Chapter 41
"Come in," Si'zaG said, only to be surprised by Anidan walking into the living room. "Oh, you. Um, look, I'm really sorry about what happened. I, really didn't mean to,"
"Si'zaG," Anidan interrupted. "It's been explained to me."
She stepped closer to the clearly nervous woman. "And after it was explained to me, I regenerated for half an hour and asked others of the Siill for some advice and more detail on what 'this' is."
"And, now, now you are here," Si'zaG stated the very obvious.
"And now I'm here," Anidan repeated. "Before I step closer to you again, tell me, do you mind me being here, would you like me to leave?"
Si'zaG shook her head at the question. "No, you'll do just fine; I'm just worried if you truly know what you are getting yourself into."
Anidan stepped closer and softly touched Si'zaG's face with her hand, glad to see the golden skinned woman lean into the touch. "I'm here while knowing fully what this bonding call, as your people call it, is. And, Si'zaG, I'm here with my eyes and senses wide open to ask you to let me in. Please, let me into your life. Please, give meaning to my life. Please, let me feel why life is worth living. Please, let me love you."
"You, you say with your senses wide open, what about mine?"
"You can open all your senses as well. Do you really think that I would want my Bond to hold back on being all that she is?"
A split second after saying this, Anidan had to shake her head because it felt as if a shockwave had traveled through her brain. Then as her mind cleared, she noticed the difference. She saw that same look of wonder on Si'zaG's face that had been there on the holodeck, and she realized that she wasn't completely alone anymore in her mind.
'You are in here with me?' Anidan thought.
'A part of me is,' Si'zaG agreed in thought as well. 'Just like a part of you is in my mind now. It's kinda like the Borg communicator when you use it to speak to one person, except we'll also feel each other's feelings.'
'That's what they meant when they said that I had to be prepared to share every minute of my entire life,' Anidan thought in understanding.
'Do you think you can handle that?' Si'zaG asked.
'As my friend Pagsha said; does it matter?' Anidan answered with a broad smile. 'Once we are bonded we'll both change, and I'll absolutely love the fact that you are in my mind every minute of the day, even if I would hate that now.'
'Would you hate it now?' Si'zaG persisted, only to then explain, 'We will change, yes, but that's not a 'no matter what' thing. It's a give and take kind of thing. If you would truly hate it, then we would change to where I actually don't like being in your mind and will do it less and less. Maybe I would find some totally rational excuse that makes us both feel that it's alright... like that I don't do it so that you can surprise me from time to time.'
'I see,' Anidan thought in understanding before giving the matter some more thought. Then she smiled again. 'I think that you don't need to worry about that. I, just like the rest of my species, find it extremely rude if a telepath enters my mind without permission. That doesn't mean that we are dead set against it, just that we don't want it done without us giving our permission. I think it's a pretty safe bet that I would give permission to the person I'm sharing my life with, don't you think? In fact, seeing that we are talking mentally now, I would say that the whole permission thing is a non-issue between us.'
'You were worried about us being incompatible?' Si'zaG asked with a shy smile as more of Anidan's mind opened up for her.
'Well, we are from different species,' Anidan reminded.
'I know,' Si'zaG said as she opened a very particular and very interesting part of her mind for Anidan.
'Oh my,' Anidan thought amazed. 'You can actually do that?'
Si'zaG winked and asked, 'You want to try and see what that feels like?'
Anidan could only nod her head enthusiastically, making Si'zaG laugh out loud.
Then Anidan took that last step and took Si'zaG into an embrace. 'But I will only make love to my Bond partner.'
'I would like that,' Si'zaG agreed. 'I would like my first time to be with the person that I am already fully bonded with. But come to bed with me now. I have heard that bonding can be so powerful that it can knock someone off their feet. I think it would be better if we do this lying down.'
'Alright,' Anidan agreed as she reluctantly let go of Si'zaG's body, and instead took hold of her hand and let herself be led to the bedroom, and onto the bed.
'Are you ready?' Si'zaG asked as they were both lying down and looking into each other's eyes. 'This is your last chance to back out.'
Anidan took a deep breath before nodding and thinking, 'I'm as ready as I'll ever be, and I'm not backing out. I had to get used to the idea of how fast this goes, how random this is. But now I thought about it, and now I think that I won the jackpot in the biggest lottery every held; and I'm keeping my prize for the rest of my life. Bond with me, make us one. I want this, I really do. I want you.'
