Alternate Consequences by H.W.

Chapter 1

"So much for that," Jadzia said while she threw the PADD loosely onto the low table in front of her.

The PADD was picked up again by a soft and delicate hand that had clearly never seen a hard day's work in its existence. But then, that was how it was supposed to be. Deanna Troi had been influential long before she was appointed Betazoid Intendant. She had been 'bred' for only one purpose; to be the head of the Troi family.

While the Troi's were far from even having to think about financial problems, they weren't the richest family on Betazed. But the Troi's had been the most influential Betazoid family ever since the Coalition was created. Deanna's mother had made the calculated gamble to have herself impregnated by a very carefully selected human slave.

True, Deanna hadn't gotten all the telepathic powers full Betazoids had; she had gotten mostly only the empathic powers, and very limited telepathic abilities. However, in return she had gotten two things that the full Betazoids didn't have; a mind that with training could be blocked against mental probing, and Deanna had her mind trained to perfection, and by not having all the normal telepathic powers she never fully learned to rely on them.

It had set her apart from the other Betazoids. Where normal Betazoids relied fully on their telepathic powers while making deals, Deanna didn't. In negotiations others normally always sat trying to figure Deanna out, trying to figure out just how much she would give, how far she would go, but all they got was a total blank, and this while Deanna made full use of her cunning and sharp negotiation techniques. It normally resulted in Deanna coming out on top and the others never really knowing just what Deanna would have added to the deal to close it.

Deanna read the information of the PADD for a moment. "I don't know. True, by them entering into a life bond they cut off the easiest way of us gaining favors from them. But they aren't Kira. You have to remember that Torres appointed them. She wouldn't have done that if these Ro and Jetur women weren't people one could make deals with. I have a feeling that it won't be too hard to enter into the normal give and take negotiations with them."

"But that means that we also will have to give," Jadzia pointed out.

"And there are things we can give," Deanna countered. "At least we will be in a position again where we can once more deal with the Bajorans. Just think, Jadzia. Wouldn't it be worth something to you to get back that contract for casinos on Bajoran star bases? That contract you already had before Kira cut it off and sold it to the Ferengi because they were willing to give her a bigger percentage of the earnings. Surly it wouldn't be a hardship to in return open Trill territory once more to imports of Bajoran wine."

"Ah, give and take," Jadzia repeated, this time in a more understanding tone. "You may have a point. And as the Trill Intendant I would certainly once again get offered some of the best bottles as a small gift from the merchants. It truly was a sad day the day that I, as Trill Intendant, had to start buying my most favorite drink from the black market."

"I'm sure that these women will have ears to the idea of normalizing the relationships between the Bajor and the Trill."

"And the relationships between the Bajor and the Betazoid," Jadzia added before asking, "So, what do you want from them?"

"Not that much actually," Deanna said thoughtfully. "The Betazoid territory is suffering as much as the Trill territory from the trading embargoes Kira started. It won't really harm us in the long run, but it does put the markets under pressure. If I were to be able to get the Bajorans to lift the embargo it wouldn't make much of a difference for me personally, but it would make a lot of important people happy. It would cut down considerately on those audiences I have to hold in which I have to tell them all the same over and over again; 'I can't help you.'"

"So, you think we should go there together as normally, or do it separately?" Jadzia had long since realized that Deanna had a much better head for business then she did. Normally she and Deanna talked about subjects and if what Deanna said made sense, Jadzia simply went along with it. The symbiont in her, Dax, had several lifetimes of experience, some of them as different Intendants, but as Jadzia Dax she really didn't mind asking someone for advice, and taking the advice if it made sense.

Jadzia knew that she really trusted Deanna too much. She knew that if Deanna wanted, she could play Jadzia like an instrument. But she also knew that Deanna knew that she needed Jadzia. And the best way for the Betazoid to get her help was to have the Trill's full trust. Therefore Deanna refrained from using Jadzia, instead she leveled with her and accepted the relatively few times that the Trill disagreed with her.

Deanna knew only too well that that she and Jadzia had to form a team. They were the two least influential of the Intendants. Individually they could do not more than agree with others. But together, together they could put their foot down if needed. Together they could even question a decree coming from the Klingons.

"I think it would actually be a perfect time to go see them together," Deanna said after thinking about the question for a moment. "You saw the report, they didn't get to power under the most stable of situations. They could be challenged, just that nobody would dare doing this while they still have that clear Klingon support. If we, together, go see them now, we will be seen as officially supporting them. They will be thankful for that support. It will start us off with them on a good note, it would be a shame to waste that by waiting or going separately."

"You are right," Jadzia agreed. "But I think that it would be even wiser if we went by Torres first, tell her that we are planning on bettering our relations with the Bajorans. It would also add to the importance of our trip to Bajor. If it just happened to 'accidentally' leak out that we first went to see the Klingon Intendant before going to Bajor, people will think that we have full support of the Klingons in our clearing of the air with the Bajorans."

"True," Deanna said with a small smile. She really liked the way Jadzia could think. "Besides, it would be good to see Torres again. We have to make sure that our affiliation with her stays as good as it is now."

"Oh, yeah," Jadzia agreed. She lifted her glass of black market Bajoran wine to her lips and took a sip. "We better be nice to her. I like dealing with her now, I sure wouldn't want her to negotiate with us as she does with others."

"Truer words were never spoken," Deanna said with a smile.

They sat quietly for a moment, both enjoying their drinks.

"Anyway," Jadzia finally said after a few minutes, "Time for something else. I need to go to Risa soon, buy some pleasure slaves to give as presents to the five most successful business people on the annual Trill business people of the year celebration. You want to join me on the trip? We could combine it all. First go to see Torres, then on to Bajor and finally on to Risa."

Deanna thought about if for a moment before nodding her head slightly. "Sounds good to me."

***

Chakotay looked around the table. He could see in their eyes that most of them had noticed that he hadn't taken the Captain's chair. "Alright, as you know, with Kathryn... gone... I'm the new Captain, according to Federation law. But I have taken a few hours last night to look the laws over, and there is something I want to suggest. Now that we have decided to stay here for the next two years, we need someone who knows this space, this Coalition. I was thinking of having the situation of me as Captain and Tuvok as second in command be the second option. What I really would like to suggest though is that we offer Annika the position of Captain. She knows this space, and after having worked under her for a month now, we know that she is an excellent commander."

It was quiet around the table for a few moments while the senior staff contemplated his suggestion. It had been so commonly assumed that Chakotay would become the new Captain that they hadn't given other possibilities a second thought.

"That's some suggestion," B'Elanna finally said.

"You think she wouldn't be suited for the position?" Chakotay asked.

"I didn't say that. I think she would be great for the job..." B'Elanna was quiet for a moment before she leaned back in her chair and said softly, "But I think that I really shouldn't have a voice in this."

"Why not?" Chakotay asked bewildered.

It was Tom who answered that question. "Because B'Elanna doesn't want it to look as if she only voted for Annika because she is her girlfriend."

"She isn't my girlfriend," B'Elanna disagreed, before adding softly, "Yet."

"Want a sharper knife to split those hairs, Torres?" Tom asked with a smile.

"Watch it flyboy, or else you might accidentally fall off the second deck of Engineering one of these days," B'Elanna replied with a grin.

"Listen, B'Elanna," Chakotay said to get the focus back on him. "While I appreciate your honesty, I also know you long enough to know that you wouldn't simply agree because you happen to like Annika. You should have a voice in this, just like the others."

Tuvok felt that he had to point something out that the others seemed to forget. "May I remind you that a starship is not a democracy? A Captain is not chosen by the ship's crew. A Captain is appointed by Star Fleet Command, nor should a person become Captain on basis of popularity."

Chakotay nodded his head in agreement. "I know that. We didn't even work like that in the Maquis, as you know. But according to the laws, the crew can elect a Captain if the entire senior staff agrees, and if the second and third in command officially decline the position."

"Alright," Tom spoke up, "I'm the first to admit that I'm not too up to date with Federation laws, but I didn't know that you could decline becoming Captain."

"If I were to offer you a promotion to Commander, you could decline that, couldn't you?" Chakotay asked, knowing that Tom had meant him with the 'you.'

"Not that I would, but yeah, I could," Tom agreed.

"Well, the same goes for me. It is simply that it is not that common. The 'why not' is a combination of two things. First of all, in most situations the second in command will always make the most suited person for replacing the Captain. Second, normally a Commander is a person who wants to be promoted to a Captain at one point. So they are not going to turn down the chance to actually become Captain.

"The thing is, we aren't in a normal situation here. If I become Captain, we would still need Annika on the bridge most of the time, since we would be asking her questions all of the time. But it is more than that. I think that Annika is the kind of person we need as Captain if we are going to stay around here, which we are. She has shown us that she is an excellent Commander, and she has more command experience than any or us, except for Tuvok."

"Which means that he should get the job if you don't want it," Tom pointed out.

"With us Vulcans it is not unknown to decline a position so that someone else, more suited for the position, can conduct the work better," Tuvok explained. "Having the most suited person fulfill a position is only logical. Unlike humans and a lot of other races, we Vulcans do not have a problem with accepting that some people are better suited for a job. I do agree with the Commander that Annika Hansen would be very well suited for the position of Captain while we are in Coalition space."

"But?" Harry asked, the way Tuvok had finished his sentence, Harry was sure that a 'but' had to come.

"There is no, 'but,'" Tuvok said. "However," He went on, basically still saying 'but,' "I do believe that if we were to offer the position to Miss Hansen, we should have certain security factors in place."

"Such as?" Chakotay asked. Though he didn't show it, he was glad that Tuvok seemed to contemplate his suggestion. Chakotay had been worrying about what Tuvok's mindset would be. Either he would have seen the logic of the proposal, or he would have objected, offering himself for the position of Captain.

"We have decided to stay here for two years, hoping that we can go to the Federation at that point. I would suggest making it clear that the appointment would only be for those two years. After that time we should see what our position is, and decide if Miss Hansen should continue to be Captain."

"Why's that?" B'Elanna asked.

"Because there are several possibilities," Tuvok said before naming a few of them. "We might indeed go to the Federation at that point, but it is also possible that something would happen that would prevent us from getting to the Federation. It is also possible that we would have to flee Coalition space before that time, or return to the Delta Quadrant in our universe. There are a lot of possibilities, and while Miss Hansen would be suited to command us in most, she would not be suited to command us in all situations."

"A very valid point," Chakotay had to agree.

"Furthermore, I would suggest to not actually appoint Miss Hansen Captain, but rather to leave the post of Captain vacant," Tuvok continued. "Instead I would suggest offering her the position of Acting Captain. This is a position that can be fulfilled for several years, and it is something that has a well used base in several Federation occurrences."

"What's the difference?" Tom asked.

"The difference is," Chakotay said, knowing where Tuvok was going with his suggestion. "That an Acting Captain can be stripped of her powers if she loses the faith of the senior staff. With a full Captain this isn't possible. With a full Captain I, or the Doctor, can relieve her of her position for some very valid reasons stipulated precisely by Federation law. And 'we don't think you are doing a good job' isn't a valid reason."

B'Elanna leaned forward when Chakotay stopped talking. "Well, I personally think that Annika would be great for the job."

Chakotay nodded his head slightly. "That's one vote. Doctor, you are very quiet. Do you object?"

"Not necessarily. I have no problem with Annika being captain. She has shown to be a person I can actually work with better than... A person I can work with. Since she is commanding us, the amount of people actually showing up for their medical checks has gone up to one hundred percent. And that simply because she gave one order that the crew should have their checks. She had her own checkup and showed that way that she expected the rest to do the same; they did."

"While Janeway on the other hand made it a sport to stay out of sickbay as long as possible," B'Elanna spoke up.

"B'Elanna,"

"It's true, Chakotay, and you know it. I'm not one to talk bad about the dead, but a fact is a fact. And this fact shows you why the crew is eager to follow Annika's orders. Annika isn't ordering them to do things she herself doesn't do. Come on, if a captain breaks Federation law so blatantly on the small things, is it that really so surprising that the crew starts to slack on the unimportant things as well? But you know what? A week ago I saw Carlson actually scrubbing the plasma conduits without me having to remind him not to 'forget' them. When I joked with him about how surprised I was, his only explanation was that Annika had rethreaded one of the thruster coils by hand the day before."

