Captain Kathryn Janeway stalked to the replicator.
“Coffee.Black,” she ordered grumpily.
She pulled the cup of coffee from the replicator and sat at the table. She hated off duty rotations. Normally she managed to avoid them, but the doctor and Commander Chakotay had started questioning her, so she had taken today off. She snorted ruefully, she would be willing to do almost anything to get them to stop nagging her. She pushed away from the table and began to pace restlessly. She tried the think of something, anything, but only one thing occupied her mind. Seven of Nine.>She was obsessed and she hated herself for it. She glanced over at the console then wheeled around angrily. She began to clean her quarters. Four hours later it could have passed inspection from the toughest Starfleet Academy instructor. Again, her eyes slid to the console on her desk. She walked over just to make sure it was dusted she told herself. But once at the desk she activated her console and quickly typed in several commands, including a code to hide her actions. Everything in her screamed out at her actions but she was helpless to stop herself. A few moments later the astrometrics lab popped on the screen. Ensign Delany and Ensign Kim were working at the lab station and talking softly about the next sector of space Voyager was entering. Janeway frowned. Where was Seven? She clicked a key and the view switched to cargo bay two. The borg alcove was clearly visible, but no Seven of Nine. Quickly Janeway tapped the keyboard several more times, calling up various locations in the ship. Still no Seven of Nine.
“Computer, locate Seven of Nine.”
“Seven of Nine is in engineering.”
Janeway sent the command to bring engineering up on her screen. The alpha shift was well into their morning and working efficiently, but Seven of Nine was nowhere to be seen. Janeway slapped the computer terminating the link. Where was she?
Lt. B'Elanna Torres dropped into the chair behind her desk and blinked sleepily. She had stayed up much too late she decided. She gave a large yawn and then turned to the morning’s tasks. She frowned at the PADD lying in the middle of her desk. She didn’t recall leaving one there. She picked it up and her eyes widened. It was a message from Seven of Nine encrypted for Lt. Torres eyes-only. B'Elanna activated the PADD. The note from Seven was brief. She was going to spend the day scrubbing relays in the jefferies tubes. Unusual B'Elanna thought, but she wasn’t going to complain. No one liked that job and it was usually saved as a punishment for some minor infraction. Then she read the rest of the note. Lt. Torres. I am aware that the following request will seem unusual. I prefer to be left alone today if you could avoid informing anyone of my location, it would be appreciated. B'Elanna shrugged. She wouldn’t volunteer the borg’s location, but it seemed somewhat silly. Anyone wanting to find her would simply have to ask the computer and it would locate her with her comba….B'Elanna’s thoughts stopped as she caught sight of the combadge on her desk. It had been placed beneath the PADD. B'Elanna felt a tingle between her shoulder blades. Something wasn’t right here, but she wasn’t sure exactly what it was. The door to her office slid open. B'Elanna looked up and saw the captain enter.
“Good morning, Lt. Torres,” Janeway greeted.
B’Elanna nodded. “Good morning Captain. What brings you to engineering? I thought you had the day off.”
Janeway nodded absently. “Um, I do. I thought that I might get a game of velocity in this afternoon and was looking for Seven,” Janeway said her voice a little tight. “Have you seen her this morning Lieutenant?” Janeway asked.
B’Elanna didn’t think about it, she just discretely slid the combadge out of site and then leaned on the desk hitting the delete key on the PADD.
“Nope,” B’Elanna her head vigorously. “I haven’t seen the borg princess all morning,” she said in a tone that implied that a missing borg was a good thing.
Janeway nodded. “Ok, well if you see her tell her I’m looking for her,” Janeway said and marched out the door.
B'Elanna let out a deep breath. What was going on around here, she wondered, as she watched Janeway leave? She snarled as her com badge chirped, summoning her back to work.
Janeway paced her quarters snarling to herself.
"Computer scan the ship for borg biosignatures," Janeway demanded.
"No borg biosignatures located," the computer responded in its soothing tone.
Seven was hiding from her. Janeway smiled though if any of her crew had seen it they would have stepped back from the feral grin. It wasn't the first time Seven had played hide and seek, but she had never carried it to this extreme. Janeway continued pacing as she decided how exactly the borg would pay for this transaction. Her eyes darkened as she formulated her plan. Finally she returned to her desk. She sipped on the cold cup of coffee and idly keyed her console. Slowly she flipped through the ship's surveillance cameras.
B'Elanna glanced at the chronometer again. It was two hours into the beta shift. She sighed. Maybe she should just go back to her quarters. She started to stand when the door slid open.
