a similar moan from Seven. The sounds she made, and the way she felt under me became my world for the next few minutes.

When she came the second time and called my name out in an almost desperate tone there was enough thought left in me to respond, "Seven," softly. Then I had to call out her name again, this time matching the volume and tone of her cry as I felt as if I was pouring out my very self within her.

Suddenly the pleasure I was experiencing became more powerful and it seemed as if I hung motionless, lost within it for a brief eternity. I became aware of Seven underneath me arched against me as I was arched against her both of us totally caught up in the moment. I felt myself inside her, over her, the solid strength of me above her as she held on to me. The intensity of the pleasure she was feeling which mirrored my own.

I realized that she was feeling my experience of her as I was feeling her experience of me, and then we 'looked' at each other and I thought 'the mating bond.' Suddenly the motionless quality of the experience ended and a swirl of intense pleasure caught both of us up in its grip and tossed us about together then gently let us down and I felt myself withdrawing from within her.

I became aware of my surroundings once again; I was sweat drenched, and holding myself above Seven on arms that quivered with exhaustion. Seven's eyes fluttered open and she stared up at me. The bond between us had faded, but it was not entirely gone for I could still sense her emotions. In Seven's eyes was the same wonder and awe that I was feeling.

I lowered myself to lie beside her and gently stroked her face feeling overwhelmed with emotion at how beautiful she was and how much I felt for her. Seven reached up and touched my face and I felt an answering surge of emotion from her. A bead of moisture welled from her eye and ran down the side of her face followed by a few more as she looked into my face. Curious I reached over and wiped her face and tasted my fingers, they were salty and I looked at her inquiringly.

Seven touched her own face and looked at her moist fingers surprised, "Tears." I looked at her puzzled and she explained further, "Humans produce them sometimes when experiencing intense emotions." Seven paused looking thoughtful the continued, "I do not remember having cried before."

At a loss for what to do I went with my instincts and leaned down to kiss her.

When we stopped Seven gave me an amused look, "Will that be your reaction whenever you are confused about how to respond to me?"

I had forgotten that the bond gave her as much information about my emotions as it gave me of hers and I paused surprised for a moment then rumbled in amusement at myself. "That does not sound like a bad idea," I said grinning lazily at her, and I knew my merriment was quiet apparent to her.

An odd sound came out of her and I felt her astonishment at making it. "I…" Seven paused and then continued, "I believe I just laughed."

I rumbled at her curiously.

"It means the same as," Seven made a rumble of amusement.

"Ah, you have been amused at me quite frequently," I told her.

She raised her brow at me, "It is not surprising that I should laugh, you mean, perhaps not." I felt sadness from her, "I have not laughed since I was a child."

"I am glad then that I provided a reason for you to laugh again," I told her. She responded with a wider smile than usual then ran a hand over my hair. We were both keeping a certain distance from each other as we were both sweat soaked and finally I acknowledged it. "Bathe?" I asked simply.

Seven nodded empathically and sat up looking with disgust at her clothing and I knew she was thinking of how unpleasant it would be to try and dress in the tight clothing while sweaty.

"Why not wear clothing like you gave me?" I asked curiously as I pulled on the pants and decided not to wear the shirt.

I could feel indecision from her as she started to reply, "I require the bio suit to…" and trailed off.

"To?" I prompted curiously.

"Help cleanse my skin. But I find that I enjoy bathing," Seven turned and opened one of the panels and after a moment pulled herself out a top, pants and boots pulled them on. She picked up the bag that she had simply placed out of the way, and with only an amused, appreciative look at my bare chest, indicated that we should proceed to the pool.

Chapter 7

The remainder of the day was spent in repairing the environmental controls in the shuttle and working on retrieving more of the data from the data cube. Just as night was falling we were able to repair the controls, and as chill as the air was becoming it was nice to close the shuttle door and let the shuttle warm back up to a comfortable temperature.

We were able to obtain more information from the data cube as well, specifically information about the original Rana. They had been studied quite thoroughly by Katara's race due to their adaptive abilities and capacity to produce a variety of chemical substances. One of these was a paralytic agent secreted in their saliva which had the effect of calming and sedating their prey, allowing them to take down much larger animals than they would be able to otherwise. Seven looked thoughtful as she read this and I knew we were both thinking it was probably the precursor to what was in my saliva now.

The original Rana possessed the ability physically adapt to changes in their environment, making physical modifications over the course of a few days when needed. Examples by other researchers that were cited in Katara's notes, included developing oily hair when the weather turned wetter and modifying their feet into grasping hand when they discovered a new food source in trees.

When the next researcher had visited them, 100 years later, he initially thought the Rana had died out but then realized that the entire population had made an evolutionary jump. They were no longer a foot tall but three foot tall and their appearance had markedly changed as had their general intelligence level. This report was what had prompted Katara to capture some of these new Rana and bring them to this planet to study.

That night was the first night that we did not dream together; instead when we both woke the bond between us was stronger. Our mating that morning was interspersed with pauses as we adjusted to being able to feel each other's reactions. Seven found out how much I enjoyed listening to her and I found out how sensitive her breasts were to touch and that she had frequently wanted me to linger there longer.

She was resting on my chest afterwards when she made the statement, "I believe we can reduce the time we spend mating to 20 minutes thus increasing our efficiency by 97."

I thought about her statement and then rumbled in amusement at her. I glided my hands along her sides and stopped with my thumbs stroking the sides of her breasts and smiled lazily at her. "I apply efficiency to tasks I do not enjoy doing for long periods of time," I informed her thinking of how much I enjoyed our slow explorative mating this morning and knowing that she knew what I was thinking.

Seven looked at me out of eyes that had gotten a shade bluer at my touch and thoughts, "I failed to consider certain… aspects of our mating. Twenty minutes may be insufficient time." Seven arched her back more, inviting my further touch on her breasts. "Perhaps further study is needed?" she tried to keep a distant tone but failed as her breath hitched in the middle of the statement and she gasped when I obeyed her unspoken request.

I felt a warm rush of love go through me as I looked up at her, then I rolled over, placing her beneath me and hovered over one breast, "Twenty minutes?" I lowered my mouth and spent the next several minutes caressing them, we were both aware of time passing.

"Perhaps efficiency cannot be applied to this activity," Seven acceded just before I was going to ask her if she wanted me to continue even though I knew that she did. I rumbled my agreement and we mated for the second time that morning, and it took much longer than 20 minutes.

