Dialogue
submitted by Sezwan:
"Seven, I didn't know your implant did... that!"
Rescues and Revelations
By lucy
A carefree Kathryn Janeway walked across rolling hills
dotted with tall, shady trees. She was
carrying a backpack personally overpacked by her companion on this
three-day
away mission-slash-vacation, namely her overprotective Astrometrics
officer. She checked her tricorder and
adjusted her direction to her destination, an underground cave system
that
Seven of Nine had found while scanning for dilithium crystals, which
this
planet had in abundance. Voyager was
currently in orbit around the next planet in this star system,
undergoing an
overhaul of the warp engines while the crew took advantage of some
shore
leave. While Seven was mining and
harvesting the crystals at the base of the mountain containing a rich
deposit
of dilithium ore, her captain was getting an early start on her
vacation,
hiking along the planet’s gorgeous landscape dotted with
trees anticipating a
preliminary exploration of the cave.
She tapped her communicator. “Janeway to
Seven.”
“Yes, Captain.”
“How are the crystals coming, Seven?”
“I estimate that the process should take four hours and
seventeen minutes. I should be able to
join you for an early dinner at the cavern entrance as we
planned.”
“Great. You’re going
to love this, Seven. I can’t wait to
introduce you to the pleasures of caving.
I’ll check back with you in about two and a half
hours. And don’t forget to bring the
food. Janeway out.”
As the captain continued walking, she heard the sound of
what sounded like water gurgling just over the next low hill.
When she reached the top, she smiled at the
sight that greeted her: a secluded
grotto surrounded by trees and rocks filled with bubbling water giving
off
steam. She feels the temperature rise
as she stops by the edge and whips out her tricorder, checking the
water. “Just the thing after exploring the cave, a
mineral bath to wash off the dust. Our
own private spa.”
The captain arrived at the cavern entrance a bit breathless
from thoughts of a wet and naked Seven of Nine in the steamy
water. She shook off the erotic images of Seven
that seemed to come so easily to mind and strapped on her wrist
lamp. She turned her thoughts to what she might
find inside.
She had to stoop a bit to enter the cave, then passed
through a gradually descending passage that soon became a large
room. She used her tricorder to guide her to the
lower levels of the cavern where the more interesting speleothems were
likely
to occur. This was obviously a solution
cave, carved out over thousands of years by acidic water which then
drained,
allowing the air to form the huge variety of mineral features and
shapes found
throughout the cave. The cave was not
unlike many others she had explored during her youth in Indiana, and
she looked
forward to possibly discovering some differences.
The path she followed took her past some underground pools,
passages containing many familiar mineral features typical of solution
caves: ceilings covered with popcorn
and blisters, rooms with columns and stalagmites rising from the ground
and
hanging soda straws and draperies.
After almost an hour of enjoying the shapes and textures she entered a
very large room. She gazed with wonder
at the stunning display of shelfstone that surrounded a small pool off
to her
right. At the far end, large
showerheads, a very unusual formation she had only seen in holovids
until now,
hung from the ceiling. As she
approached, she scanned the interior with the tricorder, noting that
the cavern
also boasted several unusual compositions of rock. She set
down her pack on a dry area and took out a small hammer
and pick to chip away some samples to analyze back on
Voyager. As she worked, happily combining a youthful
hobby with her natural scientific curiostiy, she detected the sound of
fluttering. She turned in the direction
of the noise, just in time to see a flock of this planet’s
version of cave bats
coming at her from an opening in the ceiling.
Janeway quickly dimmed her wrist beacon and watched the reddish colored
bats fly out of the room.
Returning the wrist beacon back to full strength, she walked
to the dark corner from where she thought the bats had flown.
She stepped up onto a large, irregular ledge
at the base of the wall. Aiming her
light at a deep hole spiraling up into darkness, she was unable to see
much
beyond the reach of the light. Possibly
there was another room or deep crevice above this cavern.
Suddenly a few bats seemingly left behind by
the larger group, flew directly at her, disturbed by the light
intruding into
their private space. The captain backed
away quickly, instinctively putting her hands up to protect her face as
the
light shone wildly over the walls and ceiling of the cave.
Struggling to retain her balance, she
stumbled backwards, lost her footing, and landed just beyond the
ledge. The ground gave way, and she fell through a
thin layer of porous rock that was covering the top of a deep shaft
connecting
the main cavern to a smaller room below.
She plunged down the shaft, bumping and scraping the rough walls for
what seemed like a very long distance.
She hit the ground hard, her head making painful contact with the
floor,
a sharp pain in her leg. She groaned,
crying out for Seven as her hand tried to activate her commbadge before
she
blacked out. Seven of Nine, Voyager’s
Astrometrics officer and a former
Borg drone looked up from her work with the dilithium crystals
precisely two
and a half hours after her last conversation with the
captain. When the hail on the communicator did not
come at the time they had agreed upon, Seven did not immediately become
concerned, more than familiar with the captain’s ability to
become engrossed in
whatever she happened to be doing at the time.
After all, humans were notoriously unreliable in matters of
punctuality,
particularly the good captain when she was engaging in off-duty
activities. In her defense, as captain
of a starship stranded so far from home, she had many claims on her
time, and
Seven was aware that since she had joined the crew in the fourth year
of their
journey home, much of Captain Janeway’s off-duty time was
spent in her
company. Seven simply wished they could
spend even more time together, which was why she had been gratified at
the
older woman’s invitation to join her on this
‘working vacation.’
When Captain Janeway’s hail was almost thirty minutes late
Seven was concerned, having tried repeatedly to contact the captain,
with no
response. Of course, the inability to
make contact could have a perfectly logical explanation, such as
interference
from the rocks. But knowing the captain
had a positive genius for getting into trouble, she secured the area
where she
had been mining the ore and refining the crystals and set off at a
brisk pace
to the coordinates of the cavern, picnic basked and tricorder in
hand.
As Seven approached the cave, she passed by the hot spring
pool and spared a thought that during their three-day stay on this
planet, the
captain would no doubt wish to indulge her passion for hot
baths. The thought was most appealing. She tapped
her commbadge and attempted to
hail the captain as she arrived at the cave entrance. When
there was no response, she adjusted her tricorder,
triangulating the signal of the captain’s communicator and
headed into the
cavern.
~~~~~
The object of Seven of Nine’s search was slowly coming to in
complete darkness. The captain felt a
stab of agonizing pain shoot through her leg.
Trying to get up was a big mistake, and she groaned as she tried to
shift into a more comfortable position.
She found out that there was no more comfortable position.
She felt for her wrist beacon, and found it
smashed. The pain in her leg was joined
by the pain in her head and her chest, as she coughed and passed out
once
again.