She placed a kiss on Si'zaG's forehead before putting her own forehead against Si'zaG's. 'I really, really do want you. Even without this bonding call, I think, no, not think; I know. I know that I would have fallen for you. All this means is that it went a little faster than it would have if I had waited for the realization of what was in front of my eyes to work its way through my dense head. I like you, I really do. Now make me love you.'
'I like you too. I'm really glad that you reacted to the bonding call. And now, we will be one.' With that Si'zaG let go and that part in her that needed to be united with its second half reached out to Anidan and fused with Anidan's soul.
Anidan felt the change, felt something merging together inside her. It was as if a fire had been lit deep in the core of her being, and its warmth started to spread all through Anidan's body and soul. Mere seconds later Anidan's life had changed for good and she knew that she had made the best choice of her life.
"This feels incredible," Anidan said in a mix between a laugh and a giggle. "So this is what it feels like to be alive."
Si'zaG closed in and took her time to share a long series of kisses with her partner. Then she let her hand drift over Anidan's side until it was resting on the Engineer's behind. She used that hand to pull her partner closer until their bodies were touching from head to toe. 'So, you want to see now if we truly are compatible?' She was surprised by the answer she got.
'Would you mind if we did that tomorrow? This feels so wonderfully incredible, and I want to relish it before I experience even more incredible things.'
'That's fine with me,' Si'zaG assured. 'In fact, I think that's a great idea. This does feel great. I knew the stories of what it would feel like, but it doesn't compare to actually feeling it.'
She closed her eyes and let out a happy sigh. 'You make me feel so good. I'm sure the others think the same when they bond but I must be the luckiest Siill that ever lived.'
'I love you,' Anidan thought as she kissed her bond partner. 'More than I ever thought it was possible to love anyone or anything.'
'And I love you,' Si'zaG assured as they continued to kiss. 'More than anything else that has ever been in my life.'
~~~~~~~~~~{}~~~~~~~~~~
The reign of One of Many, née Annika Hansen; Queen of Borg.
Year 00, Month 12, Day 05, Hour 13, Minute 22.
"Kahless, if I only had a holo-recorder right now," B'Elanna grinned.
"B'Elanna Torres," Seven warned, but never the less leaned against her lover who had just sat down on the couch beside her. Truth was, Seven knew and understood only too well why her Mate made comments like that. For Seven, proper seating or standing positions had strangely enough also always been the most comfortable. As she had told people on Voyager so many times; she preferred to stand. It was true. She preferred to stand, or if seated she preferred to sit straight. Well, there also was something to be said for snuggling with B'Elanna and sitting in whatever position allowed for the most contact and comfort for as long as possible.
So, to see Seven sitting as she was now; slouching so much that she was almost lying on the seat of the couch, which was only made possible because her feet were resting on the coffee table, it truly was a rare sight to see. But at the moment this position was comfortable. With the mass of her belly centered above her spine instead of hanging down or to the side, the position was actually very relaxing to her. True, it did result in a little shortness of breath. But since she wasn't doing anything else than talking that wasn't a problem at the moment. Well, she had to admit, there was probably also the blessing of having her skeleton strengthened by Borg implants. Or else, she was sure, she would be suffering from terrible backaches right now instead of the dull ache that could easily be ignored.
And talking about blessings. There was of course also the blessing of her wonderful Mate. Despite the occasional remark or joke, which B'Elanna knew she could make because Seven's hormones were regulated to perfection, the Klingon had taken to pretty much serving every need the blonde had.
It was her way of sharing in the pregnancy, B'Elanna had explained. Seven had the task of carrying Vasha around and having to suffer the bodily strain of that, so B'Elanna was the one that always got up to get the drink or the snack. B'Elanna also was the one that now happily indulged in taking her good time to bath her Mate. Something, the Klingon had admitted, she wouldn't mind continuing to do after Seven had given birth. Strangely enough, B'Elanna liked washing Seven because it relaxed the Klingon... Well, it sometimes also turned her on, but that was beside the point because that was fun too.
But the best thing about B'Elanna taking care of Seven was that she knew just how far to go. She took care of her lover, but didn't bug her by asking time and again if Seven wanted this or that. Seven had a mouth; she could ask. It was simply that B'Elanna was all too happy to say 'sure' and get whatever the blonde had asked for. Perfect.
