NEW: VOY I am Borg - Part 2 - Chapter 1 (1/10) PG-13
Kudara
Author: Kudara
Contact: cobaltw...@yahoo.com
Series: VOY
Part: NEW 1/10
Rating: PG-13
Codes: 7, J, T, crew
Summary: Seven returns to Voyager
Disclaimer: Star Trek Voyager and all who sail in her belong to
Paramount/Viacom and no infringement of copyright/trade marks is
intended.
Feedback: Always welcome, feedback is what encourages me to keep
writing. Please let me know what you like and what you dislike about
the story.
Klingon:
qatojbe' - I will not deceive you
taHqeq ľ swear word meaning dishonest, deceitful. Classic Klingon
insult.
******************************************************
Seven materialized on the transporter pad and looked around at the
group assembled to greet her. Captain Janeway of course was there as
was Commander Chakotay and Lt. Commander Tuvok. Seven felt slightly
uncomfortable under their intense looks; she was uncertain how to
break the silence that seemed to have fallen.
"Captain?" said Seven tentatively, with an inquiring look at Captain
Janeway.
Janeway smiled reassuringly and said, "Welcome back Seven, I've missed
you."
Seven looked at the Captain's face and realized that the older woman
had missed her; not surprising after all this was the woman who had
been willing to confront the Borg Queen to bring her back to Voyager.
"I have missed you as well Captain," admitted Seven.
Seven turned and acknowledged Chakotay politely and then with more
warmth she said, "Lt. Commander Tuvok, I was able to use the
meditation techniques you taught me during my recovery. They proved
most helpful in assisting me with my unarmed martial arts training."
Tuvok tilted his head and raised one eyebrow, "Indeed, meditation is
most useful in centering oneself before any type of physical
training."
Seven gave him a small smile, "From the soul, to the body, into the
world."
Tuvok quirked his lips very slightly and said, "Perhaps you can
demonstrate what you have learned at some point."
Seven nodded to him and then looked at Janeway and Chakotay who for
some reason were looking at her rather strangely.
Seven shifted and looked inquisitively at Janeway, finally Janeway
seemed to shake herself out of whatever had been bemusing her and she
said, "You must want to see your new quarters."
Seven smiled slightly, "I am looking forward to seeing the paintings
Analea brought for me."
Janeway said, "Your quarters are on Deck 9 Section 11. She also
brought several sets of clothing; some are of the same style you are
wearing. I wondered what they would look like, they suit you Seven."
"Thank you," replied Seven recognizing that Kathryn was complementing
her. Seven was determined to adapt to her Collective. Analea and
Kayaln had taught her that politeness was much more important than she
had ever realized. Therefore Seven was determined to understand what
was polite behavior and what it was not, and apply what she learned to
her own behavior.
Tuvok, saying that he was on duty declined to accompany them to
Seven's quarters. Chakotay declined as well saying that he needed to
return to the bridge. Thus only Janeway and Seven stepped out of the
turbolift at Deck 9 and proceeded along the corridor toward Section
11. Lt. Torres who had been headed toward the turbolift paused in the
corridor to let the two pass, quickly glancing at Seven who met her
eyes gravely and nodded to her.
Seven paused and said, "Lt. Torres."
B'Elanna wondered if Seven was about to confront her for her part in
Seven's death, she straightened and said, "Seven."
"I understand that Analea brought several training programs designed
by Mulara to Voyager. The program of the inner temple garden has a
training area, there is a Bat'leth trainer there named M'ara. You are
welcome to use the program anytime you wish, and perhaps sometime you
would be willing to practice with me," said Seven. She was being very
careful to maintain neutral posture during this speech though she
desperately wanted to stand with her hands behind her back.
B'Elanna said the first thing that came into her head after Seven's
speech, "I didn't know you knew how to fight with a Bat'leth."
Seven dropped her eyes for a second and stiffened then forced herself
to relax, "I have just begun my training. I am not very skilled. I
understand that you might not want to practice with me due to my
inexperience."
