~ The Traveler ~
by H.W.

Disclaimer: See Part 1

Writer: I guess that's me. H.W. hw@alias-hw.com

Chapter 8


B'Elanna finished putting the remains of the breakfast away which seems only fitting to her since it had been Seven who had ended up making the breakfast stating that B'Elanna's methods was inefficient.

"I think I'll have a quick look in Engineering before we go give our report to the Captain. You okay with that?"

"It is acceptable. The report to the Captain is important but not urgent and I know that the first thing you do when you start working is take a look at the warp core."

"Sure, call me predictable why don't you." B'Elanna joked as she started moving toward the door. "Okay then, shall we go?"

"Yes, Kyamo." Seven replied and started to get up from the couch.

B'Elanna stopped when she heard Seven once again call her beautiful one in Klingon and joined Seven by the couch. "You really like calling me that, don't you?" She asked while they both sat down again.

Seven smiled and openly took a good moment of time to admire the view of B'Elanna sitting there, looking at her. "It suits you. And I like the way it sounds. If there is a single word in the Klingon language that fits you perfectly, then it is Kyamo. Do you actually know the precise origin of the word Kyamo?"

"No, I don't. It's just a Klingon word like the rest. A beautiful one..." B'Elanna grinned at her chores of words, which had been accidentally. "... A beautiful word, I mean, but as far as I know, it is just a word."

"That is incorrect. There is a specific history to that word. At the time the original Kahless lived, there was no Klingon description for 'beautiful one.' However, Kahless wanted a word that described his wife perfectly. After days of thinking, he decided that the beauty of his wife was so unheard of that no word in the Klingon language was good enough to describe her. So he came up with the term 'Kyamo.' And since then the use of the word Kyamo is only allowed to describe a beautiful Klingon woman."

"Damn, Seven you really do know a lot about Klingons, don't you? But, um, than how come that nowadays the word Kyamo is used to describe everything beautiful. Even a very good-looking Targ."

Seven used her Mesh covered hand to brush away some of the hairs that hung before the Klingon's face. She liked how B'Elanna reacted no differently to the normal hand than the hand with the exoskeleton on it. How B'Elanna leaned into a caress with that hand just as much as she did when Seven used her other hand.

"Because now, almost no one remembers the exact origin of the word. But, during the time that the real Kahless lived, you would have been killed for using the word Kyamo to describe a Targ. So, unless you object, I would like to keep calling you that, Kyamo."

"I don't mind at all. I also like the way it sounds." B'Elanna leaned in to steal a small kiss. "Especially when it comes from these beautiful lips. So, you just keep right on calling me Kyamo. Mesh."

It took a moment for Seven to understand that B'Elanna had just used her own form of endearment. And without really realizing it, she looked at her Mesh-covered hand that was still between them.

The Klingon took the hand between her own two hands before explaining tenderly. "That is what everybody else will think. And I am fine with that. Let them think that. Let them think that it is a reference to your Borg enhanced, Mesh-covered hand. But the real reason why I will call you that is something private something known only to us. I want to call you that because..."

"...because of what the word suggests." Seven interrupted B'Elanna, already knowing and understanding what the Klingon was trying to say. "The word 'Mesh' is often used to describe the coming together of two things in a haphazard way. It would refer to the Meshing of my Borg nature and my humanity."

"Yes, Mesh, but also it would indicate the coming together, the Meshing, of our love for each other. Because, you've got to admit. If something came together haphazard then it's us."

"Indeed." Seven only said while she raised her eyebrow in her typical superior Borg manner. But then she quickly decided that she would rather be kissing B'Elanna, so she took a moment to do so. A moment, and a kiss, which turned into several kisses and a couple of minutes. Finally, she decided that they really had to go if they were ever going to leave the quarters that day. So she stood up and headed to the door. But just before the sensor would detect her, she realized that she had forgotten a small detail. "Computer, what is the translation status of the Klingon word Kyamo?" She asked, wanting to know if the computer would translate the word in the rest of the ship.

{The Klingon word Kyamo is listed as an endearment/profanity that is not to be translated into Federation language unless said in an ongoing conversation. Other words in this category are in order of common usage; raktajino, petaQ, jay', bang, Hu'...}

"Computer, stop reply." Seven interrupted when de computer continued giving detailed information. She then turned her attention to B'Elanna. "You have the computer set to detailed replying. Explain. You always told me to 'shut up' when I was expanding something in detail."

"Mesh, first thing, you said it right. 'Told' you. Past tense. I never do that nowadays, do I?"

"No, you do not. However that does still not explain why you used to interrupt me."

"Did it annoy you when I told you to shut up?"

"Yes, it did."

