Seven was surprised and pleased when she found Tom and Harry waiting for her outside the mess hall the next morning.

“C’mon Seven,” Harry said, “we’re gonna find you something you’ll like for breakfast.”

“You do not have to feel obligated to help me…” she began cautiously as they guided her into the mess hall and to a table.

“Forget it,” Tom replied. “We’re on a mission now. But Harry and I were talking about it and we decided that most guys eat a lot more for breakfast than most women do. So we’re bringing in some experts to help. Hey, Megan! Jennifer! Over here!” He waved to the Delaney twins.

Once the young women joined them, Tom and Harry quickly explained the situation and enlisted their help in the project.

“We had a cousin who had some really bad stomach problems. What were some of the things she had to eat, Megan? Do you remember?” asked Jennifer.

Megan smiled her quiet smile and said “Yup. Give me just a minute and I think I’ve got the perfect thing.” She headed to the replicator and returned shortly with a tray.

“Seven, this is a soft boiled egg, a piece of lightly buttered toast and a glass of…”

“Tomato soup!” Seven interjected with delight.

“Uh, close. This is tomato juice. It’s very similar to tomato soup but it’s not as thick and it’s served cold. Now this breakfast should work really well for you if you like it. The egg has lots of protein, the toast has carbohydrates and fats, and the juice has a lot of vitamins and minerals. It has less acid than orange or grapefruit juices do and will be easier on your stomach. Even the Doctor would approve of this breakfast.”

Seven looked at the silverware on her tray in confusion. Megan smiled again and showed her how to use the spoon to eat the egg as well as the correct utilization of a napkin. Seven of Nine managed to eat all of the egg as well as half the toast and most of the juice. Megan downloaded the replicator parameters to Seven’s workstation and just like that, Seven of Nine’s recipe file grew again. Perhaps this solid nutrition wasn’t as difficult as she had previously thought.

A short time later, Janeway managed to avoid the bulkhead but spilled hot coffee all over her uniform tunic when she saw Seven together with Tom, Harry…and the DELANEY TWINS???

The star system they’d discovered six weeks ago hadn’t worked out well for Voyager. They had been met at the perimeter of the system by patrol ships and grudgingly allowed passage through the system, but not access to the prized dilithium they needed. A chance encounter with a deep-space trader a couple of weeks later had gotten them information about another system still ahead with a much more welcoming manner. Indeed, the trader had told them about a space station within the system that could not only provide a large variety of foodstuffs and badly needed supplies, but repair facilities for the ship and shore leave facilities for the crew. They were on course for the station at warp seven.

The senior staff met in the conference room off the bridge for their morning meeting.

“Captain, we’ve been hailed by the outer traffic controllers of Ryleos Station. We’ve been given our preliminary approach vector and expect to complete docking there by 1000 hours tomorrow,” reported Chakotay.

“How are we doing on shore leave rotations?” asked Janeway.

“We’ve got the final schedule set and have also worked up the station-keeping crew roster. Everybody should get three days on the station, even if they’re not all together. Tuvok has completed his security rosters for the shore leave as well.”

“Seven, what can we expect from the Ryleos system?” was the next question.

“The Borg regard species 296 as technologically unremarkable,” said Seven. “However, Neelix obtained some additional information on them from the trader we encountered.”

“Neelix? What can you tell us?”

“Well, Captain, they seem to be a commerce-based society. At least they are on Ryleos Station. We can expect a fairly heavy traffic flow from areas all around the station and a goodly number of deep space traders too. There are many restaurants and hotels on the station proper, and I understand that the Station Constabulary keeps good control over things there. The crew should be safe and from what I understand, they shouldn’t be robbed blind by most of the merchants located there. The Ryleos are mostly humanoid in appearance, but with the heavy traffic through the Station, we can expect to see a wide variety of species. Station Master Ry’trop will expect you to visit him in his office officially within a couple of hours of our docking. He should be able to tell us what repairs are available for Voyager on the Station then.”