After we bathed Seven concentrated on getting the communications system working and just after we paused to eat she was able to activate what she called an emergency distress beacon. That task accomplished we worked on finishing repairs on various systems in the shuttle.

My contribution was to hand Seven the tools she needed and to listen as she tried to explain what she was doing. Sometimes I understood what she was telling me and sometimes I did not. I could tell she was making internal notes of what I did not understand and was not surprised when she compiled another padd and gave it to me to study in the afternoon.

Seven continued working and I was aware of a growing sense of unease from her but she refused to discuss it until she studied more of the data the shuttle had recorded during its turbulent trip down to the surface. Later in the evening I dropped my padd and rushed over to her when I felt emotions of stunned dismay from her.

"Seven?" I asked kneeling beside her as she looked blankly at the data in front of her.

Finally she answered, "If this information is accurate then that was not an ion storm as I initially thought but a type of temporal anomaly." Seven paused for a long moment and then scrolled though the data again, "If I am correct it spans this entire system, the time differential between the area enclosed by the anomaly and normal space ranges from 1:31269 to 1:308.69635"

I puzzled out the math and understood suddenly her stunned dismay, "Anywhere from three to around three hundred days occurs here for every day that passes outside the anomaly." We were both silent and I felt a sense of panic start in at the thought of what might happen to her. "It will go away?" I asked.

"Yes," Seven replied. I looked at her questioningly at the short answer. "From my calculations the anomaly will dissipate in approximately seven to ten days normal time, a month to eight years our time. Considering the rate of fluctuation in the time differential, I believe one to five years is probable." We were both silent as we struggled with what this might mean to us, to Seven. "If I use parts from the shuttle I can create a replicator, then I will be able to build the equipment we need to maintain my implants," Seven said to me breaking through the rising frustration and fear I was beginning to feel.

Her words calmed me and I thought about them for a few moments, "You can train me how to take care of them?"

"Yes, I am familiar with every procedure the Doctor on Voyager used to maintain and correct misalignments in my implants and can easily teach you these skills," Seven informed me.

We were both silent for a moment considering the situation, I was thinking that if the minimum time we would spend here was a year perhaps we should consider a more permanent den as I looked around the small interior of the shuttle.

"The hull of the shuttle is comprised of several layers of duranium and tritanium. If we separate these layers we can easily construct a permanent shelter," Seven said in answer to my thoughts.

I considered the area the shuttle had landed in, it was not what I would call an ideal location for a den, though it was close to several food sources it was not close to water. A certain location, located on the other side of the stream from here came to mind. The land there rose from the stream to a flat area dotted with tall trees, and then it climbed upward to the east where there was a small mountain range.

"You wish to build there?" asked Seven.

I rumbled an agreement, "We are too far away from the stream here. There we will have shade during the day for coolness, protection from the wind and it is close to the grasslands for kaltan seed. Mura root grows just downstream from there as well and there is plenty of game both in the trees and nearer the mountain. The views from there are pleasant as well, one can look far out over the grassland and the mountain side has its own beauty."

Seven considered what I had said and nodded, "The attractiveness of the view is irrelevant to me but your other points are well reasoned. Repairs to the maneuvering thrusters would make it possible to move the shuttle to the site, greatly facilitating the fabrication of a permanent abode there."

I was slightly dismayed that she would not appreciate the view but otherwise pleased that she agreed with my reasoning for moving there from this site. I yawned and looked at her in embarrassed surprise.

Seven's lips curled upward in a smile and I felt a wave of agreement from her, "It has been a long day, I am also fatigued." She sighed lightly, "Even though I find the view irrelevant I know that it is not to you, from your thoughts I will no doubt find it aesthetically pleasing to look out over the grasslands and at the mountains."

The next two days were spent almost exclusively in repairing the systems of the shuttle that would be needed to move it the distance from here to where we planned on building our den. The morning after our decision after we had bathed at the stream we crossed to the other side and went up the hill to examine it in person, Seven looked around the spot I had thought of and declared it very suitable. And though she had declared the views to be irrelevant, I thought I detected a sense of pleasure from her as she looked around the area.

The morning of the day we were to move the shuttle it occurred to me to wonder how much grooming we both needed to maintain our health. We had been mating every morning but I no longer groomed her as I had the first few days. Seven looked at me curiously catching that I was wondering about something but not exactly what. When I explained it to her she paused to run the tricorder over us both.

There was surprised surge of emotion from her, "You are still producing the substance but the chemical dependencies which necessitated grooming are no longer present."

I was picking up much more extreme and fluctuating emotions from her than this would seem to warrant, and I moved over to place an arm about her shoulders and rumble at her questioningly.

"Perhaps it was superseded by development of the telepathic bond," Seven stated and then paused. "The tricorder picked up three embryos in my uterus, I am pregnant."

She seemed stunned and I had to dampen down a wild surge of elation and joy for I knew from her feelings that she was far from pleased at this. In fact I would guess the predominant emotion coming from her was… fear. I gently pulled her around until she was facing me and lifted her face to mine. "I love you, I am your mate. You will not be bearing and raising our children alone, you have me to help you, you have Softfur and Scarface who have six children of their own to teach you and answer your questions."

Seven appeared slightly reassured by this and I let go of the control over my emotions I had been keeping and let her feel the joy and elation I felt at knowing we were to have children. "I look forward to curling up with you and our children, to helping you nurse them".

"You will lactate as well?" asked Seven with clear surprise.

I tilted my head at her, "Of course, both Rana parents nurse their children. Rana children grow fast and need more nourishment than one parent could possibly provide alone. When you are near birth I will develop milk to help you with providing food for them."

For some reason I could not understand this seemed to reassure her more than all my previous statements and she finally leaned into my arms and rested her head against my chest. "How fast do Rana children develop?"

"By thirteen full turns of the seasons we are considered adults and ready to begin rann of our own, though most of us do not until we are twenty to thirty full turns of the seasons," I answered her. "I myself will be twenty six full turns… years old this season."

"Do Rana always give birth to triplets?" Seven asked.

"Usually yes," I answered. "Our young are born small," I spaced out my hands indicating a small bundle less than a foot tall, "and then grow very quickly after birth."

Seven nodded looking reassured and I gathered from her thoughts that she had started to be worried about the physical process of giving birth to three children.

"Do you know what the average gestation period is?" asked Seven as she ran the tricorder more closely over herself.

