Disclaimer: I do not own any of this, I'm just having some fun.
Rating: 'M' for later chapters and also cuz I want to be on the safe side.
Pairing: B'Elanna Torres and Seven of Nine 9 (of course)
Feedback: Yes Plz, I need it.
AN: All the Klingon words I have refered from .com and the dictionary provided there. A few words that I could not find, I made up.
AN 2: Sorry that I took SO long everybody. I was stuck for a bit there. Anyways if anyone has ideas about how this story should progress then please let me know. Your ideas are most welcome. To all who reviewed, thanx cuz you've put a million watt smile on my face. And now...
Chapter 5:-
Chapter 5:-
"Regeneration cycle incomplete."
As a habit borne of decades, Seven of Nine, late of the Borg Collective stepped down from the dais of her Regeneration alcove with the tiniest frown marring her brow. A slow realization grew upon her as she looked around at a place she hadn't seen in close to 47 years.
Cargo Bay 2.
She blinked once.
Twice.
Thrice.
And then it hit her like an out of control shuttle.
"It worked?" Still unable to believe it all, her words were more of a hesitant question rather than an assertive statement. Seven spun a full circle, taking in the gun-metal grey walls and the hundreds of equipment crates as if it were the most beautiful thing in the world. And in an askew way of looking at life, seeing her first home again, was like seeing the most beautiful thing in the world.
A huge smile bloomed on her face as she spoke a lot more confidently than before, "Computer, state the date as per the Gregorion calendar."
"The date is 14th March, 2357."
'55 years. That means that I have 8 years before Voyager reached home in the old timeline. This time I will do things right for the crew.' Seven thought to herself, her mind already browsing over her editic memory, review what was to occur and what she should or should not change.
Two hours later, Seven had updated herself with things pertaining to this timeline. There were differences that startled Seven quite a bit. One of the deviations from the norm was that Neelix never fell in love when he was supposed to. Instead he was aboard the ship instead of staying back at the Talaxian Colony they had passed just 1 week ago.
Seven was quite surprised at this. Deciding to dig further through the ship's logs as well as her own personal logs, she found something shocking that nearly brought her to her knees.
Apparently, Ensign Samantha Wildman had been in an accident on an away mission to an uninhabited planet a month ago. While leading the Biometrics team, the group happened upon a nesting site of a native animal, a rough equivalent of the now extinct Akandael Lizard found on Betazed. Like their Alpha Quadrant counterparts, their bite too was not only extremely poisonous but also disintegrated the flesh around the bite and throughout the rest of the body at a rapid rate as the poison spread.
However, unlike the Arkandael Lizard's poison, the Doctor could not find a safe and stable cure to the alien lizard's poison. Three hours after the incident, both Ensign Samantha Wildman and Lieutenant Sarab Schwerich were placed in LTSUs, otherwise known as Long Term Stasis Units.
Neelix, who considered Samantha Wildman as his sister and who also had been in his first fledgling relationship since Kes, with Lt. Schwerich had undergone an emotional breakdown which quite nearly bordered on violence.
Much to Seven of Nine's consternation, that anger and violence, soon after the incident, had been directed at her. The Doctor had hoped that Seven's nanoprobes would solve the problem with the poison like they had help in a number of other dire situations before. Neelix had held hope that the nanoprobes which had brought him back to life after being dead for literally hours, would deal with the poison as well. When it didn't, much to the entire crew's dismay, the beloved and gentle-hearted Talaxian had very and truly snapped.
The final nail in the coffin came when the Captain ordered Sam Wildman's Last Will and Testament to be accessed. Normally, it would not have been activated since the woman was not only still alive in stasis but also that she had appointed Neelix as Naomi Wildman's godfather and legal guardian in the eventuality of something happening to her. But both the Captain and the Doctor had declared Neelix unsuitable as a caregiver for the 7 year old half-katarian child due to his susceptibility to violence and his apparent depression.
The Will stated that in the absences of both herself and Neelix, Sam chose Naomi's best-friend and pseudo aunt/elder sister, Seven as Naomi's legal guardian. It was needless to say that Seven was definitely on Neelix's Hate list.
"Oh Fuck!" cursed Seven as she took in this news. Quickly she called up her personal logs pre-dating to the planet-side accident and carefully read through her recorded thoughts about the events that ensued till date.
The abrupt changes that she found in her life in such a short period of time was astounding. The logs said that after signing the Custodial documents, Seven and Naomi moved into their new quarters that they had exchanged the Wildman quarters with a crewman on Deck 8. Now Seven only returned to Cargo Bay 2 once every week to regenerate.
The days that followed were difficult for the close-knit crew. But the blow was hardest on the 7-year old half-katarian who had lost the ever present love and support of her mother and godfather. For the first week follows the incident, any time not spent in restless sleep was spent at Seven's side. It was obvious that the child feared that if she took her eyes off her best-friend then she too might leave her.
But the one thing that worried the entire crew was that, not once had any of them seen Naomi crying. When Seven was approached with these disturbing observations she had quickly assured everyone that Naomi indeed had cried on several occasions but only in the privacy of their quarters.
The first time Naomi had broken down and cried was directly after her mother was put in the LTS Unit. Wrapped up and cocooned in the ex-Borg's arms, Naomi had cried every night for the first 2 weeks.
Meanwhile, Neelix continued to struggle through his grief and depression under the tutelage of a holographic version of Councillor Deanna Troi. He had as yet to apologize to Seven for his behaviour and his harsh words but had agreed that he was not fit to step-up as Naomi's guardian but as soon as he was declared fit, he had made it widely known that he would file a formal request that his god-daughter be returned into his custody.
As a matter of fact, Neelix had returned to limited duty 3 days ago and was rumoured to be reinstated to full duty some time next week.
From her own logs, Seven found that all of Neelix's harsh words and actions had cut deeply considering that the Talaxian was one of the very few people who was kind to her when she first came aboard the ship.
In one of the previous logs an incident was mentioned that disturbed and saddened her greatly. Apparently Neelix had made an attempt to take Naomi and launch his ship that rested in the Shuttle Bay. Naomi was having her Biology lessons with the Doctor and Neelix had somehow managed to block his program after switching it off.
The 7-year old, through all of this, was left terrified and the crew greatly disturbed. Seven had held the trembling form of the girl as she cried confused and fearful tears due to her beloved godfather's actions.
The last log made the previous night stated that the Captain had called a unique meeting that included all the Senior staff except for Neelix. The Captain had referred to it as an intervention of sorts. It had been decided amongst Janeway, Chakotay and Tuvok that considering that the thing that Naomi needed most right now was stability and love.
And though both Neelix and Seven loved the half-katarian without a doubt in their hearts, Neelix was not able to give Naomi the stability that Seven could. Even Seven's most vocal adversary, Voyager's Chief Engineer had grudgingly agreed to the truth behind that statement. Seven on the other hand had insisted that Neelix to still be considered as Naomi Wildman's godfather.
After reading through her logs of the past month or so, Seven gritted herself for the emotional turmoil that she expected to find headed her way. All Seven could do was pray for strength and take in the unexpected changes as quickly as she could. After all, a lot of lives depended on her actions as well as inactions.