“Thank you Neelix. That sounds like a fairly pleasant place for the crew to have a few days off. Is there anything else before we adjourn? No? Well then, dismissed.”

Docking at Ryleos Station was uneventful the following morning. Within half an hour of the docking arm getting hard seal and the umbilicals being connected, the first shore leave parties were exiting Voyager and heading into the station proper. Janeway wasn’t too far behind them as she and Tuvok headed for the Station Master’s office to deal with the official records and paperwork.

Tom, Harry and Seven of Nine walked out into the main concourse of the Station in search of a good restaurant. For some reason, B’Elanna had begged off this initial foray into the Station claiming a couple of stubborn gel packs that she wanted to replace, and promised to meet up with them for dinner on the Station. They wandered along the concourse, looking at the displays in shop windows until the smells emanating from a small bistro told them they had found their restaurant. The fellows ordered some type of roasted meat and all three agreed on what was described as a mild fish for Seven of Nine. They shared a bottle of a light wine, with Seven drinking less than a glass. She was well aware of the affect alcohol and synthehol had on her cortical node. Their meals were excellent and a couple of hours later they wandered back onto the concourse to further explore the offerings of Ryleos Station.

But B’Elanna didn’t have gel packs to replace. For some reason, she had been feeling distinctly…Klingon lately. At least she felt her Klingon half was asserting itself. She had decided to spend the afternoon in a local pub sampling whatever passed for beer in these parts. It hadn’t taken long for her to find the perfect place. Not too large, not too well lit, and not too respectable. The clientele was obviously all spacers determined to make the most of their limited time at the Station. She’d quickly downed three tankards of local ale and was developing a rather nice buzz when an alien who looked like a cross between an iguana and a rainbow trout appeared at her table and offered to buy her a drink. The alien was bipedal, fairly lizard-like in appearance and its skin was an iridescent teal color. Its most notable features were hands the size of hams. It was more than moderately drunk and decidedly bent on sharing B’Elanna’s company. She cheerfully indicated her full tankard and politely refused his advances. However he continued to lean heavily on her table refusing to take her pointed hints that his company was not particularly welcome. He was drunk, she was getting drunk and things came to a head fairly quickly with Torres leaping to her feet and telling him in no uncertain terms to take a hike. The last thing she saw was one of those ham-sized fists heading for the side of her head and suddenly she flew ass over teakettle across her table and onto the floor.

Seven, Tom and Harry were strolling along the concourse when Seven’s enhanced hearing picked up what she immediately identified as B’Elanna’s voice shouting insults. She grabbed Tom and Harry and the three of them dashed to the entrance of the nearby pub, arriving in time to see a body in a Starfleet uniform sail over a table. The insulted alien moved around the table and hauled B’Elanna up by her uniform tunic. He drew back a huge hand and she watched dizzily as it was launched toward her face in what seemed like slow motion. But just before it connected with her nose, a Borg metal and mesh hand grabbed the hand, wrenched the attached arm around and with no apparent effort hurled the alien through the air and into a wall. It landed with a rather sickening crunch and didn’t get up. But the problem with drunken spacers is that they always have crewmates who don’t take too well to strangers beating up their friends. Suddenly, Seven of Nine was facing three more iridescent aliens with ham-sized fists. Tom and Harry waded in and B’Elanna found her feet again to lend another set of hands. It was like a warp-core breach. In seconds the entire clientele of the pub was swinging at who or whatever was close to them.

Janeway and Tuvok were headed back to the ship when then saw a small rodent-like alien fly through the window of the pub they were passing, crash into a kiosk then scurry back into the fray. Janeway felt her evil side let out a whoop and moved to the door to watch the fun. It stopped being fun in two or three seconds when she saw three Starfleet uniforms and a set of black cargo pants right in the middle of the brawl. Shouting to Tuvok to get their security teams there pronto, she dashed into the fight.

