Chapter 5
B'Elanna and Seven were relaxing at home and reading some books when B'Elanna looked up just in time to see Seven frown.
"What's the matter?"
"This does not make any sense."
"What doesn't?" B'Elanna asked.
As an answer Seven started to read out loud. "'Sounds like a plan. See you in a bit.' She hung up the phone and let out the breath she hadn't realized she was holding."
"So? Please don't tell me that you don't know what a phone is."
"Phone is an abbreviation for telephone. A telephone is an old-fashioned communication device. When I start reading an old book I also first scan a dictionary from that time to see if there are words in there that I do not know. I do not want to be interrupted in my reading by words I have to look up at that time. No, it is the second part. She is talking on the phone and then ends the communication after which she let out a breath that she did not realize she was holding. That is impossible. Talking is the act of air passing by the vocal cords which produces the sounds. So it is impossible to hold your breath and talk at the same time. Furthermore, even beside that it is still impossible. Holding your breath is a conscious act. It requires you deliberately taking a breath and then holding it. At best the only thing you can do without realizing it yourself is to stop reading. It is not the first time I read a comment like that."
B'Elanna chuckled. "Seven, things like that you shouldn't take literally. At moments like that you shouldn't look at what the writer has written, but at what the writer was trying to say. Now, take that line again and without being allowed to say what the line actually says, tell me what you think that the writer was trying to convey."
Seven thought about that for a moment. "Since this is a story about Humans, Humans often hold their breath when they are anticipating something. A reaction, an answer, or even the outcome of a test. So in this situation I would say that what the writer is trying to convey is that the person is having said anticipation, but does not want the other person to know this, and therefore the first person is acting casual even though in reality she is nervously anticipating the answer."
"So even though she is in fact acting casually and talking, in her mind she is figuratively speaking holding her breath," B'Elanna surmised. "The thing is that often writers forget about that middle step and say things like '"I'm glad you agree," she said, before letting out a breath she didn't realize she was holding.' Get it?"
"I see, thank you for the explanation."
"No problem," B'Elanna assured with a grin. Then she thought of something. "Hey, um, listen. As you know I'll be leaving on that away mission tomorrow. Um, I just wanted to say, we made this deal about you living here. I just want to say that this doesn't change just because I'm away. This is your home, so you just do your thing while I'm gone."
"Thank you," Seven replied with a smile.
~~~~~~~~~~{}~~~~~~~~~~
"Excuse me, did you just say, 'Amazons?'" Janeway asked.
"Well, that's what I call them, but that's not what they call themselves. They call themselves something that the universal translator translates to Zamonan, which coincidentally enough has the exact same letters in our language as the word 'Amazon,' just in a different order," B'Elanna said while handing her away mission report to the captain.
"The Zamonan are a race in which the warriors are the center of the society. There are only women, not one man to be found on the planet. And despite the fact that they are space faring the ones that live on the planet wear leather clothing like the warriors of ancient earth did. They look very human too. The only difference I could see was that their legs are a little more prominent proportion wise than Humans. I know that I would have to spend months in the gym to get the thigh circumference that these women have, and that's just for normal and not the ones that actually train. Their warriors have thighs like those of a horse. Well, not really, it still fits the body and they could easily pass for humans, just that they have more muscles in that area than we have."
B'Elanna shrugged her shoulders slightly. "Sorry Captain, I was reading a book the other day that had Amazons in it; they just reminded me of them. With the ones you meet on the ships you wouldn't notice right away, except for the no men part of course. They wear clothing more like ours, uniforms, and they have a chain of command that you really need on space ships. But as soon as you are on the planet it is as if you stepped back in time. There aren't any big cities, just villages. The planet is full of forests, no clear cutting to make room for wheat fields. They still live in log huts, and the sensors showed that there are only half a billion people on the entire planet. I've found out that this number is never allowed to get bigger than that. The way they do this is by colonizing the other planets in their, and close by, solar systems. Mind you, even though they still live in huts, they don't really shun technology. They've found a good way to blend village social life and advanced technology."
"You and Ayala were sent on this away mission because we need Dilithium crystals, we sure didn't expect to find a whole society. I'm surprised that our sensors didn't pick any of that up."
"It's in the report, Captain. But to put it simply, they figured out long ago that the best way to not get bothered by some of the hostile species we ourselves encountered here in the Delta Quadrant, is to have an excellent dampening field around their planet and any other planet they live on. It's very advanced, Captain. It lets you scan the planets, but filters out all Humanoid life on them. That way species don't get suspicious by the fact that the sensors don't pick up anything at all."
"Hmm, well, I'll read the report for now; I want to see you again tomorrow two hours before we meet with them. Go home and rest B'Elanna. You're off duty until tomorrow, you deserve it."
"Yes Captain. Thank you."
B'Elanna had already turned to leave when she remembered something else. "Oh, though they didn't say it, I got the feeling that they would be more comfortable if they didn't have to deal with any male members of the crew. It also showed in the way they reacted to Ayala, nothing too obvious, but it was as if they weren't really comfortable with him. Since the meeting is on their planet, I thought you might want to know that."