Seven looked over at the other two people that were in the Royal Quarters at the moment; their friends Pagsha and Katzi. Seven realized that the two were spending more and more time with her and B'Elanna, and they didn't mind at all. The Royal Quarters had been the place to be truly themselves, to relax and not be the Queen and Princess of the Borg. And instead of being an intrusion into that, Pagsha and Katzi had become an aid in that. With them around to provide distractions it was a lot easier for Seven to truly forget that she was the Queen of Borg, and just be a person sharing a good time with her Mate and their friends.
Seven was sure that B'Elanna also felt this way, because they had talked about it. As the Klingon had said then; the best way to remember that in the end you are just another person instead of some grand figurehead, was to have people around that treated you as just another person instead of as that grand figurehead.
Seven smiled when she saw how Pagsha and Katzi were snuggling. With them snuggling was normally more along the way of Pagsha pretty much crawling into her lovers lap and being engulfed by two hugely muscled arms.
Katzi's new training was showing there as well. The woman's body was still only one huge muscle flowing into the next one, her breasts were still very small because her body simply didn't have the fat reserves to make them more prominent than the A cup size she had. But the new training had resulted in Katzi now having to also use the small muscles that most people didn't even know they had. The result of these small muscles that were often beside, under, or attached to, the bigger muscles, being trained as well was that some spaces between big muscles had filled up a little. This didn't take away from how imposing the woman was, or from how much her huge muscles made her stand out between other people.
But if you dared to look longer, or were privileged to be able to look a lot longer as Katzi was making love to Pagsha, or the other way around of course, then those small muscles resulted in a smooth flow of skin where there were no hard edges to be found around the most prominent of muscles. Instead there was a sensual flow of lines that Katzi loved to have, Pagsha loved to touch, and Seven and B'Elanna most definitely loved to see.
But there was more to Katzi, an angle that nobody had expected. Seven saw B'Elanna, Pagsha and the Senior Staff, as her advisors; people to bounce ideas of and see what they thought. Though Katzi did give her opinion on things from time to time, she most certainly wasn't thinking about the problems like the others. Most of the time she was just sitting in meetings being slightly bored and just asking or suggesting something when it popped into her mind.
But there was the slight issue of there not being a single person of a warrior society serving in the Senior Staff. B'Elanna might be part Klingon and a person who embraced things like honor and the fact that sometimes a battle really was the best thing to resolve a problem. But she had grown up away from any real Klingon influences, between Humans who had only taught her that Klingons were people that fought and killed without thinking and were best to be ignored.
So in meetings it had been Katzi who had spoken up when things came up that had to do with some of the warrior species in the Collective. Someone to say, 'what do you mean, why would they do that? Isn't it obvious?' Someone to explain why a warrior would indeed consider 'that' simple statement an insult. Without any of them truly realizing that it was happening, Katzi had become somewhat of a Warrior representative. Not someone to represent them no matter what, but simply someone to explain things, to make people understand why something as simple as a piece of metal called a sword can be more important than life in some situations.
Seven wondered if she should make an official position for that. Apparently the Hive didn't mind some allowances being made for the Warriors in the Collective; they had hardly ever objected to changes made. And if the Hive objected, Seven had seen their point and tweaks had been made until both the Hive and Seven were satisfied with the end result.
But then she decided not to. She doubted that Katzi would want such an official position where she would have to represent a way of thinking all the time instead of just speaking up when something came to mind. And she also didn't want to give others ideas. If there was an official Warrior representative, then surely there must also be a Telepathic representative, and an Aquatic representative, and... No. At least not yet. At the moment they were still making changes. Now she didn't need a group of people bringing forth ideas all the time. Oh, she knew without doubt that there would be some good ideas... between the thousands of bad ones.
"But it is something to think about for a later time," She said thoughtfully.
"What?" B'Elanna asked confused, making Pagsha and Katzi look in their direction as well.
"I apologize, I was just thinking, and one of my thoughts made me speak out loud."
"Well, it wasn't that loud, or else I didn't have to ask 'what'." B'Elanna joked. "Care to share?"
Not really knowing why not, Seven told them what she had been musing about.