I looked at her somewhat blankly not understanding her words but then caught the impression from her thoughts of what she meant. "I am not certain as I never asked Softfur, but this last time it was only four months from when it became apparent she was pregnant to when my sisters were born."

Seven examined the data and looked thoughtful, "If the rate of development continues then the gestational period would appear to be around 180 days." Seven looked seriously at me, "It is important that we complete our shelter before…" Seven took in a breath and looked lost for a moment before composing herself, "our children are born."

Seven threw herself into preparing the shuttle after that and I understood that she needed time to accept that she was to be a mother. I was feeling the occasional wave of inadequacy myself at the thought of being so completely responsible for three beings until they sought to make rann of their own. I knew she was feeling more out of depth than I was and working on the shuttle was her way of distracting herself from dwelling on the situation.

After all that had come before, the actual shuttle move was anti-climatic, I found it exciting and Seven even relaxed enough to smile at my obvious enjoyment of my first flight.

Seven carefully maneuvered the shuttle among the trees and set it down close to the area we had selected for our settlement. Opening the shuttle door we stepped out and Seven began to survey the area with her tricorder. I picked up a sense of surprise from her as she turned toward the mountain range and frowned slightly. "There are kelbonite deposits present in that direction, it is interfering with my tricorder readings when I try to scan toward the mountain range. Perhaps in the future we may wish to make use of them if we desire to shield our technology from sensor scans of the planet."

I caught in her mind that she was thinking of the Borg and other not so friendly alien races that might visit or raid once the temporal storm cleared. I had no idea how likely this was but I certainly understood her caution.

Seven knelt and scanned one of the outcroppings of rock, "I suspect the mountain range is rich in several types of metallic deposits, I am picking up traces of tanium alloy, garnesite and mizainite ore. This area appears to be unusually rich in metallic elements it will make building a shelter much easier as we can use local materials as stock for the replicator once it is built."

The initial plans she had for a building I found… well ugly, they were functional but did not blend into the landscape. I would have acquiesced to the design none the less but Seven stared into my face and I know she felt my dismay at the thought of building that here, even though I tried to hide it because I did not want to hurt her.

"Voyager visited several different worlds in the past two years, perhaps a building style from one of those planets would be more pleasing," Seven hesitated and I could sense her thinking hard then her mood lightened from where it had fallen at my reaction to her design. "If I build the replicator first I can replicate materials that are more suited to building a shelter than the shuttle hull. It is not necessary to use duranium or tritanium as building materials for a shelter, the material density is not needed. I know of several materials whose properties are much more suitable. If we use the duranium and tritanium in the hull as stocks for the replicator I can produce three to four times the footage area than they would have provided, as well as making use of the local metallic ores."

"Seven?" I sent a questioning thought to her wordlessly asking whether she was still hurt over my initial reaction. I was definitely feeling like a bad mate for having had it in the first place and hurting her and was more than willing to go with her initial design if she wanted to.

"You strongly dislike the design yet you are willing to proceed because you do not want to hurt my emotions," Seven walked up to me and placed a hand on my chest and stared up at me with a soft look in her eyes. "If we built my initial design you would feel dismay whenever you looked upon it because it was not harmonious with the surroundings. Why would I want to build something that you will dislike? This will be our… and our children's home. We will reach a compromise that will satisfy both our needs." Seven smirked slightly, "By using other building materials we can build a more extensive building than what would be possible using the hull in its current form, and one that is more technologically complete."

I wasn't certain what she meant by the last and I had the feeling that she was not either, but I got the definite feeling she was currently thinking about what things she would like to have available in our home.

A thoughtful look passed over Seven's face and she turned to me, "When I first came aboard Voyager I was curious about Earth, specifically the region my parents came from. Several of the pictures I looked at were of 'Nordic' design, perhaps something of this design would suit. Lt. Paris also let me explore his Swiss Chalet program, the chalet was similar in design and I believe you would find the use of wood floors and exposed wood beams in the ceiling pleasing."

I closed my eyes better to concentrate on what Seven was thinking about and I felt a moment of confusion from her then she realized what I was attempting and I felt her focus intently on picturing in her mind the images she had seen. The cross shaped house was built of wood and stone, blending into the land around it. Its steeply pitched roof gave each wing of the building a triangular look from the end and made extensive use of a transparent material, allowing one to see inside the house and anyone inside to see out. A wide deck skirted the building narrowing in between the wings and widening into a larger area in front of each end.

Next Seven began imagining the inside of the house, wooden floors, wood and stone walls, the ceilings followed the pitch of the roof and soared high above the floor giving space to the room. I could see she was thinking that the longest wing would face out looking over the stream and would be where the food preparation and general living area would be, the transparent material, or windows I realized they were called would give an excellent view of the landscape from inside the house. The remaining wings would be our personal living area looking out to the mountains, an area for the children and a general use area.

Not surprisingly that was the design we agreed upon, I liked the way the materials blended into their surroundings and I believe Seven was pleased to use a design from her human heritage. We both agreed that the house should face the stream as she had first thought and look downhill. That end of the house would take the place of the area in front of a den, an area where the family would eat and do tasks together. Seven used Voyager as a guide for what areas of the house we needed; the main area would be functionally similar to the mess hall and the briefing room. We would need areas to serve as quarters and she began making plans for building indoor bathing and personal waste disposal, or toilets as she called them.

Chapter 8

The first few days were spent tearing apart the systems of the shuttle and building what I thought was a rather large temporary shelter for the replicator. Seven catching my curiosity explained that the replicator she was able to build from the shuttle parts would not be a very good one but it would hopefully be accurate enough to replicate the parts for an actual replicator.

We had to move conduits and close up access panels to sleep every night but eventually after a few days the first replicator was finished. Seven spent a further week designing and replicating the parts for what she called an industrial sized replicator on the opposite wall. Building one this large Seven informed me would allow us to build in a modular form producing large sections that would only need to be joined together.

Seven had worked extensively on the design of the house eventually coming up with one that she felt was efficient and one that I felt was comfortable. Seven had noted that I had little use for chairs and would almost always sit on the floor instead of in a chair but benches or raised flat areas were more acceptable seating areas than the floor. Using this she designed the main area of the house around multiple levels that would provide cushioned places to sit or lie upon and flat areas to work upon.