"Do you think they would really be upset if we brought a man or two along?"
B'Elanna lifted her hands a little. "I don't know really. But the thing is that we will be meeting 'the' Queen. Seems that their governmental system is set up to where their Queen is the supreme ruler over all; the entire planet, the colonies, the space program, the space ships, all. If we offend her in some way... it's all over. There's no other country or power we could turn to. Hell, as far as I could find out, there isn't even a black market. And I've got to tell you Captain, the Dilithium on that planet is so easy to mine we could almost do it with bare hands. Best thing is, to them Dilithium is nothing more than nice rocks. Their warp engines don't need the stuff. We could end up leaving there with so much Dilithium that we won't have to search for it in the next ten years."
"That might be worth swallowing our 'all Humanoids are equal' pride over for once," Janeway agreed. "I will tell Chakotay to put together an all female away team. Dismissed."
~~~~~~~~~~{}~~~~~~~~~~
B'Elanna left the ready room, and knowing that Seven was on duty headed to the mess hall for lunch instead of home. But as soon as she had her food and sat down, she saw Tom Paris walking into the mess room. As she had known it would happen, he was soon putting his tray down opposite from B'Elanna.
"Hey, how are you doing? I haven't seen you much in the last weeks."
"I haven't been here much lately," B'Elanna had to admit. "Now that Seven is basically living with me we can pool our rations and eat from the replicator almost every day, and still save some rations for personal stuff."
"So how..." Tom stopped talking and B'Elanna got the distinct feeling that he had just made a very wise choice. "B'Elanna, do you mind if I ask you a question?"
"That depends; does the question result in me punching you in the face?" B'Elanna asked with a grin.
"Um, actually... I don't know."
"Tom, just ask already."
"Alright. Is it really true that Seven isn't just living with you but actually moved in with you?"
B'Elanna thought about that for a moment. Well, that question wasn't too bad. "Yes and no. No, officially Seven has not moved in with me. Officially I'm still the only resident in my quarters, and Seven still lives in the cargo bay. But unofficially, yes. Every night that Seven doesn't have to regenerate she spends in my quarters, and I don't see that changing anytime soon. In fact, I think that in a couple of months, if we both are sure that we like the arrangement, we'll make it official. But for now, the answer is yes and no."
"Are you two lovers?" Tom asked quickly, prepared to duck if needed.
"Ah, so that's the real question, the one that you were afraid could get you a visit to the Doctor. Well, let me answer that for you. It's none of your damn business. Do you really think that I of all people would add to the rumors that are going around about Seven and me? Get real!"
"That's not why I asked," Tom assured. "I asked because... Because, well, you know only too well that I've been running after you, hoping that I could get you to, um,"
"Hoping that you could get laid," B'Elanna stated bluntly.
"Well, I don't really like the way that sounds, but yeah."
"You didn't have a chance of getting that from me again while I was single, do you really think that you have a chance if I really am involved with Seven?"
"No! Not at all. Look, just forget about it. Maybe this was a bad idea."
"Tom, just cough up what you want to say and move on."
Tom leaned back in his chair a little. "That's just the point I was trying to bring up. If you and Seven really are lovers, I just wanted you to know that I won't be making any trouble for you. I mean that B'Elanna. I really wanted you back. Back as a friend, and yes, back for the other thing too. But I don't want you back if you can have something better. That is why I asked about Seven. You, I, we both know that what we had, it was settling for something that was okay and waiting until something better came along. If you really found something better, then I want you to have it."
"I know that you can play games really well, what game are you playing now?" B'Elanna knew Tom, and it wasn't like him to just stand back and be happy about it.
"No game, I swear on my life. Look, I was in the holodeck yesterday, alright? And I was playing this simulation in which I was a 1920 earth gangster, a guy who really had it all, including the girl that adored him. I do know that the holodeck is just simulation, but it got me thinking. What I want is to have it all. So could I really begrudge you if you had just that, it all? Should I really try to compete with Seven so that 'if' I could win I would have some nice sex, while you and Seven might already have more than I can ever hope for from you? Can I begrudge you for having what I hope to have? No, I can't. All I can do is be jealous of you and Seven for having the good thing, and hope that one day I'll be lucky enough to have the same."
"That's very profound of you, Tom. I'm amazed," B'Elanna said after a moment. She had seen the sincerity in his eyes while he spoke, and she felt that he had actually meant his words.
"Pssst, don't let it get around that I can do the profound thing. It'll ruin my reputation." Now Tom leaned a little closer, a twinkle in his eyes. "Besides, don't worry, I do have a deeper, darker, and evil plan."
"Oh really?" B'Elanna asked amused.
Tom nodded his head. "Why yes, my secret plan is to become the best of friends to you and Seven. So close that you tell me all your little secrets of your love life so that I can enjoy through you. Hey, who knows, maybe I'll even get you two to go so far as to give me a little show; you know, let me watch."
Tom had wiggled his eyebrows at his last words, making B'Elanna shoot into a hard laugh.
"Only in your dreams fly boy."
"Well, a man can dream, can't he?" Tom laughed. "But you never answered me, are you two lovers?"
