Part four: Life seen as a succession of dinners

Janeway hesitated before stepping into the door's activation seal, then took a breath and entered. Seven had her back to her, and Janeway paused, wide-eyed, to survey the younger woman's appearance. Seven was dressed oddly - casually, even, compared to her normal skintight biosuits. In flat shoes and neat, tailored shirt and slacks that followed the line of her body more loosely, Seven looked... normal. Human.

Then Seven turned, and the glint of implants at cheek and brow was there, familiar, the stamp of her beauty that made her individual and attractive, overcoming the blandness of simple regularity of features and bodily perfection. Her hair was loose, lending her a softness and warmth she usually lacked. Her expression, however, was pure austere, brilliant Seven. Janeway's gaze travelled along her body, finding the disguised curves in the looser clothing set her heartrate accelerating in a way Seven's bodysuits never had.

"Captain." Seven's voice yanked her back from her reverie, and Janeway hastily dragged her attention back to her friend's face. "Does my clothing displease you?"

"Ah... no." Janeway swallowed hard. "You look beautiful. Very different. Why the change?"

Slight tilt of blonde head, smile tugging at Seven's lips, oh, god, she wanted her. "Sally suggested my biosuits did not suit me, and described my shoes as 'barbaric'. She replicated this outfit and suggested that I wear it."

"Oh." Janeway realised her disappointment must show on her face as Seven raised an eyebrow and, for some reason, seemed to be amused.

"Sally is a good friend," Seven said, with slight emphasis on 'friend'. "I have observed that certain members of the crew assume we are lovers."

"Do they?" Janeway asked weakly.

"Yes. For example, this morning Tom Paris invited us jointly to participate in a holodeck programme."

"I see." Janeway steeled herself to ask. "And are you?"

"Lovers?" Seven's smile widened just a fraction. "No. It is not Sally in whom I am interested." She turned her back to adjust something on her board, and Janeway had a moment to wonder how this conversation had spiralled so rapidly out of professional control. And just how she had never quite realised that Seven wasn't as tall as she'd thought she was - in fact, the ex-Borg had barely five centimetres on her. Then Seven turned back. "Sally has counselled me to be more... affirmative... in arranging my romantic affairs."

"Has she."

"Yes, Kathryn." Seven stepped towards her, still smiling that slightly-amused, slightly-warm smile. Kathryn had a vague memory of seeing rabbits caught by riding lights on ground vehicles on Earth as she stared, as Seven raised one hand and brushed her fingertips lightly across her cheek, as she felt her heart pound in response. Then Seven was close, close enough for Kathryn to feel her body heat, and then the flat shoes were really coming in useful as Seven only had to tilt her head slightly, soft warm lips pressing chastely against her own, and her eyes fluttered closed and she seriously wondered if she was having a coronary seizure. Breathing harder than the light, light caress along her jawline really warranted.

Then Seven leaned down again and this time she met her halfway, abandoning rational thought to the delicate, questioning kisses, lips parting to tongue, bodies pressing together, and where the hell did Seven learn to kiss like that?

"It would seem she was correct," Seven breathed, the warmth of her exhalation across Kathryn's lips almost more intimate than kissing her had been. Kathryn found her heart was pounding, all warmth migrated to points south, and she was finding it almost impossible to think of anything other than how good this felt as Seven leaned down a little further to kiss her neck. Then she pulled back, a wider smile than Kathryn was used to seeing lighting her eyes and leaving her radiantly beautiful in the way she only was when she let herself be joyous and emotional. "I would like to see you tonight."

"All right." She fought to drag her higher mental functions back into place. "Dinner? My quarters? 1900 hours?"

"I look forward to it." Seven kissed her once more, almost too sweetly to bear, then stepped back. "I must complete my work. Until tonight, captain." The cool efficient demeanour slipped so smoothly into place it was almost a physical shock, but the warmth in Seven's eyes didn't fade.

