In Dreams

Part 8

Z'ela's quarters were dark. She picked herself up off the ground, shook her head to clear it. She reached to her throat, which was clean and dry. She had expected it to be sticky with blood.

She quickly pressed her combadge. “Z’ela to Tuvok.”

She heard a difference in her own voice. She wondered if Tuvok would hear it.

“Yes. Z’ela.” Tuvok answered promptly.

“Tepes.” She said. “He's been here. In my quarters.”

“Stay where you are. A team is on the way. Are you in need of medical assistance?”

“No.” She said, and sat on her couch. “But Tuvok, I want you to come. Please.”

There was a pause. He answered. “The team will be there shortly. I am not available at this time.”

“Yes, sir.” Z’ela signed off.  She heard her own voice like an echo in her head. She held back the giggle in her throat. This was going to be fun.

She felt Tepes flowing through her veins. He was her ideal mate. He was her Master now. What he said, how he moved, how he touched her, these things would rule her world from now on.

It was, however, an irksome arrangement. He told her that Seven would be his wife. That the first to be taken was primary. Z’ela felt envy. She was the second bride, second to Seven.

First Seven takes Janeway's heart, and now her Master's as well.

She sighed. Here she must wait for security. She must carry out her orders. But when she was done, when she and Tepes were done with Tuvok and the members of his security team, she would find Seven.

Find that ex-Borg freak and kill her-

“No.” Tepes stepped up behind her. “It's my blood that gives you the lust for the kill. But we don't kill our own.”

“Master,” Z’ela said, turning to him. “I can be all you need.”

He made a little tsk-tsk sound, and held her face. “Your first taste will be walking through that door momentarily. Clear your mind of this nonsense.”
He sensed the men coming down the corridor toward her door. “Be ready.”

He backed away. He stood in the shadows for a moment, thinking on how he only had a short time to complete his tasks. Every moment they wasted was time further from the void, time further from his rendezvous point with his next transport ship. And less time before they reached the next solar system, which meant a sun to hide from and the risk of injury. Even through the windows of the ship.

Using Z’ela to do his some of his work was necessary at this time, and would pay off in more blood, more strength for himself.

He watched the door. Z’ela stood calmly, waiting for her first prey.

*

Seven was in the bathroom, and Kathryn took a moment to lock Seven out of all higher security files in the ship's computer. She wouldn't be taking chances. The Doctor was taking a risk in letting Kathryn bring Seven out of sickbay, and she wasn't going to be naïve because of her feelings for Seven.

She waited now for Seven, on her couch, coffee in one hand, PADD in the other. She read Seven's report on the void, the one she had written before this whole mess with Tepes. They'd left the void yesterday, and Kathryn wasn't surprised to see that all Seven's reporting had been perfect. Entirely correct. The only thing she hadn't included was that they might run into a shuttle called The Demeter at just about the edge of the void.

Seven came out of the bathroom wearing the dress that Kathryn had replicated for her.

It was stunning. Calf length, low cut. A version of a dress that Seven had seen in one of Tom's holomovies, on an actress in a movie that had to do with a married man cheating on his wife with a buxom blond... Marilyn something.

Seven Year Itch?

Kathryn didn't care about the title; it had been one of Tom's ever popular movie nights, and as always, a welcome distraction. She would've picked out a more conservative dress for Seven. Seven had chosen the dress herself, changed the color to red. She added a pair of red high heeled shoes to match.

Seven was stunning. Somehow, Kathryn managed to not let her eyes linger, and calmly sipped her coffee. “How do you like it?” She set the PADD down on the coffee table.

“It feels… good.” Seven said, her hands smoothing the lines of the dress, and her eyes looked up at Kathryn.

Kathryn nonchalantly looked away.

“Do you like it?” Seven asked. It was an innocent question.

“It's nice.” Kathryn said, and changed the subject. “Why don't you have a seat? I’d like to talk with you about what's been happening.”

Seven stopped admiring herself, and her arms dropped to her side, and she seemed to be experiencing one of the mood swings the Doctor had referred to.

She sat on Kathryn's bed, tears in her eyes again.

“Seven, what is it?” Kathryn set her coffee cup on the table in front of her.

“There is… so much to do. I will have to work harder now. My implants gave me superior strength and I’ll no longer have that strength. They gave my mind superior capacity to hold knowledge… I will no longer have that capacity.”