Seven stepped into the engineer’s office then stopped. “Lt. Torres. I did not expect you to still be here,” she said in surprise.
“Yeah well, I had some reports to finish,” B'Elanna explained giving Seven a searching look. The tall blonde was covered with a slight film of dirt and there were tracks running down her face. Sweat? Tears? B'Elanna hesitated, unaccustomed to feeling unsure. Finally, she decided she had to say something. “Seven are you all right?” she asked.
Seven nodded gravely. “I am functioning within parameters,” she replied.
“Kahless, Seven. You’re not a machine. You don’t have parameters,” B'Elanna snapped. “If something is wrong you can tell me.”
Seven stood still. She swallowed several times. Did B'Elanna know, she wondered? She searched for the appropriate words to say but the doctor’s lessons failed her. She fell back on her borg heritage. “We are functioning within parameters,” she repeated flatly and picked up her combadge.
“Seven…” B'Elanna started, but was interrupted by a chirp from Seven's badge.
“Janeway to Seven of Nine,” Captain Janeway’s voice came clearly across the com.
B'Elanna watched as Seven paled slightly then tapped her badge.
“Seven here, Captain,” she responded.
“Seven report to my quarters,” Janeway ordered.
Seven closed her eyes briefly. “Acknowledged,” she said softly.
She gave B'Elanna one last long look then turned and strode out of the room.
B'Elanna frowned as she tried to decipher the look on Seven's face. If she didn’t know better she would have thought that Seven looked afraid.
Seven stood outside of the captain’s quarters and tried to still the shaking in her hands. She clinched her hands then pushed the admittance chime. The door slid open immediately.
Janeway stood at the door looking up at Seven. Words froze on her lips as she came face to face with the object of her obsession. She reached up slowly and stroked Seven's face. She frowned as Seven flinched. With a snarl she tangled her hand in the blonde hair and jerked Seven to her. The kiss was hard and possessive. The faint taste of blood inflamed her more. She pulled back, grabbed Seven’s hand, and led her to the bedroom.
B'Elanna turned as the doors to cargo bay two slid open. She pushed off the wall where she had been waiting. Seven froze when she saw the half-klingon. “Lt. Torres, what are you doing here?” she asked in surprise.
“I was waiting to talk to you,” B'Elanna said stepping to meet the borg. She stopped when she saw Seven's face.
“Kahless, Seven,” B'Elanna whispered, “What happened to you?”
Seven turned her face away. She and Kathryn had never discussed it, but instinctually she knew that what she shared with the captain would not be understood by the rest of the crew.
B'Elanna felt her stomach clinch as she saw an angry red scratch running down Seven's neck and disappearing beneath the biosuit. She reached out only to pull back when Seven flinched. Her soul screamed at what her mind was telling her.
“Seven, did the captain do this to you?” she asked stepping around to face the young blonde.
Seven turned her head away again. “We are tired. We wish to regenerate,” Seven said coldly.
“Seven,” B'Elanna snarled.
Seven flinched at the anger in B'Elanna’s voice.
“Seven,” B'Elanna went on more softly as she noticed Seven's reaction, “this isn’t right. What the captain is doing isn’t right. You don’t have to put up with this.”
When Seven finally spoke it was so softly that B'Elanna nearly missed the words.
“You do not understand,” Seven whispered.
B'Elanna ran her hand roughly through her hair. She fought to keep her voice and her temper under control. “I do understand Seven. Its called rape,” B'Elanna snarled trying to control the urge to rip the regeneration alcove from the bulkhead.
“No!” Seven said sharply.
“Oh? Then what do you call it?” B'Elanna challenged crossing her arms across her chest.
“Rape is an act of force,” Seven stated. “Kath…the captain does not force me to do anything I do not want.” Seven frowned abruptly as she realized that perhaps she had said too much. She turned towards her regeneration alcove.
“Seven,” B'Elanna started only to find herself ignored as the borg stepped into her alcove and blessed oblivion.
B'Elanna paced the cargo bay for half the night trying to decide what she should do. When exhaustion finally drove her to her bed, she still had no answers.
Two weeks later
"Good morning, Seven."
Seven started at Ensign Kim's greeting. She frowned. She had been lost in thought and it disturbed her that she had not heard the Ensign's arrival. She nodded at the ensign without taking her eyes off the console.
"So, how are you doing this morning," Ensign Kim asked from his console.
Seven suppressed a sigh at the ensign's careful tone. Apparently Lt. Torres had been talking.
"I am…fine," Seven replied finally.