Tom, Harry, Seven and B’Elanna were barely holding their own without much organization to their efforts. Tom caught sight of their diminutive captain out of the corner of his eye but when he turned to look, got pasted on his left ear and wound up on his ass. He felt Janeway grab the back of his tunic and help haul him to his feet. That’s when they saw a huge spacer grab B’Elanna and turn to drag her away from her friends. Janeway didn’t hesitate. She grabbed a wine bottle from the nearest table, whirled and smashed it over the alien’s head. He folded like a cheap suit.

“Gods and planets! Don’t they teach you kids how to handle yourselves in a bar fight at the Academy any more?? Back to back…use covering fields of fire to hold them off!!” Janeway bellowed to her troops. The five of them formed a loose ring and the youngsters soon realized the benefit of this arrangement. Each of them could cover the other’s blind spots, and nobody could get behind them. Their dignified and elegant Captain apparently knew her way around a bar brawl.

The five Voyager crewmates successfully held off all comers until a group of aliens grabbed a table and rushed Harry. He fell into Janeway and she stumbled out of their protective ring. Then all they saw was their Captain sailing through the air and over the bar. Seven let out a roar and smashed the table into kindling with one swing of her left hand. A second swing left the aliens who had been wielding it unconscious lumps bleeding on the floor. Seven fought her way to the bar and vaulted over it.

“Captain!!! Captain!!! Are you damaged???”

Janeway looked up at the stricken face above her, grinned despite the blood oozing from a badly split lip, and reached up a hand for help rising.

“Nah, I’m OK. The floor broke my fall.” Seven hauled her to her feet, only to push the Captain back down a moment later and deliver a Borg-enhanced left hook to the face of an alien who thought he could get behind Janeway. He was out cold before he hit the deck several feet behind his original position.

“Nice punch!” said Janeway admiringly.

As the two of them climbed back over the bar to rejoin their comrades, the Station Constables and Voyager security teams arrived to restore order. Apparently, pugilistic mayhem was a frequent occurrence in the establishment, because the Constables quickly corralled the owner and determined who was responsible. The four lizard-like aliens were revived and rousted by the efficient Constables who forced them to cough up the required damages for the pub’s owner before hauling them off to the local brig. Another indication that fights were a regular feature of the place was the fact that within minutes all the broken tables, chairs, tankards and bottles had been swept up and replaced from what seemed to be a large supply in a back room.

Normalcy having been restored, the bruised and bloodied patrons decided that the Voyager crew were their new best friends and immediately fresh tankards of ale appeared in their hands. Toasts were shouted and drunk, and when Tuvok attempted to take Janeway and her bloody band back to Voyager she shrugged him off.

“Now Tuvok, we don’t want to be rude to our hosts. We’ll just stay a bit to be friendly.”

Several hours later, four delightfully drunk Voyager crew members and their plastered Captain staggered back up the docking arm under the amused but watchful eyes of Tuvok and a security team. As they approached the hatch, Janeway turned to face her crew and swayed unsteadily as she told them to be quiet.

“I don’t…want…Chakotay or the Doctor to shee…see us like thish,” she slurred. “Shhhhh!”

As she turned around she caught sight of her First Officer and EMH standing in the hatch with arms crossed on their chests and matching frowns on their faces. Another unsteady pivot and she was facing her victorious troops again.

“Whoops….busted…” she managed before toppling forward into Seven of Nine’s arms. The ex-drone was none too steady herself, although she gamely tried to hold her Captain upright. They were saved by the timely intervention of the security team who assisted all of them to Sickbay. Their EMH was at his worst, badgering all of them non-stop on safety, protocol and proper behavior as he moved around the biobeds administering antibiotics and patching up the bloodied warriors. Janeway exercised command prerogative and got a hypospray injection to counteract the alcohol. The chastised crew members and thoroughly un-chastised Captain were then unceremoniously dispatched to their quarters to sleep it off.

