In Dreams
Part: 11
 

**

Kathryn said it again, trying to convince herself that Seven didn’t know something that neither she nor Section 31 had thought of. “I don’t believe that.”

“I’m still Annika.” Seven said. Her face was normal again and she let her big blue eyes dwell in Kathryn’s, then down at Z’ela who still lay unconscious on the floor. “I am Seven. But I am improved. Stronger. In body and in spirit.”

“Now you sound Borg again.” Kathryn said, unhappy at what seemed to be transpiring. “Why do you need Tepes’ power to be convinced of your true strength? Enduring the transition from Borg back to human took a great deal of strength.”

The holographic door flickered; it was fading. Then it was gone as quickly as it had been erected, and Chakotay peered inside keeping his body behind the wall. The security officers followed suit.

Relief swept his face as he saw the seemingly normal face of Seven, and Kathryn. He saw Z’ela on the ground.

“Situation under control?” He asked, stepping inside.

“Commander Chakotay.” Seven moved to approach him, and Kathryn held her arm. She smiled back at Kathryn. “I thought it would be nice to greet him.”

Chakotay was obviously taken back by the statement, but allowed the guards the task of removing Z’ela.

Kathryn spoke to them, “Take her to sickbay. Be prepared to stun her on full power if she regains consciousness. It won’t kill her. Tell the Doctor I’ll be there soon.”

The guards exited with Z’ela, and Chakotay stood watching Seven who was gazing down at her hands. He waited for Kathryn to say something.

Kathryn gave him a slight shake of the head. ‘Not now’, it said. He acknowledged and took the step back that would allow Kathryn and Seven to pass by if they needed to.

He spoke again, “Tepes?”

“In the shuttle.” Kathryn said, “Seven has-”

“Incapacitated him.” Seven interrupted. “He is no threat.”

Kathryn knew there was irony in that statement. Tepes was no threat because Seven had become the threat. “Chakotay, please give Seven and myself a little time alone?”

He nodded a little, unsure about this but stepped away, out through the door, and called back, “I’m right here if you need me.”

Kathryn and Seven’s eyes met again. Seven looked almost normal now, and no trace of Tepes’ blood showed through.

“Come with me, Kathryn.”

“Where will you dispose of Tepes? Why only dispose of him?” Kathryn asked. “I get the impression that you don’t really want to kill him. Why is that, Seven?”

Seven was ashamed and she looked away now. Her voice quiet, she answered, “I can’t kill him. He’s part of me. I wouldn’t be this without him.”

“But killing him won’t return you to human?”

“The effect is everlasting.”

“I don’t understand.”

“I draw from him. He is still in my mind. He is in my mind as before, only now I am in control of him. He calls to me now, Kathryn. I can hear him crying. He weeps for losing me.”

In Kathryn’s mind, she remembered the command from Section 31; bring the remains of Tepes home. Kill him only if left no alternative. Kathryn had not seen an alternative before, and she certainly didn’t now. “You think you are in control of him.”

Seven went on, “And though I will remain… this… if he is killed, I’m stronger if he lives.”

“How so?”

“Pain.” Seven said, “Pain, anger, they make me stronger.”

“They fuel your fire.” Kathryn nodded d knew that Seven was telling her out of a need for Kathryn to understand. “Seven, those things aren’t true strength.” Kathryn remembered with a small ache the times in her life when pain and anger seemed to be her sustenance. “It’s very human to feel that way. But those things don’t burn. They burn you.”

Seven ran her hand back through her hair, and the strands reflected the light from the ceiling in little gold sparks. “Kathryn…. My Captain. Tepes has given me one gift. Those I assimilated suffered terribly. Many suffer still. Now I can feel their hearts break. I can feel the anguish. I can see again the families they cried for even as the tubules entered their flesh.”

“You see that as a gift?”

“I will never cause such suffering again.” Seven said.

“When the anger hits you, and the pain is too much, you think you will have what it takes to ignore that in you which is really Tepes? Because, though I see how strong you are, I don’t think you can see clearly right now. You think you won’t carry on his legacy? You were about to kill Z’ela.”

“You stopped me. You are what I need to keep Tepes’ power at bay.”

“I can’t do it for you.”

Quiet took them momentarily, and the hum of the ship was in their ears. Seven turned to look back at the shuttle where Tepes’ body lay in stasis, drained to the point just before he’d be truly dead.

She looked back at Kathryn. She saw Kathryn’s eyes watching her in that observation mode, while hearing Kathryn’s heart beating for her. “You are correct, Kathryn. You can’t do it for me.” She looked back to the shuttle.

“Seven?”

“As long as I let him exist, he has power over me. Even now it’s Tepes that tells me I need him. I do not need him.” Seven said. She moved quickly then, and Kathryn looked down to see that the phaser was gone from her holster, and Seven was disappearing inside the shuttle.

“Seven!” Kathryn had never seen anyone move so quickly, and she ran toward the shuttle.