B'Elanna hesitated for a moment before deciding to trust him. Besides, it was a good way to test him. If her trust was misplaced, all that would happen was that yet more rumors would start about her and Seven; and they wouldn't be new rumors either.
"Well, no, we aren't lovers. We really do only share quarters. But there is something between us... something good. Something that makes me feel alive, something that makes me do things that I never thought that I'd do."
"Like?" Tom asked, hoping that B'Elanna would tell him. He was a guy, and just like all guys one of his fantasies was to be with two women at once. And the next best thing to being with two women, was to hear about the love life of two women. Even if there apparently wasn't an actual love life, yet.
B'Elanna looked around herself to make sure others couldn't hear her before leaning a little closer to him and whispering. "You know Seven and all that enhanced hearing thing? Well, what I really like to do these days is masturbate in the shower, knowing that she's sitting in the next room and knowing that she can hear every sound I make that is louder than the water."
Tom's eyes got wider. "B'Elanna, you do know that you can be very loud sometimes?"
"I know," B'Elanna agreed. "And now, Seven knows too."
"So, is there more?" Tom asked eager.
"Not right now," B'Elanna said, knowing that it was one thing to tell him what she did, but that she would never tell him what Seven did. Unless things changed in the future to where both she and Seven didn't mind him knowing very private things about their private life.
"But, tell you what, if you continue to be a good boy, I might, just might tell you some more interesting things if there are any to tell, but that's not a promise."
"Even though it isn't a promise, I'll take it," Tom said eagerly before finally taking the first bite of his by now cold food.
~~~~~~~~~~{}~~~~~~~~~~
"Hey," B'Elanna said when Seven entered the quarters at the end of her shift. They hadn't crossed paths all day since B'Elanna had figured that with her being off duty for the day, she would stay out of Engineering and let Seven and Carey finish the day like they had been working for the last three days.
"B'Elanna Torres, you are back early, you were supposed to come back tomorrow," Seven said surprised.
"Gee thanks for the warm welcome," B'Elanna said slightly peeved by the cold reaction.
Getting over her initial shock of seeing B'Elanna a day early, Seven smiled and came over to welcome her friend with a hug. "You are correct, I apologize. I am glad that you are back; I missed you."
"Thanks, it's good to be back," B'Elanna admitted as she returned the hug.
"Are you planning to leave the quarters again before going to bed?" Seven asked.
"No, I want to stay in and relax some. Hey, you never guess what we found on our away mission."
"B'Elanna, I have a confession to make," Seven interrupted softly while lowering her eyes.
"Hey, what's wrong?" B'Elanna wondered.
"I used your bed to sleep in while you were gone. I will replace the bed sheets before you go to bed so that you have a fresh set."
B'Elanna smiled at the admission. "That's alright, that's nothing to be ashamed of. I would have probably done the same thing if I was you. Come to think of it, you deserve more than just sleeping on the couch every night. These are your quarters now as well, you deserve a bed just as much as me. Maybe we can replace my bed with two smaller single ones."
"That is not why I slept in your bed," Seven admitted. "As you said that first night, the couch is very comfortable to sleep on. No, I... I slept in your bed because, because the sheets smell like you. I missed you, and there I could smell you."
For a moment B'Elanna didn't know what to do. As much of a friend as Seven had become, B'Elanna had never expected that she'd become to mean so much to the blonde as well. Finally she stepped closer and tenderly caressed Seven's face.
"You are a wonderful person, Seven, and you can sleep in my bed anytime you want. In fact, if you want you can sleep there every night from now on. As I said before, we can get two smaller single beds, or you can sleep in my bed."
Seven was surprised, to say the least. "Will that not be a very big intrusion into your private life? And," now Seven smiled, "will the temptation not be too big for you?"
B'Elanna laughed. "Seven, we both know that we are going... somewhere. If you sleeping beside me is too much of a temptation and both of us agree to what happens because of that, then I don't see any problem with that, do you? And as for an intrusion in my private life? Not really. Ever since you've been living here I only go to bed to sleep. Before I also did some reading there, now I do that out here. So no, you being in the bedroom is not an intrusion because all I do there is sleep."
"You do not also... indulge there?" Seven asked.
B'Elanna smirked before sitting down on the couch, quickly followed by Seven. "Sure, but only on those days that you're regenerating anyway. So that doesn't change anything. Come on, it might actually be fun. You know how we sometimes stay up late when we really shouldn't. Talking about small stuff, and staying up simply because neither of us wants to end the conversation. If you sleep in my bed, well, then our bed, we could take the conversation to bed with us and talk there until one of us falls asleep. I have a feeling that with us already lying down on the comfy bed we'll fall asleep earlier than if we stayed up to talk. Yet at the same time it'll make for a nicer end to the day then me leaving you in the living room. I missed you too, Seven, and this away mission showed me that if I have to opportunity to have you close, I should take it. So how about it? Will you sleep in the bed from now on? One condition though. I like sleeping on the left, so the left side is mine."
"Your condition is acceptable," Seven said, thereby agreeing to B'Elanna's proposal. "Now, tell me about what you found on the away mission."