"Until tonight." Kathryn backed out of the room and then leaned against the corridor wall outside, taking deep breaths. A passing crewman gave her a slightly odd look but passed no comment as Janeway returned it with interest. Then, surmising she was going to be no good to anyone for the rest of the afternoon, she called Chakotay and logged herself off duty.

 


"This way." It was, apparently, time for the evening meal on the League vessel. A banquet, in fact, in honour of Sally's presence. Sally summoned her best professional composure as she accompanied Lida Mas towards the banquet hall, there to be led to a table at the centre, beneath a vast, hanging hologram of a planet, rotating almost imperceptibly, with clouds swirling over its surface. Lida Mas noticed her looking at it. "It is Ahmer," she said. "Satellite scans are fed to the ship, so that we may look upon our world."

"It's beautiful," Sally said truthfully, but she was intrigued. She knew what Earth looked like from above, and on Ahmer she could see no sign of cities at all, even on the night side. No traceries of light mapped out centres of population - the night side was simply dark. She made a note to ask Lida Mas about it later.

"Sit here." She was directed to a place halfway along the length of the table. Lida Mas took the seat to her right. "Place your hand on this panel," she instructed quietly, indicating a pale green rectangle set into the dark red wood, even as she did the same with another by her own place. "It scans your DNA, and assesses what you will be allergic to and what will be toxic to your system. It is the custom on League worlds."

"I see." Sally complied. The skin of her palm seemed to tingle slightly as the panel glowed. Following her hostess' lead, she removed her hand when the glow faded.

Lida Mas nodded, and chuckled. "The device was invented after the Intra-League Conflict, which was begun when the Praten were accused of poisoning the Star-Marshal of Slan. As it turned out, the meal they served at that state dinner was incompatible with his biochemistry, and what was a delicacy to the Praten was lethal poison to the Slani. In that time some angry skirmishes had occurred between partisans within the League, and a major war was narrowly averted."

"How?" Sally asked, interested.

"My predecessor, the last Star-Marshal of Ahmer, was the father of the greatest xenobiochemist ever known. Bruster discovered, half by accident, the incompatibility of Slani and Praten biology."

"Really? How did they avert the war, when they had the knowledge?"

"The Ahmerian Council held a state dinner, and invited Slani and Praten delegates. The dessert caused the Slani to feel quite giddy, while the Praten became intoxicated. The war seemed a little silly when the Slani ambassador turned up pregnant to the Praten High Commissar."

Sally blinked, then realised that Lida Mas was telling the truth, but was also amused. She started to grin, the expression matched with a decided hint of mischief by the Star-Marshal.

 


It was much later.

Sally hummed to herself as she stood by the window of her quarters aboard the ship she had found was named the Rising Crescent. She'd found she was missing her album collection with the kind of pain she'd thought would be reserved for lost relatives. Her kitten, she was sure, would be taken care of by Natalie or someone, but she missed him, too.

There was a lot she missed.

She sighed, and started singing the words, fragments of a half-remembered song she'd heard one night in a club. It had been a bad night, that night, she'd been lost inside, and hurting, and she'd stared into the pool of inky black vodka in her glass, and listen to the music, and thought... bad thoughts. Later she'd left, and walked for hours, stopping in the eaves of a graveyard, where she'd sat, and dropped deeper into the darkness than she'd thought was possible.

Cold and bare... But your words cut loose the fire and you left my soul to bleed...

She'd carried her pocket knife then as always, and she could barely remember taking it out, and looking at the blade in the moonlight for a very long time.

In the morning she'd found herself walking, for hours, until she'd reached Natalie's doorstep cold and bleeding, and Natalie had taken her in and let her cry for hours. And it still wasn't enough.

I fall into the water and once more I turn to you...

A tear dropped on to her shirt, darkening the fabric. Sally watched it, gazing at her reflection in the dark port, at the alienness of all she could see reflected behind her.

She wanted to go home.

 


Seven frowned as she contemplated what to wear to dinner with the captain, and tapped her communicator. "Seven of Nine to Kingston," she said.