"She did?" Chakotay asked, knowing only too well what a laborious and tedious task this was. So much so that it was something that was normally never done by an officer.

"She did," B'Elanna affirmed. "I was doing stuff that can really only be done by one person at a time, so she used the time to do something that had to be done. And that is the point, Annika leads by example."

"Which means," Harry pointed out, "that if she is captain, she will be even more at the front as Janeway was. Going on more away missions, putting herself in danger more than a captain should."

"He has a point," Tom agreed. "While I think Annika would be great for the job, I do also think that she would put herself in unnecessary danger."

Chakotay leaned back into his chair. He knew that the two men were right. The thing that made Annika so perfect for the job, was the very same thing that might have had her passed over for the job if they were in the Alpha Quadrant, their Alpha Quadrant.

"It really is not a point of discussion at this moment," Tuvok spoke up after a moment. "True, this might happen. However if something were to happen to Miss Hansen, we would be in the same position of not having a Captain. At that point Commander Chakotay could take the position..."

"So we can afford for her to get killed?" B'Elanna asked with a raised voice.

"May I remind you, Lieutenant, that we are in a senior staff meeting. Raising your voice will not accomplish anything," Tuvok said calmly. "And if you had waited a minute longer, you would have heard me add that therefore the real point we should discuss is not if we want Miss Hansen to be our Acting Captain, but if we are willing to put her in this position of elevated risk."

"Sorry," B'Elanna mumbled, being dutifully reprimanded.

"I think we should let Annika make that decision," Tom said. "You have to remember that she is used to a whole different level of danger. True, for our doing she would put herself in more danger than we like to see our Captains in, but she comes from a place where she was in danger every day. She only had to do something that her 'masters' didn't like and she could be killed just like that."

Chakotay nodded his head in agreement. "We will make sure to point this out to her, if we offer her the position. So, what do you all think?"

***

Seven didn't turn around when two hands were placed softly on her shoulders from behind. Instead, she continued to look out of the window, in the direction that Voyager had disappeared in the day before.

"Having second thoughts?" Torres asked softly while she lowered her hands to take the blonde into an embrace from behind.

Seven placed her own hands on those of Torres, which were now resting on Seven's stomach. "Never. I was merely wondering what would become of them."

"And I would be worried if you didn't." Torres looked over Seven's shoulder out of the window as well. "While you stayed with me, they are still your friends, still the only people you know, except me of course. This should be hard for you, because that is the person you are."

Seven smiled while she turned around. "You do realize, if Voyager's B'Elanna Torres were in your position, she would try to convince me to go after my friends, to leave her, thinking it would be better for me."

"Well," Torres said while she led the blonde to the couch. "Lucky for me, I can be damn selfish. You made your choice, Seven. You stayed, and I'm not going to pretend that I'm not happy about it. If you wanted to leave, I would let you go. But before that time I would beg you on my knees to stay."

"You do not have to worry about that, I will never leave you, I could never leave you. I just wish that it had been possible for me to be with you, and be in contact with my friends as well."

"Well, it isn't really in contact," Torres said slowly, "but I'm having the ship followed by a drone ship. You will know at all times where they are."

"You wanted to know where 'I' was," Seven said softly, indicating that she knew why Torres had Voyager followed.

"Yeah," Torres agreed just as softly before going on in a little louder voice. "I can't promise you this, Seven, but if they don't make too many problems I might, maybe, make it possible that you can contact them from time to time."

"How?" Seven wondered.

"Well," Torres said with a smile. "Space is a very vast and relatively empty area. I wouldn't be able to actively search out your friends so that you can see them, I as Intendant could never do that. But, if we were traveling from point A to point B, and your friends were to accidentally be on that same course... I think I could get away with stopping somewhere for a day or two."

"But if someone were to find out," Seven said before being interrupted by the Intendant.

"They'd do what? I'm the Intendant, remember? I'm the highest thing there is. People can't go over my head. Do you really think that the Chancellor would grant some unnamed person from some unnamed place an audience and listen to that person complain about the Klingon Intendant, me, rendezvousing with some space ship? No, it would have to be an Intendant who would bring forth such a claim before Worf would even listen to it, let alone actually acting on it. And all of the other Intendants know damn well that they better have a damn good reason before they get on my bad side. Tell me, Seven, if you were an Intendant, would you want to get on my bad side for nothing more than the fact that you saw me rendezvousing with some ship?"

"No I would not," Seven had to agree. "But if this on not something to worry about, than why can we not meet with them without having to be on our way to a different place?"

"Because," Torres sighed, "it is all about perception. If I were to go to some place with only one purpose, to see your friends, I would be officially recognizing them."

"Do you think that the other factions would find out that you had gone to see a ship?" Seven wondered. "As you said, space is a vast place. You do not have to give flight plans, nor do you have to tell anyone why you went somewhere."

"I doubt they would find out," Torres agreed, "but the fact is that I just can't take the risk. Seven, you have to understand, I can do a lot. I can get away with a lot more that I do now. I could kill people on a whim, I could plunder entire planets, I could put thousands of free people in slavery just because I thought it would be funny. I could do it all, but I don't want to. And the only way I keep myself from becoming what I don't want to be, from what Kira was, is by only doing things that I could explain if, by some miracle, others would actually call me on it. For myself, Seven, I CAN get away with meeting up with your friends if I happen to be going somewhere else anyway. But I CAN'T justify it to myself to go out to meet some escaped slaves. Please try to understand that, my dear. If I start shifting my own borders, soon there will be no borders left."

"I do understand," Seven said. "You enjoy the power you now have, but you are not addicted to it. Once you start doing things that make you addicted to the power, you will soon do more and more, just to get the rush you get from using the power. You do not want that to happen."

"Right," Torres agreed after untangling what Seven had said.

"How often do you think I could see them?"

"Wellll, I travel a lot, and I do make longer journeys from time to time. I think that once every three months or so might be doable. But that is no guarantee, my dear. If they start making trouble, if they start doing things I shouldn't let them get away with, then it will be longer."

"I understand. Thank you, mistress."

Torres smiled when she heard Seven call her 'mistress.' Despite the fact that they had agreed that the relationship would stay the same, Torres had decided that she would take the relationship in any form she could get it. If Seven had wanted to be Torres' equal at all times except when they were out, Torres would have agreed to that. But she was honest enough with herself to know that she really liked being the blonde's mistress.

She liked it that over all, she was clearly the one in charge of their relationship. The fact that she knew that Seven could, and would, say something if she wanted to, would object if something wasn't to her liking, it made Torres truly enjoy the fact that the blonde was hers. Knowing that Seven wasn't afraid to object, and would, if Torres started to act in a way that the blonde didn't like, made it possible for Torres to confidently be the mistress Seven wanted her to be.

"Well then, my pet. I need to go to the bridge for a moment, and you will come with me, and after that we will retire for the evening."

"But, mistress, it is only four o'clock in the afternoon."

"I know," Torres agreed with a grin. "But once I have been on the bridge and showed everyone that my body slave is here to stay, I want to come back here, and celebrate."

"Celebrate?" Seven repeated.

"Yes, yesterday I was glad that you stayed, I just wanted to hold you to make sure that you were really here. But today..."

"Today?" Seven asked, knowing that the Intendant was waiting for her to ask.

"Today we will celebrate 'til way past midnight."

"Ah, you mean you want to have sex for hours on end." Seven said with a smile, definitely liking the idea.

"No," Torres disagreed, "I don't want to have sex for hours on end."

"You do not?" Seven asked surprised, she was sure that this was what Torres had meant.

"No, I don't want to have sex. I want to make love to you, Seven. I want to love you until you don't even have enough energy left to pull up the sheets."

Seven's heart skipped a beat when she heard what the Intendant said. "I would like that," She said in nothing more than a whisper. "I would love to make love to you. I love you, B'Elanna Torres. I love you more than life itself."

"Good, let's get out of here then," Torres said. "I need to tell the Captain to set course for Kronos, we really need to have a little chat with Worf."

Seven merely smile while she got up. She knew how hard it was for Torres to say 'I love you,' after all, the Klingon had learned her entire life that love was a weak emotion. One did not talk about love. Even in married couples the word 'love' was seldom used. Oh, the Klingons sure did love, and sure believed in the strength that love could bring. They just didn't talk about it.

But just as they were walking out of the door, Torres totally surprised Seven by saying softly, "I love you as well, Seven."

***

"Wait, let me get this straight, you want me to become your Captain?" Annika asked, not really believing what she heard. She had been surprised when the senior staff contacted her after only four hours and ask her to come to the conference room. But now, after hearing them talk for more than half an hour about offering her the job of Acting Captain, she was actually totally astonished, "I thought you were going to talk about my position onboard this ship."

"And we did," B'Elanna said with a grin before Chakotay took over again.

"Believe me, we are not making some hasty decision."

"I appreciate that. But I was thinking that I would get appointed to Engineering or something like that. I mean, come on, half of the people around this table would be more suited than me to be your Captain."

"Acting Captain," Chakotay corrected just before Tom spoke up.

"And I'm glad to hear that you think that I could be Captain."

Annika saw the smile on his face and knew that he himself knew that he was one of the reasons why Annika had said that HALF of the people around the table could be Captain. She returned the smile. "Tom, no disrespect, you might be a great pilot, but you would be a lousy Captain. Commander, yes, somewhere about ten years or so down the line. But Captain, no." Then she turned to Tuvok. "Surely you, with your firm believe in Federation law won't agree to this. From what I read on Federation law, and from what B'Elanna told me, Chakotay is next in line to become Captain, and you would then become the first officer."

"That is the normal procedure," Tuvok agreed, "however; we are in a uncommon situation. One of the most important abilities of a Captain to be able to make decisions immediately. To do so, one needs to know what the situation is that one is in. We do not know that; you do. Normally that would have been enough to give you a position comparable to the one Seven of Nine got when she became a member of Voyager, or Mister Neelix before her; making your information available to the senior staff. However, you also have a life time of experience in command functions. You would be well suited to be in command of Voyager while we are in this alternative universe."

"But in the Delta Quadrant you also didn't know what was going on, yet Janeway continued to be your Captain. According to the reasoning you just gave, Neelix here should have become your Captain then; he knew what was going on."

Neelix let out a chuckle at hearing that.

"Mister Neelix would not have been suited for the position of Captain of Voyager," Tuvok disagreed in his blunt straightforwardness. "So we were in a position where all the people that were suited for Captain did not know the situation we were in. Besides, we had a Captain then. One does not replace ones Captain only because one is in a part of space one does not know. If Captain Janeway was still alive, we would not be offering you this position. But now we have the situation that we need a new Captain, and now we have a person that is very suited for the position, and knows the territory we will be staying in for the next two years. Appointing you Acting Captain in a logical step, and it is allowed according to Federation law, just not that commonly used."

"I'm sorry, but I just can't believe that you would just hand me the command over your precious ship," Annika said to the senior staff in general. "And truth be told, I don't really know if I want to take on the job of commanding you all on a continued basis."

"We don't just hand you the ship," Chakotay corrected, "that is why we are offering you the position of Acting Captain, and not the position of Captain."

"And the difference is?" Annika asked.

"The difference is that just like we now offer you that position, the senior staff can take you out of that position again without it being considered a mutiny."

"I'm not used to having my orders questioned," Annika pointed out.

"It's not about that," Chakotay said while softly shaking his head. He really hoped that Annika would say yes, but he also knew that the more they had to work to convince her to take the job, the better she was suited for it. If she had jumped at the chance, then it would have indicated that she wanted the power that came with the job and a person who wanted only the power wasn't suited for the job. "As your second in command it will be my job to question things you do. Playing the devil's advocate is in my job description. No, the thing is that we decided to stick around here and wait those two years, hope that we can really go home then.