"Well, remember the book I was reading last week about those Amazons? I swear, if you take that story and throw in something about them knowing about modern technology than you have exactly what we found. You see..."
~~~~~~~~~~{}~~~~~~~~~~
The shuttle door opened and Janeway, B'Elanna, Seven, and two female security members, stepped out to be greeted by a group of almost twenty women. Looking at them, Janeway decided that B'Elanna's description of Amazons really wasn't that far off. They even had an assortment of crude weapons like sword, staffs, and bows. The only thing that showed that they were clearly fully in tune with modern technology was the fact that their shuttle had been scanned by a spaceship before being allowed to enter the atmosphere, and that they had gotten the 'label' safe, meaning that they didn't have any diseases or parasites that were harmful to the Zamonan.
When the whole team was out of the shuttle one of the women came closer. "Welcome to our planet. I am Dasia, Regent of the Erdania Village, and Supreme Regent of the Erda province."
Janeway stepped forward and gripped the woman's lower arm in their equivalent of a handshake, as B'Elanna had showed her. "Good to meet you Dasia, I am Captain Kathryn Janeway of the Federation Starship Voyager. B'Elanna told me that it is custom here to talk on a first name basis, so please do call me Kathryn."
"Very well, Kathryn. Will you accompany me to my village? You can rest there and eat. There you can also ask me many of the questions you are bound to have for us. That way the unimportant questions are already dealt with when you will meet our Queen tomorrow. Please understand that our Queen doesn't think that your visit is unimportant to us. It is just that she is a very busy person, and her time is limited."
"I certainly understand," Janeway said while she started walking beside Dasia in the direction that the woman had picked. A quick look behind her told her that her away team was following.
B'Elanna had told Janeway that it was custom with these people that with meetings, only the people that were going to do the talking would introduce themselves. If at a later point someone that had not been introduced had something to add, she would simply introduce herself to all at that point and say what needed to be said.
Janeway had decided to go by these women's customs as much as possible on this mission, even though she would have liked to know who the other women were.
"I find it interesting that you have a Queen, yet she rules the entire planet and all your colonies. Normally the Queens we know of only rule one, or at most a few, countries," Janeway said after a few long minutes of silence.
"That's how it once started out," Dasia agreed. "In fact, almost three millennia ago every village had its own Queen. But then a great Queen, Queen Riella, came to power. She was a woman that could convince almost everyone with the simple weapon of words and reason, but wasn't afraid to let her Mate, weapon master Raxa, a very talented tactician and tremendous warrior, take her Zamonan into battle if needed. She reigned over the same village that I am now a Regent of. In the fifth year of her reign the Zamonan of this province had to face a male army so large that they could never hope to beat them. The only way they could stand a chance was if all the Zamonan in the entire province united to fight this army. The Queen succeeded in uniting them, and her Mate commanded the combined Zamonan force to a tremendous victory."
Dasia favored Janeway with a grin before continuing, "Of course, now that they'd found out just what they were capable of if they united, the Zamonan didn't want to simply split up again and merely go back to their village. They wanted to be part of a united Zamonan nation. And so the Zamonan nation was formed with Queen Riella ruling them, and Regents ruling the villages once ruled by individual Queens. Over the centuries, long after the death of Queen Riella, the nation continued to grow. Slowly but surely more and more Zamonan villages at the border of the nation wanted to join. And when they did other Zamonan villages bordered the nation since the nation had expanded. Over time they joined as well. Eventually one Zamonan Queen ruled the entire world while Regents ruled the individual villages. One regent in every province, or what you call countries, also has the task of ruling the province. This regent gets the added title of Supreme Regent of that province. They also advise the Queen on issues, and take the Queen's orders to the people."
"That sounds like a lot of work for someone with your position," Janeway couldn't help but notice.
"It can be, or it can not be," Dasia said. "It really depends on how much you let other people help you. While we have rules, of course, they're open to interpretation to a certain degree. I could be the only one to make decisions in the province, but that's really an impossible task. I let other people help me. For instance, as I said, in every village there is a Regent. So I don't have to worry about any village but mine. The tasks of being Regent of the province is mostly just letting villages make their own deals, and then reading and approving, or not of course, the deal they made. And as for advising the Queen, that is not a task; that is an honor."
"Regent Dasia," Seven spoke up, "I am Seven of Nine, Chief Science Officer on Voyager. May I ask why there are no men at all on this planet? You just spoke about a male army; therefore there have been men here in the past."
"Please... Seven... call me Dasia," Dasia said, indicating that Seven could drop the Regent part. She slowed her pace a little so that she would come even with Seven before speaking again.
"The fact that we don't have any men at all is simply because science made them obsolete, and eventually they just... died out. We had men on the planet until, about five centuries ago. Until that time we reproduced in the way nature had vented, a woman and a man mating and having a child as a result. However, we had strict rules about no men being allowed inside a Zamonan village. Can you imagine how hard it was for most women when they had to give up male babies? And for the ones that didn't form an emotional connection to their male child, how hard it was for them to have to go through twelve months of pregnancy, and then two weeks of labor, only to have a boy child that they did not want? Add to that the fact that because we were, and are, living in villages filled with only women, the choice of a life Mate was limited to only other women."