Seven was able to follow the captain’s trail with relative
ease; her biggest concern was the gradually increasing darkness, which
slowed
her down. Her Borg-enhanced vision
could do many things, but operating in total darkness was not one of
them. Even in a Borg cube, there was always
residual greenish glow from the equipment, enough for the ocular
implant to
function properly. Much like a human
eye, the Borg ocular implant refracted light from outside sources to
visualize
images, only it was capable of many more sophisticated operations than
a normal
eye. The small amount of light from the
tricorder’s screen gave off a tiny bit of illumination, but
in total darkness,
Seven would only be able to ‘see’ with her Borg eye
for a small distance.
She arrived at the large room where the captain had encountered
the bats. The opening in the floor and
the lonely backpack some distance away told its own story.
Seven set the unused basked of food down and
took the climbing gear out of the backpack, thankful for her insistence
on what
she considered adequate preparation, and looked for a good place to
secure the
rope. She found a likely spot on the
wall just beyond the hole in the floor, and hammered in a duranium bolt
and
attached to it an anchor, also made of duranium. She then
tied a strong knot at the end of a rope and attached it
to the anchor. She took her tricorder
and adjusted the settings to help her navigate her way down the shaft
and
strapped it across her chest. Then,
strapping on the backpack, she let the rope fall through the hole and
began to
descend.
The way down was somewhat treacherous. Seven bumped and
scratched herself against
the walls, discovering that they were dotted with sharp, spiky calcite
formations. The bottom of the shaft was
about three meters below the main cavern above, and after taking off
the
backpack, she used her tricorder in order to pinpoint the
captain’s location
one meter to the left of her present position.
She reached into the backpack and took out the emergency medkit, then
knelt down next to the captain and checked for her wrist lamp, which
she
discovered was smashed beyond repair.
This made the extra power cell in the backpack redundant, of course,
and
Seven realized she needed some additional source of light if she was
going to
be able to treat the captain’s injuries.
She thought quickly, and after some swift commands to her cortical
node,
a small beam of light began to come through her ocular implant, enough
that
with the help of the enhanced vision in the left eye she was able to
see well
enough in the pitch black of the cavern.
What Seven didn’t realize in her anxiety about the captain
was that the
energy from her implants, drawn as it was through the Borg circuitry of
her
implants, was transformed into a greenish glow that resembled her
alcove. The light enveloped her head and shoulders
in a halo of shimmering soft, green that was reflected by the tiny
crystalline
dust particles that had covered her as she descended through the shaft.
She reached into the med kit and found the small scanner
which verified a compound fracture to the right leg, a concussion,
three
cracked ribs, multiple contusions and abrasions. The captain
was running a high temperature and was suffering from
shock and prolonged exposure to the cold and damp of the cavern.
As Seven began to check Janeway’s head injury, the captain
stirred and began to wake up, moaning in pain.
Her eyes fluttered open and she caught her breath, whispering in a
raspy
but awed tone of voice, “I called for you and you
came…you look like an
angel…my beautiful Borg guardian angel.”
She coughed and closed her eyes as she lapsed back into
unconsciousness.
Seven was momentarily stunned, not knowing what to make of
this peculiar statement from the captain, but decided the cryptic words
would
have to wait. She worked quickly,
grabbing a hypospray and injecting a broad spectrum of antibiotics to
deal with
infection. The bone knitter came next
to repair the leg and the ribs. Now
Seven would be able to move the captain to a more comfortable position
and
evaluate the seriousness of the concussion.
She took the thermal blanket in the pack and spread it on the cave
floor
against a dry part of the wall. She
gently placed the captain on it, and elevated her legs with the
remaining
contents of the backpack, covering her with the rest of the
blanket. She had gotten a glimpse of the angry
scratches on the captain’s face and hands, the torn clothing
only partly
covering the many abrasions on her chest, back and legs. She
scanned the captain again, noted the
fever had hardly diminished and that she remained
unconscious. She patted the captain’s cheeks
gently,
“Captain…Captain Janeway, wake up.”
The captain remained quiet, and Seven took a sterile pad
from the medkit to wash off some of the dirt and blood from her
face. The captain finally regained consciousness, opening the
blue-gray eyes with effort.
A vision in glowing green looked back at her, and she
smiled. “Annika, you’re here.
You look so beautiful in that light, even
more than on Voyager when I would watch you in your
alcove.” Tears suddenly began to fall and she
clutched Seven’s arm with unexpected, desperate strength.
“Darling, I missed you so.
I’ve been looking everywhere for you, calling for you, and
you didn’t
answer. But you didn’t leave me, you’re
here, and everything is going to be all right.” She
relaxed her grip momentarily, then clutched at Seven again,
“Promise me you won’t leave me again, I
couldn’t bear it…to be alone again,
without you, not able to be close to you, or touch you, or love
you. Annika, swear it! Swear that you
won’t leave me!
That you still love me and won’t ever let me
go!” The captain’s expression was filled
with
terror and pain, and she closed her eyes and collapsed back on the
blanket.
A confused Seven of Nine attempted to answer, “Captain, you
have been seriously injured in a fall, and…”
“Darling, why are you calling me that? Where are
Mother and Phoebe, and why is this
place so dark? My head hurts…why does my head hurt
so much?”
“Captain…Kathryn,” she amended, and was
rewarded with a wan
smile, “do you know who I am? And what
happened to you?” She took a water
bottle and held it up to the captain’s lips.
After Janeway managed to sip some of the water, Seven took another
sterile pad and pulled away the blanket and moved aside the torn
sections of
the captain’s uniform, cleaning the cuts on the
captain’s chest and arms. The dermal regenerator
repaired the worst of
the cuts and scrapes. Seven noticed her
breathing becoming shallow as she carefully covered the
captain’s exposed chest
after finishing with the dermal regenerator.
“Sweetheart, of course I remember what happened.
I’m Kathryn and you’re Annika, and we’re
home…” her voice trailed away as she looked around
at the darkness beyond the
green glow from Seven’s ocular implant and looked
terrified. “No, Seven, no! How did she
find you? How
could she find you here, of all places?
She’s taken you from me again!”
Seven found Janeway’s implied possessiveness intensely
satisfying. She did not bother to
examine why this might be so. “Who,
Kathryn? Who has taken me from you?”
“The Queen, of course…she’s never
forgotten that I stole you
from her, from the Borg, and she’s come
back.”
She moaned, turning her head away from the greenish light.
“This is what I’ve dreaded since I brought
you back that other time, but I couldn’t let her keep you,
you belonged with
me, not with her on some cube, you belong with me!”