B'Elanna was quick to reply before Seven continued, "No, that's fine
we can just take it easyů Do you have a Bat'leth or do you use a
replicated one?" B'Elanna asked curiously. She realized that she
needed to wrap up the conversation quickly, Janeway was starting to
look annoyed but Seven appeared to be willing to stand in the hall and
talk for along time. Seven was even being polite, and she wasn't
standing like she usually did at all. B'Elanna was also trying very
hard not to stare at Seven's exoskeleton, from the data she knew
basically the outline of it, but the reality was much more beautiful
than she had thought. The exoskeleton around Seven's left eye gleamed
brilliantly silver in the light with fine lines of blue and gold
forming intricate patterns.
Seven replied "I do not have one of my own; I assume I will be using
the ones provided in the program."
Janeway interrupted, "Actually you have one of your own, Analea
delivered it with your paintings and clothes."
Seven turned toward her, surprise and pleasure obvious for a moment on
her face before it smoothed again. Seven turned back toward B'Elanna,
"It appears I have a Bat'leth."
B'Elanna glanced from Janeway to Seven and said, "Perhaps I can drop
by and take a look at it later, I need to get headed to engineering
nowů"
Seven nodded, "I did not realize I was keeping you from your duty
Ltůmy apologies."
B'Elanna gaped for a moment then said, "That's alright. Well I had
better get going. Captain, Seven." B'Elanna turned and walked toward
the lift. As soon as she was safely in it she shook her head and
wondered where the real Seven was. That had almost been surreal;
Seven had never been that painfully polite to her, she sounded almost
like Tuvok.
B'Elanna had hardly recognized Seven between the fact that she wasn't
wearing her usual biosuit and that she had her hair down. B'Elanna
considered how Seven had looked and thought bemusedly that Seven was
much more attractive in the looser clothes than she had ever been in
the skintight biosuits.
Seven turned back to the Captain and noticed the odd look once again,
Seven wondered uneasily if she had already erred somehow. Maybe she
should not have paused to talk with Lt. Torres. Seven resolved that
as soon as she could she would make a detailed analysis of what was
considered polite behavior.
When they reached Deck 9 Section 11 they paused in front of a door and
Kathryn indicated that Seven should precede her, as Seven approached
the door it opened automatically to admit her. Seven stepped into her
quarters and her gaze was immediately drawn to the painting at the
other end of the room.
Seven walked across the room towards it, barely glancing at the
contents of the remainder of the quarters. She stared at the painting
looking at how the soft brush strokes revealed both the simplicity and
complexity of the molecule. Seven stepped back and looked at the
painting again, this time she saw something in the whole which
reminded her of when she had watched the Omega molecule form. Somehow
the Omega molecule in the painting appeared to be watching her as she
looked at it.
"I don't know who painted it but they were very good," said Janeway.
"Mulara did, her signature is in the bottom left corner," replied
Seven absently. She was aware of Janeway moving closer to the
painting and then a stifled sound of surprise.
"I don't understand how I missed that before. Well Seven I would
think few people could say they have original works of art painted by
an energy being," said Janeway.
Seven looked curiously at her, "You are probably correct." Seven
wondered why Janeway was commenting on the painting, Mulara had made
several things for Seven. The most notable was her own body in
Seven's mind.
Seven moved away from the Omega painting and began examining the rest
of her quarters. She recognized the flower stills; they were of her
favorite flowers in the inner temple garden. Continuing around the
rooms she noticed the hydroponics lights above the bed and smiled at
the thoughtfulness.
The last thing she noticed in the room was her new Bat'leth. Seven
walked over to it and picked it up, testing the weight of it and the
length. She read the inscription ĹDuty, Loyalty, Honor.' Seven
admired the watered appearance of the blade for a few moments longer
then reverently returned the weapon to its display hanger.
"So do you like your new quarters?" asked Janeway with a smile.
Seven returned the smile for just a second and replied, "Thank you for
assigning them to me, and for assisting Analea with their decoration."
"Of course, Seven, you should have been assigned them sooner. I'm
sorry it took all of this for me to see that I should have never had
you stay in the Cargo Bay for as long as I did." Janeway paused and
looked at Seven seriously, "I owe you and apology for that, I never
thought of how it affected the crew's opinion of you. I want you to
know that I never though of you that way, and I didn't intend to imply
that to the crew," finished Janeway.
