Changes pt. 19

The continuing saga of Lt. Tas among other things almost 4 weeks since the last installment. Disclaimer: Sorry this took so long been working a bunch of overtime.

Time seemed to be passing so slowly for Tas a moment did not go by when she did not think of her bond mate. She would be assisting in Engineering or partaking in a meal with members of the Voyager crew in the mess hall and suddenly memories of her love would assail her. It had taken only a matter of hours to get the crew to open up about their former crew mates. Neelix, had started the ball rolling by telling stories about Naomi the first night she had eaten in the mess hall, before long the crew was sharing stories about both Seven and Naomi and their antics together. Now it seemed an hour did not pass without hearing a recounting ntelligence and bravery. The only one who seemed reticent in sharing was Captain Janeway. The Captain only interaction with her was enquiries about Tas� attempts to decrypt Seven�s logs and it was getting more difficult to put off the Captain over time. Tas found herself once again fighting her jealousy reminding herself it was irrational. Yet, it was Kathryn who saved Nik from the Borg twice, It was Kathryn that Nik had tried so hard to please, It was Kathryn who was Nik�s first love. Stop it, her inner voice would chide her, Nik is bonded to you; but, then her insecurity would chide back that perhaps she was a second choice. That would make her inner voice scream, She Loves You Completely, do not dishonor her by thinking that. This would be followed by memories of their last night together and she would let those memories wrap around her mind until she felt wrapped in Nik�s love again. This internal battle is quite inefficient she chided herself as she headed to her temporary quarters feeling slightly queasy once again. A small smirk appeared on her face as she remembered how she ascertained these quarters. She had basically been living in Cargo Bay 2 much as Nik had going to Sick Bay in order to shower and change. However, that all changed after the night it seemed as if every two minutes a crew member was coming into the Cargo Bay in order to retrieve something as she laid on her cot hidden in the corner attempting to sleep. The following morning she spent making repairs in Astrometric�s before reporting to engineering more than a little out of sorts. Lt. B�Elanna Torres was not having a good shift even before her arrival. It seemed every other system was malfunctioning lately and the Chief of Engineering was in need of a break. Tas and B�Elanna were having a rather heated discussion about the best way to proceed with repairing the Borg relays which were falling into disrepair, it was at that moment Chakotay and Janeway had appeared in Engineering. Janeway had quickly assessed the situation and decided that all of her command staff was in need of a break. Chakotay had extended the invitation for Tas to join them almost as an afterthought. Lt. Torres had laughed at Tas� refusal stating that this proved that the Borg would not recognize fun if they assimilated an amusement park. It was at that moment Tas decided to teach the arrogant half Klingon a lesson and agreed to join them that evening for cards. It had been to easy for her. It had only been a matter of a couple of hands to determine what little tic would allow her to determine the strength of her competitors hand. That combined with the fact they only played with one deck had made it quite simple to eventually obtain her present quarters. Lt. Torres had believed her straight flush unbeatable when she had staked her quarters. The rage on the Klingon�s face when Tas had revealed her Royal Flush was priceless. She had casually asked if Seven had ever participated in these Poker nights and quickly realized her bond mate was much more honorable then she was because after winning the first couple of hands Nik had quickly called the pursuit irrelevant and left. As Tas laid down to sleep she wished with all her heart that Nik was with her and wondered what her bond mate was up to.

 

Chief waited impatiently for the computer to complete running her new algorithm. The problem of communication with the Art had given her a project to consume her time while awaiting Tas� return. She hoped that her bond mate was adapting well to life aboard Voyager. Naomi and Puma had been doing their best to distract her; but, her mind never strayed from her mate for long. The beep from the computer indicating the completion of its task almost coincided precisely with the level 5 alert; the Art were preparing to attack. Chief made the split second decision to go to the Command Center instead of Engineering. The First Officer looked at her confused when she appeared; but, after she quickly explained that she had solved the communication problem he quickly acquiesced command temporarily. The Art were very pleased to finally have an opportunity to converse with their allies as they looked upon all their previous skirmishes as training exercises. The surprise in Command Center was almost palatable as Chief quickly arranged a meeting between the Art and United Front to discuss any upcoming joint military exercises and suspended all exercises until after completion of said meetings. After the Art took their leave, Chief joined the First Officer in preparing a report for the United Front command.

 

Tas� woke up feeling even more queasy than she had all week. She originally believed it was a reaction to Neelix�s cooking now she was not so sure. She logged herself as unavailable for duty and with some trepidation made her way towards Sick Bay. Her relationship with the Doctor had not improved in the last six weeks. It was petty on her part she knew and that really wasn�t like her. It was just his arrogant attitude grated on her nerves. The examination was short. "Well, Lt. Tas allow me to be the first to offer congratulations", the Doctor said cheerfully. "Congratulations?" "Yes, Congratulations your pregnant" For the first time in her life Tas felt faint, "Pregnant, Oh God I wish Nik was here" "Nik, I assume that would be the father I am quite sure he will be thrilled also. I will have to inform the Captain that you are on restricted duty and I would like to see you daily. Now run along and have a good breakfast."