"You are right," Katzi said, "As much as I would appreciate the offer, I like my way now a lot better. But be assured that if I do think something needs pointing out in the future, I'll do so."
"I am glad to hear it," Seven said with a nod. "However, I do think that it is something to keep in mind for later. For in a few years when we are finished with making changes to the Borg and things shift more to maintaining a status quo instead of changing things. Then a council could be set up,"
"With no power other than making suggestions," B'Elanna interrupted.
"You do not yet know what I was going to suggest," Seven accused mildly.
"Doesn't matter. Councils are a great thing to have, just don't give them power. Just look at the Klingon council. All of them care more about their power base than about making decisions that help the Klingons. Councils also have the tendency to try and take more and more decision making away from the Queen if you let them. We don't need such people in the Collective because when we're done with making changes the Collective itself will be the balance to the Queen; the ones to say 'no we don't think so'."
"True, and that is why I was just about to say that they would have no decision making authority, before you interrupted me," Seven noted amused. "I was thinking more along the line of having such representatives that can bring specific concerns to the front, like Katzi did when she pointed out to us that we need to give the Zamonan that are in the Collective now the opportunity to keep training. If not because we might need their abilities, then to allow them to keep their way of life."
"Well, you could actually extend the offer you made to the Siill," Pagsha suggested. "They have a representative on Unimatrix 01 now, an Ambassador. When the time comes and you want to give people the chance to speak for their species you can at that point expand on that. Also install a Zamonan representative, and then on like that. Obviously with as many species as there are in the Collective it would become too much to give every species their own representative, but some could double up."
"Double up?" B'Elanna asked amused.
"Yes. For instance, if we had that Zamonan representative, we don't need a representative for the few Klingons we have in the Collective because they could talk to the Zamonan representative which are enough alike to understand their grievances. That way you might bring the number down to several hundred representatives."
"Oh, that might work," B'Elanna agreed before looking at Seven. "That might then also take some work away from the Queen. I mean, the Hive takes care of managing the things that are Borg. Then this council could talk about the more personal things that the Hive finds irrelevant and they discuss it amongst themselves. And when they then go regenerating at the end of the day, the collective and the Queen find out what they talked about and then the Queen can agree with suggestions they have, or chose which one she prefers if they have several conflicting suggestions for the same thing. The Queen is still the main decision maker, but a lot of things that are really just boring stuff are already talked about by others and the Queen just has to say 'alright' without having to figure it all out herself."
"Which would leave more time for the Queen to focus on things she wants to give her full attention," Seven said, liking the idea. "However, this is indeed only something to implement after we are finished with changing the Collective to a point where such a system cannot be misused."
"Though you might build a little on it already," B'Elanna suggested. "I mean, we already have the Siill representative. While I'm not suggesting that from now on we give every new species their own representative, you could do it with some important species."
Seven thought about that for a moment. "We could, if we indeed keep the number low for now. In fact, in that case we might actually make the offer to the Zamonan to have a representative after all."
She smiled at her friend before assuring, "Not you Katzi."
"The Zamonan have been an important part in our changes," B'Elanna agreed. "Even with the Siill we were able to basically say, 'look at the Zamonan, that's what we're suggesting for you as well'."
"And I have a feeling that it will not be the last time we will do so." Seven looked back at Katzi and asked, "Do you think the Zamonan would welcome such an offer?"
Katzi grinned. "Knowing them, my guess would be that they would turn it into one of those time projects, but this time for the Regents. Like being the representative for one year before going back to being Regent of their territory on Zamona. Either way, I assure you that they'll love the offer."
"I will send out a message to the Zamonan Queen tomorrow," Seven decided. "But we will leave it at the Siill and Zamonan representatives for now."
Checking her internal chronometer, Katzi spoke up, "Well, if you excuse me, it is time for my afternoon training."
As Pagsha moved off her lover so that the Zamonan could stand up, B'Elanna asked, "Hey, you already had your training with your teachers this morning, so what's it going to be now?"
"Well, since this is the part where I'm allowed to do my own training in on-duty time, I was thinking of doing some endurance training."
B'Elanna got up as well. "Would you mind some company? I feel a bit edgy."
"You don't show it. Either way, you are more than welcome to join me." Katzi thought for a moment. "In fact, maybe a nice run would do, since endurance is the only thing you can beat me in as it is."