Seven was puzzled as to what Ĺthat way' referred to until she recalled
comments she had overheard of how she was a machine, stored away in
the cargo bay between uses. Seven thought she should clarify the
phrase before replying to the Captain. "Do you mean how some members
of the crew referred to me as a machine that was stored in the cargo
bay?" asked Seven.
Janeway winced and nodded. Seven wondered how she was supposed to
reply and finally settled upon, "Apology accepted, though if that was
not your perception of my previous quarters why are you responsible
for others erroneous perceptions?"
"Because I'm the Captain, and I should have considered it. Analea
brought several things to my attention, Seven. When I ordered that
your Borg implants were to be removed the first few day's you were on
Voyager I ordered the Doctor to ignore your own wishes in the matter.
I argued that you were not capable of making your own decisions and
essentially took on the role of guardian. Since then however, I've
been rather haphazard in my treatment of you, sometimes I'm your
Captain, sometimes I'm your mentor, and sometimes I still think of
myself as your guardian. But I ignored something rather essential,
and that was the fact that you needed me to be just one person, you
needed me to react in more of a consistent manner than I did. I must
have confused you quite frequently. I was too permissive with you at
times letting you break the rules I expected others to follow, then
suddenly I insisted that you follow those rules," explained Janeway.
Seven listened to Kathryn's statement and thought back over the past
year and had to agree, the shifting standard had been unsettling. "It
was confusing, but I should have followed the standard others were
held to. Instead I choose to follow the more Ĺpermissive' standard
for my own benefitů except it did not benefit meů"
Janeway said, "Seven, its human nature to want to explore boundaries,
it's not your fault that you wanted the most lenient boundary that I
would allow you and resented it when I restricted them. I should have
been more consistentůI should have been more like my mother was with
me," commented Kathryn somewhat wryly. "I certainly did you no favors
by allowing you so much freedom. I promise that I'll try to be more
consistent with you, I'll let you know when you do something wrong and
I'll try to explain as best I can why. I wanted to let you know this
so that you don't think I'm punishing you in any way. I don't ever
want you to think that, I'm correcting my own mistake, what I did
wrong."
Seven considered the Captains words and asked hesitantly, "You wish to
act consistently as my guardian? I am not considered an adult then,
you are following Mularan law." Seven was not particularly pleased
with this turn of events; she did not consider herself to be a minor
no matter what Mulara thought.
Kathryn replied, "The fact that I feel you still need guidance does
not mean that I think you are not an adult Seven. I don't think of
myself as your guardian anymore in a legal sense. I do however care
about what happens to you, and I want to do what's best for you if you
will let me. Seven, I still feel the need for guidance; it's not
something you outgrow. I wish almost every day that I could talk to
my mother about things."
Seven considered everything Kathryn had said and came to a tentative
conclusion, "You think of yourself as my parent?" Seven looked
curiously at her.
Kathryn looked surprised for a second then thoughtful, "I guess I do,
if that's not being too presumptuous. That's up to you of course; do
you mind that I think of you more as a daughter than just a friend?"
"That is acceptable," said Seven. Seven considered the woman in front
of her and felt a rush of emotion, she barely remembered her own
mother. Her own mother had not been able to save her from the Borg,
but Kathryn had and not only once but twice. "By what term should I
call you?" asked Seven.
Kathryn smiled, "Captain in public and when you are acting as a
crewmember. When we are in a more private setting please call me
Kathryn."
Seven nodded then asked, "Would you like anything Kathryn."
"Coffee, black," said Kathryn starting to wonder what the Mularan's
had done to make Seven so polite. Frankly it was starting to worry
her; Seven was not acting like her old self. "Analea brought up three
replicator patterns for you, the Pujaa and Quara fruits and the juice
with the metallic and chemical elements in it."
Seven was pleased to hear this and when she went over to the
replicator she said, "Coffee, black," and picked up the cup then she
said, "Quara fruit, sliced, room temperature". When the bowl appeared
she picked that up as well and sat the coffee and fruit on the table.