"Hey, Seven," said the voice from her badge. "What's up?"

"Is this a bad time, Sally?"

"No. We've finished dinner and I've been shown to my guest quarters. I'm free for an hour or so. What's up?"

Seven heard an odd note in her friend's voice. "I have a date with the captain," she began, and was interrupted by a delighted whoop. She could hear Sally applauding through the audio link, and frowned. The enthusiasm seemed oddly... false, like it was forced.

"Fantastic! You have to tell me how it goes. What's the problem?" Sally asked, when she'd settled down.

"I am nervous. And I am unsure what to wear."

"Okay. First of all, calm down. Just relax into it, be yourself, go with what suits - remember, this won't be like your date with Chapman or your date with me. You're going to be with Kathryn, not the captain. If you find yourself around the captain, tell her so, because you don't want the command persona." Seven could hear a slight tremor her voice. "For what to wear... I'd say something like that red number you wore on our date, only maybe in a deep blue."

"Blue?"

"Blue. Definitely blue. It brings out your eyes. Hair down, flat shoes that match the dress."

"Very well."

"And a jacket, too. Just a light one, but definitely have one. It's one of those things. You nervous?"

"Yes," Seven confessed. "Even though I approached her, initially."

"Really? What did you do?" Sally sounded intrigued.

"I kissed her."

"Whoo! Well done." Sally made a sound as if blowing a kiss into the audio pickup of her communicator. "Good luck, honey. I know it'll be great."

"Thank you." Seven paused. "Sally, is something wrong?"

"Yeah." She heard Sally take a deep breath. "I'll talk to you about it when I get back, I promise. Till then, though... just have fun, Seven."

"If you say so," Seven answered doubtfully.

"I say so." The voice was stronger this time. "Sally out."

Seven closed down her Astrometrics board and made her way to Sally's quarters. Her friend had made it clear that Seven should treat them as her own while she was away, and Seven could admit to a developing a preference for the comfort of crew quarters over the starkness of her cargo bay, even with the small private area now afforded her as a byproduct of the concert hall construction.

Keying in her access code with only a moment's hesitation, and entered the empty rooms. She was intrigued, as always, by the way in which someone's quarters rapidly came to bear a stamp of their inhabitant's identity. Sally's were no different in this from others', despite her few possessions; something about a lingering scent of her in the air, and tiny touches like the jacket slung across the back of a chair and the guitar propped in a corner.

Seven rather liked being here. It was comfortable.

She made her way into the bathroom, intending to take a shower, but paused on entering as she saw something new. There were several photographs on the wall, tacked around the mirror with adhesive. Seven leaned closer to examine them.

The first image showed Sally, with her arm around the shoulders of a laughing, red-haired woman. Sally was looking to her right, smiling , waving to someone off-camera. The red-haired woman was looking directly at the camera, and had her arm around Sally's waist. The two of them were framed against a brilliantly blue sky.

The second showed the red-head again, indoors, sitting on a carpeted floor, crossed arms resting on one knee. She was looking at the camera again, but this time apparently caught by surprise; there was a sense of movement stilled, and her expression was curiously unguarded.

The third showed Sally alone, but younger. She was sitting in an armchair, curled around a battered acoustic guitar. Her head was bowed slightly, and her fingers were blurred against the strings. She seemed slightly hunched, pulled in on herself, and her expression was obscurely pained. The light reflected off the dampness left by a tear on Sally's cheek. Seven wondered why she'd apparently kept it with her, and carefully plucked it from its position by the mirror and looked at the back.

There were five words written on it in green ink, in a hand that wasn't Sally's. This is what you hide.

Seven replaced it on the wall, feeling like she'd intruded on a part of Sally her friend wasn't, perhaps, yet ready to share, and stepped into the sonic shower.