She also placed the kitchen along the interior corner of the main room so that when either of us prepared food we were able to look out over the main area and out the windows. The back of the house was where our quarters were located, and initially where our children would sleep. Doors led to large rooms to the left and right of the main living area, one would be the children's room and the other would be a general purpose area with a medical, engineering and scientific stations. The children's room was entirely open except for a large bathing area in the back corner, their view would be of the forest.

Keeping with the multilevel idea in our quarters Seven designed a low bed that was built up around the edges and then formed a large depressed circular area for sleeping. She also designed several of these in multiple sized for the children to sleep in that could easily be made larger as they grew.

For power Seven built a solar power collector, she seemed very proud of the design as when it was completed it extended itself upward and deployed transparent collectors just above the tree canopy. There were three of these and she took care to place them in the exterior corners of our home so they would not obstruct the view we had of the mountains, forest or stream.

It took us four months of hard work, and several helpful visits by Scarface, Softfur and the entire rann who assisted us with intent curiosity to move and place the support beams for the house and then the wood and rock textured floors and walls. They all commented on how much simpler finding a cavern would be rather than building an above ground one but I noticed them looking appreciatively at the wood and rock exterior more than once.

It was during this time that Seven shared with me her experiences on Voyager, she had seen and experienced a lot during her two years aboard Voyager. She told me about the dance she had went to with the Doctor and then finding out it was the result of a bet between him and Lt. Paris. She had given up on the idea of finding a mate aboard Voyager after the experience, hurt and disillusioned that the Doctor had let himself be involved with such a bet.

We shared a moment of wry amusement that she had been correct since she was obviously meant to be my mate and I had indeed not been on Voyager. I asked her about this Lt. Paris and she related how she had observed him and Lt. Torres's relationship, how Lt. Torres had as usual raged and made threats when she had realized Seven was observing them. That was the incident that had lead to Captain Janeway suggesting Seven ought to find out about romance for herself and led to two disastrous dates. The first with Lt. Chapman whose shoulder she had dislocated while dancing and the second date with the Doctor.

I sensed that she had never had a good relationship with Lt. Torres, Seven found her habit of shouting and reacting with anger to anything that upset her to be annoying. Seven respected the woman's intelligence but was disdainful of how she conducted herself, an attitude that just aggravated the situation between them.

Experiencing Seven's memories with her I could clearly see how Seven's attitude exacerbated the situation and Seven readily admitted her part in maintaining the antagonism. I also understood why Seven had the feelings toward Lt. Torres that she did, Lt. Torres yelled at her, called her names and frequently threatened to strike her, all in all an amazing display of temper that I found as distasteful as had Seven. Seven just had not seen a reason to hide her opinion of the engineer's actions.

Seven did finally tell me with a sense of both embarrassed shame and angry glee that she had known perfectly well that the comment she had made in the mess hall about everyone knowing when Lt. Torres and Lt. Paris were being intimate would cause the volatile woman to threaten her. By that point she had almost wished that Lt. Torres had tried to strike her so she would have the excuse to strike the woman back.

I was surprised at the amount of anger in Seven, it was unlike her usual calmness. Eventually Seven admitted that Lt. Torres had come to represent in Seven's view everyone aboard the ship who blamed her for what she had done as a Borg. For not adapting to Voyager's crew in the manner they thought she should. Seven believed some of Voyagers clan though she should be more like Neelix, obviously grateful for the opportunity to be aboard Voyager and willing to do anything to be allowed to stay.

Neelix however, hadn't been forcibly taken away from everything he knew and required to adapt to Voyager's crew, he had chosen to adapt. An essential difference that Seven refused to forget. Even though she did not want to go back to the Borg part of her could not forgive how Captain Janeway had refused to let Seven have a choice, not unlike how the Borg had.

Eventually Seven admitted grudgingly that she had contributed to the situation as much as Lt. Torres. She also admitted that with the replicator finished she was optimistic that we could care for her implants and she was now somewhat relieved at the thought of being away from the ship for awhile. As she pulled me closer I realized how different her reception by my rann had been from how the Voyager clan treated her, and how much she valued being apart of my family.

Tentatively I pointed out that she could say that she had not been given a choice about becoming my mate.

"Neither were you, and we would not have mated that first time if I had not desired it. Your biology ensured that you would be an acceptable mate, and that you wanted to be my mate, but I was the one who decided to accept," Seven assured me just before clearly showing me how much she enjoyed being my mate. I was more than willing to let her and when afterward we rested in each others arms she looked into my eyes and said, "I love you." I had felt her love ever since the bond formed but this was the first time she had said it aloud.

We still had most of the engineering to finish in the kitchen area and the children's bathing room when we finished dismantling the remainder of the shuttle. We had been sleeping inside for the past month in the unfinished main room as the shuttle was uninhabitable. We had already connected the solar collectors to the main power grid of the house and moved the shuttle computer into the house to control its systems so the house had cooling and heating. Another two weeks worth of work and those were completed as well and none too soon for Seven was five months pregnant and was finding it very difficult to maneuver herself about so she could work on the final projects.

Tonight though, was the first night that we prepared a meal together in our own kitchen in our completed home. I found myself looking out over the counters into the living room and appreciating the look of the walls that were stone along the lower three feet and warm honey brown wood above that. The windowed far wall looked out over the wide deck to the stream down the hill and the gently rolling grasslands beyond. The cathedral ceiling gave the room a height of twenty feet at its peak and lighting around the sides indirectly lit the room in a warm glow.

I could feel Seven's amusement as she had to nudge me to get my attention so I would not burn the kaltan nuts I was roasting to go along with samara steaks. "Our home is beautiful," I told her.

I sensed her agreement before she said, "Yes it is, I am glad that we did not go with my original design idea. It was efficient but I do not think I would feel the same way about living in it as I do about living here." Her mood was light and peaceful tonight and I knew she was looking at our home with the same sense of satisfaction and pride that I was.

"I completed replicating the parts for the medical scanner today. The foetus's appear to be developing normally I can detect no physical problems with any of them. They are healthy and should be fully developed in a month," Seven informed me. I had sensed her relief earlier in the day and guessed that she had confirmed for herself that her children were fine and there were no difficulties with her pregnancy.

"Has Softfur answered your questions?" I asked her referring to all the concerns she had about how to raise children.

"Yes," replied Seven though I could still sense her uncertainty. "Softfur tells me that the child bond will help me know what they need." Seven frowned slightly and I could feel her aggravation, "She told me that my concern showed that I would be a good parent, but I do not understand why my doubts would not indicate the opposite."