"They would prefer to know from the beginning that a girl is the only possible outcome for their pregnancy," Seven said in understanding.
"Right," Dasia agreed. "You must also not forget that we Zamonan ruled the world then. Over time, and generations of social upbringing, we evolved to the point where almost all women had a sexual preference for other women, and the men were basically only used for conception. Then came the scientific breakthrough that truly made men obsolete. We found a way to impregnate a woman with the DNA of another woman. It was exactly what we were looking for. Women didn't have to sleep with men anymore just to get pregnant. And if you were pregnant you knew upfront that it could only be a girl since the merging of the DNA of two women can only result in a female baby. So over time less and less male babies were born. The only male babies that were born were from the women that still had a preference for men and became pregnant the old way. Then at one point just one century ago we reached the point where there were only half a million men left on the entire planet. We realized that it was't fair to them to let them truly go extinct since they did not choose to have women mostly have a preference for other women, nor did they choose the fact that we didn't need them anymore to reproduce. So, we gave them a choice."
"A choice?" Seven repeated.
"At that time we had just found another planet to colonize, much like this one," Dasia explained. "We offered them that planet to colonize. Them, and the women that still lived in our society that preferred men. To make sure that on that planet the same thing did not happen that happened here, we created the first two rules of the constitution they have to live by. Women and men are considered equal and have the same rights. And all children must be born out of a combination of female and male. If there happen to be two women that find each other on that planet and want a child that is purely them, then they must petition the Queen with their case, and if they get permission from the Queen to have a child that's just them, they have to come here to our Homeworld where the procedure will be done."
"But what about women that are born now, that were born after the men left? Surely there must be women amongst you who prefer men, but since there are no men here they do not know just what they want," Seven asked.
"We don't hide the fact that there are other... options than women. In fact, we make it very clear to girls that there's the chance that they might be interested in men, and that there's nothing wrong with that. So girls and women that feel... different than most, they don't fear to bring that into the open. If they want they can join an exchange program we have with that planet. Women born there come here to see if they feel more at ease here, and women born here can go there to see if they feel better there. After a year they have to decide if they want to live here or on that planet. If they decide to stay and change their mind later in life, they have to petition the Queen and see if they are allowed back."
"How do the men find their new home?"
"They like it just fine. The colony is a loyal subject of the Queen and there have never been any problems coming from there. Of course, they do know that if they ever did cause the Queen trouble, she has the power and the forces to deal with them; one way or the other."
"Dasia," Janeway said, noticing that the woman was finished with her story. "Are there any places on your planet where men can freely move around? If our negotiations go well, I was hoping that we could arrange something where I can give the entire crew shore leave, including the men."
"I am sure that something can be worked out," Dasia said confidently. "It's only in the villages where they are absolutely not allowed. If you were to set up camp away from any villages there should be no problem. In fact, if you appreciate a combination of forests, the ocean, and white sands, then I have just the place for you. It is on the very south end of my province, and there isn't a village to be found in a ten day walk radius."
"Sounds perfect," Janeway said, suddenly hoping even more than before that the negotiation would go well.
B'Elanna moved to the captain and softly whispered, "Captain, maybe we could actually land Voyager for that, if we have enough room. As you know, we have some external damage that we have been putting off because it is mostly just cosmetic, yet it needs access to either a space dock, or a safe place to land the ship."
"You might want to know," Dasia interrupted, "that we find it very impolite to whisper while in the presence of other people. It's alright to do so if you two are Mates and are talking about private issues, but otherwise, it is considered rude. More so since you didn't yet introduce yourself so that the rest of my group knows who you are. I may know you, but they don't."
"I apologize, I didn't know," B'Elanna said while cringing slightly inside. She sure hoped that she hadn't messed up her chance to get her beloved ship into perfect condition again. "I am B'Elanna Torres, Chief Engineer on Voyager."
B'Elanna found it kinda strange to introduce herself to a woman that already knew her, but if that was what it took, she would do it. "I didn't mean to be rude; I was merely trying to give my opinion to my captain without interrupting your conversations too much."
"I assumed that you didn't know, B'Elanna," Dasia said. "That's why I pointed it out to you. It is not a behavior you want to do in front of our Queen when you get to meet her."
"I won't," B'Elanna assured.
"Furthermore," Dasia continued, "It seems that our hearing is a lot better than you assume it to be. I am sure there isn't a single one of us who didn't hear what you just whispered. You might want to keep that in mind for the next time you lower your voice. Basically it won't do you any good since we can still hear you."
"I'll keep it in mind," B'Elanna assured once more.
"Dasia, tell me, are there any specific rituals or something like that involved with meeting your Queen?" Janeway asked to get the focus off B'Elanna.
"Not rituals as such, just a few things you might want to keep in mind," Dasia said before starting to list the things Janeway would need to be aware of.