She then ordered some of the juice for herself. Kathryn had wandered
over to the table and sat down with her coffee cup. "Have you tried
the Mularan fruits yet Kathryn?" asked Seven.
"No I haven't," answered Kathryn.
Seven said, "I believe you will like this one."
Kathryn took a slice of the fruit and bit into it, a surprised
expression crossed her face, "It tastes like sweet bread. I'll have
to remember the name so I can order it for breakfast sometimes."
"I often have one for breakfast myself," said Seven as she took a few
of the slices before Kathryn could eat them all.
When Kathryn had finished her coffee she said, "I must return to the
bridge, let me know if you need anything. You have the rest of today
off of course, tomorrow morning we have a senior staff meeting at 0900
hours. If you want to talk more I'll be off duty in six hours."
Seven nodded to Kathryn and watched her leave. Seven was pleased to
have the day off though she had expected it. She needed to figure out
how to schedule her days; her exercise protocol would take an hour a
day to complete. She did not have enough holodeck time to practice
unarmed or weapons training every day but she did have enough to
practice every other day for an hour. Seven considered her quarters
and realized that there was enough room for her to practice her katas
here if she moved the furniture out of the way. Seven unpacked the
pressure sensitive plates and hung them in a corner of the room, and
then she looked around at her quarters in satisfaction.
***********************************************************
Several hours later B'Elanna was headed back to her quarters and
remembered that Seven had invited her to come by and look at her
Bat'leth. She tapped her combadge and said "Torres to Seven."
A few moments later Seven replied and B'Elanna asked if it would be
convenient for her to come over.
"You are welcome to come over now Lieutenant, I will probably be
practicing my katas if you don't mind. I will set the door to admit
you," replied Seven.
B'Elanna was definitely curious now, what katas would Seven be doing
she wondered. As far as she knew Seven had never practiced any form
of martial arts in the past. "If you don't mind me watching sure
Seven," said B'Elanna as she walked the few final meters to Seven's
quarters. Seven had already set the door to admit her B'Elanna noted
as the door opened when she approached it. B'Elanna walked in and
tried to not be too obvious as she stared at Seven moving gracefully
and powerfully though an unarmed martial arts kata.
B'Elanna was not an expert in unarmed styles so she couldn't tell
exactly how well Seven was doing the kata. But she could tell that
Seven was fairly skilled, each movement flowed into the next making it
appear that Seven was actually performing some type of dance.
In between one kata and the next Seven said, "Please sit Lieutenant, I
will be finished shortly. You are welcome to replicate a drink for
yourself if you would like one." Seven was proud of herself, she had
spent several hours today going over Starfleet protocol and courtesies
for a second time, she had studied them over a year ago but had deemed
them irrelevant at the time. She had also read several studies on
what humans called polite behavior or manners.
B'Elanna looked at Seven oddly, "Um, thanks for the offer but I'm not
thirsty right now." B'Elanna heard what sounded almost like a chuckle
from Seven and stared at her for a moment before grinning, "That's
usually your line isn't it." A brief smirk from Seven answered her
statement. B'Elanna sat down at the table and looked about the room,
finally noticing the Bat'leth in its display hangers beside the door.
Seven finished her katas and walked over to the replicator and got
herself a glass of water, she looked at Lt. Torres and said, "You may
pick up the Bat'leth if you would like."
B'Elanna had been waiting for the invitation and she walked over to
the blade and examined the layered surface, "What metal is this made
of, it's not baakonite."
"It is made of poly-deutonic alloy," replied Seven.
B'Elanna looked at her and then back at the blade then gently picked
it up feeling the weight of it. She read the inscription that ran
below the grips, "Qu', matlh, batlh; who made this Seven?" B'Elanna
was aware of what the words meant she was surprised that someone had
inscribed them upon the blade.
Seven looked at her curiously, "I imagine that Mulara made the
Bat'leth. The Mularan's do not have the technology to work with
poly-deutonic alloy."
"Mulara," said B'Elanna surprised and looked back down at the Bat'leth
she was holding.
"Yes," said Seven, "She also created the pictures I have. I
especially like the painting of the Omega molecule."