"Seven I remember once feeling that Scarface loved Swiftfoot more than she loved me because I did not share her interest in the techniques of the hunt. Scarface felt my self doubt and took me for a trip in which we explored everything that caught my interest. Scarface asked me to show her my inquisitiveness about the world so she could share it. During the trip she apologized to me for doing anything that would make me think she loved me any less than Swiftfoot or Blackfur and with the bond I knew she meant it."

I turned to fully face Seven who was listening to me intently, "We will make mistakes, but with the child bond we will know when a mistake has been made, the children will let us know by their emotions. Are you saying you would not do what it takes to make sure one of your children knows you love them as much as the others? Even if their interests lie in a different direction than yours?" Concerns about how to teach our children and fears that she was not capable of loving them seemed to dominate Seven's fears.

Seven looked thoughtful and absently rested her hand over her the swell of her abdomen, "I will do as Scarface and ask them to teach me, perhaps with their help I will be able to understand some of the things Captain Janeway tried to teach me. I …" she paused and a look of wonder passed over her face.

Catching her thought I laid a hand against her as well and felt the ripple as one of our children moved within. I felt a surge from Seven of joy and love that matched mine, "You will be a good mother," I assured her.

I felt a need for reassurance from her and I moved our dinner from the heating surface and turned and embraced her. Seven nodded against my chest and I felt a sense of peace finally about her with the pregnancy and a dawning sense of anticipation for the arrival of our children.

Chapter 9

Two weeks later Seven woke me in the middle of the night, "Seeker," she called my name and shook me by the shoulder urgently.

"What?" I asked both verbally and mentally looking around.

"Our children… feel," Seven told me and now that my head had cleared I could feel an overwhelming sense of awe and love almost radiating from her. I stilled as I felt something new in my mind and closed my eyes to better focus on it, there was a sense of being enclosed tightly in a warm place and a vague sense of self awareness and I realized I was feeling one of my children. As soon as I realized that I focused on feeling the other two and realized they were there as well it was only that their thoughts were so unfocused and alike.

"The child bond," I stated huskily over my emotions. Seven shifted to her side, allowing me to cuddle with her as I wanted. Both of us put protective arms over our children and I savored the moment, "I love you," I told Seven breathing in the fragrance of her.

I could feel her smiling and her hand entwined with mine over her stomach, "And I love you."

When Seven's labor began Blackfur who had been staying with us went and got Softfur and Scarface to assist us. Seven and I found ourselves busy reassuring our children that everything was alright through the physical process of birth and that we were eager for them to leave the womb and be with us. As her labor progressed Seven was less able to reassure each child and it was left more up to me to divide my attention between helping Seven with shielding the children from her pain and reassuring them.

Seven's labor lasted four hours, with the first child born two hours into labor, the next forty minutes after and the last fifty minutes later, thirty minutes later the afterbirth came. As each was born into my hands I greeted them warmly and made sure they recognized my scent, then I laid them for a few moments on Seven's chest and let her hold them. It did not take but a moment for each child to recognize her scent as the one who had held them inside her.

I knew I would never forget the moment each of them came into the world and I saw them for the first time, the out flowing of unconditional love I felt for each, the welling of emotion as I placed them in Seven's arms for the first time and saw her smile in pure joy were images that I knew would be etched forever in my memory.

Now Softfur helped Seven clean herself while I stayed with our newborn children. When Seven came back shortly she joined us in the bed and quickly fell asleep as I watched over them all. When she awoke next Seven scanned the children anxiously to make sure there were no nanoprobes present in their systems and then scanned a sample of her breast milk for the same. To her relief both the children and her milk were completely free of nanoprobes.

In the weeks following Seven learned why both parents were needed to feed the children, within a week they had gone from weighing a mere three pounds to five pounds and in two weeks they were nine pounds. I blessed the fact that we had a freeze unit as it had allowed me to build up a stock of meat without having to dry it. That along with the replicator meant we had a much easier time of it than other Rana couples who had to hunt and gather while taking care of their infants.

As was custom in Rana rann we did not name our children until their distinct personalities made clear what name was best suited for them. The eldest child was fair with skin and body fur only slightly darker than Seven's and the same golden hair. Very light chestnut points marked her ears and the fur on the back of her hands, lower arms, feet and calves. She had an inquisitive nature gentle nature and it was not long before Seven feeling both sorrow and hope named her Erin after her mother.

The middle child took after me with brown fur and hair and chestnut stripes, she was inquisitive as well but there was a more introspective side to her. She was the one drawn to color and sound, and was entranced when Seven would hum a tune. Melody seemed the obvious choice for her name after she made her interests known to us.

The third child took directly after Seven in the inquisitive nature of her mind, she was the one that was always trying to crawl and open things to see what was inside. And her sense of curiosity about how things worked was evident from an early age. It was Softfur who finally named her Finder, for she predicted the child would never cease with her questioning until she had found the answer and the name stuck. Finder's colors were a combination of both mine and Seven's coloration, her skin and hair was tan colored like mine, the hair on her head was gold like Seven's yet she had chestnut stripes.

During the first six months of our children's lives Seven and I spent the time working on various projects and designing toys and teaching tools. Seven had researched child development and teaching methods when she had begun interacting with the one child on Voyager, Naomi Wildman, on a regular basis. Now I was very thankful that Seven had for it gave her the confidence to draft out a schedule of training that she hoped was developmentally appropriate.

The second project Seven worked upon was completing the decryption of the data cube we found. It took her several more weeks of work, fitting it in while the children were sleeping but she finally pulled all the remaining data from the cube. What she found was surprising, and it held at tantalizing clue.

Earlier researchers had suspected the Rana formed telepathic connections with each other from their brain physiology but were confused because the organs were not active in all Rana. Their young were born with active telepathic organs but after a certain age they became inactive and then only became active again once the adult Rana had chosen a mate.

Katara using an advanced molecular level scanner had found the chemical triggers that turned off and back on the telepathic ability. In the young Rana it was triggered when they reached a certain stage of development and the bond existed with the parents. In the adult Rana it was triggered on when the Rana met their mate.

Katara was also able to determine how the Rana choose their mates. The Rana, even then were a chemical marvel and had developed the ability to break down and analyze the DNA structure of most beings they came into contact with. If they did not immediately decide the being was either a) prey or b) not sexually mature, then they evaluated the DNA to determine if a suitable mate had been found.

