Chapter 30
The reign of One of Many, née Annika Hansen; Queen of Borg.
Year 00, Month 06, Day 17, Hour 23, Minute 37.
She hesitated in front of the door; it was late. Finally, deciding that she would want to see Pagsha no matter what time it was if things had been reversed, she activated the door chime. Three seconds later the door opened and a clearly nervous Pagsha was looking up at her.
"You're out of sickbay," Pagsha stated the very obvious.
"Yeah, I have to go back tomorrow for some tests, but I was discharged ten minutes and twelve seconds ago." Katzi could clearly see that Pagsha's eyes had come to rest on the Zamonan's now artificial eye.
Hearing the precise time, Pagsha chuckled. "That internal chronometer is a very convenient tool, isn't it? But just wait until you're waiting for something and that same chronometer tells you that only four minutes passed since the last check of the time."
It made clear to Katzi that this had been exactly what Pagsha had been doing. "May I come in?" Katzi finally asked.
"Oh, crap, of course. Please, come in."
Pagsha stepped aside to let Katzi enter. Once the door was closed she continued, "I wanted to come and see you, be at your side when... changes were made, but I guessed that you didn't want me there."
Katzi chuckled and set down on the couch. "Pagsha, let me give you the first lesson from the textbook, 'how to handle my warrior.' When we warriors get hurt... it only itches. When we're almost bleeding to death... it's just a scratch. And when we have to go through surgery, never will we drop our tough image and actually act like a baby, crying that we want our lover to come hold our hand."
"Ah," Pagsha said with a smile as she sat down beside Katzi. "So in other words, I just have to simply come by myself. Simply ignore your 'it's nothing' and be worried for the both of us?"
"Right, and then go through the motions of me telling you that it's alright for you to go and do other stuff. And finally me reluctantly allowing you to stay... because make no mistake; in reality we warriors want nothing more than to have you right there, holding our hand, telling us how everything is going to be alright."
"I'll keep that in mind and happily override any objections you might have next time," Pagsha said with a grin.
Then she sighed, knowing that it was time to bring up the subject they had to talk about eventually. "Congratulations on becoming a Royal Guard."
"Thanks," Katzi said with a smile before sighing herself and asking, "Pagsha, do you feel that I should have talked with you first before going ahead and getting such extensive modifications done to my body?"
Of course, Katzi didn't have to describe just what the modifications were, since Pagsha's position as First Officer meant that she already knew.
"No, of course not. It's your body, you can do with it whatever you want."
"You are wrong. I told you before; I'm yours. My body belongs to you and you deserve the right to have a say in what I do with my body."
"If that's so, than why didn't you talk to me first?"
"Pagsha, before I answer that, you answer me this question... would you have objected? Is there something that you would have wanted to not be changed? My eye, the arm?"
Pagsha sighed. "No. No there isn't anything. I don't mind, I really don't. In fact, I have a feeling that I'll find it incredibly sexy to see that stomach of yours, those muscles moving behind the abdominal implant. No, there isn't anything I would have asked you not to do. It's just... a girl likes to be asked, you know? I mean, it IS your body, and I do want to have a dominant partner that makes decisions, but a 'what do you think' would have been nice."
Katzi lowered her eyes and looked at her hands. "I kinda did that on purpose. I knew... hoped... that you would accept my choice, but wanted to do it this way so that I could see your reaction. I didn't want to try and convince you to let me do this, because. I wanted to do this and see if you can accept me, without knowing why I did this."
"And why did you do this?" Pagsha wondered. "Katzi, the modifications done to your body... they are the most extensive ones willingly done to any of the Individualist drones. Sure there are some drones that had quite some work done to them to get them back to looking the way they once did. But there it was a matter of the modifications being needed to get them to look again like they once did. So why?"
"The same reason that made the Borg themselves suggest me as one of the drones for Royal Guard; my life's ambition." Katzi finally looked up again and into the eyes of her concerned lover.