"But we also decided that we want to go on like we have; living up to Federation standards. So this is our middle way. We trust you, Annika. We have seen how you command and we think that you would be an excellent leader for us. But, we also want to make sure that we as the senior staff can still go back to the second option if things don't work out."

"The second option being that you become Captain and Tuvok your second in command?" Annika asked.

"Right," Chakotay agreed.

"Alright, before I say more on this, I want to know some things. First, who suggested this? Second, did you all vote on this? And third, if you voted on it, what was the outcome of the vote?" Annika was slowly coming around to their idea, their point about her knowing the universe they were in was a very solid one. But if she really was going to think about taking the position, she wanted to know just how welcome she would be as a commanding figure.

"I was actually the one who suggested you for the job," Chakotay said. "Tuvok was the one who suggested that we would make the offer or Acting Captain and not for Captain. Yes, we voted on it, and the outcome of the vote was unanimous."

"Alright, I'll make you a deal," Annika relented. "I'll only think about this if you extend that vote to the rest of the crew. You make it an anonymous vote so that everyone can vote the way the want and not the way the feel they HAVE to vote. And if the vote is seventy-five percent in my favor, I will give it serious thought."

"Seventy-five percent is quite a hurdle," B'Elanna pointed out.

"I know," Annika greed, "but if I do this, I will only do so with the support of the crew. I don't want to start the job by having to fight the people on this ship as much as we will have to fight what ever we will come across out there."

"Alright, I'll send out a ship wide message," Chakotay said, "letting everyone know about the vote and that they have to turn a PADD with their vote, and only their vote, in to Tuvok by tomorrow."

"Make it the day after tomorrow," Annika suggested. "Give them a full day to actually think about it. We are safe here for now. Come to think of it, this planet is extremely unstable because of the excessive mining that was done here. But some of those very same mine corridors should be wide enough to conceal a ship like Voyager. We can stabilize one of those corridors so that Voyager can hide in it if needed. When we do that then we would be totally invisible unless someone does a level two surface scan. It would mean that we could hide without having to have the cloak on all the time. If we are going to stay in Coalition space, we might as well use this planet as our base for now and once we are good and ready for it we can go look for others places we can use to hide, I have some ideas."

"You think having that many places to hide is really necessary?" Tom asked.

"You have to remember," Annika pointed out, "that here you have nobody to help you but yourself. Even if the Klingons are not actively hunting us, there are still thousands of ships in Coalition space, all of them more or less hostile. It will not be a bad idea to have a hiding place nearby no matter where we are. Let's say that in a fight the cloak system is damaged, I would still like to get away then. Because make no mistake, there will be battles, and we will be on the run. And also, it will keep us busy for the first couple of months, by the time we finished with the hiding places we will have decided what we are going to do with the rest of the two years."

"Alright, sounds good," Chakotay greed. "I'll make a roster and we will start work on stabilizing a corridor, once we find one of course."

"Sounds like a plan," Annika looked around the table before asking, "Anything else?"

When nobody spoke up, Annika continued. "Alright, then I would suggest that we suspend this meeting and get together again the day after tomorrow to see how the crew feels about your suggestion."

Annika looked around the table once more and when nobody spoke up, she stood up and left the conference room.

Once the door closed behind Annika the senior crew looked at each other and all of them had a smile or grin on their faces. All except for Tuvok, he merely lifted his eyebrow. None of them said it, but all of them knew that Annika had just walked in, taken over the meeting, and told them what to do. Truly a sign of an excellent leader.

Chapter 2

More than one set of eyes did a double take when the turbolift doors opened. It was not that surprising to actually see the Intendant on the bridge, but to see her in the company of her body slave was something else entirely. Where Seven's standing as the Intendant's body slave had been firm before, now it was well and truly cemented down. As soon as the Alpha shift was released from duty with shift change, they would go to the mess hall and the talk would be about how the Intendant had brought her body slave with her to the bridge.

"Anything of interest, Captain?" Torres asked, pretending not to notice how the eyes of the Alpha shift stayed on her longer then normal. Normally they were quick to look away again as soon as they had seen who had entered the bridge. One didn't want to awaken the interest of the Intendant. But now they were looking at her, her and Seven, with there mouths almost hanging open.

Torres smirked inwardly. 'Good, let them understand what this means, let them understand how powerful my pet is.'

"Nothing of importance to report, Intendant. We noticed the captured ship leaving the star base yesterday, but we received a message from the Security Department a few minutes later that we didn't see that."

"Really now?" Torres asked, very much pleased with how fast Martok had worked. "Then tell me, if you got a message that you didn't see it; why are you telling me about something you didn't see?"

The Captain dipped his head slightly. He understood that the Intendant was giving him a warning. "I personally didn't see anything, Intendant. And I also know that the Alpha shift didn't see this happening, but I thought that I should bring your attention to these baseless rumors."

"Well then," Torres said while studying some information on the screen that was built into the Intendant's chair, a chair that was reserved only for her, not that she happen to sit in it much. She preferred that the Captain and the crew were good at their work, if ever the day would come where she would have to be on the bridge longer, it would mean that the entire shift would be replaced with a better crew; and the crew knew it. They didn't want to be replaced, once could only guess what would happen with the replaced crew. One thing was sure, it wouldn't be pretty. "Next time you have a meal in the mess hall, if you hear some more gossiping, remind those people that gossiping is not good for their health. I even heard that gossiping can kill people. Get the drift?"

"Very much so, Intendant."

When Torres shut the screen down, she saw her slave looking at the Captain with a certain air or superiority.

Seven remembered only too well how the Klingons had treated the Voyager crew when they were boarded. Now the roles were reversed, now it was the blonde woman who had the power, and the Klingon who had to fear what the other would do.

"Am I missing something here?" Torres asked with slightly narrowed eyes.

"No, mistress," Seven said after letting the Captain sweat for a moment. "I am sure that the Captain is thinking, just as I, that we both have been standing on the bridge of a different spaceship not so long ago."

Torres understood what the slave meant and grinned at the Captain, "Isn't irony a bitch?"

The Captain nodded his head in agreement. "A bitch that hits you over the head with a pain stick at times."

"Well, don't worry, Captain. I, and my pet, understand that you were capturing a ship full of slaves that had just destroyed two Klingon ships. But, situations are different now. If someone doesn't give my pet the respect she deserves, I will rip their fucking head off. You can spread that news as well once you go for dinner in the mess hall."

"Yes, Intendant," The Captain quickly said, knowing that he had gotten of easy.

"Alright, Captain, set a course for Kronos. But you don't have to hurry too much, let's take a little time to get there."

Since Torres was the Intendant of all of the Klingon part of the Coalition, she had chosen the planet as her home base on which her uncle had built the house he had left to her. A planet that was pretty much in the center of the Klingon territory. But Worf, as the Klingon Chancellor, lived on Kronos, where the High Counsel was seated. Because of this there was a fourteen day trip between the two places. But Torres had been known to not travel as full speed if there was no important reason for it. After all, if she got to a place sooner, it only meant that she would leave again sooner for her next trip.

"Yes Intendant," The Captain said, moving to give the order to the helm, even though the pilot must have heard it as well.

Torres moved to the turbolift and was just about to get on when she heard the ops officer say that he had an incoming message for the Intendant.

"What is it?" Torres asked, moving to his station.

"Intendant, it's a message from Betazed, from Intendant Troi."

"Is it a secure message?"

"No Intendant."

"Well, in that case, let's have it, and get it over with."

"Yes, Intendant. Intendant Troi politely informs you that she and Intendant Dax are planning on going to Bajor to better the relationship with the Bajorans. She asks if it suits you if they meet up with you before that time."

Torres did a quick calculation of where she was, where Betazed was, where Kronos was, and where Bajor was. "Sent a message back. I'm on my way to Kronos, but I will cross their path in ten days. If they are at that point at that time, I will grant them two days of my time." Torres looked over to the Captain. "As soon as you get their ships on our sensors, correct the speed needed to meet up with them where our roads cross. Once there, we will stay there for two days."

"Yes Intendant."

"Come, my pet. Let's get out of here before more messages appear."

"Yes, mistress," Seven said while getting into the turbolift with Torres. Once the doors were closed, and the people on the bridge could no longer hear then, Seven turned to Torres. "Mistress, I am curious."

"About?" Torres asked.

"About the interaction between Intendants. I do understand that you as Klingon Intendant are the most powerful of the Intendant. But what I am wondering is, how great is the difference between Intendants? When Intendant Dukat contacted you, I heard you ask the Captain if Intendant Dukat was wishing, or demanding, to speak to you. So the Cardassian Intendant has enough power to confront you on certain things if needed." They stepped off the turbolift and started to walk down the corridor before Seven continued, "Yet the tone of the message from Intendant Troi was very polite, almost painfully so. Why?"

"The interaction between Intendants is very complicated, my pet. Tell you what, I'll answer that in a moment, when we are in our quarters and have something to drink."

"Yes, mistress," Seven said with a small smile.

"What are you smiling about?" Torres asked.

"You choice of words, mistress."

"Why, what did I say?"

"When we are back in 'our' quarters," Seven repeated.

"You know, my pet, you shouldn't weigh my words that much, it will only cause me to watch what I say."

"I do not want that," Seven said before adding softly, "Mistress, if I may point out,"

"What?"

"You asked me what I was smiling about. I would not have said it otherwise."

"Are you telling me that I shouldn't ask you what's going on with you?" Torres asked while they walked into... their quarters.

"I," Seven stopped, despite the fact that Seven knew Torres loved her, she also knew that there still were some very fine lines with the Klingon. Lines she could not cross until Torres was ready. Apparently pointing out what Torres did for Seven was one of those lines. "Forgive me, I like it very much that you want to know what is bothering me, or amusing me."

Torres sighed, she knew that she was being an ass. "No, you forgive me. I'm sorry, my pet. I can certainly understand why you would like hearing me address these quarters as our quarters. It was just the knee-jerk reaction. I'm the Intendant, I don't do or say nice things."

"I understand mistress," Seven said before changing the subject. She had the feeling that the particular conversation about Torres doing things for her could better be left for another day. She knew that there was a difference for the Intendant between doing obvious things for Seven, like letting Voyager escape, and doing small things, like saying 'our.' For some reason, Torres didn't mind doing the big things, but also didn't like to be reminded of the small things. "Would you like your drink now?"

"Yeah. Join me on the couch when you are finished."

A moment later they were sitting on the couch and sipping their drinks.

"Now," Torres said after taking a final sip, "as to your question about Intendants. It really all comes down to power. First there's me, the Klingon Intendant, then the Cardassian, then the Bajoran, then the Romulan, then the Betazed, and finally the Trill. All of coalition space is divided between those factions. Even though there are only six slave races, other races still live in that territory. For instance, the Bolians live in Klingon space, while the Ferengi live in Cardassian space. Both races are free, but have to bow to the rule of the Coalition partner that rules over that part of space.

"Here is where it becomes complicated. The Intendants can pretty much do what they want in their part of the Coalition. But for certain things they need the help and support of the other Intendants. The less powerful the Intendant is, the more they have to beg for help.

"As you could see from the fact we had a fleet of Birds of Prey close to Bajor, we, the Klingons, are so powerful that we can move our ships where ever we want. Hell, I could raid a colony of the Bajorans and the biggest thing they could really do about it is file an official complaint with Worf. But the... say, Trill, wouldn't dare to have their fleet longer in Klingon space that it would take to get to a certain point. And if they were to raid a Klingon colony... they... well, let's just say that from then on there would be seven slave races, not six.

"The more power you have, the more weight you can throw around. Dukat can demand to see me because he can get away with it, as long as he has a valid point. He could throw up an embargo against us, and we Klingons would actually hurt from it. But, if the Trill or the Betazoid were to threaten me with an embargo, I would probably... double over laughing. And they know it.