 


Sally felt a lot better after talking to Seven, if only for the reminder that life in the twenty-fourth century still allowed her friends. Reflecting on that, she took a deep breath, exhaled, then grinned to herself and whistled the intro to a happier song. She was in the final chorus of "The Rainbow Connection" when there was a chime from the door to her quarters.

"Enter," she called. The door opened obediently, and Sally smiled, giving a little half-bow. "Lida."

"Sally. Was that you singing?" Lida stepped inside.

"Er... yes."

"A traditional melody?" the Star-Marshal inquired, and blinked when Sally laughed.

"Not exactly. It's, uh, about four hundred years old, but I don't believe it's a traditional melody at all." She shrugged carelessly. "I told you about me. That song was produced when I was a child. It's one of my favourites, though."

"Perhaps you could teach it to me."

"It's one song among thousands. Some would argue it's entirely unworthy of being a song taught to an alien race, when there is other music that are so much better suited. If you are interested, though, perhaps you could come to the concert that's due to be held on Voyager very soon." Sally smiled charmingly.

Lida stretched, catlike. "I think I shall. I would appreciate the respite from my duties."

Sally clucked sympathetically. "Long day, huh?"

Lida gave her a puzzled look. "All days in space are the same length."

"Jesus," Sally muttered. "It's a human expression," she said aloud. "I swear, people in this century are so literal-minded."

"Ah, yes. I wanted to talk to you about that."

Sally raised an eyebrow. "Literal-mindedness?"

Lida smiled faintly. "No. Your... displacement." She was briefly silent. "Do you know how you came to be here?"

"I haven't the faintest idea," Sally told her, watching her carefully. She liked Lida Mas, but she didn't know that she trusted her, and this line of conversation was somehow vaguely alarming.

"I see." Lida nodded abruptly, and rose. "I have work to do. Tomorrow, we can cross back to your vessel. I look forward to this concert." She left quickly.

"Hmm." Sally frowned at the door that had closed behind her. "What the hell was that about?" Picking up the padd she'd brought with her, she recorded some detailed notes on the conversation. She had a feeling she was missing something significant, and should take it to Seven of Nine and Captain Janeway.

Sally paused in her laboured typing (and why the hell did they abandon the qwerty system?), and grinned.

It would wait until morning.

Scant minutes later, however, her communicator beeped again. "Janeway to Kingston," grated a familiar voice, and Sally felt her heart skip at least two beats. Why was Janeway calling her when she was supposed to be going out with Seven? Had something happened?

"Kingston here," she answered, willing her voice to be steady. She heard Janeway clear her throat.

"Doctor Kingston... Sally. I want to make it clear that this conversation is in strictest confidence."

"Uh... okay." Sally leaned back in her chair, fingers playing idly with her padd. "What's up, captain?"

"This isn't entirely a professional call." She heard the captain take a deep breath, and exhale. "I would like... your advice."

"I see," Sally answered carefully, and bit down on the tip of her tongue to keep from laughing aloud. "About Seven?"

"Yes. It pains me to admit it, doctor, but you seem to know her better than I do. I've had a hard time talking to her lately."

Sally considered that seriously. "Maybe. But it doesn't have to be that way. Your problems with her come from the fact that you see too much of who she used to be in her, and not enough of who she's become. Just relax, already." She smiled, knowing Janeway would hear it in her voice. "She's a very deep person, captain."

"I know that."

"I know you do. But try seeing the surface, too. She's the most honest person you've ever met, and she has a hell of a sense of humour, and she's quick on the uptake and a good conversationalist. Start looking at the woman, not your ex-drone protegé."

"I see."

"It might help."

"Thank you, Sally. Janeway out."

Well, Sally thought. If that didn't take the cake. She laughed aloud and returned to her work.

 


Janeway let her eyes close as she heard the chime, just for a moment, and allowed herself to be entirely aware of just how nervous she was.

Then, she took a deep breath, exhaled slowly, and rose from the couch, deliberately shedding her command persona as she walked towards the door. She could do this. She could spend one simple evening having dinner with Seven of Nine. She'd spent enough damn time with the woman already, so why should she be nervous?