Janeway started to cry, and said fiercely, “Don’t
let her win, Seven,
I need you, I need so much! I need you
to feel…alive. Oh, God, it’s all so
useless, so EMPTY without you. You have
to fight her, you have to come back to me!
I love you so much, I should have told you after she took you the first
time, but I was so afraid…so afraid you would say some awful
Borg phrase like
‘Love is irrelevant,’ and that you didn’t
love me, that you might never be able
to love me…”
The captain’s ramblings flooded Seven with equal parts
warmth and worry. “Shh, Kathryn, she is
not here. We are both safe from the
Queen and she can never harm either of us again. We are in a
cave where it is cold and damp, not hot and humid as
it would be in a Borg cube.”
“We’re in a cave?”
The captain’s gaze cleared momentarily.
“Of course, there are hundreds of caves in Indiana, I loved
going
caving. But this isn’t the Sullivan
Cave at home or the caves on Mars.”
“No, we are still in the Delta Quadrant.”
“Annika, how is that possible? How can we still be
in the Delta Quadrant? I remember taking you home, to
Bloomington,
showing you the farm and introducing you to my mother and
sister.” The captain focused on Seven’s
ocular
implant. “Where is that green light
coming from? My head hurts…everything
hurts.” Janeway closed her eyes again
in pain.
“Kathryn, the wrist lamp you carried was damaged when you
fell. It was too dark for me to see
well enough, but I was able to access part of the energy powering my
implants
and convert it into the light coming from my ocular
implant.” Janeway’s attention wandered
and Seven
coaxed her into sipping more water.
Please drink some more water, Kathryn.
You have been hurt very badly, and you are suffering from a concussion,
which may be causing you to be confused.
But I will not let any harm come to you.”
Seven’s voice faltered, and she tenderly wiped the tears from
the
captain’s eyes with a fresh pad.
“Kathryn?” Seven
called out softly. She patted her
cheeks, and the pats became gentle caresses, as her thumb found the
curve of
the captain’s jaw. Seven was concerned
about the captain’s lapses in and out of consciousness as
well as the erratic
phrases and sudden shifts of topic.
Concussions could certainly include temporary memory loss and
confusion,
but not fantasies or hallucinations as far as Seven could recall.
“Kathryn, you must attempt to stay awake!” she
said. It was becoming imperative that she find a
way out of the cave and back to the Delta Flyer as soon as she could.
Seven took advantage of the captain’s lack of awareness and
moved the blanket aside, cleaning and repairing many of the cuts and
scratches
on her legs. Janeway began to shiver,
and Seven rubbed the blanket briskly trying to stimulate her
circulation and
dry off some of the wetness that had penetrated Janeway’s
skin through the torn
uniform.
She covered the captain once more with the blanket and began
scanning the cave with the tricorder.
Seven was hoping to find a way out of the room they were in, but the
results of the scans were not encouraging.
This room had no natural access to the main cavern above and there did
not seem to be an easy way out, not without blasting through the wall
of the
cave. This could possibly destabilize
the cavern’s structure, and Seven had no intention of risking
the captain and
herself by causing a cave-in.
The captain moved restlessly and began to mumble more
audibly. “No, oh God, no! I
don’t know if I’ll be able to stand up to
them.” She paused, then continued,
“They’ll
be coming for you soon, Kate. You’ll
have to show them and yourself what you’re really made
of. But I’m afraid…I don’t
know if I’ll be able
to take it.” She put her hands over her
ears, “No, please, no more, I can’t think what
they’re doing to him, what
they’ll do to me.”
Seven goes back to the captain immediately and strokes her
cheek, trying to wake her from whatever nightmare she is
experiencing. “Kathryn, wake up. You are
safe; I will do anything to keep you safe.”
The captain opens her eyes.
“No one can save me now, it’s the Cardassians
they’re coming for me, and
I’m afraid…”
Seven realizes that the captain is reliving her capture at
the hands of the Cardassians, along with Admiral Owen Paris.
“No, Kathryn, there are no Cardassians here,
no one can hurt you, I will make certain of it.”
“You don’t understand…I can hear the
screams as they torture
him, and I’m next. They’re coming for
me next, and I’m afraid I won’t be tough enough,
I’m afraid I’ll disappoint my
father. Daddy, I’m so sorry, I tried so
hard to make you proud of me, to be like you…”
“Kathryn, please wake up.
We need to make our way out of this cave, and get you back to
Voyager.”
Janeway suddenly changes the subject, as if the mention of
her ship has moved her forward in time.
“I can’t face the crew, they’re better
off without me. This endless void, there seems to be no way
out, and it’s my fault, my decision that stranded us out
here. So many deaths because of me. I should have
died along with the others…”
she continues to ramble.
Seven becomes infuriated when she hears this, and lashes out
in unreasonable anger. “How can you say
this, Captain? If you had died, Voyager
would never have made it this far. If
you had died, I would never have been severed from the
Collective. I would have continued my existence as a
drone, destroying others, assimilating
them…”
As Seven speaks she begins to relive many of her experiences as a
drone,
and she doubles over in anguish next to the captain.
“Noooooo,” she cries out, and collapses, sobbing.
After a few minutes the memories began to fade and Seven
raised her tear-stained face, having regained some of her customary
control. She was appalled at her
outburst when her focus should be on caring for the captain, who was in
the
middle of yet another hallucination about her years at Starfleet
Academy.
Seven recovered her customary control and analyzed the
situation, certain that something had caused her atypical emotional
reaction. She made some adjustments to
the tricorder and began taking additional readings. The
results now clearly indicated that there was some kind of gas
leaking into the air of the cavern that her initial scans had
missed. The normal settings of the tricorder are set
to measure atmospheric particles up to .001% the atomic weight of
oxygen. Her adjustments were able to extend the
parameters of the tricorder to .0001%, and Seven was able to confirm
the
presence of the gas. She took further
readings and stored a sample for analysis on Voyager. Her
observation of her own reaction was that the gas behaved like
a strong narcotic in human beings, creating a strong, hallucinogenic
reaction
of some kind. No doubt her little
improvisation with her ocular implant was draining her energy reserves
and
diminishing the ability of her nanoprobes to counteract the effects of
the gas. She began to make preparations to leave, as
the episodes were really most unpleasant, and she had no wish relive
any more
of her past as a drone quite so vivdly.
First she had to construct some kind of harness to pull the
captain up through the shaft since her tenuous mental state as well as
the
recently knitted bones and ribs would not be up to the task of
climbing. The blanket would provide a small measure of
protection from the rough surface as she was pulled up the
shaft. She took the extra rope from the backpack
and began constructing a web of knots and rope, much like a fishing
net, to
surround the captain. The top of the
net extended up to the captain’s shoulders, and Seven used
two loose ends to
create a sling, tying them into a tight double-eight knot.