"As far as I can remember, back even before I started schooling, I only wanted to be one thing. All the training I did my entire life. All the sweat, the work... the pain. I became so damn good at being a warrior for only one reason. I wanted to become a Royal Guard. I wanted to be trusted with the protection of the life of our Queen. I wanted to be there, stand guard, so that our Queen could live in safety. For all my life I just wanted to be one thing. I wanted to be... a Royal Guard."
"And now you are," Pagsha said, now in complete understanding.
"And now I am," Katzi agreed before giving a small smirk. "It's a slightly different Queen than I had expected, but."
"I think you'll like it, even besides the fact that you always wanted this," Pagsha assured. "The Zamonan Royal Guards... they are mostly just ceremonial. Sure, they might be the best warriors you Zamonan have, but just what are they really protecting the Queen from? The Queen is in complete control, has no internal enemies, and is greatly loved by your people. The only thing that those guards do is protect the Queen from the occasional mental case that thinks that killing the Queen might be a good thing because the voices said so. But your guard duties... you'll be protecting the Borg Queen. You'll be there when she goes and talks to people that might think that killing her is a good idea because the Borg are still seen as a threat. There's nothing ceremonial about your job."
"I can't wait," Katzi said with clear excitement. "Just the idea of standing there, knowing that I'm the one trusted to protect the Queen. Out of trillions of people, I was one of the four names the Borg themselves suggested for Royal Guards. That of all the drones, they trusted me with the life of their Queen... You know, now I finally understand the saying 'better than sex.' I always thought that people that said that were nuts, nothing could be better than sex. But it is. It really is better than sex."
A small grin and a very deliberate drifting of eyes. "Still isn't better than making love though. It beats sex, but can't touch making love."
Seeing Katzi's drifting eyes, Pagsha did the same, let her eyes drift over Katzi's body before shyly asking, "Can I see you? See what you look like now?"
"Sure," Katzi said while standing up and making quick work of stripping out of the body armor she had been wearing. She saw no reason to be shy in front of the woman she had made love to several times already.
"Oh my," Pagsha said as she stood up as well and looked at the tall body of her lover. Her eyes were immediately drawn by the abdominal implant. She placed a hand against it, following one of the metal bands with a finger while letting the rest of the fingers trail along the flesh on either side of the band.
"Oh yeah, I think I'm going to like this," Pagsha said as her finger went from the metal band over one of the so clearly defined abs to another band. "Damn woman, seeing you makes me so fucking hot."
It was at that time that her eyes caught the flash of color on Katzi's arm. Frowning she took the arm and turned it a little so that she could have a better look at the wonderfully decorated cover plate. The colors were words, she realized. And when her brain registered the two bold words in the middle, written in Pagsha's own language, Pagsha gasped and covered her mouth with a hand.
"Oh Katzi."
"I told you, I'm yours."
There, in bold red, for all to see, were the two words that meant as much to Katzi as her new position as Royal Guard.
'Pagsha's Property.'
To most it might seem like an inside joke, but to Katzi it wasn't. To her it was just the proof of something she had said several times already. She belonged to Pagsha.
"I'm yours and don't mind admitting that. I may be the dominant one in this relationship, but I want there to be absolutely no mistake about who owns me. Besides, I found it kinda fitting. I remembered how you told me that the women on your Homeworld weren't allowed to have property. I wanted all to know that you own something that nobody else in the Universe owns; me. I may gave my services to the Borg, I may even die for the Borg if it ever comes to that, but 'you' own me. I,"
"Katzi, if you don't stop speaking right now and take me to bed, I swear that I'm going to jump your bones right here on the couch."
~~~~~~~~~~{}~~~~~~~~~~
It was later when Pagsha was lying where she liked to lie; in the strong arms of her lover. They were very, very, sated. They were also tired, sweaty, and they really needed a bath to wash away the sweat... and other bodily fluids. But for the moment they were blissfully ignoring that and simply concentrating on the great feeling of being together.