"Funny," B'Elanna growled, before admitting, "But shamefully true."
Katzi merely shrugged. "Different kind of muscle makeup. I'll never be able to outrun you, but I'll sure be able to beat you into a pulp if I happen to catch you. Neither you nor I can have it both ways. But that doesn't mean that I can't race you for some endurance training."
Then she looked at Pagsha. "Care to join us, my Mate?"
"Sure. In fact, if you are truly going to run I think I might literally join you, for a while at least. I think I might manage a few kilometers or so before my body remembers that I normally don't join in the training."
"B'Elanna?"
B'Elanna took Seven's hand and helped her lover to her feet.
Once standing, Seven added, "Then I guess that I am coming as well, and I will do the wise thing and man the refreshment stand."
"We could go for a swim in some lake after the running," B'Elanna suggested. "That would be nice and relaxing for all of us, including you my love."
"A very good idea," Seven could only agree.
~~~~~~~~~~{}~~~~~~~~~~
The reign of One of Many, née Annika Hansen; Queen of Borg.
Year 00, Month 12, Day 09, Hour 03, Minute 47.
The cry brought smiles to the faces of everyone in the room, and even tears to two of those faces.
"She's beautiful," B'Elanna assured as she brushed away her tears and came closer to see what Lonika was doing. She quickly looked to her side where Lonika's aid was taking care of the aftermath of childbirth. Trying to be as unobtrusive as possible while she cleaned Seven up and then took care of refreshing and rearranging sheets where needed.
B'Elanna looked back to her daughter. Lonika had placed Vasha in one of the medical units. It would take care of clamping and then removing the umbilical cord, and at the same time clean the baby. The Klingon laughed when she noticed that through the entire process, which only lasted one minute, Vasha kept wailing her small lungs almost out of her body.
Lonika removed the child from the unit and handed it to B'Elanna, who promptly walked the two steps that would enable her to give Vasha to Seven.
"Sensors say that she is in perfect health," Lonika assured before moving away to give the two other people in the room a chance to come closer.
Pagsha and Katzi moved on his gesture to come closer and joined Seven and B'Elanna in looking at the new life in Seven's arms.
"She is beautiful," Pagsha pointed out. "Have you counted all the toes and fingers already?"
"Counting toes and fingers is an illogical thing to do. Lonika assured that she is in perfect health," Seven pointed out. Seeing her friend's tolerant look, Seven admitted with a smile, "Yes I have. She is very vocal."
"She will settle down soon," Lonika assured from a step away.
"Now we can begin the blame game," B'Elanna grinned. "Now we can say that she must have this or that from Seven or from me. Because the crying she must have from Seven."
Seeing the raised eyebrow, B'Elanna added, "Klingon babies don't cry at birth; it might give away the location to an enemy."
Seven merely rolled her eyes, but Pagsha said what Seven thought.
"But there's no way that she might have gotten that from your half Human side, right?"
"Nope," B'Elanna happily assured. "Remember Klingon DNA is me, Human DNA is my love here."
"That is not true in all cases, and you know it," Seven pointed out. "Now stop trying to blame me while there is nothing yet to blame for and instead hold your daughter."
"Yes my Princess," B'Elanna dutifully agreed as she took her daughter in her arms. Then wanting there to be no confusion, she added, "I love you babe. Sorry for teasing you right after you had to go through labor. That's kinda new for me as well."
Now Seven laughed. "Just be glad. During the three hours of my labor my implants could no longer regulate my hormones. If I was not Borg you would have had to deal with that for weeks instead of only three hours."
"You can be glad as well," Pagsha pointed out. "Had you not been Borg, your labor could have lasted a lot longer than only three hours. In fact, three hours is damn short."
"Eight hours is the average for the active stage of childbirth of a Human for the first child," Seven agreed.
An idea struck B'Elanna and with an evil grin she turned to Katzi. "Here, you want to hold her?"
"Um, no," The tall woman said as she backed away a little.
"Come on, she is just a baby, she can't hurt you."
"No, but I might squish her," Katzi pointed out.
"B'Elanna Torres, stop tormenting our friend," Seven warned.