She took her tricorder and strapped it across her chest, and
took the hand phaser from the backpack, planning to use it to smooth
out the
rough walls of the passage as much as possible. The medkit
and the captian’s own tricorder, along with everything
else went into the backpack. She laid
the rope net at the base of the shaft, and then moved toward the
captain,
gently moving her and placing her on the net with her back resting
against the
rock. Using her hand implant, she cut
off a length of rope and used it to tie together the sides of the net
snugly
around the captain, creating a harness that would make it possible for
her to
pull the captain up almost as if she were lying in a crude
hammock. She took a locking carabiner from the pack
and secured it to the end of the rope she used to descend, glad of the
generous
length, and slipped the sling with the double-eight knot through the
spring.
The captain had been quiet and sleepy during most of these
preparations, and Seven tried to wake her, afraid that she might
struggle if
she woke suddenly and found herself trussed and pulled up through a
dark, damp
passageway. “Captain, wake up.”
She felt the captain’s forehead, still hot
from the fever. She would have to take
a chance, so she stood up and began her climb, wanting to get the
captain back to
sickbay as soon as she could manage it.
As soon as she was underway, the captain began to murmur, moving her
head restlessly.
Seven made the climb as quickly as she could, using her Borg
arm to anchor herself with the rope as she paused several times to use
the
phaser at a low setting, smoothing out the irregular surface of the
shaft. She reached the top, pulled herself over the
edge and prepared to pull up the captain.
After untying the rope from the anchor on the wall, she
gripped it and pulled until the slack was gone and she felt the
resistance of
the captain’s body weight at the other end.
Balancing her own weight against the rope carefully, she slowly began
to
pull up on the rope hand over hand, making the motion as steady and
smooth as
possible.
When Seven calculated the captain was approaching the
half-way mark, she felt a sudden jerk at the other end of the
rope. The captain had regained consciousness and
was struggling inside the webbing that was surrounding her.
Seven stopped pulling instantly and dug her
feet into the ground for extra leverage.
She bent her knees slightly and balanced herself against the
captain’s
struggles, trying to keep the rope from moving too much. She
could hear the panic in the captain’s
voice, seemingly in the throes of yet another episode.
“Where am I? Who are
you, and why am I being held against my will?
Let me go!” The captain seemed
convinced that she was being held prisoner.
“Kathryn, this is Seven of Nine, please remain
still! You had a caving accident and have been
injured. I am Seven of Nine, and I am
pulling you up to the surface, then we will return to
Voyager. You are safe, and I will take care of
you.”
Something, perhaps the total confidence in Seven’s tone of
voice must have penetrated, because she stopped struggling and relaxed,
allowing Seven to pull her up. Her
teeth chattered in reaction to the cold in the passage.
“Seven, is that really you? Where are we?
Hurry up; I hate feeling like a trussed chicken in this
thing. And it’s very cold in here.”
Seven was please to hear the captain’s natural feistiness
coming through as she continued to pull on the rope.
“Kathryn, I am pulling as fast as I can. You are
almost at the top.”
In a matter of seconds, she was able to see the top of the
captain’s head. She made her way to the
edge until she could pull the captain into a sitting
position. She bent and picked up the captain, moving
away from the shaft. She set the
captain down and directed her Borg hand to become a sharp blade,
cutting
through the ropes. Then her hand
returned to its normal appearance.
“That implant is certainly useful in a pinch,” the
captain
said dryly. “But let’s get out of
here. I’m so c-cold. And my head hurts,
along with everything
e-else.” The captain tried to stand up
and stumbled, grabbing Seven’s arm.
Seven put her arms around the captain to keep her from falling, thus
bringing their bodies into close contact.
“Captain, you suffered multiple fractures in your leg, and
broke some ribs. You should not try to
stand so soon after the bones were repaired.”
Seven found the physical closeness to the captain disconcerting, noting
absently the increase in heartbeat and respiration on
contact. The faint light from her implant cast a
greenish tint on the captain’s face as she shivered against
Seven.
Seven helped the captain sit on a rock and said, “Let me
gather the equipment and the basked of food, and then I will carry you
out. Are you hungry at all,
Captain?” The captain grimaced in
response, feeling a bit queasy by now, and shook her head no.
Seven tucked the now worn blanket around the
captain and gathered the ropes and climbing gear after strapping the
basket to
the backpack, being careful not to leave anything that could pollute
the cave.
“Will we be able to find the way out?” Janeway
asked,
pulling the blanket tightly about her.
“You forget I have an eidetic memory, and can retrace my
steps exactly.” Seven knelt and picked
the captain up in her arms. “Just rest
and trust that I will get you back to the ship.”
The captain settled her head against Seven’s neck, seeking
the
warmth of the other woman’s body.
“I do trust you, Seven.
Right now there’s no place I’d rather be than right
here in your arms,”
she said quietly as she relaxed completely and placed herself in
Seven’s tender
care.
Seven could not be sure if the captain was fully in the
present or still suffering the effects of the gas in the cavern below,
but her
words gave her great pleasure nonetheless.
“Try not to fall asleep, Captain, it is advisable to stay
awake with a
head injury. Tell me what you
remember,” Seven prompted as she began the return journey out
of the cavern.
“I can’t remember much at all, but
I do seem to remember falling. Not much
after that, though,” Janeway managed to say, closing her eyes
in
concentration. “Everything is a bit
confused…nice dreams of you and Mother and Phoebe mixed up
with memories of the
Queen, the Academy and the Cardassians…or at least I think
they’re memories,
because I can’t seem to tell the difference between things
I’ve imagined and
things that actually happened. Nothing
really makes much sense, except that being with you like this
feels…right,
somehow.” Janeway burrowed her head
deeper into Seven’s neck, and her hand stroked the skin
surrounding the
star-shaped implant on Seven’s right cheek.
“So soft…”
Somewhere in the back of Janeway’s
mind a thought was fighting to emerge, telling her that touching Seven
this way
was not something she should indulge in, but the mental haze caused by
the gas
in her system and the pain from her injuries overcame that faint
warning with
ease, and she succumbed to the temptation of creamy skin, blonde hair,
and eyes
that she knew as surely as she knew her own name were a blue as
beautiful as a
clear summer sky.
