# Chapter 3 – Seven's Revelation
The ball spun and moved momentarily between them, but the momentum was in her favor. Seven pushed hard off the side wall, just above where Kellin was going to hit the floor and rebound. She would have a clear shot at her goal if she was able to get into position. Pulling her arms in to allow her angular motion spin her faster, she kicked the ball with the heel of her left foot and then flung her arms and legs wide slowing her spin. The ball was right were she wanted it to be, and she easily hit it towards her goal. Before reaching it, however, Kellin sprung from the floor and was just able to touch the ball with her fingertips. She deflected it enough, and the ball glanced off the side of the goal's ring, bounced off the wall and moved back to the center of the court. Because of her speed, Seven had to brace herself to stop and grab hold of the mid-level clasp on the opposite side.
They had been evenly matched playing velocity before the Tracer had come, but Kellin wasn't interested in relearning that game. Hoverball had become their game of choice, encouraged by the fact that they had only played it rarely before the incident. Seven noted that Kellin would now often go out of her way to do things differently, as if to defy and change expectations. Seven had greater strength, but Kellin had greater speed. In the past six weeks, Kellin had been learning the game, and obviously also learning how to take advantage of that speed. Seven was not about to go easy with her, and prepared to launch herself to the other side of the court. Whether it was playing velocity with Captain Janeway or hoverball with Kellin, Seven gave it her all.
"Let's take a break," Kellin called from the ceiling. She pushed off and moved down to the side wall where Seven had stopped. Seven relaxed and noticed Kellin breathing hard to catch her breath. Indeed she felt a bit winded herself, and was happy for the break in the game.
"Impressive," Seven commented when Kellin had settled in beside her. "I should have hit that harder, but I thought I had a clear goal."
"Hah, not if I can help it. One of these days, I'm going to beat you."
"We'll see," Seven replied with a smile.
Kellin looked about the hoverball court. "I still can't get over these holodecks," she said. "How's that Ramura program you're writing coming along?"
"I'm nearly complete," Seven replied. "It will undoubtedly need adjustments based on your input, but I can help you with that." Before they placed the Tracer back on his ship and sent him on his way, Captain Janeway had ordered his entire database downloaded into Voyager's system. It had made Kellin extremely uncomfortable at first, but realizing Voyager was now far from Ramura with no intention of going back, she accepted the Captain's decision and didn't object. In fact, when they first used the holodeck to play hoverball after the incident, Kellin had asked Seven if it would be possible to write a holoprogram that duplicated scenes on Ramura based on the downloaded information. As it turned out, the Tracer's database had been quite extensive, and so it had been a relatively easy but time consuming matter of programming in the correct parameters.
Kellin nodded approvingly. "It's so antithetical to my Ramuran upbringing I still get a chill thinking about it. I must admit, though, that I'm actually looking forward to showing you my homeworld."
Seven glanced at the hoverball dancing lazily in the center of the court. Its arcs brought it ever closer to the two of them as time passed. She consulted her internal chronometer and realized they didn't have too much more time on the holodeck. Perhaps now was a good time to broach the subject Seven wanted to speak to Kellin about. Since moving into separate quarters, they weren't spending as much time together as in the previous weeks when they were residing in the cargo bay. Seven had discovered that coming right to the point was the most efficient course of action, and so she said, "Are you simply not interested in Chakotay?"
Kellin raised her eyebrows in surprise, and then appeared to Seven to be a little flustered. In the first couple of weeks after the incident with the Tracer, they had talked often about Chakotay. Kellin complained that she just wasn't ready to think about starting up a relationship with someone who was a complete stranger to her. She said she felt as if she was being pushed into it and needed time to adjust. Now, after six weeks, it still appeared to Seven that she had no intention of pursuing a relationship. "I like Chakotay," Kellin finally said. "But…" She turned and batted at the hoverball that had come within reach. The ball moved off and then retreated to the center of the court again. "Did I ever tell you the story of my Ascension speech?"
Seven considered, but then shook her head. "You mentioned something about the Ramuran Ascension ritual, when we were talking about rights of passage the other day in relation to Tom and B'Elana's daughter. You have said nothing specific about your own Ascension."
"It occurs when someone turns ten and officially becomes an adult on Ramura," Kellin replied. "Ten would be, oh, about fourteen or fifteen Earth years. My brother, who is a year older than I am, had been flawless at his Ascension. My relatives were still talking about it a year later when it became my turn."
"There are similar Earth customs," Seven observed, although she had not participated in any of them. She wondered idly if her parents would have done something special for her on say her thirteenth or sixteenth birthday, as was custom according to some Earth traditions. Instead, she had grown into an adult in a Borg maturation chamber. Entering at age six, and then exiting as a fully grown adult a few years later. All those formative years, skipped and missed.
"Anyway, during the Ascension ritual, we're expected to memorize and give a speech; standard stuff about Ramuran history and our clan's place in it. My parents kept reminding me to practice, reminding me how well Jovin had done and their expectations for me. With all their pressure, however, a funny thing happened. The more they tried to get me to practice, the more I resisted and refused to. I finally understood something about my personality that I had only been vaguely aware of before then. I don't like being forced into things, and simply meeting the expectations of others. Even if I know what I'm doing is childish, I harbor a strong resentment and simply refuse to play along." She again swung at the hoverball which had come within reach, this time more vigorously. The ball flew off and glanced the ring of Kellin's goal.
"That wouldn't have counted," Seven remarked.
"Anyway, this is the biggest problem I have with Chakotay; the perceived inevitability of a relationship with him and unrealistic expectations."