All this took place automatically, without any conscious decision, and did it did not matter if the other were Rana or not. If a DNA match was found then the Rana would simply change to become compatible with their new mate. As their ability to change form was only a few steps removed from true shape shifting species, this was fairly easy for the Rana to accomplish. The final step was to modify the mate if non-Rana so that they developed a telepathic organ.

This then was how the remarkable evolutionary leap had been accomplished; several Rana had mated with a larger and more intelligent, wolf like animal on their planet. From there their children and grandchildren had quickly disseminated the preferred genetics to the rest of the population.

Katara had used this ability of the Rana to mate them with successive different species to build the Rana that was present today. Because Katara had found there were limits to how much the Rana could adapt to a non-Rana species, each cross had been carefully planned out to advance the Rana toward Katara's final goal as much as possible.

She had first mated the Rana with a social hunting cat species to increase Rana size as we weighed only 40 lbs at that time and to increase our visual acuity. Then she hybridized us with another wolf like species noted for its longevity and intelligence. The next to last cross had been with a gorilla like species, once again for size, longevity, and intelligence. The last cross was with a primitive humanoid species chosen by Katara for their physical size, intelligence, and longevity.

As she had hoped the last cross gave us true intelligence but it did not give us speech, our throats still could not form words. Katara had debated bringing one of the more advanced races here in the hope that another mating would make it possible for us to talk but had finally decided against it. She knew that we could now mate with most of the known humanoid species and hoped that a chance encounter or evolution would accomplish her final goal for us, a high level of intelligence and the ability to speak.

The scanner she used was able to directly manipulate the subject's genetic code and she worked extensively to make sure that the genetic code related to the development of the telepathic abilities were overwhelmingly dominant and perfected the method by which the Rana choose their mates, both among Rana and non-Rana.

Seven quietly read from the padd she had transcribed of the text, "I have lost my own mate to another younger woman. My children have scattered and are involved with their own lives and truthfully I gave them less time than I should have when they were younger. The Rana though are blessed with their families, the telepathic bonds that bind them create a closeness I have seen in no other species whether intelligent or no. That trait above all I will ensure that the Rana keep, no matter what new races they choose to hybridize with I will ensure that they will always keep their wonderfully strong family structure."

"At the end of the data cube I found this last information," Seven said to me after I had quietly absorbed what she had said.

"I have decided to remain the rest of my days with my Rana, I have taught them all that they are capable of learning and now all there is to do is to withdraw and watch them develop. I had thought to dismantle all my equipment and leave this planet to them, but now I cannot bear to. Instead I have destroyed all my secondary observation labs and have put safeguards and forcefields around my main laboratory.

Some day, maybe several hundred years from now they will discover my laboratory and their heritage. I hope they are pleased with what I did instead of angry with me for engineering them. And I hope they like the gift I left for them, their last and greatest gift from me. It is all safe and hidden from any species which might threaten my Rana if they knew such technology was present.

Now I must go for my morning survey to see how my children and latest experiments are doing. The newest strain of kaltan grass I created should be ripe today and I can judge whether or not the changes I made were successful. I managed to decrease the germination time so there would be two harvests per year, now I am working on increasing the size of the seed by 200. I hope I have succeeded for I know that the end of my time is coming soon, I have kept myself as healthy as possible for as long as possible, but one can only hold time back for so long and today I feel all of my four hundred and sixty-six years."

"The rest is fragmented, from the coordinates the strain of kaltan grass she mentioned was planted near the destroyed research station where we found the data cube. She notes that the experiment was a success and then there is no more data," Seven finished.

"She died there," I said with a sense of sorrow.

"That is a reasonable assumption to make," answered Seven as she came over and leaned against my back and wrapped her arms around my chest in a hug. "You are not angry with her for the changes she made to the Rana."

It was a statement and not a question as Seven knew my feelings. "She made us more than animals, and made it possible for you to be my mate." I rested my head back against her and closed my eyes feeling contented with my life and felt her kiss the tip of one ear. "You realize that we are the chance encounter she hoped for?"

"Yes," answered Seven quietly. "Our children fulfill her goal for the Rana."

"Do you mind?" I asked curiously, for she was in a thoughtful mood.

"No," Seven answered, "I am content with what has occurred and with my life now." Seven paused then continued and I could feel a quiet happiness radiate from her, "I am happier now than I can ever remember being."

Her happiness changed to keen anticipation and Seven looked up at me intently, "Katara mentioned at one point in her narrative that she needed to replicate a few more coils before she could travel to obtain the hunting cats she needed. Given the distance she mentions traveling and that her journey was completed within a month I believe the coil mentioned was a transwarp coil, the same technology the Borg use."

"Her gift to us?" I asked with wide eyes.

"I believe it to be the technology to create transwarp coils and her ship, perhaps also her medical equipment," answered Seven, her eyes sparkling with excitement.

I sensed that she was thinking of showing the children and I some of the more interesting things she had seen since her separation from the Collective, "We will have to go looking for her laboratory when the children are older, then you can take us and show us these things." I paused for a moment, "Perhaps we can take the children to visit Earth as well and see if you have any surviving rann there."

She had known of course that I was thinking of something I wasn't certain she would be comfortable with, but I sensed my words surprised her. I could sense and see her thinking about what I had said and then her tentative agreement as she rested her head against me once more.

I smiled pleased that my suggestion had not upset her and then opened my eyes when I felt the awakening minds of my children. "Hmm what is on the agenda for today?"

"Shapes, sounds, colors, and motor skills," answered Seven straightening.

I felt her wince and realized her shoulder was bothering her again, "Joint out of alignment again?" I asked surprised as it was the second time this month.

"I believe so," answered Seven a bit coolly.

We went into the general purpose room, now dubbed the lab, and I re-aligned the joint in her Borg arm. "Is there something wrong with this arm that it comes out of alignment so frequently?" I asked worried.

"Not that I can determine, it just needs frequent maintenance," Seven answered.

There was a testy undercurrent to her tone and I knew she didn't want to discuss the fact that her Borg enhancements seemed to require quite a lot of maintenance. More than one would think given the level of Borg technology, unless of course they were designed that way. That was the subject Seven was still avoiding discussing, as she did not yet want to admit that the Borg seemed to have built limitations into their drones in order to make it more difficult for them to survive outside the collective.

I nodded and left the subject alone, I knew she was not ready to address the issue and felt there was nothing she could do about the situation anyway. Which I had to admit was true, the Doctor aboard Voyager had said the Borg parts were better than anything he could create, and we did not have the same level of equipment here that he had available to him aboard Voyager.