Because, of course, this time, it was a date, and Seven of Nine had kissed her earlier.

Somehow, that didn't seem to fit.

"Come in," she said, finally. The door slid open to reveal Seven, and Kathryn's nervousness dissipated rapidly as she took in the sight of her. A warm smile rose unforced to her lips. Of course, it is Seven, her mind sang, as she mouthed something she wasn't really aware of in greeting. Since when am I afraid of her?

"You look wonderful, Seven," she said sincerely, taking in her outfit.

Seven paused for a moment to look her up and down, and smiled into her eyes. "As do you, Kathryn." Kathryn felt her heart flutter, gauging the absolute sincerity in Seven's appraisal.

"Would you like to sit down?" she asked, and held Seven's chair for her. "I programmed dinner."

"Then by all means, let us eat," Seven answered, in a low, vibrant voice. She sat gracefully at the table and looked up at Kathryn, eyes alight.

"Let's." Kathryn smiled, and went to the replicator.

 


Seven watched Kathryn as they ate, intrigued by the way she poked at her food without consuming very much of it. She compared it to her own, more efficient way of eating, and to the form Sally had introduced her to, that of eating substances that were non-nutritious, simply enjoyable. This was very different, and she studied Kathryn carefully, noting the tense set of her body and the way she didn't quite meet Seven's eyes.

She's nervous, she surmised. "Kathryn," she said aloud, interrupting her in the midst of a jittery discussion of the system they were passing through. Kathryn looked at her, and Seven carefully assessed the lines of the muscles in her face, reading her expression. It was still something of a foreign language to her, but she made a guess, and smiled. "Relax."

Saw Kathryn take a deep breath. "I don't know why I'm so nervous," she confessed. "We've spent so much time together before... I suppose I'm just afraid of making a mess of this tonight."

"There is no need for that. Not with me. Neither at this moment nor in the foreseeable future." She paused for a moment, assembling her thoughts. "I have known you at your best and your worst, Kathryn. I respect you. I... love you." She reached across the table and took Kathryn's hand in hers. "Nothing can weaken that."

"Oh." Kathryn took on that expression Seven had seen once or twice before, where suddenly she seemed to lose all pretense of authority and simply radiated warmth. It was one that had buoyed her in some of her darker moments aboard Voyager. And, she realised, it held love. A strange, tingling sensation skittered down her spine.

 


Sally blinked muzzily. It was dark. Dark seemed to fit the cotton wool packing her head. She was in bed, curled in the sheets that smelt strangely of, she presumed, alien laundry powder. She was awake. That bit didn't make sense.

Communicator. Right. Seven's voice. That was what had woken her. Sally fumbled to find it on the small bedside table thing, and pressed the contacts between thumb and forefinger. "Seven? What's up?"

"Sally. I woke you. I apologise." Seven sounded genuinely contrite, but there was an unfamiliar undercurrent - excitement? Agitation? She needed to wake up.

"Is something wrong? Did the date go badly? Are you okay?" Sally sat up in bed, rolling her neck and shoulders to prompt a better blood flow.

"No." Seven's voice, she realised, was quietly exultant. "It went wonderfully."

"Really?" Sally winced as something in her neck went 'click'. "Well, you have to give me more details than that."

A deep breath from Seven's end, and she could hear the smile. "Kathryn was very nervous at first." A moment's pause. "As was I." Sally chuckled softly at that. "But... Sally, are there words for this?"

"Probably not, but keep trying."

"We talked. I told her that I love her. And I know that she loves me. It is wonderful."

"You said that. So tell me about the dinner."

Seven sounded puzzled. "Kathryn had programmed the meal. I... do not recall what we ate." She seemed vaguely chagrined at that. Sally was grinning so hard her cheeks ached.

"That's fine. I'd rather you told me what happened after dinner. And how you feel about it."

"After the meal, Kathryn played music. We talked." Hesitation. "Briefly."