The captain opened her eyes and
turned Seven’s head, trying to use the faint light from the
implant to look
into her eyes. She could feel the
warmth of her breath as Seven looked back at her, pupils large in the
dim
light. Suddenly every reason she may
have ever given herself for not acting on her very deep feelings for
this woman
dissolved in the darkness of the cave, with only a soft greenish
reminder of
the Borg to light the way.
Unable to stop herself, she angled
her head slightly and brushed her lips against Seven in a fleeting
shadow of a
kiss.
~~~~~
Seven stopped dead in her tracks
at the first touch of the captain’s lips, unable to manage so
simple an act as
walking when her cortical processor was bombarded with the sensations
caused by
that kiss.
Despite her recently expressed
doubts about the accuracy of her memory, Janeway was positive she had
never
kissed a woman before, since she could imagine no head injury severe
enough to
make her forget the magnitude of the experience. Surely no
amount of fantasizing could have prepared her for that
first touch of another woman’s mouth.
Her first coherent thought was how soft it felt, so much softer than a
man’s. Her second thought was that it
was Seven’s lips she had pressed, however tentatively, and
that nothing in her
life so far had ever felt better. Her
third thought, practically at the same time as the first and second was
why the
hell had she waited so long. So she
went back for more, deepening the kiss and coaxing Seven’s
mouth open as her
tongue made its way inside, seeking its mate.
Seven followed the captain’s lead
with abandon and her customary quickness in mastering most activities,
soon
adding embellishments of her own. She
eased the captain into a standing position, enjoying the pressure of
the
captain’s body as it slid against her own.
She made sure to hold the captain in such a way that she was not
resting
her full weight on the injured leg.
Her hands traveled up and down the
captain’s back as the kisses became more heated, her fully
human hand finding
its way inside the blanket to mold the captain’s buttocks,
pressing the two
bodies even closer together. Seven’s
mouth left the captain’s to travel across the stubborn jaw,
the same jaw that
had jutted out in challenge during their many furious clashes in the
past.
As the blanket fell to the cavern
floor, the captain became aware of the cool air chilling the skin
exposed by
Seven’s curious hands. She shivered and
reluctantly pulled away from Seven’s mouth and hands,
currently making a
thorough exploration of the captain’s breasts.
“Seven, as much as I’d like to
continue, this is neither the time nor the place.
I’m freezing, and we should really get out of
here.” The captain brought her hands up past
Seven’s
generous chest, unable to resist making her own discoveries, stopping
only when
her arms were circling Seven’s neck.
Seven closed her eyes, trying to
slow down her breathing, unwilling to stop this intoxicating activity,
but
conceding the wisdom of postponement. She
could feel the captain trembling from the cold and the presence of
goose-bumps
on her skin. She nodded. “You are
correct, Captain, we should
continue this later. We are
approximately .18 kilometers from the cavern
entrance.” She bent and picked up the blanket,
wrapping
it around the captain, who was shivering from the cold.
“I’m not sure I can walk very
well, or find my way in this light,” she began.
Seven simply swept her up in her
arms again, setting off at a brisk pace.
“This is much more efficient,” she
stated. “This close to the entrance, we will
gradually have more and more
light, greatly facilitating the way.”
Janeway nodded, for once in her
life simply leaning back and letting someone else take control of her
and the
situation. That the ‘someone else’ was
Seven seemed fitting.
In a matter of minutes the
darkness was relieved by their nearness to the cave’s
entrance. Seven was able to stop generating the
greenish light from her ocular implant, and soon they passed through
the
entrance to the cave.
The sun had just begun to set, but
it was still bright enough that Janeway had to turn her eyes away until
they
became accustomed to the light outside, and Seven’s neck
provided convenient
shade. A cool wind blew past the two
figures and caused the captain to shiver in the damp blanket.
“S-seven, h-hurry…I’m s-s-so
c-cold.”
Seven looked down at the small
woman in her arms. “This blanket is
damp. We must find a way to raise your
body temperature quickly.”
The captain could not resist responding
under her breath, “I c-can think of several ways th-that
c-could work,” as
Seven headed for the cluster of trees some fifty meters from the
entrance to
the cave, remembering the heated spring nearby.
“Captain, I believe I have a
solution to our problem.”
“S-seven, I believe I must have a
philosophical d-discussion with you about loaded statements.
Sooner rather th-than later.”
“Captain?”
“N-never mind. Put
me down over there, so I c-can take off my boots.”
She pointed to a spot near the shallow end of the pool.
“I can’t wait to get in th-the water.”
Seven obliged, and watched avidly as the captain peeled off
what was left of her tattered uniform, retaining some modesty by
keeping on her
underclothes. Conscious of Seven’s
scrutiny, the captain allowed her glance to drift up to meet
Seven’s eyes, and
the air between them crackled with sudden awareness.
Seven took off the backpack and helped the captain up as she
limped to the edge of the pool, favoring her recently mended
leg. She gingerly stepped into the pool, sighing
in pleasure as the water’s warmth eased the
soreness. “Oh, this is heavenly!” she
exclaimed, her eyes sparkling with
something other than fever for the first time since she woke from her
fall.
Seven smiled at the captain’s unabashed appreciation of the
spring she waded into the center of the pool, the buoyancy of the water
easing
the burden on her leg.
“This is fantastic, Seven!” the captain
enthused. “You should join me!”
“Perhaps I will,” Seven
responded. “But first I will endeavor
to wash out the blanket and your uniform.”
She proceeded to do just that, wringing out the excess water from the
various items.
The captain laughed, “I’ll
probably freeze again when I put them back on, but it will be worth it
just to
be able to enjoy this.”
“Perhaps not,” Seven answered,
tearing her eyes away from the vision of an almost naked Kathryn
Janeway
laughing and splashing, covered only by underwear made semi-transparent
by the
water. She took the blanket, uniform
and the phaser and headed to the other end of the pool, where a group
of rocks
formed a low wall near several trees, providing a small barrier against
the
breeze. She converted her hand implant
into a machete-like implement, and efficiently stripped several
branches near
the rock wall into smooth poles, then hung up the uniform and the
blanket. She stood back and checked the phaser and
changed the intensity to the lowest setting.
She pointed the phaser, aiming it at the rocks and fired steadily until
the rocks seemed to glow from within.
Satisfied, she lowered the phaser, and looked back at the captain, who
had watched the entire proceeding with approval. “I
believe that should take care of the problem,” she said with
faint smugness.
The captain inclined her head in
agreement, clapping several times for emphasis.
”Brava, Seven! Borg
efficiency and human resourcefulness – a most impressive
combination. I’ll have to give you a special
commendation, especially for allowing your captain to enjoy a warm bath
without
freezing to death afterwards.”