Somehow, during the medical interlude, it was determined that since Seven of Nine had never before been drunk, it would be prudent for her to sleep on the Captain’s couch where a bathroom and waste disposal unit were available if needed. As they entered the quarters, Janeway steered Seven to the sofa and headed for the replicator.

“Stay here and I’ll find you something to sleep in,” she said as she went into the bedroom. Guessing at the size, she requested a large tee-shirt for Seven from the replicator and returned to the living room area. Somehow, she got Seven on her feet and pointed toward the sonic shower. While Seven showered, Janeway recycled her clothes so they would be fresh for morning and took them into the living room where she made up the couch. When Seven staggered out of the shower she got into the tee-shirt and Janeway helped her back onto the couch and tucked her in.

“Seven, if you start to feel sick, holler for me, OK?” she instructed before the ex-Borg passed out cold.

Janeway then took her own hydro shower, donned a sleep shirt and crawled into bed. As she gave the computer command to lower the lights, she couldn’t resist a grin. It had been a good day. That lasted for about an hour until she was awakened by Seven moaning, “Captain…I don’t feel….too….”

Janeway leaped out of bed, grabbed the young woman by the scruff of the neck and hustled her to the waste disposal unit just in time. Seven of Nine upchucked what seemed to be everything she had eaten for the last month plus a little bit more while Janeway held a cold washcloth on the back of her neck. When the retching ceased, Janeway got her up and let her rinse out her mouth before helping her back to the living room and the sofa. Oblivion was not far behind.

Janeway looked down at the beautiful young woman and for a moment let down the carefully constructed command mask she wore. If only there weren’t regulations. If only there wasn’t her command and ship and crew to consider. If only there wasn’t fear…

Kathryn Janeway gazed at the woman she loved and wondered how she’d gotten to this point. She’d never before been attracted to a woman. She’d never before even contemplated a relationship with a member of her crew. When had it happened? How had she come to love this innocent and inexperienced young woman? And what could she possibly do about it?

With a sad shake of her head and a soft sigh she decided probably nothing, turned, and went back to her lonely bed.

The following morning was an agonizing first for Seven of Nine. She awoke and immediately knew she was seriously damaged. She had not regenerated, and seemed to have been unconscious for a considerable period of time in a strange room. That it appeared to be on Voyager was encouraging, but the continued malfunction of her cortical node and nanoprobes was cause for considerable concern. She attempted to slap her comm badge to summon the EMH but discovered she was not wearing one…nor could she locate it. She swung her legs down to the floor and attempted to rise only to collapse back onto her makeshift bed clutching her head with both hands. A deep, soft chuckle sounded from across the room.

“I won’t say ‘good morning’ because I know it’s not. Let me call the cavalry and we’ll get you settled.” There was the brief chirp of a comm badge followed by “Janeway to Sickbay. She’s awake Doctor. You’d better get up here.”

Seven of Nine slowly raised her head against the agony shooting through it and saw Captain Janeway regarding her with an amused smile from the room’s workstation. The Captain was dressed in soft, faded jeans and a tee-shirt and didn’t look at all like the formidable commander she was.

“I….where….what happened to me?” Seven managed to croak out. Her mouth tasted foul and she wasn’t quite sure she recognized the shirt she was wearing.

Any reply Janeway would have made was deferred by the arrival of the EMH, hypospray in hand. The badgering lecture on Starfleet behavior expectations, safety and the evils of demon rum that had begun the night before in Sickbay continued unabated as the EMH bustled around Seven injecting her with medication to counteract her massive hangover. Once the meds took effect, the EMH ran quick diagnostics on her cortical and optical nodes to determine if either had suffered damage in the brawl. Neither apparently had. Janeway finally herded him out the door and silently thanked any deity in the neighborhood for the resulting quiet.

“So, are you feeling better?” she asked Seven of Nine.

“I’m not…I don’t… remember…where…these are your quarters, Captain?”