And in any case the children were wakening and it was time for their midday meal. They had all gotten in their first two teeth by this time and we had quit breastfeeding them a few weeks ago and moved them over to what Seven termed soft solid foods. Rana children would be eating mashed kaltan seed and finely cut cooked meat, our children due to the replicator had a much larger variety of food to eat.

They were also starting to experiment with making sounds, attempting to imitate Seven and I. Seven decided that our names were too alike for the children to manage at this stage of their development and chose to teach them to call her Mommy. She insisted that logic drove her choice and I chose to not argue with her but I knew it was more of an emotional choice for her than she wanted to admit, that was the name she had called her own mother.

We had during Seven's pregnancy discussed her own parents and the choices they had made extensively. Seven had moved from resentment, anger and sorrow to mostly sorrow and regret. By the time the children were born she understood why her parents had taken her with them and had mostly forgiven them for underestimating the threat the Borg presented to them. Now when she though of them, it was with a sharp regret that they would never see their grandchildren, never play with them as Scarface and Softfur could.

"I will replicate their food and set it out," I said feeling the unmistakable alertness and hunger of three fully awake children and hoping to escape the necessity of changing their diapers.

"You will come and assist me with change their diapers," answered Seven with an amused look at my weak attempt.

I sighed and resigned myself to having my nose assaulted by the amazingly odiferous waste products of my offspring.

Chapter 10

When Softfur and Scarface visited the next day with my five sisters, Seven and I told them about the information we had found on the data cube. They were pleased to find out that the tales of the non-Rana female were true and were moved by the evidence that she had valued the bonds we formed with each other enough to ensure that they would develop in all Rana children.

We were all sitting on the floor discussing the matter and Seven, Softfur and I were busy feeding Erin, Melody and Finder. Seven was feeding Melody who as usual was having as much fun painting Seven's shirt with different colored food as she was eating it. Seven had gotten used to tying her hair back and wearing a white shirt when feeding Melody and simply replicated twice the amount of food for her so she could 'paint' Mommy.

Melody, Erin and Finder had a choice of green colored 'bean' flavored vegetables, orange 'squash' flavored vegetables, pale yellow kaltan seed mash, bright red mixed fruit and brown meat puree today. Softfur and I had almost finished feeding Erin and Finder and Melody had a nice composition of red, orange and yellow colors going on Seven's shirt. She was eating the green colored beans and brown meat but Seven and I knew though the bond that she didn't think their colors went along with the colors she was smearing on Seven's shirt.

We all looked toward the porch when we heard an unfamiliar sound, except that I quickly realized the sound was familiar to Seven as we watched three blue shimmers in the air form into three humans.

'Seven's clan' I signed to my sisters and parents as I looked out the door and recognized Captain Janeway, Tuvok, and Chakotay from Seven's memories. Between the stunned looks on my parents' and sisters' faces and the looks on their faces as they realized Seven was busy feeding a child that clearly resembled her I rapidly became amused at the whole scene.

Scarface signed 'they have an odd way of traveling,' when she had gotten over the surprise of their appearance.

Blackfur knowing that Seven and I had our hands full with our children courteously got up and went and opened the door for Seven's clan, rumbling a greeting to them as she did so.

To their credit the males hands only twitched toward their phasers before halting their movements at the Captain's raised hand and verbal command of "It's alright, that sounded friendly," but even she looked a bit wide eyed as she looked up at the upright Rana woman who held the door open for her.

"Captain, Commander Chakotay, Lt. Commander Tuvok, please come in," said Seven quietly though I could clearly feel her tension through the bond. "Blackfur greeted you in her language."

"Ma," said Melody fretfully reacting to Seven's tension.

Seven returned her attention to our daughter, "Shhh, Mommy's fine, just surprised." I could feel Seven send reassurance to the children through her bond and reinforced it with my own. As I did so I noticed the stunned expression on Captain Janeway's face at Seven's statement as she silently mouthed what looked like 'mommy?'

"Take Melody while I change," said Seven to me as she picked up Melody, being careful not to get the food on her blouse on the child. I accepted her and Seven turned toward the three who had not moved since they entered the door, "I need to change my blouse, I will return shortly." With that Seven turned quickly and headed back toward our room, leaving me with our unexpected guests.

Captain Janeway had responded with a nod to Seven after looking at the swirl of food on her blouse, she seemed to be recovering quicker than the other two, one of which, the Vulcan had remained impassive after a raised eyebrow at Melody's statement and the other male looked to still be recovering from his shock..

"I am Seeker, Seven's mate," I said from my seat, gaining all three's immediate attention. I could see Captain Janeway's eyes flicker quickly from me to the others, undoubtedly noting the differences between them and me. "These are my parents, Scarface and Softfur, and my sisters Blackfur, Swiftfoot, Treeclimber, Leap and Watcher," I said pointing to each with difficulty while holding Melody and Erin.

"This is our daughter Melody and this is Erin, and that's Finder," I completed the introductions to them. Captain Janeway looked as if she would speak but then stopped as Seven came back in then wearing a freshly replicated shirt. The two men had finally moved from where they were standing on the porch and followed Janeway into the house. She stopped and retrieved Finder from mother on the way and thanked her for helping us feed her.

Seven sat down close beside me with Finder in her arms and Melody struggled slightly wanting to be close to her. I moved her until she was resting between us and watched as she laid her head on Seven's chest and looked at the newcomers doubtfully. Erin seemed fine where she was, content that Mommy was close by.

"Please sit down," Seven said indicating some cushion space that was currently unoccupied. Then, "Would you like anything to drink or eat?" Seven recalling proper manners for visitors, I was thankful that she had for I had forgotten my duties as well in my surprise.

After a moment of what looked like surprise Captain Janeway responded, "Water would be nice." The two men agreed that water would suit them as well.

Blackfur recognizing the word indicated to Seven that she would be pleased to go get the requested drinks and with a smile of thanks Seven let her.

The Captain had an inquiring look on her face as she sat down and Seven responded to it, "Blackfur is going to get your drinks as I would disturb the children if I moved."

The Captain's face softened as she looked at the children curled up on us and she asked I a low gentle voice, "How old are they?"

"Six months 7 days 9 hours," answered Seven.

The Captain drew in a breath and nodded, "We detected traces of a temporal anomaly but we had no idea what the time differential would be."

