The sheer variety of clothing options in the replicator database was even more immense than Seven of Nine had anticipated. If she hadn't known how much emphasis the Federation in general, but especially humanity, put on the importance of choice, she would've called this vast catalogue a woefully inefficient use of vital computer storage space. After all, what was the probability of any woman ever choosing to replicate a skirt decorated with brown horizontal stripes that were then overlaid with yellow and orange polka dots? Certainly not she, but as she glanced over at the sometimes equally lurid choices for men and smiled to herself, thinking of Neelix's fondness for clashing colours, perhaps there was someone for every outfit on this list. Despite that conclusion, she was still finding it irrationally difficult to select an outfit for the party she'd somehow been convinced to attend and which started in precisely 19 minutes.
The nagging presence of the time constraints at the back of her mind were starting to make her feel increasingly flustered and she glanced with some degree of longing at the small pile of freshly laundered biosuits sitting on a storage crate by her alcove, pondering whether to give in to habit and just wear one of those as she did every other day. Her innate stubbornness however, strangely decided to rear its head now; sharply reminding her that one of the conditions of her invitation was not to wear a uniform. Her biosuits weren't Starfleet issue of course, but she knew it could be argued that they counted as her own unique kind of uniform. She sighed in exasperation as she again began to scan through the list, limiting it to dresses now, since according to the Doctor's social lessons dresses were most appropriate for evening events like this one. It also meant she didn't need to use as many rations, but that wasn't really the point, she spent her allocated replicator rations so sparingly that Tom had once joked she could get every crewmember a drink and still have enough left over to last her the rest of the trip back to the Alpha Quadrant.
Unfortunately, the database immediately brought up the two dresses she'd shown interest in before. One was the dusky pink creation the Doctor had chosen for her experimental date with Lieutenant Chapman, a date that had gone so disastrously wrong that she would have wiped it from her memory if she could have. Voluntarily wearing a reminder of that evening was absolutely out of the question. The other dress however, was even more violently rejected. It was the bright red dress, short and figure hugging, she'd had the temerity to choose during her holodeck simulations, if only as a hologram disguising her biosuit. Just seeing it brought back a tumult of emotions she'd rather not think about, especially now, and she felt her stress headache intensify. Why was she putting herself through this again? It stuck her as painfully ironic that her main motivation for attending was because the real Chakotay had gone out of his way to ensure it. She paused for a few minutes, frozen with indecision, before she determinedly resolved that she should dismiss the past as irrelevant for tonight. Still, she made sure to remove all red dresses from her search parameters.
Even cutting out an entire colour from the selection, sadly red had always been her favourite colour it was one of the few traits that she had carried over from childhood, didn't make anything much easier in her current frazzled mindset. Suddenly though, like an unexpected gift, a memory from the day she'd supervised Naomi Wildman and Mezotti playing "fashion show" resurfaced from nowhere. Naomi, quoting one of the fashion manuals she'd dug out to get pictures from, had said with authority that a dress should be a shade or two darker than your eye colour to make your eyes "pop". If that held true, then blue would be a good colour for her. Feeling grateful to the pair of playful little girls, she narrowed her list down further and breathed a sigh of relief when she liked a particular blue dress immediately. That didn't mean she'd follow their make up advice though, after using herself and Ensign Wildman as clothes horses for a few hours, Naomi and Mezotti had practised their make up applying skills on her. Upon seeing the result, Samantha had admiringly called her a "trooper" for her patience and promptly taken her aside to show her how to take it all off, a process that had eventually involved a heavy duty facial wash, half a bottle of eye make up remover and a full bag of cotton wool balls.