B'Elanna carefully replaced the Bat'leth and walked over to the
indicated painting, "I recognized it, Janeway didn't say anything
about it? I mean you pretty much have classified information hanging
on your wall."
Seven considered this and said, "I shall refer to it as a kal-toh
sphere from now on, I had forgotten that Starfleet classified all
information about it. All the Borg know about the Omega Moleculeůthey
even know the resonance frequency now." Seven grimaced, the last time
she had been onboard a Borg vessel they had assimilated her memories,
which meant they had access to all the research she had done on the
Omega molecule.
"How would they know that? Oh when you went back to the Borg after
they blackmailed you." B'Elanna answered her own question.
"An antiquated, but accurate term," acknowledged Seven.
B'Elanna snorted, glancing at Seven she finally asked what had been
bothering her all day. "Seven, why are you being so polite?"
Seven glanced at the Lieutenant and said, "I had dismissed such
behavior before as inefficient and irrelevant. However, being
regarded as impolite and rude caused me to be generally disliked by
the crew. My behavior resulted in Muahe being able to gather
information about me, which he used when he decided to kill me. I no
longer regard being polite as irrelevant; I have no desire for that to
occur again. Therefore, I am making the adaptation to this Collective
my highest priority. I have identified politeness and accurate
communications to be essential in this effort."
B'Elanna stared at Seven stunned that she had come to the conclusion
she had. Then she said, "Why don't you hate us, why don't you hate
me? Or do you? And don't hide behind politeness."
"qatojbe'," replied Seven and paused to make sure B'Elanna understood
what she had said, "Why would I hate you?"
"They sent us their security tapes; I know that Muahe told you that I
had given them that information. I didn't though Seven, I didn't talk
to their intelligence people, I wouldn't do that," said B'Elanna
earnestly.
Seven interrupted her, "I knowů I remember watching, but I was never
thereůPerhaps Mulara gave me those memories. I was at the
establishment when they tried to elicit information from you by
offering alcoholic beverages. You called the man a taHqeq and told
him you would drink nothing with him."
B'Elanna was surprised, she hadn't told Tuvok that she had swore at
the man in Klingon. "You watched?" she tried to understand what Seven
was describing.
"As if I were overhead when the conversation took place," clarified
Seven.
"Then you saw the people who didn't keep their mouths shut." stated
B'Elanna.
Seven replied shortly, "Yes."
"Then you know that almost all of them were from engineering. So I am
responsible, I'm the one that started the names and I'm the one that
didn't stop them from treating you rudely," said B'Elanna in a rush
looking angrily at Seven.
Seven was confused and uneasy, why was Lt. Torres angry with her. She
had done nothing that she knew of to anger the engineer, maybe her
reply had been too short or maybe the Lieutenant was angry that she
knew what happened in the bar.
"I'm sorry," essayed Seven trying to diffuse the other woman's anger.
"Damn it!" said B'Elanna angrily and took a step toward Seven, "why
are youů" B'Elanna found herself on the floor gasping for breath.
Seven was now several feet away from her in a defensive stance.
B'Elanna could hear her rapid breathing and smelledů fear. She gazed
at Seven and saw the fear she had smelled in the woman's eyes.
B'Elanna started to growl and lunge to her feet angered that Seven had
shoved her, when she saw Seven tense and actually bare her teeth at
her. Suddenly she froze realizing that she might be in real danger of
Seven attacking her. She also knew that if Seven hit her at full
strength she would probably kill her.
B'Elanna relaxed backward, "I'm not going to attack you Seven. I
wasn't angry at you, I was angry at myself. I shouldn't haveůI'm
sorry you thought I was angry with you Seven." B'Elanna moved slowly
and ruefully rubbed her chest where she was certain there would be a
palm sized bruise shortly. "I'm definitely sorry I made you think I
was about to attack you." B'Elanna watched Seven trying to figure out
if the other woman was relaxing yet.
Seven dropped her hands and stood straighter a haunted look on her
face, "I'm sorry I injured you Lieutenant. I believe I overreacted to
the anger you displayed." Seven glanced at the Lieutenant shamed and
asked, "Do you need to go to Sickbay?" Seven hesitantly moved toward
Lt. Torres wondering if she had hurt the woman such that she could not
get up.
