A Perfect Mate – Voyager Chapter 4
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: None really
Rating: T
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: 06/14/06
Summary: Injured, B'Elanna dreams.
The metal things carried the injured woman through long lengths of corridor, turning first this way then that, with Blackfur trailing behind them. Even thought the Rana was extremely worried about the injured woman that was being carried by the metal things, she couldn't resist peering curiously into the various rooms they passed that were filled with strange machines.
The short journey ended when they entered a room with several raised narrow platforms around its edges. Only after the metal things placed the injured woman upon one of these platforms did Blackfur recognize them as beds, for they did not look anything like the beds in Seeker and Seven's home, having odd protrusions arranged along their sides that flashed variously-colored lights.
After carefully cutting off the damaged outer clothing the injured woman wore, the metal things healed the wounds on her body. Blackfur had observed Seven heal wounds on her younger sisters and on Seven's children before, but she was no less awed now at seeing a wound mend and disappear before her eyes than she had been the first time.
Blackfur watched curiously as the metal things scanned she and the injured woman, recognizing what they were doing only because she had seen Seven scan Erin after the child had injured herself and asked her what she was doing. After completing their scan the metal things stood motionless for several long moments before they moved once again, and then it was to do something at the side of the bed. A strange blue glow suddenly surrounded the injured human, causing the Rana to jump back a short distance in surprise before recovering and approaching the bed cautiously once again wondering what the glow could be.
She turned to the metal things and signed her question, asking what the glow was and why hadn't the woman woken up. Finally the metal things turned to Blackfur, but all they signed to her was that the inside of the woman's head needed more time to heal, and that the two of them would be allowed to stay until she was fully recovered. Then the metal things left, ignoring Blackfur's question of how long the human needed to heal. The opening they had walked in through closed behind the two as they exited, and did not reappear when the Rana approached where it had been.
The dark-furred Rana searched determinedly for a way out of the room, but eventually had to acknowledge that she could find none. Dejectedly, wondering if she had made a poor decision in accepting the metal things help, she curled up on the bed next to the unconscious woman and finally fell asleep only to find herself sharing the injured woman's dreams.
Seeker had once explained to Blackfur how she and Seven had dreamed together the first time. But this did not appear to be like that, Seeker and Seven had both been aware they were dreaming. The injured woman, whose name Blackfur learned was B'Elanna Torres, was not aware that she was dreaming, or that the events she was dreaming about were in her own past from when she was a child.
And the events of her past…Blackfur knew that Humans and Rana were different, but she had not appreciated before now the extent of those differences. It seemed as if young humans, and especially the young males, were extremely unkind to one another. After seeing the behavior of the other youngsters of B'Elanna's clan, and witnessing though the young girl's memories the way she was treated by other non-clan members, Blackfur understood only too well why the young half-Klingon disliked her appearance and the way it singled her out from the other children.
Currently the two of them were sitting side by side in what B'Elanna called a tent watching and listening as B'Elanna's father talked to his brother. What they were discussing was difficult for Blackfur to understand, not because of any difficulty understanding the words, but because of what he was saying.
"She's gotten moody, unpredictable, argumentative, just like her mother."
Even at this distance, the two could see the confused expression on his brother's face, "I thought you loved Miral's...intensity."
B'Elanna's father sighed, "Everything's become a fight with her. I guess the older I get the less intensity I can handle." He shook his head and stirred the fire, "You know it's funny how Mom and Dad always turn out to be right."
"What do you mean?" his brother asked frowning.
"Mom warned me not to marry Miral," B'Elanna's father said unhappily.
Blackfur wrapped her arms around the young girl next to her, responding to the emotional distress emanating from the dark headed child. B'Elanna twisted in her arms, burying her head in her shoulder and cried silently.
"Mom loved Miral," they heard his brother remind him.
"Sure she did, but she never thought I had the constitution to live with a Klingon," there was a pause, "and now I'm living with two of them."