"Since Jadzia, the Trill Intendant, and Deana, the Betazoid Intendant, are actually on a good footing with me, they will do pretty much everything to keep me happy. After all, I'm more inclined to help them if I like them. If I don't like them, I would very easily do things just to spite them. They could survive the embargo Kira had placed on them, but if I were to establish such an embargo, they would really hurt. So much so that they might get killed just so that new Intendants could be appointed, Intendants that would clear the air with me."

"Is it normal for Intendants to travel together?" Seven asked. "The message said that it would be the Trill and the Betazed Intendant."

"Yes and no, my pet," Torres said thoughtfully. "I, Dukat, and Shinze, the Romulan Intendant, we work on our own, only calling in the help from the others from time to time if needed. But Deanna and Jadzia know that individually they have not much influence with the other Intendants. But together, together they can even stand up to me. Not that they would, they have other ways of gaining my favor."

"What other ways?" Seven asked, having a pretty good idea what Torres meant.

"Um, never mind," Torres said, trying to change the subject. She remembered how jealous the blonde had become on Bajor. "So anyway, they always travel together. As a matter of fact, they don't just travel together, they are almost always together."

"B'Elanna, what other ways?" Seven asked coldly.

"I really only had sex with them once," Torres said halfway defensively.

"Once with them both together, or once with both of them separately?" Seven asked even colder.

"Um, separately," Torres said weakly.

"Tell me, B'Elanna. In this universe, are all influential women uninterested in men?"

"What?" Torres asked totally confused. Finally Torres saw the small smile tugging at the blonde's lips. "Why, you... I thought you were going to go jealous on me again."

Seven leaned closer and kissed Torres softly. "I know. That is why I could not resist and had to tease you, despite the fact that we are on a master/slave level."

"Hmm, do you want to take this above that level?" Torres asked.

"No need. Mistress, you told me about your past, getting jealous of two of many women from your past is a truly futile exercise."

"But you got jealous damn quick on Bajor," Torres pointed out.

"That was because Jetur Adami formed a threat in present time, women from your past do not form a threat. The fact that you no longer have sexual intercourse with them means by default that you are no longer interested in them in the way that you are interested in me."

"I see," Torres said relieved before adding, "Seven, I never have been interested in someone the way I am interested in you."

As an answer, Seven leaned in once more, this time to share a long series of kisses.

"By they way, what kind of question was that?" Torres asked once they finally broke apart.

"What question?" Seven asked.

"That question about powerful woman not being interested in men."

Seven merely summed up, "You, Kira Nerys, Ro Laren, Jetur Adami, Deanna Troi, Jadzia Dax."

"Ah, you got a point," Torres agreed. "But that point isn't fully correct. It would be more correct to say that all of those are also, or mainly, interested in women. As far as I know, I'm actually the only one out of all of those that never slept with a man. I know for a fact that Jadzia and Deanna have a male sex slave. From Kira's files we know that Kira went both ways, and both Ro and Jetur have slept with men."

"True," Seven agreed.

"It's more about power than gender," Torres went on. "The fact is that at this point in time we have many women in power, and what do you do if you want to gain more power? You sleep with another powerful person. Deanna won't gain much power by sleeping with some man. But by sleeping with Jadzia, another female Intendant, she gains power. Sleeping with me, that gives her even more power."

"The 'give some ass' concept taken to the level of Intendants," Seven said, referring to a conversation she and Torres had a few weeks before.

"Right," Torres agreed.

"But would Deanna and Jadzia not gain even more power by sleeping with the Cardassian or Romulan Intendant than merely with each other? Those are men."

"Wellll, yes. But remember how I told you that Dukat always held his promises, the promises that he made to me at least? In the past Both he and the Romulan Intendant double crossed one of the women on a big deal they were all involved in back then. Dukat double crossed Jadzia, and Shinze double crossed Deanna. It was actually while dealing with the aftermath of that mess that Deanna and Jadzia noticed that they worked well together, and could get back at the Cardassians and Romulans if they teamed up. So they did, and continued to team up on everything from then on."

"Do they still not work with the Cardassians or Romulans at this point?"

"That was almost six years ago. Unless you are Kira, six years is a long time to hold a grudge... towards another Intendant at least. They really needed the every day deals with them, and the other way around as well. Dealing with that mess was my first real high level task as Klingon Intendant." Torres grinned for a moment. "I was Intendant for a year by that time, but had really only resolved Klingon based problems. I established my 'tough bitch' name that day. I very bluntly told them that if the four of them couldn't reach an agreement that all could live with in twelve hours, then I would take all that they were fighting for and make it mine. That business deal they made that day to keep me from simply taking it all, stands 'til this day."

"If Deanna Troi and Jadzia Dax are together that much, I assume that their sexual relationship is still continuing," Seven deduced before asking, "Are they lovers?"

"Eh," Torres said while wiggling her hand from side to side a little. "It really depends on your definition of lovers. I think that they don't just have sex, I do think that they make love. They are very good friends, and I do think that they love each other. But I don't think that they are 'in' love."

"Do you have an idea as to why they want to see you?"

"Well, if I were to put some credits on it, I would bet that it is for the very same reason I would come to see me if I were them," Torres said after thinking about it for a moment. "Kira caused a lot of trouble with both Deanna and Jadzia, and they are now going to Bajor to make a fresh start with Ro and Jetur. By coming to me first it will seem as if we Klingons support them in normalizing relations with the Bajorans."

"So they use you as well," Seven pointed out, knowing how touchy the Intendant was on being used.

"True," Torres agreed, "but as I told you before, I don't mind being used if it is only to a certain extent and by people I know. I can understand why they are doing it, and I can't argue with their reasoning. So, I'm going to meet them, see them a couple of times during those two days and talk about nothing... Actually, you know what? You are going to be more than likely the subject of most of the talks."

"Me?" Seven asked surprised.

"Yeah. They know more than anybody just what it means if I have a body slave. Everyone else knows that you are damn powerful because I'm your mistress. But they as Intendants, they will know just what you can do. They will know that because I'm your mistress, you are actually pretty much equal to them."

"That is still a concept I am trying to comprehend," Seven said thoughtfully. "I know that because of my status I am above most individuals in the Coalition, but I do not know what precise position I have in regards to the other Intendants."

"Well, it is a kinda complicated thing," Torres agreed. "And truthfully, I'm not sure how to answer that. The simple explanation is the one I once gave you once before, that only I and Worf can truly command you to do something. So, given the fact that the other Intendants can't command you, one could say that you are even above them. But where everyone who isn't an Intendant or Chancellor would have to follow an order coming from you, the Intendants certainly don't have to follow such orders.

"So... from one side, the other Intendants are more powerful than you, since they can give orders in their own name to everyone who falls into the jurisdiction of their part of the Coalition. But, you, who can only give orders in my name, can give orders to anyone in the entire Coalition. So where Dukat can give an order in his own name to a Ferengi, but not to a Bolian, you can only give orders in my name, but you can give orders to a Ferengi AND a Bolian.

"Of course, that is the simplified version. Dukat can order Bolians around if they are in the Cardassian territory. It would undermine the authority of the Intendant if they didn't have total control over their territory. Does this answer your question?"

"Yes, mistress. Since the Klingons are on top of the command chain you, and therefore by extension I, can do what ever you want in the entire Coalition, but the other Intendants can only do whatever they want in their part of the Coalition."

"That's pretty much it," Torres agreed. "But as I said, it's complicated. Even I have to deal with the other Intendants if I want to do something in their space. It is just that they are more likely to agree with whatever I want to do. For instance, that Bajoran space station that your friends will need to be at if they can go home,"

Seven dipped her head to indicate that she knew what the Intendant was referring to.

"Well, I could go to the Bajorans with some lame ass excuse about how we Klingons need it as a station for our trade routes and there really isn't that much they could do about it, save trying to get the best deal for them out of it. Something like them still being allowed to use the station, and maybe getting the rights to some other station in Klingon space. This would mean nothing of course since we would then give them some station we pretty much aren't using anymore anyway. But that's the deal they would have to swallow, the deal they would have to agree with."

Torres was silent for a moment before asking, "So, aren't you going to ask me to help your friends get home sooner?"

"No mistress, I am not. You gave your reasons as to why you could not help them home sooner, and I fully understand them. I also understand that you could take command of the station, but that it would cause friction with the Bajorans. Getting the Voyager crew home earlier is not worth that trouble."

"I'm glad that you under stand that," Torres said with a smile. "Most people from this universe are selfish enough to not see the bigger picture. They would simply demand that I do it if I can."

"Which would mean that you would have to kill them for demanding something like that from you," Seven countered with a smile.

Torres laughed when hearing the reply, "Well, yeah, there is that."

"Mistress, talking about Voyager raised a question."

"Let's have it," Torres said while draining the last of her drink.

"Mistress, when you first brought up the possibility of returning the Voyager crew home, you talked about it as if it was just that; a possibility. However, recently you are talking about it as if it is a given fact. That as long as they are able to survive those two years, you will make sure that they will get home. Why? What has changed this from a possibility to a certainty?"

"Well, it's not beyond a doubt certain. But yeah, it is a lot more certain now. The answer is simply that the game of chess is further along now. At the beginning I was talking from the facts I knew then. But things have changed again, even today."

"Mistress?" Seven merely asked.

"We got the message that Deanna and Jadzia want to see me, and we talked about how this would be perceived as me supporting them in normalizing the relationships with Bajor. Well, the Bajorans, especially Ro and Jetur, will see it like that as well. Which means that there is even more that they have to be thankful to me for. Because, as you know from Kira's reports, the Bajorans as a people are in need of normalizing those relationships, just that Kira never did it because that would mean less credits for her. So, it is now even more likely that we can use that station two years from now.

"But, things might change again. It might be that something happens that will make it be even less that two years, or it might be that something happens that will make sure that your friends can never go home by using that station."

"Mistress?" Seven merely asked again.

"Well, let's take something simple. Say the station explodes in some accident. No more station means no more using it in getting home."

"I see." Seven said, not liking that thought at all.

Torres sighed. "If something like that were to happen, I would find another solution for them, my pet."

"Would you like another drink, mistress?" Seven asked before asking the question that was on her mind. "What kind of solution?"

"Sure, but get me some blood wine," Torres waited until the blonde was at the replicator before answering the second question. "Well, there is of course the obvious solution of just killing them."

Seven merely looked at her over her shoulder and raised her eyebrow.

"Okay, bad joke," Torres admitted with a small grin. "I don't know yet, my pet. Maybe get them a bigger ship so that they actually have room on the ship to live the rest of their life. Or find some uninhabited planet or moon what would then come under my direct protection. Something like that. But I have to see that when the moment comes, if the moment ever comes. Right now, the most likely thing is still that they will go home in two years."

Seven handed one of the two glasses she had replicated to the Intendant before kneeling down between the Klingon's legs instead of sitting back down on the couch. "Mistress."

"Yes?" Torres asked.

"I am curious."

"Should I get scared?" Torres asked amused.

Seven merely smiled at her before asking, "You told me that you were the first ever female Intendant. You came to power seven years ago. Now you told me that this deal between the others was six years ago, so that means that Deanna Troy and Jadzia Dax both must have become Intendant within one year after you became Intendant. In the files from Kira Nerys that we read on Bajor, her first entry was five years ago. I was wondering, if there never was a female Intendant before you, then why suddenly appoint four female Intendants in two years?"

"Um, because Worf really likes a cat fight and hoped to see some in Intendant level? Kidding, just kidding." Torres thought back for a moment to how the situations were whenever one of the female Intendants was appointed. "Different reasons really.

"As I said, I was the first female Intendant. The only reason why I was appointed was because people who thought that they could push Worf around did too much pushing. Mind you, I'm glad that I became Intendant, but I know only too well that the only reason why I'm sitting here now is simply because I was a pawn in a power struggle. The Klingon Intendant before me died in an unlucky fall, broke his neck on a hunting trip and it took too long before help arrived; he was dead beyond the point of medical return. I know, it sounds convenient, and truth be known, nobody ever found out just what happened to him, which is why Worf appointed Martok head of the Securely Department once the whole mess with who the next Klingon Intendant was going to be was over. He wanted someone he could trust in that position.