"Well if you ever want to talk…" Ensign Kim replied.
Seven nodded, "I will keep you offer in mind Ensign."
Janeway looked up as Chakotay entered the ready room.
"Good morning, Commander," Janeway smiled. "Coffee?" she asked gesturing towards the replicator.
Chakotay shook his head. "No thanks, I just stopped in to ask if you wanted to have dinner at Sandrine's tonight."
Janeway shook her head. "Sorry Chakotay, but I've already made plans to play velocity with Seven this evening."
"Do you think that's wise Kathryn," Chakotay asked?
Janeway's eyes narrowed abruptly at the commander's tone. "What exactly do you mean Commander," she asked coldly?
Chakotay choose his words carefully, "You just seem to spend a lot of time with Seven. I'm not sure that is healthy for either of you."
"I see," Janeway said carefully "And why exactly would spending time with Seven be unhealthy?"
Chakotay forced away a shiver as Janeway turned the full force of her glare on him. "Well Seven is ready to start forming…personal relationships. She won't be able to do that if she spends all of her free time with you." Chakotay felt the knot in his stomach double in size as he realized he had totally mangled what he had been trying to say. This was evident by the look of fury that crossed the captain's face.
"Commander, trust me when I say that my time with Seven is not inhibiting her developing any 'personal relationships'. Dismissed" Janeway growled through clenched teeth.
Chakotay opened his mouth to try again.
"I said dismissed, Commander," Janeway snarled.
Chakotay nodded and quickly retreated.
Janeway stared after the door for a minute then slapped her combadge. "Janeway to Seven of Nine, report to the ready room," Janeway commanded. Then changed her mind, "Belay that order, report to my quarters," she amended.
"Acknowledged," Seven's voice came evenly across the combadge.
Janeway paced restlessly as she waited for Seven. The doors to her quarters slid open as Seven entered unannounced.
"You wanted to see me capt…" Seven's question cut off as Janeway's hand slapped her across the face.
"How dare you talk about our relationship to the crew," Janeway shouted, her face twisting in fury.
Seven stepped back against the wall, holding her hands up to ward off the smaller woman. Her mouth opened and closed as she desperately searched for words of denial.
"What happens between us in these quarters is private." Janeway snapped angrily.
Seven caught Janeway's hand before it made contact a second time.
"I did not talk to anyone about us," Seven stated with uncharacteristic anger flushing her cheeks.
Janeway jerked her hand trying to unsuccessfully remove it from Seven's grip.
"Oh, really?" Janeway asked in disbelief, "Then why did Chakotay just confront me?"
"I assume," Seven stated coldly, "for the same reason I was confronted by Ensign Kim. Lt. Torres has apparently been gossiping."
"Explain," Janeway commanded.
"Lt. Torres was waiting in Cargo Bay 2 when I went to regenerate on your day off. Apparently she does not approve of the nature of our relationship," Seven said disdainfully.
Five weeks later
Janeway deleted the message that appeared on her console. Yet another hate message. She had received so many that she didn't even bother reading them anymore. It would have been a simple matter to track down the sender or senders, but she had decided not to do that. She sighed. Over the past several weeks her relationship with Seven had become shipwide fodder. More than one person had been bold enough to show their contempt for Janeway openly. But most of the attacks had been more subtle and anonymous. Seven on the other hand seemed to receive nothing but sympathy from the crewmembers. Apparently they decided that Janeway had used her rank to force Seven into a compromising situation. Seven did nothing to encourage this line of thought. In fact she went out of her way to defend her captain. To little avail, however, the crew simply put it down to her inexperience. The poor naïve borg, they thought, simply didn't know when she was being taken advantage of by the big nasty Captain Janeway. Janeway pinched the bridge of her nose. Her head was pounding. She looked at the chronometer. Just a few more hours, she thought with relief, and she could lock herself in her quarters with Seven.
Six weeks later
Janeway paced impatiently as she waited for Seven to get off duty. Seven was leaving in the morning for a weeklong away mission. Janeway ran her hand through her hair. She tried to quell the panic that threatened to overwhelm her at the thought of being separated from Seven for an entire week.
The door to her quarters opened as Seven entered without being announced. Janeway immediately stepped into Seven's arms.
"Seven," Janeway asked carefully, "Do you think that what we are doing is wrong?"
Seven was silent for several minutes while she considered the captain's question.
"I do not," she answered finally. "I do not see how what gives us pleasure and is consented to by both can be wrong. However, I do not feel that the rest of the crew understand what is between us."