Seven stepped calmly out, and took Kathryn by the arm to lead her out of the shuttle bay, “The phaser is set to overload in one minute. The shuttle will be destroyed, I suggest we leave the shuttle bay at once and jettison the shuttle.”

Kathryn had her arm back and was speaking to Harry Kim by com the moment the door to the corridor closed behind them. “Harry, we have an impending shuttle explosion. Blow Shuttle Bay Three. NOW.”

She listened. She could just make out the sounds from the other side of the door, and heard the unmistakable grinding of the shuttle’s landing gear scraping against the floor of the bay as a tractor beam pushed it out; the vacuum of space wouldn’t be enough to pull it out on it’s own.

Seven had her eyes closed. She seemed to be listening also, and her face was tense. Her breath came quickly as her body suddenly flinched, and the ship shook just a little with the explosion of the shuttle.

She held her breath then, her lips slightly apart, and she opened her eyes. Memories of lifetimes under Tepes’ control, and lifetimes of escaping flooded her. He had found her through life after life until the Borg took her. Being Borg had been some kind of strange escape, and then once human again and with her new family, he found her once more.

No more.

She felt the blood in her stir. Tepes was dead. She owned herself again… at what cost?

She looked down at her hands; the smooth beautiful hands of a human female unmarred by Borg components, and saw her veins showing lightly through.

Still, he was gone. And he would not be coming back this time.

Kathryn took Seven’s hands. “Please, come to sickbay with me.”

Seven felt her stomach cramp as it called for blood. She looked at Kathryn, then at Chakotay and her hand went to her stomach. “Yes, to the Doctor.”

Chakotay watched as Kathryn took Seven by the arm and they walked down the corridor.

He had a bad feeling about this.

*

On the turbolift, Kathryn instructed the lift where to go. Seven stood silent as it began to move, and between decks, she spoke, “Computer, halt lift.”

The lift stopped.

Kathryn turned to look at Seven, “What is it?”

Seven smiled.

Kathryn’s heart grew cold as Seven’s face changed again. Ugly, cruel and hungry.

“Captain. You know, you tasted quite good.”

*

Chakotay had already notified B’Elanna, who was overriding the turbolift systems. “Any luck?

Her voice returned over the comsystem. “Z’ela did a lot of damage. I’ve almost got it.”

Chakotay and Tuvok, along with a security team stood waiting at each deck above and below where the lift had been halted.

They could only wait until the lift moved again; until B’Elanna could override the codes that Z’ela had earlier put into the system that were at this moment giving Seven control over the lift systems.

Chakotay waited.

**

Kathryn would not show her fear. There was in her a specific idea that Section 31 was wrong on certain accounts regarding the condition of vampirism; and she would go with her gut.

“Seven, this isn’t you.”

Seven laughed, “It’s enough of me.”

“No.” Kathryn stood in her small space, watching the tall blond carefully. There wasn’t much room in this lift, and Kathryn could never fight Seven ad win in a physical fight. However, if her instinct about vampirism being a condition of the spirit as much as of the body, then she wouldn’t need to fight. “I think what you truly hunger for isn’t found in blood, or in anger or pain.”

Seven’s finger was running up the center of Janeway’s uniform, over her shoulder, around to the back of her neck. Seven’s hand firmly clasped there and she moved a little closer.

Kathryn stayed absolutely calm. She took Seven’s hand and placed it over her heart. “Feel my heart beating?”

Seven was flustered by this action. “Stop.”

“You feel my love for you there.” Kathryn said.

Angrily, Seven countered, “I feel the blood pulsing.”

Kathryn took a chance, wrapped her own arms around Seven and pulled her close, allowing the feelings she had for Seven to emerge fully, allowing all she had repressed to have it’s head, and she felt her body flood with it.

Seven quietly gasped, her eyes closed, she drank in the energy of this love and respect, and she was dizzy with the receiving of it. A whisper escaped her throat, “Kathryn-”

“Seven, I have more love for you than I ever known for anyone before you.” Kathryn held Seven’s face in her hands. “Let me love you, let this, this, be what feeds your soul.”

Tears fell from Seven’s eyes. She cried then, her body falling limp into Kathryn’s arms, and Kathryn moving to the floor so that she could hold Seven more easily.

Seven felt the sensation inside, as if her heart had burst open, and something cold and hot spread through her. It moved up through her head, into her skull, and she felt the pressure of it. She took her own head in her hands, breathed with the pain as the pressure increased.

Kathryn set her hands over Seven’s. She pressed her lips to her forehead, and whispered into Seven’s ear. “You were never his. Never.”

The pressure pulsed and a brightness blinded Seven from the inside out as concrete pain and anger were obliterated and washed away with the torrents of this brightness that were pushing out through her mind.

Then it was gone. She relaxed her hands, and waited… nothing. It was gone. She looked at Kathryn.

They were both still for a moment.

Kathryn touched Seven’s face.