"Anyway. There was one very obvious choice for the new Intendant, and it sure wasn't me. Hell, since I was a woman, my bid to become the next Intendant was first totally ignored. I actually had to go to Worf and complain about the fact that they didn't want to add my name to the list before I was added to that list. Sometimes being related to Worf is convenient, even if that relation is around ten corners. At least I did, and do, see Worf in person from time to time, and I could speak to him uninterrupted. I knew that I wasn't going to be the next Klingon Intendant, but I was pissed about the fact that women didn't stand a chance, so at least I wanted one woman's name on that damn list.

"But as I said, people thought that they could push Worf around, that he would simply do what they said because they were influential. Apparently they didn't know Worf as well as I know him. Half the high council, a lot of influential houses, all were working him to get this one candidate into the chair. One day, I happened to be with Worf when a delegation of the high council came in and demanded of Worf that he make his choice for the new Intendant. 'You want me to make a choice right now?' Worf said to them. 'Very well, you can have your choice, the new Klingon Intendant is going to be the only person who didn't try to persuade me to choose for them, Torres come here.'

"He appointed me right then and there, and told everyone that he had enough from them trying to play him. It was time that they remembered just who held the power on Kronos. He gave them a choice, either they would fully and loyally support me, or they would be killed and the names of their houses would scratched from the Klingon archives. So, here I am, Intendant Torres, the first female Intendant ever."

"Do you not have to worry about some of the high council members plotting against you?" Seven asked, she had thought that Torres had the full support of the Klingons.

"No I don't... or better said, no I don't anymore. You have to understand that the Klingons on the High Council aren't stupid, if they were, they wouldn't survive there for long. They knew that they had pushed Worf too far. Even if they got rid of me, there was no chance in hell that Worf would ever appoint one of their cronies. So they did the only smart thing that they could do, what Klingons have done for centuries if it suits them; rewrite history.

"Suddenly they started to turn the events in such a way that they helped me to power. Which they did, they just left out the little detail about why I came to power. They, and I, of course know that this is a load of bull, but it suits us all well. So we live that bull. Like it or not, I'm 'only' the Intendant, I can't afford to ignore the High Council members like Worf can. So, I am thankful to them for their 'support' in getting me the job, since I do need their support now. And they are loyal to me since it pays to have a thankful Intendant.

"As for the others, well. Dax was the next female Intendant. I don't know if you know this, but with the Trill it is the symbiont that is the actual Intendant, not the host. Before Jadzia Dax, Curzon Dax was the Trill Intendant. In fact, Dax was actually also the first Trill Intendant ever. Dax has been around so long that he...she... it, I guess it's it, actually lived all through the Sol slavery. It had just been implanted into its first host three hundred years ago when the Sol Empire conquered the Trill home world.

"Now, I must admit that I don't really know how this works, but for some reason, even someone as high as the Intendant doesn't have any power over which host they are going to implanted into next. So Dax has been a woman several times already. Until Jadzia, this meant the symbiont couldn't be an Intendant during the time the woman was its host. During those times, since the Intendant wasn't dead, just... unavailable... Dax's second or third would rule, depending on who the male was, and Dax would live a normal life."

"I did not know that the power could go to someone that is not an Intendant," Seven said confused.

"With any of the other factions it can't," Torres agreed. "But you see, the thing is that the first Intendant of a faction makes the rules that the other Intendants of that faction have to follow. Once those rules are set, they can only be changed by the Klingon Chancellor. Now, normally, even in the beginning with the first Intendants, people who want that job don't want to share it. So with all but one faction the first Intendants created the rules in such a way that they had absolute power. But Dax is smart now, and was smart then. It knew that there would be times that it wouldn't be able to rule as Intendant. So it made the rules in such a way that someone else could rule for it, temporarily, as long as the symbiont is alive."

"Which prevents the person that is ruling for it from killing it since this would mean that a new Intendant would have to be chosen," Seven said, indicating that she understood why Dax had made this rule.

"Right," Torres agreed. "And as an extra precaution, a person who has ruled in the Trill Intendant's name can never become a real Trill Intendant themselves, even if they only ruled for a few minutes.

"And so the strange rule of Intendant Dax had gone on. But then I came onto the scene. Suddenly the precedent of a female Intendant was created. So Curzon Dax appealed to Worf to have the Trill rules changed. Worf could certainly understand why Dax wanted the rules changed to where the Trill Intendant was simply the Trill Intendant, no matter whether male of female. Since it also simplified the rules a damn lot, Worf agreed.

"Now, at that time it was still Curzon Dax, and he thought that he would still have many years to live. He had just changed the rules to have them in place the next time Dax would be joined to a woman. But then Curzon died. Actually, he died on Risa while performing a fertility ritual. The Dax symbiont was joined to another host. The host chosen was a young woman who had achieved perfect scores on all the tests; Jadzia. So there you have your second female Intendant. Jadzia could become Intendant because I had become Intendant before her, and when it was time for a new Trill host for the Trill Intendant, they picked the person with the best scores for the tests; Jadzia.

"The third female Intendant was Deanna. And once again there was the precedent of me, and by then also Jadzia, which made it possible for a woman to take her chances. Deanna had taken over from her mother as head of the Troi enterprises, now her mother would pull back to perform the role of the family matriarch, while Deanna took care of the non-family related things, which is the custom on Betazed. The Trois have been the politically most influential family for a long time. Even the Intendants didn't dare to cross them.

"You can understand that once there were female Intendants, the Trois took their chance. They made a deal with the Intendant. He would step back and promote Deanna as his successor, and his family would be taken under the protective wing of the Troi family. Had he refused to step down, then a political battle would have erupted between the Trois and him. Now, granted, this might have destroyed the Troi family, but it would also certainly have destroyed him. So either way, his time as an Intendant was numbered. He made the smart choice and took the Trois' offer. Last thing I know he and his entire family have been very well taken care off, and Deanna does push the lucrative businesses his way from time to time.

"Then we have the last one; Kira. By the time she came to power there were already three other female Intendants, so gender really wasn't an issue anymore. Her selection was a simple standard process with nothing special going on. And last we now have Ro and Jetur, and you have seen how that came about.

"Does this answer your question?"

"Yes mistress, it does. But now I have a different question for you."

"Really, what?"

"When will we start the celebrating?"

"Celebrating?" Torres repeated, slightly confused by the sudden change of subject. Then she smiled, now knowing only too well what the blonde was talking about.

"Yes. You said that once we were back in the quarters, we would celebrate the fact that I stayed."

"Ah, that celebration," Torres said with a grin. "How about as soon as I finished my drink?"

"Acceptable," Seven stated while coming a little closer. "Mistress?"

"Yes?" Torres asked again while taking a very small and deliberately slow sip from her glass.

"Would I be out of line if I asked you to drink faster?"

"Yes you would," Torres said but still suddenly finishing the drink in a few big swallows. "As a matter of fact, I think I have to punish you for such impudence. Go into the bedroom, strip, and get on your hands and knees on the bed."

"Yes, mistress," Seven said while she got up and started to move to the bedroom.

Torres watched the blonde go and shook her head slightly with a small grin. She wondered how long it would be before the blonde who was following her order so willingly now, would have Torres begging and pleading. Torres got up and started to strip herself. While she entered the bedroom and saw the blonde waiting for her, she decided that she really didn't care. With so many hours still left in the day, she was sure both of them would be the one 'on top' more than once.

Chapter 3

"Hi," B'Elanna said while she entered her quarters. After the senior staff meeting to discuss the headway that was made in stabilizing one of the mining corridors, B'Elanna had gone back to Engineering while Annika had gone to their quarters to do some reading. "So, what is that mysterious reading that you were going to do?"

Annika looked up from the PADD and tilted her head slightly. B'Elanna thought that Annika looked absolutely adorable when she did that, not that B'Elanna was going to tell this to Annika of course.

"I never said that it was mysterious," Annika disagreed. "I merely said that I was going to do some reading."

"Yeah, well, since I don't know what it is, it's a mystery to me. So, what is it?"

"Starfleet procedures," Annika relented with a smile. "I may know front from aft, and starboard from port, but I didn't know the commands you normally use. I thought it would be quite convenient to know what a red alert really means."

"Good idea," B'Elanna agreed. "Especially since you might be calling them yourself in the future."

"With the emphasis on 'might.'"

B'Elanna decided to not try and convince Annika to take the job, knowing that the woman had a point in wanting to know how the ship felt about having her as Captain. "And?"

"I'm surprised."

"Surprised about what?" B'Elanna asked while she walked to the replicator to replicate some underwear along with some slacks and a t-shirt.

"About all the stuff that has to be done at a command. I'm used to the fact that I tell someone to go do this, and that person goes and does it. But here an order is given to one person and that same order might have an effect on someone on the lower decks as well."

"Well, yeah," B'Elanna agreed while walking to the shower. "Join me?"

"I thought you would never ask," Annika said while she walked into the bathroom.

"Yeah, yeah, you can hand me the towel again when I'm done."

The behavior had quickly formed while they were in the prison, talking while taking showers, and even now that the shower was actually in a different room, the behavior continued, neither of them really seeing a good reason to stop talking only because one of them was standing in the shower.

B'Elanna let Annika pass so that she could sit on the toilet seat, before she opened the shower door so that she could strip behind it.

Annika decided to not point out that though the door might obscure her view, she could still see the reflection of B'Elanna in the mirror above the sink if she wanted to. After thinking about it for a moment, Annika decided to keep her eyes firmly on the door, and not on the mirror. "I don't mean the obvious things, like how a red alert means that people might have to leave the place they are that the moment. But the simple things. Let's say on an away mission. If Tuvok goes on that mission, then someone of the Beta shift has to come in and take his place, and their place on the Beta shift is taken by someone else. And the position of that person is then more than likely filled by someone from the lower decks."

"True," B'Elanna agreed while stepping into the shower and opening the water. "I myself have three Engineers that are tagged for replacement duty. They had to leave Engineering more than once to fulfill other tasks."

"I don't like that," Annika said thoughtfully. "Engineers aren't people you should take away from where they are needed the most in case of an emergency."

B'Elanna adjusted the temperature of the water a little before reacting. "Well, it may look like that at first, but a lot of thought went into that. I mean, think about it for a moment. When do you need Engineers the most?"

"In case of an emergency, or when the ship is under attack," Annika replied.

"Right," B'Elanna agreed. "But the Senior Staff is not about to leave on an away mission at a time like that. So, the Engineers won't be called away then. The Engineers are only called away when they can be missed. And even if the Senior Staff would have to leave in the middle of a battle, they would call people other than the Engineers to take their places."

"Hmm, well, I guess that means that the next thing I have to read is the guidelines of summoning replacement personnel."

"Sounds like a good idea," B'Elanna agreed while shutting off the water and opening the door a little. "Do you think that this different way of ordering will be a problem for you, if you decide to do it? Towel please."

Annika handed B'Elanna one of the towels that lay always ready and waiting in the small bathroom replicator. "Here. No, I don't think it will be a problem, it just means that I would have to change my way of thinking a little. But I don't think that should be a problem. Anyway, to change the subject, are you hungry? I feel like doing some elaborate cooking to help me think about whether or not I actually want to do this."

B'Elanna stepped out of the shower with the towel wrapped securely around her and grinned. "Like I would say no to that."

A few minutes later, after B'Elanna had dressed, they moved to the kitchen area.

While Annika was busy creating some wonderful smelling food that made B'Elanna's mouth water, the Klingon looked at the kitchen unit with a halfway sad look on her face.

When Annika looked up from what she was doing for a moment she saw the expression on B'Elanna's face and asked, "What?" Before looking down again to the vegetables she was cutting. "It doesn't smell that bad, does it?"

"No!" B'Elanna was quick to assure. "It smells absolutely wonderful, I can't wait to taste it. No, I just..."

"You just... What?" Annika asked when B'Elanna didn't continue.

B'Elanna sighed, and then decided to say what was on her mind, despite the fact that she had told herself before that she wouldn't bring it up. "I was just thinking, it's really sad that once you are gone, this kitchen won't be used anymore."