She swam over to the deeper,
shaded end of the pool until she was covered completely by the bubbling
water. She lifted her hand, brandishing
her underwear and wringing them out. “I
think I’d like to try your system on these as
well,” she said as she laid them
out at the edge of the pool. She could
feel the heat from the rocks, and swam back to the middle of the pool,
but not
before offering Seven a tantalizing glimpse of her unclothed form under
the
churning water.
Seven stood stock still as the
sight severely compromised her ability to breathe. She looked
away, and gave the rocks another dose of phaser fire
while she gathered her jumbled thoughts.
Her growing desire to continue where she and the captain had left off
in
the cave was becoming a serious distraction.
She only hoped the captain felt the same way.
Seven sat a short distance away,
close enough to the rocks to keep monitoring their temperature while
the
blanket and clothing dried. She took
her communicator and flipped open the back of the commbadge, exposing
the
circuitry inside. Then she did the same
with the tricorder. When both pieces of
equipment were ready, she opened a channel to the main computer on the
Delta
Flyer. She directed one of her assimilation
tubules to connect to the tricorder, the other to the communicator,
then sent
the necessary instructions to the computer.
As her ocular implant began to reflect the rapidly moving data passing
back and forth, her face took on a blank look for a few seconds until
she
terminated the link. She then withdrew
her tubules and returned the panels to the backs of the communicator
and the
tricorder.
Seven checked the clothing hanging
on the trees and turned them, giving the rocks another phaser
blast. She looked back at the captain, who was
treading the warm water and looking back at Seven.
“Are they dry yet?” she asked.
“Not completely. The blanket will require more
time.”
“Then what are you waiting
for? There’s an old Earth saying: Come on
in, the water’s fine!” the captain
responded.
Seven walked around the pool to
the shallow side, “Captain, I believe you are attempting to
seduce me.”
The captain swam forward until the
water just barely covered her breasts, offering Seven an enticing view
of
cleavage. The grin on her face was
crooked and slightly predatory and her voice dropped to a gravelly
timbre. “You bet I am. Any
objections? And would
you please, please call me Kathryn?”
Seven’s thoughts were moving at
breakneck speed, analyzing this much sought-after turn of
events. Her overwhelming desire for the captain
warred with her knowledge that the captain’s atypical
behavior was probably
still affected by the gas in the cave, and she wanted whatever happened
between
them to be a fully conscious choice.
She wanted nothing more than to accept the captain’s
invitation and join
her in the bubbling pool of water, but logic dictated that she exercise
restraint, and concern herself with the captain’s
well-being.
“As tempting as that is,
Captain…Kathryn,”
she corrected as the captain frowned mockingly, “the most
prudent course of
action is to return you to Voyager.”
“You would condemn me to the
tender mercies of the Doctor without at least a kiss to see me through
the
experience? That’s positively
heartless, Seven!”
Even under the most mundane of
circumstances the captain was intensely attractive to Seven, but when
Kathryn
Janeway chose to tease and exercise her potent charm, she was
positively
irresistible. “Perhaps a kiss or two
can be arranged. But only when you are
dry and once again fully clothed.”
“Coward!” The captain’s throaty
laughter followed
Seven as she went to retrieve the blanket and clothing. She
returned to the shallow end of the pool
with her eyes slightly averted and the blanket extended, affording the
captain
some cover as she stepped out of the pool and leaned on
Seven’s arm for
support. The captain wrapped herself in
the blanket, and hobbled over to the rock, sitting down. She
dried herself off, and Seven handed her
the now dry undergarments and took the blanket back to hang once again
over the
branches. As the captain dressed, she
began to shiver again, chilled by the breeze blowing once again through
the
trees.
Seven began rubbing her arms and
legs briskly, trying to stimulate circulation.
When this did not stop the shivering, she carried the captain back to
the rocks still warm from the phaser fire and set her down.
Feeling that her efforts were still
inadequate, she wrapped her arms around the captain and directed her
Borg hand
to change once again, into a rectangular shape with an uneven surface
that
vibrated rapidly back and forth. She
moved the vibrating device all over her as she surrounded the captain
in a
cocoon of friction and warmth.
“S-seven, I d-didn’t know your
implants d-did…th-that!” The friction
from the vibrating implant augmented by Seven’s proximity did
wonders for
stimulating the captain’s circulation, taking away most of
the chill.
“Among other things,” Seven
agreed. “If you are warm enough now, I
believe this would be an excellent time to return to the shuttle
craft.”
“Are you planning to carry me all
the way back?”
Seven stopped the vibration of her
Borg hand and pulled the blanket off the tree branch, covering the
captain with
it. She put the phaser and tricorder in
the backpack then her arms through the straps as she went to stand next
to the
captain. She gave her commbadge a short
tap, “Computer, engage transporter lock, remote setting, Borg
encryption code
theta 3 7 9 pi. Two to beam out.”
Seven managed to convince the captain to stay in one of the
shuttle’s bunks to stay warm. The freshly
replicated pajamas and hot pot of coffee that Seven thoughtfully
provided managed to accomplish what her logical arguments could
not. With the captain settled for the time being, Seven sat
at the pilot’s seat of the Delta Flyer and transported the
dilithium crystals and the lab equipment she had left on the planet to
the shuttle’s cargo hold and did a final check before taking
off. She estimated that at Warp 5, the Delta Flyer would be
within transporter range of Voyager in approximately 3.5
hours.
~~~~~~
“Seven of Nine to Voyager, acknowledge.”
“Delta Flyer this is Voyager,” Harry Kim responded
to the shuttle’s hail.
“Mr. Kim, the captain has been injured. Please lock
on and transport her directly to
sickbay as soon as the Delta Flyer is within range. Also,
please notify the doctor that I am downloading all of the pertinent
scans and information relating to her injuries directly into
sickbay’s computer as soon as the captain has been
transported. Seven of Nine out.”
“Seven, wait!” Harry
Kim frantically tried to keep the channel open before completely losing
the
signal. “What happened to the
captain? How seriously is she
injured? Does the Doctor need to make
any special preparations for emergency treatment?”
Seven sighed, “Mr. Kim, I believe I did not indicate the
necessity for any panic on the part of anyone on Voyager. If
I considered any additional emergency
treatment other than what I have already administered necessary, I
would have
indicated it in my initial message. The
captain’s injuries are not life-threatening, but she does
require the Doctor’s
care. Please do not jump to unwarranted
conclusions, and follow my instructions.
As soon as the Delta Flyer docks, I will report to sickbay and brief
the
Doctor personally. Seven of Nine OUT!”
Back on Voyager, the entire bridge crew winced at the abrupt
click signaling the end of the communication preceded by the emphasis
on
Seven’s last sharp word. The dismay on
Harry Kim’s face was almost painfully obvious, and Chakotay
turned around in
his chair to offer a word of comfort.