~~~~~~~~~~{}~~~~~~~~~~
The meeting in the village, B'Elanna decided, had gone very well. If the meeting with the Queen the next day went anything like it had, then this planet could just be that little part of heaven Voyager had been searching for the last couple of months. B'Elanna finally saw the person she was looking for, Seven, standing a little further away talking to one of the Zamonan. The blonde had said that she would explore the village a little while B'Elanna had gone to the shuttle to send Voyager an update on their situation. And now B'Elanna wanted to know what kind of interesting things Seven had found out.
B'Elanna stopped walking when she saw the other woman putting her hand on Seven's back in a way that was way too friendly. Apparently Seven seemed to think so as well and moved a little so that the woman had to move her hand from the blonde's back. B'Elanna was glad to see that Seven had resolved what could be a tricky situation so easily.
But unfortunately the other woman didn't get the hint because she used the opportunity to lower her hand and place it on Seven's behind.
B'Elanna suddenly saw red. She never remembered running, she never remembered body-slamming the other woman to the ground. All she remembered was sitting on the women and punching her so hard in the face that she could clearly hear the sound of a jaw breaking. She pulled her arm back for another blow, but suddenly found it held firmly in place.
B'Elanna looked back in outrage to see who had dared to stop her, and found blue eyes looking back at her. The Klingon was about to say something when she saw Seven's eyes go to the left and right, clearly trying to tell her something. B'Elanna looked at where Seven had been looking and only now saw that she was surrounded by women, all of whom had their swords out and pointing at her.
"Damn." B'Elanna slowly moved off the woman that apparently was unconscious. "I just blew it, didn't I?" She asked Seven while she saw Janeway and Dasia coming in their direction.
"That is a very likely statement," Seven agreed while Janeway and Dasia reached them. But even though B'Elanna had probably just blown the entire away mission, Seven could not begrudge her. To Seven it had felt damn good that B'Elanna had come to her defense, even though Seven was more than capable of handling the situation.
"What happened?" Janeway and Dasia asked at the same time, but before Seven or B'Elanna could answer the question from their captain, one of the other women answered the question of her Regent.
"Katzi couldn't keep her hands to herself, again. She copped a feel of the blonde's behind, and got a broken jaw as a reward when the dark one didn't react too kindly to that."
"Are you two Mates?" Dasia asked.
"Does it matter?" B'Elanna replied.
But before Dasia could answer, Seven spoke up. "Yes, we are." Seven had the feeling that it indeed mattered.
Dasia shook her head slightly while looking at the woman still lying in the dirt, and listening to Seven's continuing explanation.
"We are Mates, and my Mate came to my defense when someone touched me in a way I did not appreciate."
"Very well." Dasia looked at some of the other women, clearly singling them out. "Get Katzi to the infirmary. I will decide her punishment later."
Once the woman was taken away, Dasia turned to Janeway. "I apologize for this matter. I can certainly understand if you wish to leave my village now. I can contact another Regent and have you stay there. But whether you stay or decide to go, rest assured that we have strict rules to what is, or is not, allowed in courtship. Katzi just broke a big one, starting courtship while not knowing if the other woman had a Mate or not. She will get her rightful punishment for this as soon as Seven makes her formal complaint."
"What will happen if I do not bring forth such a complaint?" Seven asked, not looking at the captain. Seven knew that the right thing to do was to use this to Voyager's advantage. But this concerned her, not Voyager.
"If you don't bring forth a formal complaint, then I can't punish her for what she just did. However, I would certainly not forget it. For instance, guard duty at the northern border is coming up for rotation and she is slotted for it. I'm sure that Katzi would find a six month stretch of guard duty on the northern border a lot more boring than the normal two month stretch."
"Very well. In that case I will not put forth a formal complaint. But I do want it to be known that if anyone ever tries something like that again, I will be the one to react. And I will not be as gentle about it as my Mate was."
Dasia actually smiled at that. "Thank you, I'm sure that the word is being spread as we speak."
Dasia looked at Janeway and asked, "Kathryn do you want for me to contact one of the other Regents so that you can stay in their village?"
"I, as captain of a starship with almost 150 people, know that even though we are responsible for every single person under our command, we cannot govern every move they make, we can only deal with their mistakes afterwards. You dealt with this... mistake very promptly. I will not, and cannot, hold the behavior of one individual in your village against you. We would be more than happy to continue to stay here. Now if you excuse me, I need to speak to my crew members for a moment."
As soon as Dasia and the other women had left, Janeway turned to B'Elanna. "Just what the hell did you think you were doing!?"
"She touched Seven," Was all the defense B'Elanna could bring up, and to her it was more than enough.
"Seven is very capable of defending herself. You can't go flying off like a harpy on high heels whenever someone touches her."
"She was not just touching Seven. She had her hand all over Seven's... rear.
"As I said, Seven could've dealt with that. Isn't this really about the fact that you were jealous because someone was touching your woman?"
"Seven is nobody's woman, save her own," B'Elanna disagreed. "If Seven wanted someone to touch her, then I would not stop that. I might be jealous about it, yes, but I wouldn't do anything about it if it was what Seven wanted. But Seven didn't want this. I saw a friend being molested, so I reacted."