Annika's eyes shot up at that and the knife was put down. "What do you mean, 'once I'm gone?'"

"Well," B'Elanna slowly started. She was mentally kicking herself, she knew that she should have stayed quiet, but now that was no longer an option. "Well, it's just that... Once... if, you become captain, you will be granted the captain's quarters to live in."

"Ah," Annika said, understanding, or so she thought. "Well, yeah, you are right, it will be a shame to leave these quarters now that we just changed everything. But, I don't like they layout on the Captain's quarters anyway. So, we can just copy the layout of these quarters there. I really would like a kitchen unit."

"I would love to help you with the redecorating before you move there," B'Elanna said lamely.

Annika was starting to get the feeling that something else was going on, but couldn't quite put her finger on it. "Well, I think that you should have a say in it too. Just like we did here. After all, it's going to be your place as well."

"No it won't," B'Elanna disagreed, and immediately wished that she had kept her big mouth shut.

"What? What are you talking about?" Annika asked, all thought of preparing food forgotten.

"Well, I mean. I would stay here, of course. Annika, the captain's quarters aren't shared quarters. If I would stay there, it would give the impression that we are in a relationship. The captain can't be seen having a weak spot like that."

"Weak spot?"

"Yeah, the captain has to be above having a personal life."

"You're nuts," Annika said while pointing at B'Elanna. "You are ready for the voluntary deep minding detail,"

"What's that supposed to mean?" B'Elanna interrupted.

"It means that you are nuts," Annika repeated. "Nobody volunteers for that unless they are absolutely crazy. Why the hell shouldn't I have a personal life if I were to become captain?"

"Captain Janeway,"

"I'm NOT Janeway!" Annika interrupted forcefully. "A Captain shouldn't be above love and compassion, a Captain should be able to do things despite being loving and compassionate. I'd be damned if I would give up the woman I love just so that I would be able to become Captain. As a matter of fact..." Annika put the knife down and slapped her communicator forcefully. "...Annika Hansen to Commander Chakotay."

"Chakotay here."

"Commander, I just wanted to inform you that I decided that I won't take the position of captain on this ship."

"I... See." Chakotay said slowly. "Is there any chance of you changing you mind on this?"

"None, I'll fill you in tomorrow, Annika out."

"You can't do that!" B'Elanna said bewildered.

Annika put both her hands firmly on the counter and looked at the Klingon with narrowed eyes. "I just did."

B'Elanna slapped her own communicator in irritation. "B'Elanna to Chakotay."

"Chakotay here," The voice came back with a trace of confusion in it.

"Commander, ignore that last conversation with Annika, she will take the Job. B'Elanna out."

Annika's eyes narrowed even more and once again, she slapped her own communicator. "Annika to Chakotay."

"Yes?" Chakotay now merely asked.

"Commander, I stand by my decision to not take command of this ship. And I would furthermore request that the next time you speak to B'Elanna, you tell her that she has no right to make my decisions for me. Annika out."

B'Elanna growled and leaned a little closer over the counter, now their faces were not more than a thirty centimeters (1 ft) apart. "B'Elanna to Chakotay."

"Yes, B'Elanna?" Chakotay asked, and now both women could clearly hear the trace of amusement in his voice.

"Next time you speak to Annika, could you please let her know that she should stop acting like a child? B'Elanna out."

"I should stop acting like a child?" Annika repeated.

"Yes, start acting like a grownup and do what's right," B'Elanna said with a growl.

Annika leaned even closer at that. "Acting like a grownup, and do what's right?"

"Yeah, that what I said," B'Elanna, also leaning a little closer.

Annika nodded her head a little. "Alright, I can do that." Suddenly she grabbed B'Elanna's T-shirt and pulled her closer still, closing the distance between them. "I think what I'm about to do is very right," She said softly before capturing B'Elanna's lips with her own.

"Feels very right too," B'Elanna said breathlessly after a moment before leaning in once more to share a long and very passionate kiss.

Annika moved from behind the kitchen unit so that she could get closer to B'Elanna. They had just started kissing again when they were interrupted.

"Chakotay to Annika and B'Elanna."

B'Elanna was the one to answer. "Yes?"

"I am about to go to the mess hall. Is there something you want to talk about before I go out and others can hear you?"

"Um, no."

"Alright. But are you able to tell me Annika's stand on taking the position of Captain?" Chakotay asked, and B'Elanna could tell that he was trying very hard not to chuckle.

"She hasn't accepted, nor has she declined. I'm sorry, Chakotay. Annika and I had a disagreement, I'm sorry we pulled you into it. It won't happen again."

"Alright. Have pleasant evening then, ladies. Chakotay out."

Annika and B'Elanna looked at each other for a moment, both of them smiling.

"Talk about lousy timing," B'Elanna finally said.

"Actually, I think it is a good thing he interrupted us," Annika said while moving back behind the counter. "I think it is time we had a little talk."

"Um, sure," B'Elanna said, not really knowing if she was going to like this conversation.

Annika moved back behind the kitchen unit, picked up her knife and started cutting the vegetables some more. "I know that I'm not making this easy for you, B'Elanna. I know that I'm testing your patience by teasing you and hinting that there can be more between us, but never actually giving you anything except some peeks at my naked body. Something, we both know isn't a real hardship for me. I could walk around naked on this ship and it wouldn't bother me."

"Yes, it would," B'Elanna disagreed. "It would irritate the hell out of you that everyone stopped doing their job every time you came walking by."

The both smiled at that. "True," Annika agreed, "you are right, that part of it would bother me."

B'Elanna sighed and decided to get back to the matter at hand. "Annika, I am a Klingon, and yes, I have healthy libido, but I don't want anything that you are not fully ready to give me. I enjoy the fact that you love to tease me, I really do like that, no matter how much it makes me groan. But I also know that you are not ready for more."

"I'm glad to hear that you understand me so well," Annika said with a smile. "But I really want to see us in a relationship in the near future. I'm not about to give that up for the fact of what position either of us will have in the chain of command."

"Yeah, but if you are Captain, I will have to follow your orders. Don't you think that will cause problems at some point?"

"I really don't see the problems you apparently see," Annika said while she put the knife down once more, she decided that the conversation needed her full attention. "You have been following my command for the last month, and there never was a single problem."

"Yeah, but that will be different here on the ship," B'Elanna said lamely.

"B'Elanna, if I don't accept the position of Captain, I will more then likely be posted in Engineering, under your command. Do you object to that as well?"

"That's different," B'Elanna could only repeat. Now that Annika was asking her these obvious things, B'Elanna herself didn't even really know what the problem was.

"Why's that different? If I have to follow your command in our professional life it's not a problem, but if you have to follow my command it suddenly is a problem?"

"No... Yes.... Well, no, but..."

"You know what I think the real problem is?" Annika asked, believing that she finally had figured it out. "I think the command thing isn't really the issue. I think that it's the name thing. It's the 'Captain.' You are so used to the fact that the Captain is this elevated command figure that is beyond reach, beyond even being able to have a simple conversation with that person without having to watch your word, that you just can't see yourself in a relationship with a Captain."

"Maybe you are right," B'Elanna agreed, wondering when she had lost the lead in the conversation. "Just thinking that I could be the Captain's girlfriend freaks me out."

"B'Elanna, forget about the Captain issue for a moment and answer me this honestly. I need this answer anyway, no matter what I do in the future. Can you see us together?"

"Yes." B'Elanna said immediately.

"Together as more than just friends, as lovers?"

"Yeah. I would really like that. But I know that you aren't ready for that yet," B'Elanna repeated. She really did want Annika to see that she understood this.

"Yet you are willing to give that up before it even happened?"

"If it is for the good of the ship, then yes. Annika, you have to understand, in the years that we are underway now, we have become Voyager. Voyager is no longer just a ship, it is an entity. Every single one of us would give their life to save the rest."

"But how would us two being in a relationship harm the ship?" Annika asked. She just couldn't see that. And she knew that B'Elanna also didn't see that, not really.

"It would undermine your position of Captain," B'Elanna said weakly.

"That's crap, and you know it," Annika shot back immediately before sighing. "Knowing that you and I live in the same set of quarters doesn't undermine my authority. Acting in a way not fit for a Captain would. Hell, if people know that we are in a relationship, and yet I can treat you like everyone else while we are on duty, it will actually enhance my position as a fair Captain. What would undermine my position would be if I would treat you differently from the rest, or if I would contact you from the bridge and ask you, 'honey, do you think you could get a little more power out of those engines for your baby,' that would undermine my authority."

B'Elanna had to laugh when she heard Annika talk about contacting her. She could just imagine standing in Engineering and hearing THAT question come over the communicator.

"Look, B'Elanna. I don't desperately want to become captain of this ship, I'm not indifferent to it, but it also isn't that I'm hoping with all my being that the outcome of the voting will be yes. You all are asking me to do that, and if enough people ask, I think I will do it, but on my terms. In the place where you come from your captains might be trained to want command no matter what the sacrifices, but I don't work that way. I'm not about to give you up, give us up, to take command, a command that you all are asking me to take.

"If you want me to be your captain, than you have to take me the way I am. And I am very interested in a woman with whom I want to be in a relationship. Let's be honest, with who I AM in a relationship. The fact that we don't make love doesn't change the fact that for all intents and purposes we are already girlfriends."

"Yeah, but once we do make love,"

"This would change how?" Annika interrupted. "At this point you can take my orders on duty, and yet not be my subordinate when we are alone. Why do you think that would change once we do become lovers? I really don't understand that, B'Elanna. Why is it okay if we are in these quarters and play chess for five hours, but it wouldn't be okay if we used some of that time differently. The others don't know what we do in here. All they know is that we are in the same set of rooms. Explain to me, how me knowing what you sound like in ecstasy prevents me from being you Captain."

After a moment of silence, the only answer B'Elanna could give was; "Damn you."

"Well, damn you too," Annika replied with a smile. "At least we are damned together."

"Why do you have to make this so complicated?" B'Elanna asked with a growl.

"I'm not," Annika disagreed. "You are the one making this complicated. All I'm doing is refuting every statement you make, showing you that it is just a lot of crap and not the real issue. First it was that a captain should not have a private life. Then it was that being seen as the captain's girlfriend freaked you out. Yet I was easily able to steer you away from that without truly talking about it, and you never came back to it. So that can't be that much of a problem either. Tell me, B'Elanna. What is the real problem?"

B'Elanna pushed away from the counter and stalked over to the dinner table that stood two meter away from the counter. She dropped down in the chair that she normally sat in during dinner and sighed. "The fact that I would be the captain's girlfriend really does freak me out. You could steer me away from that issue because all that you say makes so much damn sense."

"Then what is it? B'Elanna, talk to me, tell me what the real problem is. I want to work this out. I don't want to worry about if I may lose you, I don't want to lose the best thing that ever happened to me in my entire life."

"You say that you don't want to lose me, but it might be that you have to choose the ship over me."

"I know that. While I don't want to lose you, I would, if it is needed, also not hesitate to give you an order that could mean your death." After a second of silence, Annika added the question she knew had to be on B'Elanna's mind. "How I would be able to do that you wonder?"

B'Elanna nodded her head to indicate that Annika had guessed right.

"It's surprisingly simple. Because I know, if I would not do it, I would still lose you. You could never stay with me if I had chosen you over the life of your friends, over the rest of the crew. Is that what you are worries about? B'Elanna, I can't promise you that I won't put your wellbeing over my own in our private life. But I can promise you that this will ONLY be in the private life. While on duty, I will be your captain, I will ask the same sacrifices from you that I will ask from any other person on this ship."

B'Elanna gave Annika a smile. "It was a very big part of it."

"If it is a big part of it, than what is the rest?" Annika pressed on.

"It's stupid," B'Elanna merely sighed.

"B'Elanna, don't have secrets from me. Talk to me."

B'Elanna gave a small chuckle at hearing that. "Funny, you just brought up the very point."

"Secrets?" Annika asked.