"It's beautiful," Pagsha said as she followed the lines of the boldly written words with her finger.
Normally gray colored Duranium had been polished so much that the cover plate now was shiny silver in color. Pagsha's language was written, and read, from top to bottom instead from side to side, so it had been perfectly suited to spell the two big words that stood beside each other going down and that took up most of the cover. The words had been spelled out by letters made up from hundreds of small wine-red synthetic diamonds that were slightly inset in the Duranium.
Around the four edges there were small symbols that at first glance looked like nothing more than a gold colored border. But on closer inspection one would find that the symbols were actually words written in the Zamonan language. The Zamonan wrote using symbols instead of letters, and these symbols had been engraved in the Duranium and then filled up with gold, giving them their gold color.
To finish it all off the entire cover plate had been covered by a thin layer of transparent aluminum. Making the cover smooth again, and also making sure that the Duranium couldn't dull again and would forever keep the silvery shine, and that none of the diamonds could ever fall out. It was beautiful, but the thin layer of transparent aluminum made sure that the cover wasn't as delicate as it looked. It pretty much could withstand anything a standard Duranium cover could.
"It is," Katzi agreed. "And then to think that Anidan made that after creating the weapon inside. She couldn't have had more than a couple of hours, at most."
"Anidan made this?" Pagsha asked surprised. "Then I guess I have to ask her for a little favor. I want a cover like that too... it would fit onto the part of my arm that's still artificial, so my hand doesn't even have to be changed."
"You want yours to say 'Pagsha's Property' as well?" Katzi asked amused.
Pagsha looked up into the eyes of her lover and smiled. "Very funny. No, I was thinking of something like 'Katzi's Little One.' Something like that." Looking back at the cover she asked, "What does this mean?" While running her finger over the words on the edge.
Of course, since the Zamonan had joined the Collective, and Pagsha had regenerated since then, she now knew the Zamonan language and could read the words. She just wanted to know the meanings behind the sayings.
"Those are two of the most commonly used quotes in Zamonan romance. Spoken by the two most famous people out of Zamonan history; Queen Riella and Weapon Master Raxa. The words on the top and right were spoken by Queen Riella to Weapon Master Raxa while they were still in the courting stage. 'You don't have to move a mountain; just teach me how to climb.' Raxa was a rather... complex person. She had a lot of character traits that could drive someone wild, and quirks that she couldn't let go because they saved her life once. Like never sleeping in a bed when on the move. If not home she liked to sleep on the floor because would-be assassins like to go directly for the bed after sneaking into the room. By telling Raxa this now famous quote, Queen Riella was letting her know that she didn't expect Raxa to change for her, or stop indulging in her quirks. All Queen Riella asked was that Raxa teach her how to understand her. 'You don't have to move a mountain,' meaning, you don't have to try and do the impossible and change. 'Just teach me how to climb,' meaning, just help me understand you."
Katzi used her other hand to lift Pagsha's chin a little so that the Ghdibrian would look her in the eyes. "Pagsha, I had that put on there because that's a promise I make to you. I'm the dominant one in this relationship, I'm the one that takes charge, I'm the one in control. But you don't have to move a mountain; you don't have to fight me if you really want something. Just teach me how to climb. If you really want something, I'll do it. Just tell me what you want, how you want it, and I'll do it."
Then Katzi went on explaining the quotes on the cover. "The bottom and left symbols is a quote Weapon Master Raxa spoke on the eve of the greatest battle in Zamonan history. 'A warrior is always as strong as her heart is.' To rally her troops she told them, 'a warrior is always as strong as her heart is. Know what's in your heart. Know what you are going to fight for. I'm not going to tell you what you should fight for; you decide. Is it the land you hunt on, your home, your family?' While looking over at her lover, Queen Riella, she had added, 'I know what I'll be fighting for. A warrior is always as strong as her heart is, and therefore I'm unbeatable.' That battle was the most decisive victory ever won in Zamonan history. They had been outnumbered by three to one, but they came out winning, having only lost one sister for every ten enemies they had killed."