Janeway laughed. “Yes Seven, you’re in my quarters. In a nutshell, you went to B’Elanna’s rescue in a tavern brawl last night. I got sucked in too and you, Harry, Tom, B’Elanna and I apparently defeated the forces of evil in this sector or at least the worst of the drunks on Ryleos Station. When the smoke had cleared, we were hailed as heroes by one and all and toasted by the patrons of the pub. Seven, you got drunk last night. What you’re suffering from this morning is called a hangover. The meds the doctor gave you will help with most of it, but you still need to rest a lot today and drink plenty of water.”

“But why am I here?” Seven asked plaintively.

If she hadn’t been so earnest in her inquiry, Janeway would have doubled over in laughter. As it was, she was going to have to treat the young woman with a lot of compassion and keep reminding herself that for Seven, this was the first time she’d ever experienced the joys of overindulgence.

“One of the aftereffects of getting drunk can be the violent purging of what’s been drunk by the body.” At Seven’s confused look Janeway decided that bluntness might be needed. “Seven, I’m talking about vomiting.”

“Vomiting…” Seven said in horror.

“Yes, vomiting. Blowing chunks, hurling, yakking….there are many words to describe that particular process. But basically, what went down comes back up. Since you’d never been drunk before and your three friends are all hardened veterans of the morning-after wars it was decided that you spend the night in my quarters so someone would be there to help you if you needed it.”

“And…did I….require this…assistance?” Seven asked in a small voice.

“Yes, you did.” This was delivered in a gentle tone. “You remembered what I told you before you passed out and when you felt sick you woke me up and I got you to the waste disposal in time.”

“You…witnessed…me…vomiting?” The horror in her question would have been funny in other circumstances.

“Yes, Seven, I did. Believe me, it wasn’t the first time I’ve held someone’s head over the bowl while they threw up. Don’t worry about it. What’s important is that your cortical node and optical implant are both fine. What we need to do now is get you cleaned up a bit more and get some food in you.”

“I…never…want…to…eat…again,” Seven bit out in a succinct whisper.

“I know you don’t. But believe me, I’ve been through this before myself and I know what you need. For starters, I’m going to get you a mug of herbal tea. I want you to drink as much of it as you can.”

“You have been…hung over?” Seven asked quietly. She could not reconcile the visual image of Captain Janeway feeling like she currently did. Nor could she even contemplate an image of Janeway…vomiting.

“On more occasions than I should ever count,” laughed the older woman. “Seven, don’t be upset. Getting so drunk you pass out and being hung over are all parts of growing up in our world. Most Academy cadets experience it many times before they graduate. It’s all part of being human.”

“I do not care for this aspect of humanity,” said Seven, holding her head together with both hands.

“OK then, learn from it. Don’t ever drink until you get sick again. That’s also part of learning to be an adult in our world. Learning from our mistakes is one of the best parts of being human. Now, have you ever had a bath?”

“Immersion in water? No, I have not.”

“Will your implants tolerate immersion? You won’t rust or anything will you?”

“It would be…inefficient…if the Borg ‘rusted’,” said the former drone dryly.

Seven of Nine was treated to the Captain’s full-bodied laughter.

“Well then, it seems that today is going to be filled with firsts for you, Seven. Follow me.”

Janeway led Seven back through the bedroom into the bathroom. She programmed the large tub to fill with hot water, tossed in some bath salts and handed Seven of Nine her recycled clothing.

“I want you to climb in that tub and soak for at least half an hour. Don’t worry; the tub is programmed to keep the water temperature constant. When you’re nice and relaxed, get out, use one of these towels to dry off with and get dressed. We can try some breakfast when you’re ready.”

A minute later Janeway knocked and entered with a large mug of herbal tea. The sight of the Borg in her bathtub froze Janeway in her tracks. A little voice inside her head began to chuckle.

“Uh, Seven, uh here’s that herbal tea. You uh, need to drink, um, as much of it as you can,” Janeway managed to get out. “The jet controls are there on the wall next to you if you want them.”