“It’s gone.”

Kathryn allowed herself to breathe. She took in the site of Seven’s face, eyes more clear than she’d ever seen.

Seven was incredulous. “Gone. No voices of those assimilated. No pain… no Tepes.”

Kathryn smiled.

**

The Doctor turned from Seven’s biobed, where she lay resting, but not asleep. He pulled Janeway aside.

“Doctor, how is she?”

He sighed, “I’m afraid she is still a vampire. She will need blood to live, but her blood lust is gone, and the spikes in neural activity that precipitated it. She’ll have to be observed for a while, but I don’t think she is a danger any longer. Exactly what happened in the turbolift?”

Janeway looked over at her Seven, her Annika, whom she had nearly lost forever. Seven’s face was serene, her big blue eyes, kind and waiting for Kathryn now.

“How is Z’ela?”

“Fully mortal, once again.” The Doctor could see he wasn’t going to get an answer from Janeway unless he pressed the issue. “Care to share your medical technique? Seven tells me it was you. That you took away the blood lust and the part of Tepes that remained.”

“I’ll be making a full report.” Kathryn said, not sure of what she’d put in that report just yet.

“Well, “The Doctor squared his shoulders, “Whatever it was that happened, it’s my considered medical opinion that it saved Seven. The Seven lying on that biobed is our Seven again.” He looked back at the blond who now sat up and straightened her back, while delicately crossing her legs. “I’ll wait until you’re ready to tell me before submitting my own report on this.” He paused, “Section 31 will be very interested.”

Kathryn really didn’t care about the secret Starfleet organization at the moment. It’s agenda, whatever that might be, was nothing compared to what she had achieved here today. She smiled at the Doctor. Seven seemed to take precedence over just about everything in her life. And now that she really allowed herself to feel what she did for Seven, there was a happiness in her heart. She hadn’t felt such happiness in a very long time.

“Thank you, Doctor. We’ll discuss it soon.” She stepped past him, and over to Seven.

Seven looked at Kathryn, and in her eyes was a woman that Kathryn had seen before, but always with a little girl hiding there.

Seven smiled, “I feel… like I’ve grown up. So many things have changed. I don’t feel the scared little girl inside me anymore.”

It did Kathryn’s heart much good to hear that. And she could see that Seven had indeed become more woman than child after her recent experience. Perhaps leaving behind the pain had something to do with that.

Seven spoke again, “The Doctor told me. I’m no longer Borg, but no longer human, and now in this state of mind I wish more than ever that I could be fully human.”

“We’ll keep searching for a way to make that happen. In the meantime, we’ll make the best we can out of your new life.”

Seven nodded, “Yes.” She touched Kathryn’s hand. “Thank you.” Her hand lingered there, “I am hungry.”

Kathryn raised her eyes, “Hungry?”

“For that which feeds my soul.”

Kathryn took both Seven’s hands, and leaned her forehead against Seven’s. “All I ever wanted. All I ever needed….” Her eyes met Seven’s. Her arms wrapped around the woman’s waist. “Here in my arms.”

Seven allowed her lips to meet Kathryn’s, and they kissed gently for a moment.

Kathryn breathed in the scent of Seven. “As soon as you can leave, there’s a little chateau I’d like to show you in the South of France.”

“I would like to see that.” Seven said.

Kathryn had never been this happy. “I have to get back to the bridge, but I’ll be back.”

Z’ela had sat up now, and was rubbing her head. “Why am I in sick bay?”

The Doctor went to her biobed. “You don’t remember?”

 Z’ela looked over at Seven and Kathryn and Z’ela sighed. She whispered, “Am I here for a broken heart?”

He smiled, and whispered in reply, “No, but misery loves company. When we’re done here, would you like to get some tea in the mess hall?”

Kathryn stepped back from Seven, but quickly stepped forward to kiss her one more time before returning to the bridge. She stepped away again, unable to repress the smile on her face.

“Kathryn-” Seven stepped down from the bed, and quickly kissed her cheek, “I love you.”

Kathryn let her face rub against Seven’s. “I love you, too.”

She let go, and walked to the door, before turning around, “I’ll see you in three hours.”

Seven smiled again. “See you then.”

Kathryn headed for the bridge, and still wondered what she’d put in her report to Starfleet. There had been people lost, there had been more hurt, and there would be funerals to arrange. Kathryn thought of the irony that it was Tepes who caused havoc on her ship, yet because of him she had Seven.

After the sadness of loss, people would come to feel safe on board again. Her ship was safe. Her Seven was safe, though biologically she would have different needs, as did a few other members of her crew.

Things would be all right. She remembered her dream of the man who would take Seven away, and she knew that wasn’t going to happen now.

Another smile spread on her face as she stepped alone into the turbolift. It closed and she took a deep, full breath.

This journey home was going to feel much easier now.

Janeway commanded the turbolift. “Bridge.”

She clasped her hands behind her back and was on her way.

**

The End