B'Elanna sat up and said, "No I'm fine I just didn't want to threaten
you any more than I already had." Seven stopped moving towards her
when she sat up, looking at her with concern. B'Elanna got slowly to
her feet and sat back down at the table.
"You will report me for striking you," said Seven in a monotone.
B'Elanna looked at her trying to figure out what she was thinking, "No
I won't, it was my fault. I've gotten used to you just ignoring me
when I do things like that, I should have realized that you would
react differently now. Honestly, I should never have invaded your
personal space like that in the past."
"I might have hurt youůfor a moment I saw Muahe's faceůI could have
killed you," Seven was definitely agitated now, "I am a danger."
"Woah, Seven stop. You didn't hurt me," B'Elanna rose from her seat
at the table and approached Seven slowly. "Seven, I'm sorry I
frightened you. I've just gotten used to you not being afraid of me
when I'm angry."
Seven closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths to get her
nanoprobes to deal with the hormones rushing through her system, she
should have done it earlier but had been so shocked by her reaction
that she had forgotten for a moment. Shortly she felt the physical
symptoms abate and she felt calmer.
Lt. Torres was watching her and asked, "Well you look better. What
just happened?"
"I instructed my nanoprobes to remove the excess adrenaline in my
system, with my Borg systems it happened automatically. Now I must
consciously initiate the process. I forgot to do it earlier; I
apologize for being so emotional," said Seven and sat down at the
table.
B'Elanna put two and two together and said, "Is that one of the
reasons you always were so calm? I used to wonder why you never were
afraid or angry with me, I thought you wereů" B'Elanna trailed off
uncomfortably, realizing what she was about to say.
Seven finished for her, "Incapable of feeling emotions. I have always
been capable of feeling emotions Lieutenant. Emotions like anger and
fear are usually caused or accompanied by a hormone reaction,
therefore I could experience them only briefly before my nanoprobes
compensated. However, I seldom was afraid of you Lieutenant; I
generally stopped the actions that annoyed you when your physiological
responses reached a certain level."
B'Elanna stared at Seven, going through what she had just said to
figure out what had caught her attention. "Wait, what do you mean you
stopped? You knew what you were doing that made me angry and you kept
doing it until just before I really lost my temper?!" said B'Elanna
incredulous.
Seven looked remarkably like a child that had been caught with their
hand in the forbidden cookie jar at that moment. B'Elanna couldn't
decide whether to be angry or amused at the obviously inadvertent
admission. "Why did you do that Seven? and the truth Seven not some
polite answer."
Seven looked at Lt. Torres uncertainly and flushed slightly, she had
not meant to ever let the woman know she had sometimes purposefully
angered her. Seven was desperate to not anger Torres any further so
she softly admitted, "Your emotions, you always display them so
clearly. I have always been fascinated by your ability to feel. So
sometimes I would anger you just to see them."
B'Elanna gaped at the admission, everyone on this ship tried to not
anger her, except apparently for Seven who sought it out. "You
purposely angered meů to watch my emotions. Because you couldn't feel
them?" hazarded B'Elanna.
Seven nodded, "I could only feel mine fleetingly, I can always discern
yours clearly." Seven continued speaking almost to herself, "It's why
I included you when Kayaln asked me what things I thought were
beautiful."
B'Elanna looked at Seven closely her irritation derailed completely by
the last comment. Seven looked back at her evenly, no sign of
uneasiness apparent on her face. B'Elanna was confused, what had
Seven meant by that, was Seven telling her she thought she was
beautiful or was Seven saying her emotions were beautiful. B'Elanna
felt she was suddenly floundering in unexpectedly deep waters, looking
for solid land she asked, "Who is Kayaln and why was she asking you
that?"
"Kayaln was one of the High Priestess of Mulara. She is the one who
taught me unarmed martial arts. She asked me what I thought was
beautiful to help me with my training. Kayaln told me that I should
bring what I felt was beautiful into my katas so I could bring them
closer to perfection." Explained Seven.
