A/N: We're moving into the final stretch. I'm sorry this chapter took so long. I hope it was worth the wait.

Time Enough Chapter 14

"Anything out there?"

"No," Captain," Paris replied. "Empty as a Ferengi's soul."

Chakotay cleared his throat. "Captain?"

Janeway nodded. "I think it's time."

Chakotay began issuing orders to start skeleton crew shifts. "I'll let The Doctor know we're ready for his 'enrichment programs,'" he said with a grin. "The one on comparative opera should be a big draw."

"Captain, can I volunteer for extra duty?" Paris piped in. The bridge crew shared a laugh.

Seven nodded slightly to herself as her holodeck reservation was all but confirmed. Holodeck time was being allotted through a lottery system and, well, nothing was ever truly random. Seven felt no guilt over increasing the odds in her favor. She also increased the odds for Ensign Cavanaugh as a repayment for the use of her holodeck program. Seven was not entirely sure Cavanaugh would allow its usage so she decided not to ask, just as Cavanaugh did not ask to have her own lottery odds increased to "guaranteed." It all balanced out, Seven told herself. She repeated it emphatically to herself to quell the nagging voice inside of her muttering about two wrongs.

Seven almost jumped as Cavanaugh walked into Astrometrics. "Ensign. We are on a skeleton crew so your presence is not required today," she said. Remembering the many, many lessons from The Doctor and Janeway Seven added, "I hope you enjoy your time off."

Janice smiled. "Thank you, Ma'am. I came to ask permission to use some of the recent scans. Since I have some free time, I thought I might use them to make a few prints."

"Of course," Seven replied. She wanted to tell Cavanaugh to spend her time in the holodeck but the results of the lottery would not be known for a few hours. She compromised by saying, "I hope you are able to spend some of your time in the holodeck."

"Thank you, Ma'am. Mio, Ensign Sato, we are looking forward to it. I thought we might use it to hike in the mountains. Ensign Sato was very impressed with the mountains she saw at our last stop. I found a program for the Canadian mountains she might enjoy."

Seven struggled to keep the disappointment from her face. "My research shows that beaches are considered more relaxing than mountains."

Janice raised an eyebrow. "I didn't know there was research on that," she murmured.

"It is anecdotal," Seven replied.

Nels slipped out of the Jeffries tube. He held a small device to his door and it opened with a loud click. He pulled the door open, slipped inside and pushed it closed. Another pass with the device and the door hummed back to life. He reached down and pulled a small object off of his cuff.

"Always have a backup," he said to himself with a grin.

"So do you think we got in?" Mio asked Jan. "I'm sure everyone on the ship put in for time."

"We'll get in," Jan replied, "but it may take a while. It's okay though. I need time to tweak the mountain hiking scene anyway."

"Mountains?"

Jan turned away from the computer screen in their quarters. "Yeah, you know, like those mountains you were talking about. I thought I could adapt a program on the Canadian Rockies." She looked back at the screen. "Well, how about that! We've got a slot tonight."

"Wonderful," Mio enthused. "So, we're talking light hiking with a picnic, right?"

Jan frowned. "I didn't think we'd get a slot this fast. There's no way I can get the program ready."

Mio put her arms around Jan's neck. "So we'll go back to our beach. It'll be like a second honeymoon." She kissed Jan's cheek.

Jan smiled. "Oddly, that subject came up today when I asked Seven for permission to use some images. She swore beaches were more relaxing than mountains."

"I think I'd prefer Seven not be involved in our romantic getaway decisions," Mio said dryly.

"Well, I was still planning on the mountains anyway," Jan promised. "And I didn't mention that I even had a beach scene in memory." She smiled as Mio appeared to be mollified. "Let's go eat dinner early. We can have wine and a fruit plate later on the holodeck."

"I'm sure Neelix will hook us up," Mio said. "I found a plant that's virtually identical to basil. No more cilantro spaghetti." Mio was inordinately proud of the faux basil. She had been disappointed to find that the terrestrial basil had succumbed to a fungus brought in during her absence. She had been unable to get a good crop going from their seed stores even after a thorough disinfection.

"Oh, I wouldn't put credits on that," Jan muttered. "The soapier it tastes the more he likes it."

"Enter."

Seven walked into Janeway's quarters carrying a PADD. She stopped just inside the door and looked at the PADD until the door closed. Seven smiled and walked right up next to Janeway. "Captain. I have acquired, through a random lottery, a holodeck slot late tonight. Will you accompany me?"

"Random," Janeway said with a reproving look.

"Any check of the computer will show it was a random selection," Seven said. It would. She had covered her tracks well.

"I'm sure it will," Janeway said with a sigh. "Did you have a program in mind?"

"A beach. There is cool but not cold water, a kind of extended chair to lie on, wine and food. The sand is programs not to stick," she said enthusiastically.

"It sounds nice," Janeway allowed.

"It will be our first date."

This was such a bad idea. In the history of bad ideas, this was the gold-pressed latinum-plated winner of bad ideas. Janeway knew she should decline. She should put a stop to this entire thing right now. "It sounds fun. What time should I meet you?"

Seven felt a surge of pleasure she was not sure just how to define. She gave the details to Janeway. Seven was proud of herself for arranging her time to occur during the night shift. None of the officers who might ask questions would be safely asleep or at least in their quarters. It was not scheduled so late that they would both be exhausted.

Plans confirmed, Seven returned to Astrometrics. She hoped to take one last look at the program.

"It looks just like I remember," Mio said. She wriggled her toes in the sand. "Although I do wish you'd made it a little less of a hike," she said with a grin. She got a good grip on the picnic basket as they started off toward the lounge chairs.

Jan, hefting a cooler, laughed. "It adds to the feeling of privacy," she insisted. "Besides, the sand feels good."

Mio slid her free arm around Jan's waist. "It does feel good," she said with a comically lecherous grin.

Carol abandoned the call button and just hit the door with her fist. "Bobby, damn you, don't ignore me. You'll be sorry for this." She noticed a security officer walking down the corridor and hurried toward the lift. She fumed the entire way back to her quarters. How could he do this? First Janice tossed her aside, then her husband, and now Nels. She knew she should probably feel depressed but at the moment she was too angry to be sad. "Screw him," she muttered. "Screw them all. I don't need any of them."

Seven's hand hovered over the virtual keyboard. She really wanted to know how her modifications were working but it would not be appropriate to observe while the program was in use. In a way, Seven had hoped Cavanaugh had selected mountains instead of the beach. Still, it wouldn't do for the program to ruin her date. She decided that there had been insufficient time for Cavanaugh and Sato to be intimate. She saw the two women setting out food and pouring a carbonated wine. It looked just as it should. Seven scrolled through the coding.

Seven suddenly stopped the scroll and frowned. She backed it up and read it more carefully. "Why would Ensign Cavanaugh removed the wetness from the water?" she mused. She noticed another alteration. This wasn't right, not at all. She checked further. The author of the changes was hidden, but still easily determined, perhaps too easily. She remembered the woman from a security brief. With Cavanaugh in her lab, Seven made it a point to review those briefings carefully.

Seven walked to an innocuous looking cabinet and manipulated it with the Borg implants in her hand. She pulled out a pulse rifle, one of several unauthorized weapons she had secured in various strategic locations. She slapped her comm badge as she started toward the door. "Tuvok. Please verify the location of Crewman Nels." She broke the link; quite sure Tuvok would understand she did not mean to check his locator. She got a better grip on the rifle and started to run.