 

Tas slowly made her way to the Mess Hall. Her mind was still trying to process this revelation logically. Although, some of her friends had gone through different medical procedures to allow such an occurrence she could not access any memory of it happening without medical intervention. She vainly tried to recall any knowledge she had of such procedures and was stunned to realize that the Doctors misguided medical treatment of her after her arrival combined with the last night she and Nik shared correlated closely to what little medical knowledge she had. Her mind quickly shifted to her bond mate and how she was going to inform her knowing it would be quite a shock. Although, the two had discussed having children it had all been very abstract idea. Yet, the thought of this child filled her with such complete joy and she knew with absolute certainty Nik would be thrilled. Halfway through her meal as she tried to analyze the future a stray thought entered her mind. Neelix quickly brought her some water and watched concerned as Tas caught her breath. It was when she realized that now she was going to inform her mom that she was both bonded and with child that she had begun to choke.

 

The Chief was surprised when she was summoned to the meeting with the Fleet Admiral. The flagship for the fleet had quickly rendezvoused with them after receiving the news of communication with the Art. The request that Chief attend the meetings with the Art had seemed simple enough and she was more than willing to comply once she had received permission to meet with Voyager first. It was the Admiral�s insistence that she take a commission for the duration of the meetings that had been a surprise. She had finally relented after being assured she could resign her commission after the meetings with the Art if she wished. She thought ruefully as she looked again at the insignia in her hand Tas� comment about being careful what you wish for. She wondered how her bond mate would respond and realized happily that within a day she would know.

 

Captain Janeway stared at the Doctor.

"So Doctor, you are telling me our guest is pregnant, I am still unclear about your concerns." "It is quite simple Captain, either the father is a Crewman on Voyager or she was less than forthcoming about the amount of time she was alone in space." "Has she given you any indication who the father is, Doctor." "She mentioned a fellow named Nik and even though we have no one on board who goes by that name I would still like to run a paternity match since my conclusion is the child's father is human." Captain Janeway was uncomfortable with the Doctors suggestion. Part of her believed this was a private matter; however, the Captain in her was not so sure. "Doctor, give me an opportunity to talk Lt. Tas first than I will let you know, dismissed"

 

Lt. Tas walked to Astrometrics in a daze hoping she had been successful in allaying the Captain concerns. She had given permission for the Doctor to do the DNA match with the current male crew members feigning indignation at the implication. As for the timing issue she had tried to refute the Doctors findings by pointing out that most of his data on ex-Borg was flawed. She had also begged the Captains discretion when they did come in contact with her colleagues explaining that she would like to have the opportunity to to notify her family privately first before the information was disseminated throughout the quadrant. Arriving in Astrometrics and finding it empty she covertly sent her final report to Command. After confirming the transmission had been undetected she returned to her quarters to await the arrival of her ship and most importantly Nik.

 

Torres was surprised when Lt. Tas approached her at breakfast. Their relationship had been rocky to begin with and after losing her quarters it had steadily deteriorated. The conversation had been brief with Lt. Tas returning to her the pad which contained Seven�s encrypted final log entries. Tas had explained she had been unable to break the code but was sure that she, Lt. Torres was the key. The key she thought on her way to engineering what in the hell does that mean. Lt. Torres was brought out of her musing by the wail of a red alert and quickly headed for her post on the Bridge carrying the pad with her.

 

Lt. Tas made her way to the Bridge when the red alert sounded and arrived just in time to see the Fleets flagship decloak flanked by her own vessel. The appearance of the flagship was surprising to her considering how favorable her report on Voyager�s crew had been. She had come to realize that although some crew members would never be comfortable around anything that reminded them of the Borg there was no maliciousness among the crew or from Star Fleet command during the time she was on-board.. The Captain turned to Tas and asked, "Friends of yours". "Yes, Captain" "Captain, we are being hailed." "On screen Ensign Kim" "You must be Captain Janeway I am Fleet Admiral Kue, welcome to United Front space. Captain Tas, command has agreed with both your assessment of the situation and your recommendations how to proceed. I leave this in your capable hands since I have an important meetings to prepare for, Fleet Admiral Kue out." "It seems Lieutenant. or should I say Captain Tas you have some explaining to do" "Of course Captain Janeway", Tas said easily. "Captain we are being hailed by the other ship" "On screen Ensign Kim" "Captain Janeway, we have been ordered to escort you to the nearest space station and it will be an honor to do so. Captain Tas will you be beaming over or remaining on Voyager.", "I will be remaining on Voyager for the time being, I know the Captain here has some questions for me. Have Qel beam over in an hour and bring with him any relevant material or crew members, Captain Tas out.", Tas said in her best command voice realizing only belatedly she had given the command to cut communication. Captain Janeway gave Captain Tas her best force ten glare and was unamused when it seemed that Captain Tas was completely unfazed by it.

 

Tas walked to the transporter room flanked by Voyager�s senior staff and a security detachment a measure which did not surprise her. Although, she did note that an effort had been made to make detachment look more ceremonial than a reasonable precaution. Once again her mind began to wander and she railed it back in line, even while Janeway and Tuvok were grilling her she had found it difficult to focus. She wondered if Nik would beam over with Qel or if she would wait. She once again tried to quiet her thoughts to see if she could pick up anything from her bond mate.