B'Elanna was completely confused now, "You want to show anger in your
katas?"
Seven shook her head, "No, not angerů" Seven frowned slightly
thinking, trying to clarify why she had included Lt. Torres in her
list. Hoping the woman wouldn't get angry again she finally said,
"Passion, your ability to feel and project emotions so clearly."
B'Elanna knew how she would take that admission from anyone else but
Seven. With Seven however she just wasn't sure, B'Elanna looked
searchingly into Seven's eyes but saw nothing but sincerity. Uneasily
she wondered if Seven would even recognize attraction if she did feel
it. With one more searching glance B'Elanna asked lightly, "What else
made it onto your list?"
Seven was relieved; apparently Lt. Torres had decided not to be angry
with her. "The Omega molecule, the three flowers that I have
paintings of, the design of my exoskeleton, you and the Captain."
B'Elanna glanced at Seven at the last, and almost felt like laughing.
B'Elanna glanced at the flower paintings in the room and had to agree
that all of them were indeed beautiful. As for Seven's exoskeleton,
well she would take her word on that, though her imagination helpfully
supplied her with the flash of an image of a nude silver adorned
Seven. "The Captain, what about her do you find beautiful?" asked
B'Elanna carefully.
Seven considered the question, "Her strength, her compassion, and her
decisiveness in dangerous situations. I feel protected when she is
near. I was confused by my feelings before today; now that we have
agreed that she fills a parental role my feelings make sense to me."
B'Elanna felt adrift again, "Parental role?"
"Yes, the Captain asked if it was permissible for her to consider me
as a daughter and I agreed that it was. Therefore she is in a
parental role, Correct?" asked Seven.
B'Elanna nodded, feeling slightly jealous of Seven. No wonder Janeway
looked out for Seven's interests so fiercely.
Seven commented pensively, "Kathryn is a better mother than my own.
She took me away from the Borg instead of delivering me to them."
Suddenly B'Elanna felt ashamed, remembering that Seven had just
commented that Janeway made her feel safe. Seven certainly deserved
someone to look out for her given what she had been through during her
life. B'Elanna rubbed her forehead ridges, a headache was starting.
She almost laughed aloud at herself; she had been so sure how things
would be when Seven got back. Seven would be her usual self and she
would struggle with her anger and take the honorable route and try to
help Seven understand what she was doing wrong.
Instead Seven had come back with the Borg superiority apparently
knocked out of her; she was still confident but uncertain of her place
and welcome. This Seven was polite, but the reasons behind the
politeness made B'Elanna feel sickened and angry. No one should have
to feel they had to perfectly adapt to the majority culture just to
feel safe on Voyager, yet Seven felt just that way if B'Elanna was
interpreting what she said correctly.
"Janeway to Seven," interrupted Seven's com badge.
Seven answered, "Yes Captain."
"Seven, I forgot to mention that you need to go get an examination in
Sickbay, the Doctor just called to ask when you would be in. And
would you like to come to my quarters for dinner this evening? We can
do an informal debriefing on what happened on Mulara." said Janeway.
"I will report to Sickbay as soon as possible Captain, what time
should I report to your quarters for dinner?" asked Seven.
"1900 hours sound fine Seven?" said Janeway.
"1900 hours is fine Captain." said Seven.
They both heard the communications channel close and B'Elanna took the
opportunity to escape from what had become an increasingly confusing
situation. She needed time to think over all that had happened and
all that she had learned. "I should get going, you need to go visit
the Doctor, and I'm supposed to meet Tom and Harry at Sardines." said
B'Elanna.
"Certainly Lieutenant," said Seven standing.
"Seven call me B'Elanna when we aren't on duty. And Seven don't tell
everyone about your list of what's beautiful. I would only tell the
Captain and maybe Tuvok, no one else." B'Elanna saw the question in
Seven's eyes and before she could ask replied, "just trust me on this
one, ok?"
Seven nodded and said, "I will comply."
B'Elanna smiled at this sign of the old Seven, "Have a good evening
Seven," she said as she left and the door closed behind her leaving a
curious Seven behind.