"And then?" Sally figured she knew, but she waited in breathless anticipation to hear Seven say it.

"We kissed." A soft exhalation. Sally felt tears sting her eyes, of vicarious joy and some nameless aching.

"Wow." Sally smiled into the darkness. "How do you feel?" A beat. "Wonderful?"

Then she felt her heart skip a beat as she heard a strange, unfamiliar, beautiful sound.

Seven laughed.

Seven laughed.

She was rusty, unpractised. But it was laughter, joyous laughter, and Sally found it took her breath away just to hear it.

"Yes," she heard Seven say at last. "Wonderful."

 


Sally yawned as she answered Lida Mas' knock at the door. She'd had trouble getting to sleep after Seven's call, and she felt decidedly grumpy-tired. Come on, she told herself. Professional face.

"Good morning, Lida." She forced a pleasant smile.

"Is it?" Lida asked, her tone one of genuine inquiry.

"Well... For some." Sally tried to pull off a rakish grin. She wasn't sure she succeeded. "I'm all packed. Are we off?" The previous night they had decided on a return to Voyager, for the concert.

"I am ready." Lida smiled.

"Are we taking a shuttle, or getting Voyager to beam us over?" Sally asked, shouldering her bag.

"Getting Voyager to do what?"

Sally paused. "Never mind. Home slang," she ducked the question. Best to ask Janeway her policy on discussing technology other species seemed to lack.

"The shuttle is ready," Lida said, giving her an odd look. "We shall depart."

"Great. I can't wait." Sally suppressed another yawn as they entered the not-really-a-lift.

 


Seven watched Neelix straighten his clothing nervously as they waited for the shuttle to arrive. Sally had contacted Voyager while in flight, and it had been decided that the Talaxian would take over showing Lida Mas and her attendants around the ship. He was avidly reading through the data Sally had transmitted on what she had learned of the appropriate customs to observe. His nervousness amused Seven.

"Mr Neelix." He looked up. "Dr Kingston reported that the Ahmerians will expect to follow Voyager's customs while aboard. You will not offend them."

"That's easy for you to say," he muttered.

"Yes," she replied mischievously. "It is."

The shuttle bay's inner doors hissed open. Looking around, Seven was unable to keep the smile from her lips as she saw the captain enter.

"I suppose I'm just in time," Janeway said with a rakish grin, joining her staff where they stood. As her glance met Seven's, she gave her the ghost of a wink.

"Just," Seven affirmed, as the shuttle bay's vast outer doors slid ponderously open. The now-familiar form of the Rising Crescent's shuttle glided in, and settled to the deck plates with a very faint thud. A sparkle, and the outer force field had snapped back into place as soon as the shuttle had entered, the cavernous shuttle bay was pressurised by the time the landing was complete. The Voyager representatives stepped forward, led by their captain.

The hatch slid open. Sally Kingston was the first person to appear, wearing a jumpsuit strongly reminiscent of Starfleet uniforms. Seven knew that Sally did very little without forethought, and was intrigued by the choice.

"Captain Janeway," Sally greeted, in ringing tones. "May I present Star-Marshal Lida Mas of Ahmer." She half-turned towards the shuttle, and beckoned to someone. The alien woman who had spoken to them when they met the Rising Crescent emerged. Sally took her hand courteously as she descended the steps down from the hatch, and then released it as she led her to the Voyager party. "Star-Marshal, you may remember Captain Kathryn Janeway. This is Commander Chakotay, Commander Tuvok, Mr Neelix, and Seven of Nine."

"Welcome aboard," Janeway said, startled by the very informal Sally Kingston's formal approach. Behind Sally and the Ahmerian, she saw several more unfamiliar aliens emerging from the shuttle.

"It is a delight and an honour," Lida Mas replied.

"Mr Neelix will be your host and guide for the duration of your stay." Janeway smiled. "I do hope you enjoy yourselves."

"I'm sure we shall."

End Part Four