Realising that she only had nine minutes left, she ordered her new dress from the replicator, making sure none of the fabrics would irritate her implants. Thankfully it was quite easy to put on, significantly simpler than her biosuits in fact, and after replicating matching shoes she felt relatively ready. Standing in front of a mirror that sat in storage at the back of the Cargo Bay, she was surprised by how much the dress changed her reflection. It was a rich, vibrant, indigo blue. The pencil style skirt hugging her legs right down to the knee, where it ended in two small slits, might have made her uncomfortable if the tights she was wearing to hide the implants scarring her legs didn't blend in with the outfit so well. It was the upper section of dress she liked best though, the silk that made the skirt ended as a sweetheart curve to her bust line, after that delicate lace covered her décolletage and shoulders, ending as fluted three quarter length sleeves at her elbow, all again hiding most of her implants. Holding her arms out, she impulsively spun herself slowly in front of the mirror, glad to feel a wide smile pulling at her lips. Remembering Chakotay's gentle comment about her hair, suddenly she saw his point about her up-do looking oddly severe; she hurriedly pulled out the restrictive pins, letting her hair fall freely over her shoulders. Uncertainty plagued her though, memories of her time on the holodeck, and Unimatrix Zero, tugging at her until she recalled more of Chakotay's words and replicated a ribbon which matched the one encircling the dress at her waist, using it to tie her hair back in the loose ponytail at the base of her neck. Satisfied, and surprised by how good the alterations made her feel, she couldn't help but wonder if having a fashion sense was so irrelevant after all.
"Do you want a drink Chakotay?" Tom asked good-naturedly as he walked over to his First Officer and friend, who was standing slightly separate from the main group of crewmembers, most of whom were crowded around the bar at that moment watching the holographic barkeep performing cocktail tricks that would've been impossible for any humanoid barman.
"No thanks, not now Tom." Chakotay declined quickly, glancing at the holodeck's doors, as he had been unconsciously doing every few seconds since he'd entered the programme. "I don't think I'll be drinking much tonight." Part of him badly wanted the cheery numbing effect of alcohol to take the edge of the nerves running through him like an electric current, but he doubted he could talk to Seven seriously if he were even a little tipsy.
"And why not?" Tom challenged laughingly, "You're off-duty and I'd say the situation on Ledosia needs to be drunk away and forgotten about."
Chakotay felt his eyebrows rise. "Is that code for everyone getting so drunk that they forget you needed flying lessons down there?"
"If I'd be so lucky." Tom said ruefully, although with a self-deprecating smile on his lips, "But B'Elanna at least will never let me forget it, even though I did help you and Seven out in the end."
"Well, that showed pilot manoeuvres that can't be taught, that's for sure." Chakotay conceded, "Thanks Tom."
"Anytime." Tom replied sincerely, his eyes narrowing as he caught Chakotay looking towards the doors for at least the third time during their short conversation. "What's up? Either this party is a lot worse than I think it is and you're looking for an escape route or you're waiting for someone. "
Chakotay's head snapped away from the door, caught out, wincing when he saw Tom's searching expression. "Seven hasn't come yet and she told me that she would, that's all."
Tom frowned at Chakotay's uncharacteristically cagey tone. "Well, it is partly her party so she should turn up at some point, much as she dislikes social events I don't think she's ever consciously snubbed us. What time did you give her?"
"Neelix told us both 2000 hours." Chakotay answered pensively.
"Well…" Tom checked the clock on the wall, "It's only two minutes past."
"Have you ever known Seven to be less than punctual?" Chakotay countered, his mood visibly darkening.
Tom chuckled uneasily, caught off guard by Chakotay's serious air. "No, never." He admitted, "But there's always a first time. Why do you want her to come so badly?"
Chakotay shot him an exasperated look. "Is there something odd about wanting to socialise with my friend?" he asked curtly.
Tom backed off. "No, definitely not. I for one would love to see what she makes of this." He replied easily, though his curiosity was piqued, he'd never heard Chakotay refer to Seven in that way before, he'd always been cordial with her as far as he could tell, but right now he seemed concerned for her, though in an entirely different way than the Captain and the Doctor expressed it. Suddenly he didn't want to forget Ledosia so completely, and wished he'd been a fly on the wall while Seven and Chakotay had been trapped down there. He was getting the distinct impression it had been an interesting couple of days for them, to say the least.
He heard Chakotay's sharp intake of breath and grinned knowingly when he saw the cause. "There she is now."
A/n: Another set up chapter, don't be angry with me! I just felt I couldn't squeeze all I wanted to happen at the party into one chapter. PLEASE REVIEW! :D A little shameless plugging now, I've just started a new fanfic fandom for the TV show "Dark Skies" and posted the first fic for it. I know the vast majority of you won't have seen it, but I purposefully wrote it so that non-fans could follow it because I want to grow the fandom. I'd really appreciate it if some of you lovely reviewers could tell me what you think of how I've written it, thanks! :)