Seven nodded, "It has been a year one month and six days since the shuttle crashed on this planet, Captain." Seven paused, "I hope you do not mind that I dismantled it to build a permanent shelter."

"No, not at all," the Captain responded.

"It's a very beautiful house," Chakotay spoke up for the first time glancing around as he did so. "The shuttle core signature was what let us know you were still alive."

Seven nodded.

The Captain asked hesitantly, "Seven, what happened to Ensign Yates?"

"He is dead," said Seven hesitantly.

"Captain," I took over, "I must seek your forgiveness for my, Blackfur, and Swiftfoot's part in his death." I kept up a running translation in Rana at this and Scarface interrupted for a moment, "Scarface wishes your forgiveness as well for we had no idea he would react to us the way he did."

"Ensign Yates reacted inappropriately in a first contact situation, drawing a weapon without provocation," Seven sprang to our defense. "Unfortunately I was unconscious at the time and could not prevent his actions."

Blackfur came in at that moment walking awkwardly on two legs while holding three glasses and gave them to our guests then sat down with a sigh looking around curiously. I quickly caught her up on the situation and her ears flattened and a sad look crossed her face.

Captain Janeway who had been looking back and forth focused on Blackfur's face for a moment, "Just start at the beginning and tell me what happened," she said to me.

I described the events of the day and when I finished Captain Janeway looked saddened as well, "That's not how we are supposed to handle first contacts, you don't fire on someone just because they approach you." She paused and looked around at us, "It sounds like an accident."

"Then you forgive us?" I asked her.

"There isn't anything to forgive," she told me.

I remained silent holding her gaze and she finally said, "I forgive you for any part you had in Ensign Yates death."

I translated it and Scarface, Blackfur and Swiftfoot tumbled their thanks to her.

"They are telling you thank you," I translated for them.

Noting that the children were sound asleep I brought Seven's attention to the fact that we needed to put them down for their afternoon nap.

"We must put the children in their sleep area," Seven informed Captain Janeway.

"Of course," Janeway responded with a smile, then "Here let me help you with one of them, three must keep you busy." She glanced around noting undoubtedly the groupings of three siblings, "It's normal to have triplets?"

"Yes, Captain," Seven said after a moment's hesitation and then, "If you will bend down a moment Captain, if she is to stay asleep you must smell like Seeker and I."

A look of surprise crossed Janeway's face and then she nodded and held still while Seven and I brushed our hands over her shoulders. When we were done Seven handed Erin to her and the three of us proceeded back to the children's room.

As we laid them down in their bed Janeway looked around the room, "How lovely," she commented. Then she looked down at the children's bed which rested on the floor, "I guess you don't have to worry about them climbing out of their cribs and falling."

"No we don't," I answered.

"Did you put in motion sensor technology so you know when they wake up?" the Captain asked curiously looking around at the walls.

"We can feel when they awaken," I answered.

I could see the question in her eyes but Seven answered before I could, "We have a telepathic link with our children, and with each other." The Captain's eyes flitted back and forth between Seven and I and Seven continued with a serious look, "There is much that I need to tell you Captain, about the Rana."

The Captain's eyes seemed to search Seven's for a moment then she nodded and her face was set in a serious expression.

When we returned to the living room Chakotay turned from where he had been talking with Tuvok, "I believe we're going to have to learn their language the old fashioned way, the universal translators don't work well with a spoken and signed language."

Captain Janeway nodded and sat back down waiting on Seven and I before speaking again, "You were saying you have a telepathic connection with both Seeker and your children, Seven."

"Yes, Captain Janeway," answered Seven.

"You did not have such an ability before," Tuvok spoke up looking intent.

"No," Seven answered succinctly. She paused, "It is one of the changes that occurred when Seeker recognized me as her mate."

Captain Janeway rocked back a bit and glanced at me and I caught a surprised look on Commander Chakotay's face as well as noting that Lt. Commander Tuvok had raised one eyebrow.

Seven caught it as well and then I understood from her the source of their confusion, they had assumed that I was male as they were only used to species that were male and female.

"Your word for us is hermaphroditic," I said calmly, and catching their complete attention. "We think of each other as being more female than male, no matter which reproductive part one of a mated pair takes."

After a moment Captain Janeway nodded, "Alright," she said to me. Then to Seven, "What changes, Seven."

The resulting discussion took almost an hour, during which Blackfur and Swiftfoot took my younger sisters out to play as they were getting restless and bored with the events. Throughout the entire explanation Captain Janeway looked slightly disturbed, at certain points such as when Seven related that both of us had become incapacitated when I had not groomed her, she looked very concerned.

When we were done Captain Janeway stared at Seven and hesitantly began, "Seven …"

"You are about to ask if this is really what I wanted," Seven stated.

"Well, yes," Captain Janeway admitted.

"I love Seeker and my children, I am happier now than I ever thought I could be Captain," Seven said to her softly.

I could feel Seven trying to reach out to this woman who had freed her and taught her so much about being an individual, hoping that she would understand that Seven was pleased with the direction her life had taken since the shuttle crash.

After a few moments during which they stared at each other, Captain Janeway finally nodded. "I would like for the Doctor to do a full medical check up on you, Seeker and the children, make sure you're all healthy."

Seven raised an eyebrow at Captain Janeway, "And you wish to know more about the Rana and their unique physiology."

Captain Janeway opened her mouth as if to argue then stopped, "Of course I do."

Seven nodded and I knew that she had been hoping the Captain would be truthful, "I would also suggest limiting Voyager's contact with the Rana unless they desire a mate." I glanced amused at Seven knowing that she was now joking in her own way with the Captain.

Captain Janeway looked at Seven sharply and then her lips twitched and she nodded, recognizing the humor.

"There is one other thing, Captain," Seven continued after a brief pause to consult with me about revealing what we suspected. "We believe Katara's main research laboratory still exists and is located within the mountain range to the east of here. I believe her vessel and information about its technology will be found there. Katara frequently traveled 10,000 light years to obtain the species she used for hybridization within a few weeks. In her logs she mentioned once needing to replicate more coils before she could travel. I believe that the laboratory contains a transwarp coil replicator similar to what the Borg use to produce transwarp coils for their ships."

I noticed that Seven had the undivided attention of the three Starfleet officers. Seven continued, "If I am correct then Voyager can use this technology to produce enough transwarp coils to reach the Alpha Quadrant."