"Captain, if I may," Seven interrupted. "I think it is a good thing that B'Elanna reacted in the way she did, for I was about to react. I had already told that woman to remove her hand from my behind; she did not listen. I was about to rip her arm off her body. I do not know if I would have succeeded in doing so with the leverage I would have in the position we were standing in, but the resulting damage would certainly have been more permanent than a broken jaw."
"Damn it. This is not the way to behave on the ship, and it is certainly not the way to behave on an away mission."
"Probably not," B'Elanna agreed. "But I won't have anyone touching Seven like that."
"Lover's feelings have no place on an away mission, Lieutenant," Janeway warned.
B'Elanna let the fact that apparently even the captain thought that she and Seven were lovers slide for the moment. "This has nothing to do with 'lover's feelings' Captain. I would have reacted the same way if someone had touched you like that, or even Harry or Tom for that matter. I won't stand by and let that happen to the people I care about. You can't ask this of me, Captain."
Even though she didn't show it, Janeway was glad to be on that list of people B'Elanna cared about. "I sincerely doubt that we'll agree any time soon on this matter, so let me simplify this. If something like that happens again, you both will go on report; at least. Do you understand me?"
"Yes Captain," Seven and B'Elanna said together.
"Very well, dismissed."
Seven and B'Elanna both turned and moved down the same path. "Would you like to go for a walk?" B'Elanna asked after a moment.
"I would like that," Seven replied as she continued to stroll beside B'Elanna.
"So, I'm your Mate, huh?" B'Elanna asked, grinning.
"From Dasia's question, I deduced that it would make a big difference to them. Do you object to the fact that I said yes before consulting with you?"
"Neh, I actually kinda like it. I liked the way it sounded when you said I was your Mate."
"So are you my Mate?" Seven asked while they took a left turn, making sure to stay on the well traveled path.
"Am I?" B'Elanna asked on her turn, wanting Seven to answer the question first.
Seven stopped walking and looked at the Klingon. "I now know for sure that I love you, B'Elanna Torres, but I still am not sure if I am fully 'in' love with you. Having said that, I do love you, we live together, we share all our free time together. I like being in your presence, and when I am working in Astrometrics I look forward to the end of the day because then I can go home and once more be in your presence. I think that this is more than a lot of married couples actually share. Therefore I think that we have passed the stage of being mere friends. I think I would like it very much if you were my Mate, B'Elanna."
"You just said it better than I could have, Seven. All of the above, so, yes, I am your Mate, and you are mine."
Seven smiled at B'Elanna before pointing down the road. "I think we should make a right turn there, my Mate."
"I think you are right, my Mate," B'Elanna agreed. Both of them knew that they wouldn't suddenly go calling each other 'my Mate' all the time; it simply wasn't them to do so. But it did feel good to say it at that moment.
"Tell me," Seven asked once they had gone to the right. "Was the Captain correct? Did you get jealous about the fact that someone was touching my behind?"
"Seven, you heard what I told the Captain, I meant that."
"I did hear that," Seven agreed. "And I do believe that. But that was not the question I asked you. My question was if you had been jealous about the fact that someone else was touching my behind?"
Now B'Elanna laughed, "Hell yes! That is one fine ass you got there. And I'll be damned before I let someone but me touch it."
"First, you have never touched my... ass. Second, you sound very possessive, you do realize that it is my 'ass' and it is mine to do with what I please?"
B'Elanna tilted her head slightly and gave Seven a bemused grin. "Well, I sincerely hope that the never touching it will change one of these days. And as for being possessive; that's the Klingon in me. We can become very possessive. Do you mind?"
Seven had heard the certain tone of voice in the 'do you mind' and knew that B'Elanna would react to her answer. It wasn't the first time B'Elanna asked a question in such a way. Seven really liked that a lot. B'Elanna didn't try to convince her, persuade her, or push her. She would simply do something or say something and then ask 'do you mind' in that tone of voice. And if Seven's answer was yes, B'Elanna wouldn't do or say it again.
"No, I do not mind. As of now, my 'ass' is yours."
"Really now?" B'Elanna asked delighted while she came closer until her body was touching that of the blonde while they walked.
"Then I can do this, right?" B'Elanna asked while she circled Seven with her arm. Taking the blonde into a loose one armed hug that ended with B'Elanna's hand firmly placed halfway on Seven's other hip, and halfway on her behind.
Seven liked the feeling of B'Elanna so close very much. She put her own hand on B'Elanna's hip in response. "You may do that as often as you like, if I can do the same in response."
"You got a deal," B'Elanna said while she snuggled a little closer to the blonde. Oh yeah, this felt right alright. Being close to someone had never felt so right before. When she was making love to Tom, it had felt good, very good, but simply being close to someone had never felt so right. Not with Tom, not with anyone. Not even with the two women she had slept with during her time as a Maquis.
Thinking of 'sleeping' reminded B'Elanna of something else she had been wondering about. "Say, Seven, I was wondering, and if you don't want to answer since this concerns Harry too, then that's fine. But I've been wondering, when you and Harry dated you also had sex; he was your first, right? I mean. There was this famous incident when you had just joined Voyager where you told him to strip so that you could have sex; you didn't make that offer to anyone else and have that person take you up on it, did you?"