B'Elanna shook harder in Blackfur's arms at these final words, and the Rana could think of nothing she could say or do to take the child's pain away. She could not understand this, how could he have said those things, how could he willfully hurt his child this way. If only Humans had the bonds Rana did this would not have happened, Blackfur thought, deeply upset. He and his mate would understand one another, and he would know how he was hurting his child. Instead he seemed to only consider his own failings, and remained oblivious to the fact that his child had overheard everything.
Of course, realized Blackfur belatedly, all of this had already happened; this was a memory of B'Elanna's that she was reliving. Feeling the wetness of the child's tears soaking through her fur, Blackfur recognized that it didn't really matter; the emotional pain B'Elanna was feeling at the memory was very real and current. She pulled B'Elanna closer and offered what comfort she could to her.
The two robots entered the medical bay, ignoring the two unconscious figures for the moment. Instead they moved to one corner of the room were they proceeded to modify one of the medical beds, making it wider. That task completed, they carefully moved the Human-Klingon hybrid and the Rana to the modified bed, carefully placed them side by side, and activated the medical field over the two. The field would both slowly heal the hybrid's injured brain, provided needed nutrients to the two, and remove any waste produced by their bodies. It would also keep both women sedated while the Rana's body changed to become physically compatible with the hybrids.
Looking with satisfaction at the readings taking by his modified tricorder Tuvok tapped his communications badge briskly. "Commander Tuvok to Captain Janeway," he specified the communications channel he wanted opened.
A bare second later the Captain responded, "Yes, Tuvok?"
"Captain, I have found signs of a cloaking technology being used in this cavern."
"I'll be right down," she replied and cut the channel at the same time.
Tuvok gave a small sigh, the Captain should not put herself at risk in such an unknown situation, but he knew the chances of dissuading her were incalculably small, so he no longer expended his energy attempting to futilely do so.
Five minutes later Janeway was examining the readings he had taken. Her blue-grey eyes hardened as she stared grimly at the section of wall where he suspected there was a shielded opening. "Get Ensign Kim and anyone else you need to help you, I want that cloaking device deactivated," she commanded.
Only the fact that Blackfur had accompanied her to the Klingon monastery saved B'Elanna from feeling more horridly out of place and alone than she had before meeting the Rana on Kessik. Ever since that horrible camping trip where she had literally run into Blackfur in the woods, the two girls had been inseparable, the Rana's company easing the pain B'Elanna felt over the other children's ignoring of her.
Classes were done for the day, and she and Blackfur had gone back to the small room assigned to her. Now they were sitting side by side on the floor, their backs against the bed as B'Elanna taught the Rana to read Klingon. She had once thought that Blackfur wasn't quite as smart as she, but as time went on the Rana had seemed to catch up to her intelligence wise, and now learned things just as quickly as she did. She had already taught the Rana Federation Standard, and in returned learned the hand signs and sounds that formed the Rana language.
In another two months she would be returning home to her relief, she fit in as poorly among other Klingons as she had among Humans, feeling at ease among neither. But at least it hadn't been as unpleasant as she had thought it would be thanks to Blackfur. The Rana was fascinated with learning about her Klingon heritage, and that interest had begrudgingly sparked her own. Though she still grumbled and complained she was actually enjoying some of her classes now.
Looking over at her at her friend it suddenly occurred to B'Elanna to wonder what had happened to Blackfur's parents. Blackfur had essentially stayed at her house ever since the day they first met, and had never mentioned needing to ask her parents for permission or even needing to go home.
Jade-green eyes met hers, 'you have never wondered how I am able to be with you before,' the Rana's mental voice sounded oddly hopeful.
B'Elanna frowned, realizing that it was true, "Where are your parents?"
'Rana,' Blackfur answered simply.
She was standing looking down into a gaping hole in the earth, suddenly she felt like she was falling and she cried out, disoriented before stabbing pains in her head drove the memory away.
'B'Elanna,' Blackfur's concerned mental voice and arms wrapped around her. She rested her throbbing head against the Rana's shoulder, wondering what had just happened, and why was her head hurting so.