Katzi thought that she was safe when she saw B'Elanna hand her daughter back to Seven. The truth was, children had never been Katzi's thing. And there was also that other thing. She still remembered vividly the time when she was twelve years old and she had been given a baby to hold for a moment while the mother went to pick something up she had forgotten in her hut. Katzi honestly had tried, but the baby had suddenly kicked, Katzi had lost her grip, and the baby had fallen out of her arms; hitting the ground head first.
The crying had been ear piercing, and it was only years later that Katzi realized that it had actually been a good sign that the baby could cry. Still, since then she had never again been given a baby to hold, and she also never had felt an urge to hold one. Let them grow up until they could walk and move themselves from point A to point B. Then Katzi would be more than willing to interact with them.
"Pagsha, do you want to hold her?" Seven asked.
"Sure," The Ghdibrian said happily as she reached for the crying baby. To the surprise of the other women, Pagsha sat down on the floor, the baby still held securely in her arms.
"Join me," Pagsha said while looking at her Mate.
Katzi sighed, having a feeling that she knew what her Mate was doing, but she sat down beside her lover nevertheless.
With a smile, Pagsha simply handed Vasha to her lover, giving the Zamonan the choice between taking the baby, or crudely refusing her lover's offer. "Here, now you can only drop her a little bit, and onto your legs."
"You are in sooo much trouble my love," Katzi threatened. But then she winked and added, 'And I expect you to make it up to me later."
She looked down at the crying baby that was cradled in the crook of her arm. "Well hello there Little Princess." The crying didn't stop, but did lessen some in volume. "Hmm, I don't like how Little Princess sounds. How about Sprite. You like that? You know, with us, Sprites guard us when we are out in the woods, they keep up safe. They are said to be small and fragile, kinda like you, but they are creatures not to be trifled with."
"Not to be trifled with huh?" Pagsha asked as she took Vasha back so that she could hand the child back to her parents.
"Yep," Katzi agreed. Strangely glad to not be holding the baby anymore, and at the same time missing the small presence in her arms. "Sprites are extremely kind, always ready to help a person in need. But if you piss them off they won't hesitate to rip you apart with their magical powers."
"Do you believe in these creatures, are they real?" Seven asked as she took her daughter, wanting to know more about the creatures so that she could decide if she should mind her daughter having such a nickname.
Katzi stood up and joined her lover who was standing at the bed. She took a moment to take in the wonderful scene of her friends with their newborn daughter.
Seven was sitting up and holding her daughter in her arms, while B'Elanna was standing beside the bed, one hand continuously playing absently with her Mate's hair, while using her other hand to touch her daughter's head, hands, feet... simply not being able to stop touching the miracle that was their daughter, their flesh and blood. Though B'Elanna was participating in the conversation, none of them mentioned the silent tears that were occasionally rolling down the Klingon's face.
That was alright, Katzi decided. That was one of the downsides of growing up in a warrior society, sometimes people didn't even show emotions when they really should. She was glad to see that apparently B'Elanna was ready to be a mother first and a warrior second.
Answering Seven's Question, Katzi explained, "I believe in them as much as I believe in our Gods. I have never seen any real proof that they exist, but there have been some situations that make me believe that there's something in the woods that takes care of the warriors, if they are lucky. Take my own accident. Everyone, even the Borg doctors, say that I should never have survived that fall. So, was I lucky, were the gods watching out for me, or did a Sprite save me? Personally I like the idea of Sprites because they are so unknown. The tales just say that they exist. But how many are there? The Gods have names, and characters. Over half of them I don't even want to watch out for me. And for the rest, just how presumptuous would it be for me to hope that, say, our Patron Goddess is watching out for me? But Sprites? We don't know how many there are, just that they live in the woods, if they truly exist. Chances are a lot better that they just happen to be around when you need them than the chance of one of the Gods being around."
"Little Sprite, huh?" B'Elanna repeated. "I like it. A benevolent creature that loves to help you... and won't hesitate to kick your ass if you mess with it. Fitting for a new Borg Queen, don't you think hon?"
"Indeed," Seven agreed. "Very well, I will condone the nickname, however, her name is Vasha, period."
"Yes, my Princess," B'Elanna assured tolerantly, knowing only too well that her love was not one for nicknames. With the occasional exception of course.
"My Queen," Lonika interrupted politely, "Should I inform the Hive of the birth of our Princess, or do you want to do this yourself?"
"I will do that, thank you."
And so, Seven connected to the Hive to let them know that Three of Many was now born.
Continued...