"I did not. Until now Harry was my first, and only, lover. Besides, Harry basically ran away then," Seven reminded. "So I figured that it was an approach that was not acceptable to the people on the ship."
"He didn't run away the second time you suggested it," B'Elanna noted.
"True," Seven agreed. "But by then I had learned that the way you make an offer has a lot to do with whether it is accepted."
"True enough," B'Elanna agreed. "So what did you do different the second time you made him the offer?"
"Besides the fact that I made clear that I was not merely offering to find out what copulating was about, but actually wanted to experience all of the aspects of a relationship?" Seven asked.
"Yes, besides that."
"I went to his quarters and initiated a discussion. After a few minutes I straddled his legs and made him my offer. In other words; I made sure that he could not run away this time."
B'Elanna laughed, trying to picture the scene.
After an amused moment, Seven noted, "You do not seem troubled about the fact that I have been in a relationship before, that someone else beat you to me, as some of the crew of Voyager would say."
B'Elanna hesitated before answering. "I'm not. Mind you, I would get very pissed if someone else would touch you now,"
"You would actually break her jaw," Seven interrupted amused.
"Well, yeah," B'Elanna agreed with a rueful smile. "But I don't mind that you have a past. Hell I have a past that puts your past to shame. I don't mind that Harry was your first instead of me. In fact, I'm glad that your first time was with someone who is such a caring person. My first time was basically a bet. I won, I slept with someone first, oh wow."
"I am sorry to hear that. Harry put a lot of effort into making my first time something I will never forget."
"Oh, I also won't forget my first time," B'Elanna assured. "Just that it's not a fond memory. Not bad mind you, just... a stupid thing done at the wrong time with the wrong person for the wrong reason. Harry, he was, nice?"
Seven smiled. "B'Elanna Torres, are you trying to find out the dirt about Harry and me?"
B'Elanna shrugged. "As I said, I don't mind that you have a past. And if it's a nice story to hear, then why not? I can tell you things about me if you want, but somehow I don't really think that you want details about Tom and me, and the others were people you don't know."
"Well, let me assure you, Harry was very nice. Harry is a very talented lover. He was considerate and he timed the breaking of my hymen with an orgasm so that I hardly felt it. He, he cares I think is the best description."
Seven hesitated before asking, "But why did you start asking about Harry, or was finding out 'the dirt' truly the only reason?"
"Oh right, I forgot. No, the reason I asked was because I am curious about how you like having sex with a man. I mean, yes, I know that Harry was your only experience, but in general, do you like feeling a tongue down south, if Harry did that of course, did you like the feeling of being filled by, um, him?"
"Ah, I see. Yes I did, to both. Though as nice as the sex was, it was also lacking in a way, not that Harry could have done anything about that."
"Why not?" B'Elanna asked. "I'm sure that he could've learned what you wanted if you had told him how you wanted it."
"B'Elanna, I did not find the sex itself lacking, but the fact that I also wanted to touch a woman's breasts, to taste her. No matter how much Harry was willing to learn, he could not be a woman. I told you, I do think that I can have a fulfilling relationship with a man. I know this since I did like what Harry did, and do know that a relationship is more than sex. But I prefer women over men."
"Lucky me," B'Elanna smiled.
"Lucky you, indeed," Seven agreed. "Now, since you asked me, let me ask you. How did you like your experience with men?"
"Well," B'Elanna said while thinking about it for a moment. "I think I'm straight down the middle. If I'm with a man I really like it. Though just as you, I sometimes would really like to be able to touch a woman's body then as well. But when I'm with a woman I do sometimes really miss that one thing that men do have. I really like the feeling of something long and hard sliding into me. And the size and shape of a man, it just feels so much different then a woman's fingers."
"You could use 'toys,'" Seven suggested.
"I could," B'Elanna agreed. "And I actually do have some, designed for women that are alone. But the thing is that I personally feel that science has entered the field of toys too much. You see, I have tried the toys that are designed to act and feel like a real man, you know those 'strap-on' kind of things that just feel as if they are real. But those are too real for me. When I'm with a woman, I want to be with that woman. I want to know that the toy that we are using is just that; a toy. I don't want to be able to close my eyes and then have it just feel as if it's a man that's fucking me."
"So you would like to have a toy so that a woman can enter you like a man would, yet you do not want that toy to feel too real," Seven summed up. "But if you had a toy that was not as real as a man, would you then not end up still missing a man?"
"No, not at all," B'Elanna said confidently. "You see, it is the size and shape I want. That's the 'feel' that I want, and I want for it to slide in and out of me in that wonderful age old rhythm and yet feel two hands holding on to me."
Seven nodded her head in agreement, "Hmm, I think I understand. I too think that I would like the feel of a toy like that."
B'Elanna grinned at the blonde while they took yet another turn that would bring them back to the village. "You know, I really do hope that we end up making love at some point. Because I sure would like to take you and be taken by you with such a toy. Maybe when the time is right, we can dive into the replicator patterns and find something we both like."
"I like that idea," Seven agreed.
Continued...