Janeway nodded then stepped back tugging the borg behind her through the bedroom door.
Seven lay on the bed staring at the ceiling. She ran her tongue over her lips, gently probing the cuts. Her entire body ached but inside she ached more. Her chest felt tight and her eyes burned. She suppressed a shiver as she felt hot tears slowly running down her cheeks. Tomorrow she would be leaving for the away mission.
Janeway groaned from the other side of the bed. She sniffed the air and grinned ferally. The air reeked of sweat and sex. Then she looked across at Seven. She clinched her teeth at the tears running down Seven's face. “Seven…” she started then stopped. She didn’t know what she was going to say.
Seven turned her head. “Kathryn?” she asked passively.
Janeway swallowed at the tone of defeat in the borg's voice. Suddenly unable to face the woman Janeway turned her head away. “Get out,” she said softly.
“Kathryn?” Seven asked confused.
“Get out. Get out!” Janeway yelled.
Seven quickly got off the bed and pulled her biosuit on. She looked back once at the door. Janeway was huddled on the bed with her back to the door. Seven walked slowly to cargo bay two, oblivious to the tears streaming down her face. She could feel her nanoprobes working to repair her body. By the time her regeneration cycle was complete there would be no signs of the damage left, she thought, grateful she would not have to explain Kathryn's extremes.
Janeway held back the tears until the outer door closed behind Seven. She rocked back and forth in emotional turmoil. How was she going to live without Seven for a week?
Three days later
“Captain, we are receiving a distress call from the shuttle,” Ensign Kim called from the operation’s station.
Janeway set up straight in the command chair feeling panic threatening to invade. Seven was all she could think about.
“Tom, set a course,” she ordered roughly.
Tom looked over his shoulder as he caught the strain in the captain’s voice. Her face was pale and her hands were shaking.
“Aye Captain,” he called from the helm eager to catch up to the shuttle. If the captain was worried then things must be bad and B'Elanna was on that shuttle.
Seven tried to stop the flow of blood pouring from Lt. Tuvok’s head. B’Elanna worked at the front of the shuttle trying to get the engines back on line. The disabled shuttle slowly spun ever closer to the metallic object ahead. The away team had registered the object on their sensors and had moved in for a closer look only to get caught and pulled into the object.
“Voyager to away team,” Janeway’s voice came through the static of the com. “Prepare to beam out.”
“Lt. Torres,” Seven's voice stopped B'Elanna’s hand just before it touched the com to send a message back.
B'Elanna turned and looked at Seven.
“If Voyager is close enough to beam us out then they are close enough to get caught in the gravity trap set by this object,” Seven said.
B'Elanna cocked her head to the side. “What are you saying Seven?”
"I am going to stay behind until the shuttle is close enough to engage weapons and destroy the object,” Seven stated coldly.
“Seven, if you stay here you could die,” B'Elanna exclaimed.
“I know,” Seven said and looked B'Elanna in the eyes then slowly reached up and removed her combadge.
B'Elanna turned back to the console. Her hand shook as she activated the com.
“Energize,” she said.
B'Elanna and Lt. Tuvok shimmered then disappeared. Seven stood and slowly walked to the front of the shuttle. She sat in the chair and watched as the shuttle spiraled ever closer to its death trap. Behind her, she ignored Janeway’s voice coming over her combadge.
“Janeway to Seven of Nine, respond,” Janeway commanded.
“Seven talk to me,” she tried again.
“Harry get a lock on her,” Janeway yelled over her shoulder.
“I’m trying Captain, but the gravity from that object is disrupting the signal,” Ensign Kim said with more than a hint of panic in his voice.
The bridge crew watched helplessly as the shuttle drew closer to its destination. Phaser fire burst from the front of the shuttle then the object and shuttle disappeared in a spectacular ball of light.
Janeway stood and left the bridge, tears running down her face. She walked to her quarters in a daze.
“Oh Seven, what have I done?” she sobbed as the doors closed behind her. She sat at her desk and slowly switched the cameras from deck to deck in the ship.
“Seven, where are you?” she muttered. “Where are you?”
It was her fault. It was all her fault and she hadn't even said goodbye. She keyed in a new set of commands to the computer then shut it off. She stood up pulled the pips one by one from her collar. She set them carefully with a hand written note on her desk then walked slowly to the shuttle bay. A few moments later, she was in space. She tapped her combadge.
“Janeway to Seven of Nine,” she called. “Seven I am sorry. Please forgive me,” she said as the shuttle hurtled into the darkness of space.
“Janeway to Seven of Nine, I love you.”
END