“Cheer up Harry. You know she
talks to everyone that way when she’s annoyed or
upset.”
“I thought Borg didn’t get annoyed or upset, I
thought Borg
were above such mundane human emotions,” Harry muttered as he
keyed in the
appropriate commands on his console.
“Doctor, stand by to receive Captain Janeway in
sickbay. Bridge to transporter room, prepare to beam
the Captain from the Delta Flyer directly to sickbay on my
mark…energize.”
Seven walked into sickbay just in time to put a stop to the
heated argument by the biobeds. The
Doctor was insisting the captain needed to stay in sickbay for
observation and
tests, and the captain insisting she didn’t.
“Captain, I must agree with the Doctor, you should stay until
the he can
review the data from this sample.” She
handed the tricorder to the Doctor.
“This contains a sample of the gas the captain was exposed to
for
several hours in the cavern. The gas
caused the captain to experience a number of hallucinations.
From what I could surmise, they seemed to be
primarily, although not entirely, vivid recreations of past
events. Once we returned to the surface, the
hallucinations seemed to recede, but her behavior seemed to undergo a
noticeable change.”
At this point, an indignant Captain Janeway interrupted,
“Could you please not speak about me
as if I weren’t standing right here?”
“Captain, Seven’s report makes it imperative that
you remain
in sickbay for observation. Besides
your head injury, which I should monitor at least overnight, I want to
run some
tests to make sure you are suffering no residual effects from the
gas. And as CMO, may I remind you, I can compel
you to stay until I release you,” the Doctor concluded with a
flourish.
The captain’s eyes narrowed, as a calculating gleam
appeared. “Doctor, what about
Seven? She suffered from hallucinations
too, and her behavior was also slightly off, as I recall.”
The Doctor certainly knew how to pick up a cue. “On
the biobed, please.”
Seven glared at both of them. “Doctor, I am
perfectly all right. My nanoprobes compensated for the
effects of the gas, and my
behavior was not altered significantly, despite the captain’s
best efforts to
convince you otherwise. A full
regeneration cycle should take care of any lingering
symptoms.”
The Doctor imperiously pointed to the biobed, “Sit!
A complete examination will make certain,
and I can combine it with some regular maintenance of your Borg
systems. Then you can regenerate.”
~~~~~
The captain returned to her quarters the next afternoon,
finally receiving a clean bill of health from the Doctor. The
analysis of the gas revealed that in its
active state it attacked the parts of the brain’s frontal
lobe that control
memory and caused vivid hallucinations and dreams, which explained the
confusing fantasy of being with Seven at home on Earth. That
had been so real it had actually felt
like a memory. Her own prolonged
exposure after the fall seemed to heightened the intensity and
frequency of the
images. After several hours, the gas
mutated and affected behavior, removing a person’s normal
inhibitions,
particularly regarding sexual behavior, judging by the elevated
hormonal levels
in the captain’s and Seven’s blood tests.
The captain had a difficult time deflecting the Doctor’s
natural
nosiness regarding this unexpected bit of information, and was still
not
certain that she and Seven had been adequately convincing.
She headed to her replicator and requested a chicken salad
sandwich and hot coffee, glad to be back in familiar
surroundings. She was in desperate need of some time to
process the memories of her time on the planet with Seven.
She was actually very lucky. The ribs and leg had healed
completely, along with any remaining
cuts and scratches. The concussion was
mild, made to appear much worse by the bouts of unconsciousness, her
reaction
to the gas. At least she knew that the
gas was now inert, and her body’s systems would eliminate any
lingering
traces. But how successful would she be
at eliminating the memories of how it felt to hold Seven and be held by
her, to
kiss her. She had managed to suppress
her feelings for Seven ever since realizing that she was hopelessly in
love
with her, during the incident with the Borg Queen all those months
ago. Now it seemed that Seven had been hiding her
own feelings. The captain was fairly
certain she would not be able to go on the way she had before, but was
Seven
really ready to step into an adult romantic partnership, particularly
one with
the captain of a starship and all the problems that would
bring?
Janeway finished her lunch and went to draw a bath. Since the
Doctor had ordered her to finish
her shore leave rotation, she would do her best to enjoy it.
Besides, a tub full of bubbles was a
wonderful place to think. To fantasize. And to
anticipate.
~~~~~~
“Regeneration cycle complete,” the voice of the
computer
droned. Seven opened her eyes and
stepped away from the alcove.
“Computer, state the location of Captain Janeway.”
“Captain Janeway is in her quarters,” the computer
responded
obediently.
Seven marched out of Cargo Bay 2, determination in every
step. As she approached deck 3, she was
busy listing all the reasons the captain would have for rejecting the
possibility of a relationship between them.
The captain’s stubbornness and insistence on protocol were
formidable
obstacles, and Seven knew that she would need all of her considerable
determination to overcome them.
Janeway’s behavior on the planet had given Seven the
assurance that her
feelings were not one-sided, but would she accept that a relationship
between
them was possible? She approached the
captain’s door, and rang the chime for admittance.
The captain was enjoying her bath when she heard the door
chime. “Computer, who is at the door?”
“Seven of Nine is currently outside the captain’s
quarters,”
the computer informed.
Well, it seemed that the captain’s time for reflections in
the bathtub was over. She reached over
to the sink console next to the tub and tapped her commbadge.
“Janeway to Seven of Nine.”
“Yes, Captain,” Seven responded.
“Seven, come in and wait for me in the living area.
I’ll be finished with my bath in a few
minutes.”
Images of the captain naked in the tub assaulted Seven as
she entered, and the predictable physical signs of arousal made
themselves
known. Seven had become all too
familiar with them over the past 36 hours, as well as experiencing
several
erotic dreams during her regeneration cycle, more than twice her usual
number. Her libido seemed to be on
permanent red alert since she returned from the
planet.
She stood by the couch waiting for the captain, her enhanced
hearing easily picking up the sounds of Janeway preparing to join her.
The captain quickly got out of the tub and donned a pair of
comfortable pants and a sweatshirt, toweling her hair as she left her
bedroom. She saw Seven waiting for her
by the couch and stopped, tossing the wet towel on the nearest chair
before
brushing out the tangles in her hair.
“Captain, I trust you are completely recovered from your
injuries,” she began.
“Are we back to Captain, Seven? After all
that’s happened, maybe we should stick to Kathryn when
we are alone.”
“Thank you, Kathryn, I would like that very much,”
Seven
replied, the name flowing easily in her even tone.