“Jet controls? Are the propulsion modules interfaced in your bathroom?” Seven responded in confusion as she took the offered mug from Janeway.

“Water jets, Seven. The tub has hydro spa jets built in. Here, uh, let me show you.” You can do this. You are a Starfleet officer, Captain of Voyager and you’ve kicked the ass of every aggressive alien species that have even looked cross-eyed at your ship. You are perfectly capable of leaning over this tub and activating the water jets. It took every ounce of control and strength Janeway possessed to lean over and activate the jet controls without looking directly at Seven of Nine who was regarding her with curiosity, completely unaware of the effect the sight of her in the tub was having on her commanding officer.

The water jets surged to life causing a layer of bubbles to form on the water. Janeway straightened up and backed toward the door, thanking the local deities she hadn’t made a bigger fool of herself than she had.

“OK, there you go. Enjoy it. I’ll, uh, get some breakfast together when, uh, you finish…” And with that she stumbled out the door trying to get enough oxygen into her lungs to make it back to the living room before her knees gave out completely.

Interesting, thought Seven of Nine regarding the newly closed door. The captain’s respiration rate had increased by 32% and she had seemed to suffer a mild verbal apraxia. Seven of Nine allowed her sensory implant to record the ambient temperature of the room. It didn’t appear to be elevated enough to account for the flush that had appeared on the captain’s face. Perhaps the captain was ill. She settled back into the tub and sipped her tea reflectively, her cortical node working overtime.

Janeway never knew how she’d gotten through breakfast with Seven of Nine, but had managed to get some food into her Astrometrics Officer and send her on her way. She wasn’t sure what the fallout of their adventure of the prior day would bring, but it was a safe bet the word of their escapade would spread through the ship with warp speed. She was afraid that her participation would erode her command authority with the crew and wondered how she would re-establish it. She needn’t have worried.

Seven of Nine found Harry, Tom and B’Elanna in the Mess Hall after she left Janeway’s. The three of them stared at her with open mouths when she described what had happened to her since they’d left Sickbay.

“There’s a Jacuzzi tub in the captain’s bathroom?” said Harry in amazement. “Are you sure?”

“Yes, I was IN it. Captain Janeway turned on the jets for me when she brought me a mug of tea.”

“The Captain brought you a mug of tea while you were in the tub AND cooked you breakfast? How do you rate, Seven?” asked Tom. “Jeez, I’ve never even been invited to the Captain’s quarters for dinner let alone breakfast.”

B’Elanna was curiously quiet during the conversation, but her mind was going warp nine. Remembering an earlier gossip session she wondered if perhaps she needed to restructure her thoughts on exactly who didn’t have a crush on Seven of Nine. Janeway had certainly given Seven of Nine some VERY personal attention. It was beginning to look like maybe Tuvok might just be alone in his virtue. She would have to keep her eyes and ears open. This was just getting better and better.

As the four friends chatted other members of the crew came in and everyone seemed to know about the bar fight of the previous day. It came as no surprise to any of them that Lt. Torres had gotten into a brawl, but the fact that Seven of Nine had joined in to help her caused much talk. And when word got out that THE CAPTAIN had waded in to rescue her beleaguered crew it was the talk of the ship. Janeway in a bar fight! And she’d taught the crew how to brawl! Tom admitted, when pressed, that the Captain was possessed of an awesome right cross and swung a mean wine bottle to boot. Harry recounted to anyone who would listen how the Captain had felled a seven foot tall alien with a swift kick to the nuts. Seven was forced to describe Janeway’s flight over the bar more times than she wanted to remember.  B’Elanna made sure that everyone knew that the Captain had personally drunk half the bar patrons under the table. To make matters worse, the crew who was currently on shore leave at the Station was hearing the same stories from the pub patrons. By the end of the day, the Voyager Five were the heroes of Ryleos Station and Captain Janeway was on the verge of becoming a legend. By the time Voyager undocked and left the system three days later, the legend was solidly set.

Part 03