'It is still too soon,' B'Elanna caught Blackfur's thought through their mental link and understood that it had not been meant for her to hear. The ease with which they communicated telepathically had improved over time, and now she occasionally heard things from the Rana's mind that she knew weren't specifically directed toward her but were just Blackfur's thoughts.
"What's too soon?" she growled, irritated, and wondering if whatever it was had something to do with why her head hurt.
Blackfur's head turned and the Rana regarded her with that steady equanimity that she had grown to depend upon, no matter how angry or irritated she got she could count on Blackfur to remain calm. 'To speak of visiting my home world,' the Rana answered, 'now please teach me more Klingon?'
"Oh," B'Elanna replied surprised. Thinking about the idea she smiled, growing more excited by the prospect, "Maybe my mother will let us go when I am older."
Blackfur nodded her agreement, a human habit she had picked up from the half-Klingon, and the two turned back toward the book spread between their laps.
Blackfur opened her eyes slowly, realizing that her body felt stiff, as if she hadn't moved in awhile. Her eyes wandered over the white ceiling and she recognized the medical bay they had been brought to, she was not dreaming anymore. The Rana turned her head, realizing that she was not in the same bed she had fallen asleep in and that there was someone lying beside her.
B'Elanna. The Rana's green eyes traced over the other woman's face, noting the differences between the child that she knew from their shared dream and the adult lying beside her. The roundness of the child's face was gone, replaced by a well defined jawline and high cheekbones. The forehead ridges, which the child so disliked, to Blackfur's eyes suited B'Elanna's features perfectly. The Rana had never understood why the other Human children had teased her so meanly about them or why they punished her for the actions of others that just happened to be of the same race. Movement caught her attention and she whipped her head around looking toward it. One of the robots had entered.
'Your mate is healing well,' it signed in Rana, 'she will remain asleep for one more day. She will be completely well when she awakes.'
Blackfur drew in a sharp breath, the robot had done nothing more than confirm her own suspicions, but hearing it stated so plainly was still a surprise.
'Would you rise?' it signed with a polite inflection, 'your bed needs to be cleaned.'
Startled, the Rana rolled off the bed, standing upright with unusual ease, and looked at where she had been lying. Thick piles of dark fur covered the smooth blue padded surface. Looking down at herself, she realized her dark thick coat had almost completely fallen out leaving her almost completely bare skinned. Looking down at her body she realized she had changed. Just like Seeker had changed to be compatible with Seven, she had changed to be compatible with B'Elanna.
Where was Blackfur? B'Elanna wondered, her thoughts shading from irritation into deepening concern as she stared over the choppy water of the lake. They were supposed to have gone sailing today, but the Rana had disappeared earlier and now she could not find her friend anywhere. She could still feel the presence of the Rana through their link, and it reassured her that Blackfur was alive and well, but she could not hear the Rana's thoughts or reach her through it to find out where she was.
"B'Elanna," a strangely familiar tenor voice called from behind her, and almost simultaneously she felt her link with Blackfur come alive again. Turning around quickly she stared in surprise at the dark-skinned, broad-shouldered, tall figure that had called her name.
"Blackfur?" she questioned even though she already knew the answer, the figure before her was Blackfur. B'Elanna stared in astonishment at her friend, gone was the prominently muzzled head, and the body designed more for four-legged travel than two. Blackfur's skeletal structure had changed, become more human like, both in proportion and design. Instead of standing on four limbs she stood comfortably upright on two straight long muscular legs.
Her face had changed no less radically, though thankfully the jade-green eyes were exactly the same. B'Elanna had always liked the Rana's thick square muzzle, and staring into her friends changed face she could see remnants of the original facial structure in the strong square jawline and bold lines of her face.
Blackfur's original coloration had been primarily black fur with swirling circular patches of dark chocolate. Most of the fur was now gone, revealing smooth skin of the same dark coloration. Long black hair covered the top of her head and came down to just below her shoulders, and her pointed cat like ears poked through it, oriented unwaveringly toward B'Elanna.