"And you had that put on there because..?" Pagsha asked.
"Because I needed another quote to make it look like a border," Katzi admitted with a small grin. "And I really like that one. I love the story, and the romantic picture of Raxa bringing home the biggest victory in Zamonan history for no other reason than that she loved her Queen."
"My, isn't that overly mushy for such a fierce warrior like you?"
"Oh, but Pagsha, my love, that's the great thing about having a Mate. It's completely accepted that in the privacy of a home warriors get mushy and say things like 'I love you.' After all, their Mates must get some reward for putting up with the tough warrior crap all the time."
"And here I thought they put up with it for the muscles they can touch," Pagsha said while following the lines of some muscles by placing kisses on them until she had finally reached Katzi's face, where she spent a long moment kissing soft lips instead of hard muscles.
"Not everyone has such a muscle fetish like you do," Katzi said after they broke apart. She closed her arms around her lover and gave her a soft hug.
"Katzi," Pagsha said hesitantly. "Since I regenerated after the Zamonan joined the Borg, I now know 'relevant information' about them. The Zamonan are generally fiercely independent. It is normal even for couples that at least half of their activities they do without their partner. To call yourself my property, that's..."
"Pretty much out there, yeah," Katzi agreed. "On Zamona they would call me hopelessly whipped."
Pagsha took a deep breath before putting her head against Katzi's chest and saying in a rush, "Aren't you moving too fast? We've only known each other for a week."
Katzi pulled her up until they were face to face. "Little One. I'm moving damn fast, yes, but I don't think it's too fast. Here's the deal. I called you my Mate, I think you are. We Zamonan respect the bond of Mate tremendously. When B'Elanna broke my jaw for touching Seven, by law she was actually in her right to do even more to me because I touched her Mate. The term Mate is very important to us, and I really like the fact that even now B'Elanna and Seven still call themselves Mates. They started to use that term on Zamona."
Katzi was quiet for a moment before starting with the 'but' that Pagsha knew was coming simply because of how positive the first part had sounded. "But, as respected as the term is, it's very easy in use. There are no ceremonies. People decide they really like each other and start calling each other Mate. It can be that these Mates spend the rest of their life together, but it can also be that after a few months they decide that they don't want to be Mates anymore. You know what the whole breakup ritual is? People stop calling each other Mates, and correct others if they call them Mates. That's it. You are my Mate, Pagsha. For how long... who knows, we will see that when we get there."
Katzi flexed her left arm slightly. "I have that cover there for all to see that I belong to you, but if need be that cover can be replaced by a standard one in less than five minutes. Yes I'm moving fast, but tell me; why shouldn't I? If things don't work out... we don't have any commitments, we just say, 'it was nice, see ya.' If next week we really don't like being in a relationship anymore, we get out of it with nothing but a goodbye kiss. I'm not in the mood for taking things slow. I'm not in the mood for feeling each other out over dinners and conversations. We have the three main things covered; the rest we deal with if it comes up. I'm the one in charge of this relationship, you are the one with the final say in this relationship, and we love each other. Why would we have to take it slow to find out more? I can find out what food you like when we go eat and you tell me that you don't like that, or really like that."
Katzi softly caressed Pagsha's face. "Pagsha, I love you, I'm in love with you. Do you love me?"
"Yes, I'm in love with you too," Pagsha could only say. There was absolutely no denying that she loved this woman that had become such an important part in her life in such a short time.
"I really like being in a relationship with you, knowing that you are a part of my life. Do you like being in a relationship with me?" Katzi asked.
"Yes. Katzi, I love being in a relationship with you."
"Answer me this; are you my Mate?"
"Yes," Pagsha said with utmost confidence. "And you are my Mate."