"Dishonesty," B'Elanna corrected. "I want honesty from my partner. That is one of the reasons why things didn't work out between Tom and me. He lied to me. Oh, not about big things, but he never understood that the small things he lied about did more damage to our relationship that one big lie could ever have. If I asked his opinion on something, he more than once gave the answer he thought I wanted to hear, not the answer he really would have liked to give. And if I asked him what was bothering him, I got back a 'nothing, I'm fine.' While this might work in a relationship with another full human, it doesn't work with me."

Annika also walked over to the table and sat down in her own chair, "Sometimes people have to work out their problems for themselves, and not even you as the partner can help them."

B'Elanna waved her hand as if brushing something away. "I don't mind that. But then simply tell me that it is something you have to work out for yourself, don't lie to me and say 'I'm fine.'"

"Alright, I won't," Annika said with a smile, even though she knew that B'Elanna had talked about general behavior, and not about Annika specifically.

B'Elanna returned the smile with one of her own. "But you see, Annika, as Captain, you will have to lie to me, you will have secrets from me. There will be things that you as Captain can't tell anyone, not even your partner."

"I would tell you," Annika disagreed softly. "I won't have secrets from you, I won't have secrets from my partner. I don't care one bit about what those regulations say I can't tell you, I would still do it. But, you will have to be up to the task. I will tell you things the others aren't allowed to know, but I will also trust you to not tell anybody else. If I tell you, 'this stays between us,' then I have to be able to trust that it will indeed stay between us. Are you up to that?"

B'Elanna thought about that for a moment. "Yeah, I think I'm up to it."

"Think, is not good enough, B'Elanna."

"You are right," B'Elanna agreed. "Yeah, I KNOW I am up to that."

Annika reached over the table and took hold of one of B'Elanna's hands. "But B'Elanna, there is one exception. If a person tells me something private about themselves, I will uphold that privacy. I do this now already. This has nothing to be with being captain, but with the person I am. I want people to feel comfortable to tell me things that are bothering them, that are influencing them and their work. If someone will tell me a personal problem, it will stay personal, and I won't even tell you."

B'Elanna reached over the table with her second hand, right away getting Annika's second hand to hold. "Alright, that's fair enough."

Annika looked B'Elanna in the eyes for a moment before asking, "So, if I do take the job, would you mind being in a relationship with the captain of the ship?"

B'Elanna held the gaze for a long moment while setting her mind. Finally she said with full sincerity, "It would be my honor to be the captain's partner."

"This won't be a silent thing, B'Elanna. Every person on this ship will know. Do you mind that?"

"Do you?" B'Elanna asked, not really answering the question.

Annika laughed at the question. "Would I mind? B'Elanna, I was just ready to turn down being Captain, just so that I could be with you. Do you really think that I would hide our relationship? I'm proud that you want to be my partner, and I would be honored to call you my partner in front of others."

B'Elanna smiled and after a moment she let go of one of Annika's hands so that she could activate her communicator. "B'Elanna to Chakotay."

"Chakotay here."

"Chakotay, are you in the mess hall by now?"

"Yes, and there are about twenty people here. You want me to go somewhere private?"

B'Elanna brought Annika's second hand to her lips and placed a kiss on the knuckles before speaking to Chakotay again. "No, no need. I just wanted to ask you to let people know, before they hand in their choice tomorrow on Annika becoming captain, that the captain will continue to share her quarters with the Chief Engineer, and that we are involved in a romantic relationship. The people that have a problem with that should vote 'no' to Annika becoming captain, because we aren't going to give that up."

Now Chakotay actually did chuckle before answering. "I will send out a ship wide note. But I have a feeling that I will only be spreading news that people already know. For some strange reason nobody but me is still talking here. Seems that they suddenly really like the food. Chakotay out."

Annika let go of B'Elanna's hand and leaned back with a smile. "Guess you truly are over having trouble with being my partner. Good."

"I am," B'Elanna agreed. "That's another thing you better learn really fast about me; I'm not into doing things halfway."

"And that also go for our relationship?" Annika asked.

"More than anything else," B'Elanna answered softly. "Also one of the reasons why I was willing to end this now if it was needed. I don't do relationships in a 'kinda' way. If I did, I would still be with Tom."

"I'm glad to hear that. I really want to make this work. Be patient with me, B'Elanna. I promise you, once I am ready to go all the way, I'll make it all worthwhile for you."

"Annika, stop worrying about where you are giving me enough to keep me interested in you. I enjoy every minute I spend with you, I feel more at ease with you that I ever did with my lovers. Even if what we have now would be all I could hope for, I would gladly settle for it."

"As long as it wouldn't be at the expense of the ship, right?" Annika more added than asked.

"Right." B'Elanna agreed.

"Well, as I said, give me time and you won't have to settle."

"You got all the time you need, and talking about settling," B'Elanna said, knowing it was time to change the subject. "Now that we settled the fact that you will move, and I will move with you, if you take the job... are we going to get some food today yet?"

Annika stood up, but instead of walking back to the kitchen unit, she walked around the table to B'Elanna. Annika sat down on B'Elanna's lap, which was a little bit of a squeeze since the table was a little in the way. But that was okay, Annika liked how it made her body mold to that of B'Elanna. "B'Elanna, I'm not ready yet to make love to you," Annika repeated.

"I know," B'Elanna agreed while she put her hands around Annika. It was an automatic reaction which she had no control over. Not that B'Elanna really tried to control it. The woman had sat down on her lap, chances were that she actually wanted to feel B'Elanna's arms around her.

"But," Annika continued. "When we were standing at that counter I noticed something."

"What?" B'Elanna asked hoping really hard that Annika was going to say what B'Elanna wanted to hear.

"I noticed that I really, really like kissing you. I would love to be able to kiss you."

"I would like that as well," B'Elanna said breathlessly. "I would really like to simply kiss you when ever I feel like it."

"You feel like it a lot?" Annika asked, bringing her lips within a fraction from B'Elanna's.

"Almost all the time when we are alone," B'Elanna admitted. "When I see you making something to eat for us, and I really have to hold myself back from leaning over and kissing you to thank you for it. Or when we are discussing a problem with Voyager, I would really love to kiss you and say 'you are right', instead of only nodding my head in agreement."

"B'Elanna?"

"Yes?"

"Shut up and kiss me."

And so, B'Elanna did.

***

"Torres, it is good to see you again," Deanna said while she stepped off the transporter.

"It is good to see you too," Torres said while returning the hug that Deanna was now giving her.

Jadzia also stepped down and gave Torres a hug. "It has been too long."

Seven looked at how the two women hugged Torres and a certain feeling of irritation started to grow. While she had seen people touch the Intendant before, it was not that common. Generally Martok was the only one to be close enough to Torres to touch her on a regular basis. To then suddenly see these women touch Torres in a way Seven normally only did, it ticked Seven off, despite the fact that she knew that she had nothing to fear from these women.

"She is very possessive of you, isn't she?" Deanna suddenly asked Torres while looking at Seven. "She doesn't like the fact that we are touching you, and I don't need my empathic abilities to see that."

"Hmm," Torres agreed, "we have to work a little more on that. But having said that, she has every right to be possessive of me, I want her to be possessive of me." Torres knew that she would never be able to hide from Deanna, and therefore by extension Jadzia, how she felt about Seven. Best to just acknowledge it and get it over with. Which was also why nobody else was in the transporter room. "As Intendant you don't make someone into your body slave if that person is just another slave for you."

"True," Jadzia agreed. "As far as I know, Curzon Dax was the last Intendant to have a body slave. He ended up having to kill her."

"Why?" Torres asked, while she moved out of the room and into the corridor.

"She deceived him. She thought that getting freedom was only a matter of having enough credits, even if she was a slave. She used Curzon's name to make some deals, she just didn't figure on him finding out long before she could actually make a profit from those deals. Pity really, I wouldn't have minded keeping her around. She was trained on Risa for five years before he bought her."

"Deals or not," Torres said. "She can't have been too smart, it is commonly known there is no way that she could have actually taken possession of those credits. She had no name, and therefore no account."

Jadzia laughed, "I never said that she was smart; I said that she was good. No, I think that actually was her biggest problem. Oh, she wasn't stupid, after all, if she had been stupid, I would never have made her my body slave, but certainly not smart enough to actually be able to pull off her plans. She just thought she was."

They were quiet for a few minutes until they walked into Torres' quarters.

Seven was glad to see that no matter how close the women were to Torres, even they weren't brought into the private part of the quarters. Seven suspected that these women didn't even know that there was a second, more private part to the quarters. By now, Seven knew the official part just as well as the private part, and she also knew that the official part existed out of a full set of quarters, including a bedroom.

While they were on their way to meet the two Intendants, Torres had told Seven that the two women had never slept in the bed that Seven was now sharing with Torres. They had sex in the bed of the official quarters. Seven was glad for this, and had said as much to Torres. Glad for the fact that she truly was the first women ever that shared the bed that Torres actually slept in.

"My pet, get us something to drink please," Torres said before asking the two women, "Still the same?"

Both women nodded their head and Seven went to the replicator, having been told by Torres what the two women used to drink the last time Torres saw them.

"Well. That is something I don't have to worry about," Torres continued the conversation from a moment before. "See, my pet is actually smart enough to be able to pull that of. That is why I said the 'commonly known.'"

"Impossible," Jadzia said right away.

"Mmhmm," Torres hummed in agreement. "That is what I thought too, until my pet showed me otherwise yesterday. We had a conversation about slaves and how we made sure that they couldn't really do things without us masters knowing about it. And she, being her stubborn self, disagreed. So, I had her prove to me that slaves can indeed set up an account."

Now it was Deanna who asked the question. "They can?"

Seven offered the two women their drink and, when she came back from getting Torres' and her own drink, she was about to kneel beside Torres when she was stopped with a single word.

"Couch."

Seven understood and sat down on the couch beside Torres.

"Yes, they can, if they are smart enough. My pet here set up a fully functional account in less than one hour." Well, thirty minutes was less than one hour, wasn't it?

"How the hell is that possible?" Jadzia asked.

"Explain it, my pet," Torres said, wanting to get as fast as possible through the problem of all of them talking through Torres, instead of straight to each other.

"Yes, mistress. The mistake that most people make is to set up an account and then try to hide it from the automated scans of the financial system. Not understanding that if it truly was so simple than the scan system would never have been installed. The system is designed for exactly this thing."

"Then how get around it?" Deanna asked, having a good feeling that she knew why Torres had told the slave to speak up.

"By not hiding the account. Make it seem as if it is just one of many, make some transitions that are actually bound to draw the attention of the scanning program."

"Hiding in the open," Jadzia said thoughtfully. "If someone checks the scanning program's log, they will think that the account is a legit one, since if it was an illegitimate account, surely those transactions would have been hidden better. That could work, but the scan would still make it clear that the account only 'jumped' into existence a few days before, at most."

"True," Seven agreed. "Therefore, most work does not go into setting up the account, but into creating a history. For the account I set up, I created a history that could be tracked back to the creation date of the Coalition."

"Including all the right backdating of course," Torres added. "And she didn't just 'create' the account, she made is seem as if it had been in use for all the time of its existence. Adding and removing credits, making sure that it the amount of credits change, making it seem as if the amount of credits on the account is the result of a family being good in handling their credits and finally being able to build up an saving of six million credits."

"So, what stops her from getting out of here as fast as she can?" Jadzia asked.

"Jadzia," Deanna interrupted, "Torres doesn't have to worry about that. Torres is very lucky, she found a slave that has actually fallen in love with her."

"However," Seven said, knowing that her feelings would be enough for Deanna, who could sense what she felt for the Intendant, but not enough for Jadzia, who would wonder about the ulterior motives. "Even if I did not love my mistress, it would still be in my best interest to be at her side."

"Why?" Jadzia asked. She knew why it would be better for the slave to be with Torres, but she wanted to know if the blonde knew it, her own... or better said, Curzon's body slave, hadn't understood just how good her life had been with the Trill.