"How? What?" she asked confused. Then, "You're talking!" she exclaimed with amazement. Her friend's jaw dropped slightly, and even though the Rana's facial structure had changed radically, B'Elanna was easily able to recognize it as amusement. The amusement disappeared almost immediately as Blackfur felt B'Elanna's anger and concern.
"Where have you been, what happened to you, how can you talk?" the question's came rapid fire.
Blackfur stared at her friend, taken aback at the anger and pain she could feel almost radiating from her compact body. Desperately she searched her mind for an answer, one that would not cause a reoccurrence of the pain B'Elanna suffered whenever she thought about the accident or her injury. Finally she decided to tell the bare truth and hope that B'Elanna would not ask for more specific information, "I woke up and I was like this. It happened while I slept."
B'Elanna's anger vanished almost as fast as it had risen, "Oh, I thought…" her voice trailed off as she realized she didn't really know what she had thought, only that somehow Blackfur had betrayed her by not letting her know about this before.
With the link between them it did not take Blackfur long to understand some of why the half-Klingon was angry with her. "I am sorry. I did not mean to worry you." The Rana hesitated for a moment then admitted, "It took me awhile to become accustomed to this," she indicated her changed body, "but I should have come to you sooner. I should have realized you would wonder and worry about what had happened to me."
The Rana stepped hesitantly closer, and B'Elanna realized, finally cueing in on the Rana's emotions through their link, that her friend wasn't at all certain of whether or not B'Elanna would accept the change in her appearance. "Come here, of course you're still my friend, I'm sorry I got mad, I got worried when I couldn't find you anywhere."
As her arms closed around her friend, B'Elanna berated herself for being so thoughtless, if she found the change startling and difficult to deal with how much more so must Blackfur be finding it difficult. She couldn't imagine what it must have been like to wake up and find oneself so changed, no wonder her friend had forgotten about their plans for today.
And speaking of changed…Blackfur was nude, B'Elanna realized belatedly, as the half-Klingon registered the pleasant warmth, smooth skin, and firm tone of the muscled chest her cheek was resting against. Not that the Rana had ever worn clothes before, but before she had been fur covered, now she definitely wasn't. Before Blackfur hadn't been humanoid in body form, but now she definitely was, and the body B'Elanna was pressed up against was tall, lean, well-muscled…in short a perfect match for the body type she found most attractive.
Giving Blackfur one last squeeze, B'Elanna pulled away, trying to be casual, and hoping that the Rana hadn't sensed the direction her thoughts had just taken. "I guess we need to go shopping for you now that you don't have a fur coat to keep you warm."
Certain that Blackfur was completely engrossed with the calibrations she was competing, B'Elanna allowed herself to enjoy watching the Rana. The frowning concentration on her handsome face, the way the muscles flexed underneath the dark skin in her arms and forearms. Over the past few months she had gotten used to the change in Blackfur's appearance, even though it certainly complicated their friendship, at least for her. It was becoming increasingly difficult for B'Elanna to hide from the Rana the fact that she found her very attractive.
Jade-green eyes met hers, "Why are you trying to hide that you are attracted to me?" Blackfur inquired.
"Umm," B'Elanna stuttered, highly embarrassed, "I mean you don't…you can't feel that way about anyone but your mate." Her voice trailed off, she remembered very clearly the conversation they had about how Rana chose their mates and how Blackfur's race simply did not sexually mature until their mate was chosen. She had never decided whether or not she envied or pitied Blackfur for the fact that the Rana would never feel any sexual desire until she met her future mate.
Blackfur gave her strange look, then her eyes gentled and the Rana nodded, turning back to the engine she was busy tuning.
The half-Klingon frowned, not understanding the look her friend had given her. She had the strongest feeling there was something she was not understanding, something that she really should have already understood. Mentally she began going over everything she knew about her friend's race and culture. The telepathic bonds they had as children with their parents, then the bond they formed with their mate and their children until their thirteenth year.
B'Elanna froze it finally dawned on her what she had been blind to all this time. Her wide brown eyes met Blackfur's green ones, felt the Rana's presence through their telepathic bond, the type of bond Rana formed only with their parents, children and mate.
"But we met when we were both children," she protested confused.