“We really don't know what changes will come as a result of this transformation you've gone through.” Kathryn said, and stepped over to the bed. She sat next to Seven and wanted to take Seven's hand again. She didn't. “Your mind could clear up… I know you feel muddled now, but you could be back to computing quantum algorithms in your head for fun at any moment.”

Seven turned to face her Captain. “What happened to me, Captain?”

“You don't remember?” Kathryn kept her eyes on Seven's face; no easy task, considering the cleavage that was literally inches from her.

“The Doctor told me.” She said, “But I don't entirely recall. He did say you found me.”

Kathryn nodded.

“I was… drinking from a wound on Tepes’ chest?” There was the unmistakable look of disgust in Seven's eyes.

Kathryn nodded. “What else did he tell you?”

“That you brought me to sickbay. I died momentarily. My implants were rejected, and there is alien blood in my veins.”

“That would be the brief version of the tale.” Kathryn said. “He's working to discover what's happened. How it happened.”

“I would not do such a thing willingly.” She looked at the window, at the smattering of stars that was a welcome sight after the void. “He must have had a hold on me… somehow. There is no other explanation for my behavior. I wonder why he was in the Delta Quadrant, and why we found him.”

Kathryn thought of her dream. Even with the evidence that there was something more than coincidence here, she had a hard time accepting it. She'd need more evidence than her dream… even if it had come to life in Tepes’ quarters.

“There is something else, Seven. The Doctor had disappeared for a while before Tepes came on board. Do you remember that?”

A memory was in Seven's mind. Dreams. Nightmares. She was going to tell the Doctor. Then she took his mobile emitter and hid him…. “Captain. I believe he was trying to contact me.”

Kathryn needed clarification. “The Doctor?”

 “Tepes.” Seven felt the name like pain in her head. Something was inside her mind, and she could feel it trying to stop her from thinking.

Again, Seven tried to think, but again came the pain.

Kathryn saw her wince. “Seven?”

*

Z’ela incapacitated the officers as they entered her quarters. She fed on one, messily, clumsily, and finished the woman's last heartbeat.

The blood of three young strong men was already coursing through Tepes’ veins, lending him their strength.

He dropped the last body and the power surged through him. He felt it in him like a beast; it was an ancient fire that burned like the very core of the Earth on which he was born.

Z’ela watched the change in her Master, his eyes growing brighter and his skin firming with youth and vitality. His complexion was alabaster where it had been ruddy, and his hair subtly darkened to an even blacker hue.

She kneeled at his legs, her arms wrapped around them. “Did I do well?”

“Yes, child.” He said. His returned strength meant he could again make his own kills without her aid. There was one more thing he needed her for.

He petted her head while his mind felt for his beauty. Annika, Seven, whatever name she might go by now, she was his eternally, and he was so close to having her back now.

He found her. He strengthened his hold on her. He closed his eyes, and felt more security coming for him.

*

Kathryn watched as Seven's eyes closed momentarily. She took a deep slow breath, her breasts lifting and falling, and she released her breath slowly, her eyes slowly opening.

Kathryn wasn't sure what had just happened. “Seven. Are you all right?”

“”Mmhm.” Seven lightly bit her bottom lip. “Captain. May I call you Kathryn?” Her eyes glinted with playfulness entirely new. “It's such a pretty name.”

*

Tuvok watched from the bridge security console as protocols broke down and the vents lost their shielding one by one. “We are losing shield integrity on the Jeffries’ Tubes.”

Harry Kim understood. “Engineering, reroute power to the main security grid.”

No answer came from Engineering.

Tuvok tried. “Bridge to Engineering.”

Instead of B'Elanna's voice, another female answered. She sang his name, “Oh, Tuuuvok.”

Paris turned from his station and spoke, “Paris to Torres.”

Z'ela's voice came again, “I'm afraid she's a bit… unconscious at the moment, Tom.”

Tuvok immediately headed out the door, pressing his combadge. “This is Commander Tuvok. Security team Alpha, meet me at the entrance to Engineering. Be armed and prepared to fire on Z’ela Kareis.”

Tom followed him, and Tuvok knew it would be illogical to waste time trying to convince him to stay behind.

*

End Part Eight