"Now, Little One, answer me one last question, are we moving too fast?"
Pagsha smiled and kissed her warrior. "Not at all. We are moving just right."
"Good." Katzi grinned before adding, "But I do think that tongue of yours needs to be punished for saying such silly things."
Pagsha felt those powerful legs below hers spread and hands being placed on her head, pushing her down softly.
"Down you go, let's tire that naughty tongue out so that it can't say more foolish things."
~~~~~~~~~~{}~~~~~~~~~~
The reign of One of Many, née Annika Hansen; Queen of Borg.
Year 00, Month 06, Day 18, Hour 17, Minute 59.
"Katzi, please come in," Seven said as she, B'Elanna and Pagsha walked passed the Zamonan and into the room where Seven normally always had her meetings with people.
Once they were sitting at the table, Seven started, "Let me come straight to the point. We just had a discussion with the Hive about the Royal Guards. A change has been decided upon. I hope that you will forgive us for changing the rules, so to speak, after you already became a Royal Guard. I assure you that it is nothing more than a case of fine-tuning a system that is new to us."
"A change?" Katzi asked. "In, um, my task?"
"No," Seven assured. "The tasks are still the same. The change is in how the Royal Guards spend their on-duty time here on Unimatrix 01. In regards to you, I told you that you would spend your on duty time in the presence of B'Elanna and me. This is where the change comes in. It has been decided that we want the best to be even better. In other words, the Royal Guards will as of today all follow daily training to better them in fields where there is room for improvements."
They could clearly see Katzi relax. "You know, Seven, telling me that I have to train when I'm on-duty is not something you have to be so serious about. I'll take it."
Then she grinned and said jokingly, "Can we throw in my own training as well so that I don't have to do that in my free time anymore?"
"That's actually something we might want to grant," B'Elanna spoke up, looking at Seven. "Katzi here is an impressive woman. If she's standing behind you in negotiations, being taller than anyone else in the room and with her muscles showing so clearly that people might wonder why the fabric of her uniform isn't tearing... that sight alone will prevent a lot of people of even thinking about reaching across the table to hurt you. She can be imposing and we can use that. So it's only fair that she's allowed to keep that up in on-duty time. Especially considering that here on Unimatrix 01 there is no true reason why she has to spend her on duty time with us, other than it improving the fact that we get used to having her around."
Now B'Elanna grinned. "But seeing how much she's hanging around Pagsha, who hangs around us a lot, Katzi is spending a lot of her off-duty time with us as it is and we're getting used to having her around anyway."
"A valid point," Seven agreed. Then she looked back at Katzi. "Very well, as of today your own training can be done on on-duty time. But only if we are on Unimatrix 01, and this new training will have priority over your normal training."
Katzi grinned. "Thank you. That means that I have more off-duty time to spend with my Little One here."
"But I like to watch you train," Pagsha said with a small pout.
"I am sure that you will still find opportunities," Seven noted amused. She suddenly had a distinct feeling that Pagsha would be taking her breaks at a time when Katzi was training.
"So what training are we actually talking about? And what about the other Royal Guards, will I be training with them as well?" Katzi asked.
"No, the other guards will also be trained, but all of them will receive their own personalized training. As for your training, you will train three hours every day, besides your own training of course. As for what exactly; that will change over time. When you have learned something to a satisfactory level that subject will be dropped and a new one will be added. Of course, there is some freedom for you in this. If you really like one of the subjects you can ask if you can train it further than just a satisfactory level."
"Sounds pretty damn good to me," Katzi said happily. "Be trained during work time and basically get paid to learn stuff. Well, not really paid since you don't do the money thing, but still."
"It's great until you have to train in something you hate," B'Elanna grinned.
"So, what is it that I have to train in to start with?"
"I think it is best if we let your teachers explain that to you," Seven suggested. "They are waiting for you in the Royal Holodeck."
Continued...