“I wished to speak with you about what happened between us on
the
planet and to clarify…”
The captain held up her hand as she approached, interrupting
smoothly. “I also wanted thank you for
getting me out of the cave, and to apologize if anything I may have
said or
done while under the influence of that gas made you
uncomfortable. Seven,”
“Kathryn, please, let me speak. Nothing you said or
did made me uncomfortable, at least not in
the way you mean. I have wished to hear
you say these things and many others, for some time. Ever
since I ascertained what my feelings for you were.”
The captain sat down on the couch as Seven spoke, listening
attentively. “And what are your
feelings for me?” she asked quietly looking at Seven.
Seven came close to the captain and knelt in front of her,
aware that she had to be very, very convincing.
“Kathryn, what do you think they are? You are the
person who defied the Borg, not once, but twice for
me. You defied your crew and made me
one of them. You defied me, and as you
know, that is no easy thing.” The
captain smiled ruefully as Seven continued.
“You are the person who has been my guide, my example, my
mentor, and, I hope, my friend.”
“But Seven, that’s exactly
why…”
Seven raised her human hand and touched Kathryn’s lips,
“For
once, you must let me speak.” She
rubbed the captain’s bottom lip gently, and continued
speaking. “You are all the things I said, but you
are
much, much more. To me, you are the
most important person in the universe.
You are my last thought before regenerating and my first thought when
the cycle ends. You are everything I
want and all I need. Kathryn, I love
you.”
The captain was a little short of breath at this eloquent
speech from the normally brief and succinct former Borg.
“Seven, do you have any idea how complicated
this is? The crew, the ship,
Starfleet…”
“The only thing that matters is how you feel about
me.”
“Seven, ever since I realized how I
felt…”
“Kathryn, you have not told me how you feel, not free from
the influence of the gas. I need to
hear you say it!”
The captain took a deep breath, then looked Seven squarely in
the eye, holding her hands in a firm grip, “I love you
too.” She stood, pulled Seven up and put her arms
around her and whispered, “I have never loved anyone as much
as I love you,
right this second.”
“Then why did you wait so long to tell me?”
“It’s complicated, Seven.
I wasn’t sure you were ready for this, or that you would feel
the same
way. There was Starfleet protocol
looming over me, frowning in disapproval.
The ship and crew will always come first. But most of all, as
I think I may have mentioned on the planet, I
was afraid if I admitted my feelings you would say something in
Borg-speak,
like ‘Love is irrelevant.’ I was afraid
of making myself vulnerable then having to face life without
you. Why didn’t you say something before
now?”
“I also need you for my continued existence. Your
love is not irrelevant to me, it the
most relevant thing in the universe.
But I feared that you could not love me. Or that as the
Captain, you would not let yourself love me.”
Seven found the captain’s mouth and kissed her
senseless. The kiss lasted a very long
time. “Kathryn, I anticipated that you
would have many objections to pursuing a relationship with
me. I came prepared to counter every one of
them. Yet you have proved to be
unexpectedly docile.”
“Well, you know what they say.
‘Resistance is futile,’” the captain
murmured, as she kissed her
way behind Seven’s ear and down the length of
Seven’s neck.
In a voice as dry as desert sand Seven responded, “I have
observed repeatedly that although this threat is quite effective
throughout the
known quadrants, there is one notable exception, that of course being
Captain
Kathryn Janeway of the starship Voyager.”
The captain threw back her head and laughed, the sound
sending tingles of sensation all the way down to Seven’s
toes, and other
southern ports of call. “I certainly
hope that’s a compliment!”
Seven ran her hands possessively through the captain’s hair,
then let her human hand wander under the sweatshirt up her bare back as
her
Borg hand moved behind her knees. She
picked Kathryn up in her arms and moved toward the bedroom.
“Compliments should be earned. Since it is clearly
in your nature to
consistently overcome impossible odds, I hardly see how your success
against
the Borg merits a compliment. But I do
not wish to talk any more. Perhaps if
we continue what we began on the planet you will be able to earn that
compliment.”
“Darling, I think that’s the nicest thing
you’ve ever said
to me,” the captain purred as she pulled Seven on top of
her. “Now, show me how this biosuit comes
off…”
THE END
…post scriptum
The captain stirred, gradually waking from a contented
slumber. She was surrounded by a naked
Seven of Nine, holding her in a pleasant tangle of arms, legs and
sheets.
“Mmmm, Seven, I haven’t slept so well in
years. Were you able to sleep at all?”
“For some of the time.”
Seven moved aside Kathryn’s hair and began to nibble her
neck. “The rest of the time I watched you
sleep. You look very beautiful when you sleep.”
“Well, I’m not sleeping now.”
The captain turned around in Seven’s grasp, moving one leg
between hers and rubbing it over the implant on her thigh, hands
caressing full
breasts.
“Acceptable,” Seven murmured, as she met the
captain’s lips
in a searing, open mouthed kiss. Seven
let her Borg hand gently mold the captain’s smaller but well
formed breast,
letting the mesh trail across the reddish nipple, which instantly
stiffened in
response.
“You have a positive genius for understatement, you
know. ‘Acceptable’ is not a word I would
use to describe what I plan to do to you.” The
captain pushed Seven on her back, straddling her as her eyes roamed
hungrily over her lover.
“What do you plan to do to me?” Her hands
moved over the captain’s thighs to her slim hips as she
ground her pelvis against Kathryn.
The captain grasped Seven’s hand and pressed herself against
it, sighing in pleasure and arousal, then brought the hand up to her
lips,
licking and kissing the metal tipped fingers.
Seven was profoundly moved by the way the captain
demonstrated her complete acceptance of the parts of her that were
still Borg,
paying the same loving attention to her implants that she lavished on
the rest
of her body.
Kathryn gave Seven’s hand one final kiss, then wrapped both
her hands around it, peering intently at it.
“Seven,” she said thoughtfully, “back on
the planet when I was so cold
after getting out of the hot spring, you made your hand vibrate when
you rubbed
my back. Was I imagining it or did your
implant also change form and become some kind of blade or knife to cut
through
the rope?”
“No, you did not imagine it.” At the
captain’s expectant look Seven continued.
“My hand is capable of changing into a
variety of tools and shapes in response to commands from my cortical
processor. The Borg have found this function to be
quite useful in the performance of many routine maintenance tasks
required on a
cube. I have been able to add certain
refinements, such as making my hand vibrate to speed up your
circulation.”
The captain slowly stretched out next to her and bit her
earlobe. Her voice was dripping with
sensuality as she whispered, “Seven, love of my life, I think
that between the
two of us, we can find lots more interesting and creative uses for that
implant…”
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