Seven considered her response. It did seem childish, although Seven had noted numerous occasions in the past when others had done similarly childish things. Many of Lieutenant Paris' exploits came readily to mind. But couldn't she see how it was hurting Chakotay?
"Oh, I know that look. You do think I'm being childish."
"Yes I do," Seven said. "If it's meant to be."
"Its how I'm wired," Kellin defended. "I can't help how I feel. I really do like Chakotay. I just can't seem to fall in love with him again the way he expects me to…"
What was Seven to say to that? She of course didn't want to force Kellin back with Chakotay if she truly wasn't interested, but in the meantime Chakotay was unhappy. Since the night of their dinner in the cargo bay, he had become more guarded and remote. Their lunches together were fewer and he didn't seem to be himself lately. She truly didn't have many close friends, and she counted Chakotay among them. She missed the closeness, even if he wasn't hers.
"So how did your speech go?" Seven asked, deciding to drop the subject.
"Speech?"
"Your Ascension speech."
Kellin shrugged. "It went great," she said smiling. "Not as good as Jovin's, mind you, but I did just fine."
Seven noticed Kellin's eyes glance at the hoverball and muscles tense. She was undoubtedly planning another try for a goal. The hoverball was at the most distant point in its arc, the programmed proximity detector designed to move away from each player at specific ranges and to move closer after times of inactivity. Seven was ready when Kellin launched herself from the side and slammed the ball towards her goal. An easy push and Seven was in position. She deflected the ball up with her thigh and then fired it through her own goal.
Kellin grunted in disgust. "You must read minds," she said, and then pushed off the opposite side wall directly towards Seven. Seven's momentum wasn't enough to move completely out of the way. In fact, there was a risk that Kellin would be able to push off on her just the right amount and leave her with little or no momentum. If that happened, Seven would be stuck in the center of the court. She shifted her rotation to offer less area for Kellin to reach and attempted to grab hold of her arms. Not enough, and Kellin grabbed Seven's shoulders and pushed in the direction of the hoverball while sending Seven in a new direction towards the floor and out of the way.
Seven gauged the distance, and realized that Kellin had a good chance at a goal. She was moving too slowly towards the floor, but perhaps if she twisted enough, she could reach her toes to her own goal to enable her to push off and obtain more speed towards a wall so she could push off more forcefully from there.
"You're not that tall," Kellin said as she neared the hoverball.
Seven extended her right leg as far as she could and pointed her toes. The tips brushed lightly against her goal, but gave no leverage. She would have to wait for her momentum to carry her to the wall, but by that time it would be too late.
Kellin grabbed the hoverball, aimed, and fired a shot towards her goal. In her haste, however, she had neglected to account for her own motion, and the ball hit the outer rim and angled away from the goal.
"No!" she cursed.
"It looks like you need a refresher in basic physics," Seven taunted.
"Are you going to teach me?" Kellin replied as she bounced off the ceiling with her hands and twisted to recover from her missed shot.
Seven saw what she was doing and moved towards the hoverball to let the proximity detector move it out of the way. "Chakotay is tutoring Naomi Wildman, perhaps you can sit in." Oops, she had meant to not mention Chakotay again.
"Perhaps you can play hoverball with Chakotay," Kellin retorted.
Seven's imagination suddenly produced an image of her and Chakotay entangled in the center of the hoverball court. Their bodies close, breathing hard, laughing and each grappling to grasp for the ball just out of reach. Before she knew it, Kellin let out a whoop as the hoverball she had just grabbed was sent through her goal, bringing Seven back to the present game.
Seven glanced at Kellin, who was watching her closely. She felt self conscious, as if it was Kellin who could read minds.
"Well," Kellin said triumphantly. "On that goal, I think it's time we relinquish the holodeck to the next group."
Seven maneuvered such that her feet were facing down and made her way to the floor. Her face felt hot, and she imagined Kellin noticing her every move. Did Kellin suspect her feelings? Seven tried to hide them, she had always tried to hide them. The strange and conflicting human emotions she had felt for quite some time and her feelings of jealousy towards Kellin concerning her relationship with Chakotay. Since the annulment of Chakotay and Kellin's marriage, she had allowed herself some leeway, but hadn't realized the danger in it. She couldn't let Kellin know.
"Computer, reestablish gravity and end program," Kellin said when the two of them were in position. "A little distracted there at the end, I guess I really got you."
Seven's mind reeled. Kellin knew. She knew how her quip about Seven and Chakotay playing hoverball together had affected her. Again an image formed in her mind of her and Chakotay in the hoverball court, now in a close embrace. Was it even a possibility? What would Chakotay think if he knew she had these thoughts of him?
"Sooner or later, I'm going to start getting more goals like that and finally win a game," Kellin commented and moved to the holodeck exit.
"During times we're taking a break from play, no doubt," Seven countered, trying to recover and hoping her voice didn't betray her anxiety and guilt.
"Hah!" Kellin laughed.
Seven cleared her thoughts. Kellin was her friend, her best friend, and regardless of how Kellin felt for Chakotay now, she had once loved him. Seven wondered if acknowledging her own feelings for Chakotay would jeopardize that friendship. She couldn't guess, and it was likely Chakotay didn't return those same feelings anyway. She had to continue doing her best to work things out between Kellin and Chakotay. They had all been happy before the Tracer had come. Hadn't they?
She took a deep breath to calm her nerves, and then followed Kellin out of the holodeck.
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Author's note: Not sure about the rules of hoverball, but used Withah's wonderful description in "Field Trip" as a guide.