"If I were to leave her, I would be nothing more than a slave on the run, even if I could use the credits in the account I created, I would still have to hide, still have to worry every minute that I could be captured and my freedom taken away from me. But if I stay at my mistress' side, I have a warm bed to sleep in, good food every day, and more power and freedom than most free people in the Coalition."

"Interesting," Jadzia said thoughtfully. "Most people, and certainly almost every slave, would never understand just how much freedom you truly have."

"True," Deanna agreed. "Most see as the most important thing that they are free and can pick up and move out when ever they want. But in reality, how many people truly do that? Even if they aren't in long contracts that they have to serve out. They still stick with the same lousy job they have, keep living on the same planet, in the same lousy apartment. But, hey, they are 'free.'"

"Indeed," Seven could only agree. Even in her own universe people had normally only moved to different places in the Federation if they or their family were posted somewhere else by Starfleet.

"Not to be one to look at things pessimistically," Jadzia said thoughtfully, "but aren't you afraid that this will open you to being influenced?"

"By Seven?" Torres asked. "Sure she will influence me, but even a slave that I hated could influence me, if she knew how to play me. Just make it seem that she wanted me to do one thing, because she would know I would do the opposite to spite her. At least with Seven I will know that I'm doing something she wants me to do."

Jadzia shook her head slightly. "No, I mean by someone using her to influence you. One of the reasons why most people don't try to influence us Intendants by force is since there is nothing higher than us, nobody that can give in to their demands to save us. But what if... Well, say that I was to put a disrupter to her head and tell you to lower the tax on Trill products, or else I would kill her?"

Torres grinned, knowing that Jadzia was truly only asking out of curiosity and not because the Trill would truly ever be so stupid to actually try that. "Well, if you were to put a disrupter against her head... she would kick your ass. She is a lot more than 'just' a human slave. How much more, we are keeping silent so that people will underestimate her. They would think that a group of four would be more than enough to overpower the helpless slave, the mere human. Not knowing that even if they had come with a group of ten people, my pet could sweep the floor with them.

"That is what would happen if someone was to only try something. But let's assume that you succeeded in taking my pet away from me, and then did kill her. Well, if you were to do something as stupid as that... I would eradicate every fucking Trill in existence. And you would be the last to die, knowing that your action would have resulted in every Trill that lived being killed."

Jadzia looked at Torres with wide eyes, she saw that Torres' grin had changed from being amused to something even the Trill Intendant took as a warning. Knowing that she didn't have much to fear since it was clear to both of them that she was only doing a 'what if,' she merely said; "You're bluffing."

"No she isn't," Deanna spoke up. "She is being fully sincere."

It was quiet for a moment when all of them, even Torres herself, contemplated just how far she would go if someone were to take Seven away from her. It was one thing to think you would do something, but to actually hear Deanna tell her that she would truly do what she thought she would do, made even Torres understand just how deep her feelings for the blonde were.

"But," Torres finally said into the silence that was slowly becoming uncomfortable. "I would kill all the Trill because you as their Intendant had done this. I wouldn't kill all Trill if some unknown person from some unknown colony had killed my pet. If that were to happen, I would do the same on a scaled down level. If it was some person with no power, with nothing but a grudge, I would eradicate the city they came from. If some colony administrator were to do it, I would eradicate the entire colony, and every friend, family, or acquaintance that didn't live in the colony."

All of them were quiet once more after that, until Deanna finally asked, "You know something, Torres? You truly know how to bring the mood down."

Torres laughed at that. "That's what you get for talking about taking away something that's mine. Alright, let's change the subject. You both interested in lunch?"

"Sure," Jadzia said right away and before Torres could add, "We'll be sitting at a table with four chairs."

Deanna and Jadzia looked at each other for a moment, both knowing that they still could decline the dinner if they wanted to, knowing that Torres would not hold it against them. Finally it was Deanna who answered for the both of them. "That's fine with us, as long as you don't have us eating that Klingon stuff again that you put in front of us last time."

"Gagh you mean?" Torres asked. "Why? What was wrong with it? I thought it tasted great, I noticed that you both only ate the other stuff, never touching the Gagh."

"I didn't eat it in sympathy of Jadzia," Deanna explained.

"I'm not following," Torres was forced to admit.

Jadzia put her hand on her belly before speaking up, indicating the symbiont living there. "Torres, considering who I am, eating living worms seems a little too much like cannibalism to me."

Torres thought about that got a second before bursting out laughing. "I never thought of that. Alright, no Gagh, you can make the selection this time."

Chapter 4

He didn't have eye for the beautiful nature around him. All he knew was that he had to hurry. He knew that they were closing in on him. He knew that he had only once chance to get safe. Once he was safe he was sure that he could send out the messages to clear it all up, once he was safe they would listen. Surely they would.

He stumbled over a tree root and while trying to regain his balance, stepped with his second foot deeply into the wet mud.

"Damn," He cursed while trying to pull his foot free. But a few simple tugs didn't do it. He was stuck deep in the mud. Finally when putting all his strength behind it, he managed to pull free. But unfortunately he had pulled so hard that he lost his footing on the tree root again and fell face forward into the mud. "Damn it all!"

Then he saw something through the threes that he hadn't been able to see while standing. Now, lying down he could just see a roof through a hole in the trees. He knew that this was what he had been looking for. It was sooo close. Much closer than he had dared to hope. Only five more minutes and he would be safely inside a Trill sanctuary. Being that there were several Trill at the top, Trill sanctuaries were the only safe place that was recognized by 'them.'

With renewed hope he tried to get up. Just five more minutes. But just as he had crawled onto his hands and knees, he felt a boot on his back pushing him firmly back into the mud.

"Did you really think you could get away from us, from me?"

"Bejal Mingan," The Ferengi sputtered through the mud that was seeping into his mouth.

"I'm so honored that you remember me, Vash," The man holding him down said mockingly. "Here I thought that you had developed an extreme case of forgetfulness. After all, you also forgot to pay me back. I thought you Ferengies were smarter than that. You don't loan credits from us and than don't pay it back. Your first installment was due last week, but I didn't see any credits."

"Bejal, you get your credits back, including the interest. I'll... I'll even pay you twenty-five percent instead of the twenty you asked."

"Will the miracles never end? A Ferengi who offers more credits than asked of him? I have no interest in your empty words, Vash. If you couldn't pay me my twenty percent, you certainly won't be able to pay me my twenty-five percent. I really hate it when I don't get my credits, and yours was the biggest loan I ever wrote out. Maybe that was my mistake, trusting your name like that, one doesn't trust a Ferengi. What have you done with it, Vash? You told me that you were going to buy into that star base. I liked the idea of having a star base under syndicate control. I was actually looking forward to buying into more bases. But imagine my surprise when I found out that a Bajoran had bought into the star base instead of you."

Bejal had allowed Vash to crawl back onto his hands and knees, but now Bejal once more pushed him back into the mud. "Where, are, my, credits, Vash?" Bejal asked, pushing the Ferengi's face into the mud with every word.

"I... I did invest it Bejal. I invested it into something that will bring a lot more profit on a much shorter base."

"Go on," The Trill merely said.

"Remember how I told you that being part owner of that base would bring three million credits every year? Bejal, I saw a deal that will make me half a billion credits in five years."

"What did you do?"

"I invested the credits into buying a moon. I..."

"A moon?!" Bejal shouted. "You loaned that amount of credits from me to buy a damn moon? You damn Ferengies with your love for damn moons to retire on. You are going to die Vash, and it's going to hurt. It's going to hurt for a long, long time. It will be hours before I'm through with you."

"NO. No, Bejal, you don't understand. This isn't about the moon, but about what's on it. There lives a species on the moon. It is so close to the humans in appearance and makeup that you need a DNA scan to see the difference."

"So? There are several races that look just like humans, just like there are several races that look just like the Vulcans, the Romulans come to mind here. That is why there is an automated DNA on every damn entrance to every damn ship or damn star base, and every time you beam somewhere your DNA is scanned as well. Everyone knows this."

"True," Vash was forced to agree. "But not every place has scanners. There are places that don't care where the slaves come from, as you know, since you normally deliver slaves to those. Normally people from those other look-alike races can't be used because their government would complain to their people being sold into slavery. But Bejal, that is the beauty of this moon. There is no government. This moon has been a private position for as long as the coalition exists, been in the same family for all that time. The people on it never thought about getting official status since their 'government' was the family that owned the moon.

"But now I own the moon. There is no government that can complain as I sell them off into slavery. It is perfect Bejal. So that I don't flood the marked and people wonder where all my slaves come from, I will sell them over a five year time frame. At the end I will have made half a billion, and I can sell the moon again for the same price that I bought it for."

"Hmm, that does sound interesting," Bejal agreed. "You just made one small mistake. You see, since you didn't pay me on time, that moon is now mine, and I'll be making that half billion."

"What? Surely you don't think that I'll just sign over a PADD worth half a billion to you? Come on Bejal, surely we can reach a deal here."

"So the contract for the moon is still only on a PADD? Perfect. Hand me that PADD and I will think about actually letting you live."

"How stupid do you think I am? If I give you that PADD, I have nothing left to deal with and you will kill me."

Before Vash could even try to react, Bejal had pushed him into the mud once more and grabbed one of his arms, pulling it back until Vash screamed from the pain. "You seem to forget, my dear Vash, that I know that a PADD is always signed with a thumb print. That means that I can cut off eight of your fingers before I might cut off the one you used to sign the PADD." Bejal flipped a knife suddenly from apparently nowhere and cut Vash's pinky until he reached the bone. "Now, my good friend Vash, this one I'm going to cut off simply because I can, and because I like doing it. Then I'm going to ask you where the pad is. After that I'll continue to cut until you sign the PADD over to me.

"And once I have done that I will decide just how I'm going to kill you. Am I'm going to do it slow and painful, or am I'm going to do it very slow and very painful. I haven't decided about that part yet. Why am I going to kill you regardless you wonder? Well because you didn't pay on time. Nobody doesn't pay on time and continues to live. All you had to do was come to me and tell me about your changed plan. Sure I would have asked more. I would have probably taken half. But you see, you would have still had the other half, you would have continued to live. But now, now you are going to die. Slow, painful."

For a long time the painful screams of a dying Ferengi continued to fill the beautiful nature.

***

"So what's so special about this planet?" Chakotay asked, more in an effort to make small talk than truly hear a lengthy explanation. He had been at the senior staff meeting after all, he had heard Annika explain the very thing he was now asking her.

"Well, since it's a class J gas giant we really can't go hide in some mine corridor," Annika said with a smile. She was glad to actually be able to talk a little. It was her first day as Acting Captain of Voyager, and she had quickly found out that it was surprisingly boring, doing nothing more than sitting and looking at the view-screen for hours. "It's more a good place to run to than actually hide. The outer one third of the planet is quite safe to travel through, except for storms that will tear any ship to shreds that has shielding that is less strong than Voyager's. It's the inner two thirds you have to watch out for. The closer to the center you get, the higher the radiation ratings get."

"But we can survive there?" Chakotay asked.

"Yeah. Those Borg enhanced Federation shields are some of the best inside Coalition space. Oh, there are stronger shields out there, but the shields of this ship do so much more than just stop weapon fire. If we ever have some ships on our tail that we can't shake, we can fly into the atmosphere of the gas giant and have them follow us. While we can safely navigate there, their sensors will be blinded by the radiation affecting their instruments. Quite some years ago, even before I became a master slave, I had to work on a ship that had flown into the atmosphere while following a smugglers ship. The smugglers were destroyed by the planet's atmosphere, and the Klingon Battle cruiser only barely survived."

"But instead of assuming that we will be fine, you want to check it?"

"Right," Annika agreed. "Better now while we have the time to send in a probe, than when we have several ships on our tail." Annika sighed and after a moment asked, "What the hell do you people normally do during a shift? As master slave I was busy all the time, working, doing things I didn't trust others with. But here I'm just looking at a screen showing the stars."

Chakotay chuckled at the slightly frustrated tone in Annika's voice. "Well, normally the captain took an hour in the seat in the mornings, talking