"Then you know why I always told you to shut up. I like detailed information but I like telling you to shut up even more."

"Ah, in that case, I can explain everything in detail from now on." The Borg was not at all surprised by that explanation, she had expected as much.
She and B'Elanna finally left THEIR quarters and started walking to the turbolift. "You, of course, do realize that your alignment of the magnetic constrictors yesterday was off by 0.005 percent. I could explain how to correct this in the future. Then you..."

"Mesh, shut up." The Klingon said with a smile. Knowing only too well that Seven was merely having fun.

"Yes, Kyamo." The Borg dutifully replied and then added, "For now."

***

As soon as they entered Engineering, B'Elanna and Seven had split up. B'Elanna going to Lieutenant Joe Carey and Seven went to examine the warp core readings.

"Okay, Carey, tell me what we've got," the Klingon said.

"Nothing really to tell. We have steady running, nothing reported except for the standard small stuff, and nothing that would indicate that a new virus has activated." Then he continued with a smile. "I see that you're letting the Borg near your warp core without double-checking what she's doing, "Carey said. And then continued while faking excessive nervousness, "Should I check if the escape pods are in good working order?"

Carey was B'Elanna's second in command and he had seen how the two women had grown to each other in the last couple of months so they both knew that he was only teasing and needling his chief and good friend.

"Hey now, if I were you, I'd watch what I would say about my fiancée." The Klingon came back just as jokingly and realized at the same moment exactly what she had said. She wanted the entire ship to know but she would have liked if her friend (and Captain) had been the first to hear the news. But there was no way of taking back her words and she wouldn't deny the truth of them even under torture. So she decided to keep the conversation light and said in a sweet, innocent voice. "You wouldn't want me to get all protective about my fiancée, now would you?"

While she was saying this, she dusted some imaginary lint of the Lieutenant's uniform jacket. The whole scene was so innocent that was almost scary. However before Carey could ask if he had heard what he thought he had heard, never mind clarifying whether or not he was just 'threatened', they were interrupted by the clanging of tools being dropped and scattered about the floor by a young Ensign who had been only recently promoted to Engineering. The Ensign was so caught up in 'accidentally' overhearing the conversation between Carey and B'Elanna that she had walked straight into the warp core console, scattering the tools that she was carrying all over the floor.

"Are you damaged?" Seven asked the Ensign while she was helping her up from the floor.

"You guys are actually engaged? Wow. That is so cool. We've been waiting for that to happen for years! The group will never believe me when I tell them this. This is so… Wow."

B'Elanna sighed at the inevitable question. She really did want everybody to know about her engagement, it was just that she wanted to tell her closest friends first. Tom, Harry and Janeway. Those people should have been the first to know. So she was a bit reluctant to tell others this news first.
But, then again, this was her engineering staff. They deserved to know and she was just dying to tell more people about her love.

While this conversation was taken place, Seven took a moment to look around Engineering. She saw that nobody was working anymore and everybody was listening to the conversation. The Ensign's excitement had made sure of that. Seven was surprised to see nothing but smiles and approval written on every face. And the few that saw her looking at them returned the look with eyes filled with well wishing.

"Rachel, calm down." The Klingon addressed the Ensign. "Yes, Mesh and I got engaged late last night. So you guys are actually the first to know."

"Mesh?" Rachel asked. "Ah, you mean Seven. Nice nickname. Anyway, we never believed that you guys really hated each other. We always thought that all that fighting was just pent-up sexual frustration. It is so great to be proven right. Oh boy, the group will have a baby when I tell them this. Say, talking about baby, have you two actually… um, you know, consummated and all that stuff?"

"Kyamo, would you mind if I assimilated your engineer. At least that way she would stop asking questions that are unhealthy for her continued existence."

"Um, Rachel, you know that I don't mind that you talk so openly, but you do need to learn that you simply don't ask certain things. So, don't ask. And what is this group you're talking about?" B'Elanna decided that it was better to steer the conversation away from dangerous subjects that could try even Seven's patience.

"Oh, nothing really." Ensign Rachel suddenly started to answer vaguely. "Just some of us lower deck personnel who like to get together and gossip about ship's business. Hey Seven, I also like the Kyama nickname."

"That is Kyamo, not Kyama. And you are answering evasively."

"Eh, I am? Um, I really got to go. I have to do maintenance on the turbolift."
With that, Rachel quickly gathered the tools from the ground and left Engineering almost at a run. But she didn't go to the turbolift. She headed straight for her quarters. She had to let the group know this great news. Turbolift maintenance could wait for a couple minutes.

B'Elanna laughed when she looked at the retreating figure. She couldn't help it, she just liked the kid. "Anyway, Joe, Seven and I have to make our report to the Captain so you will have to hold the fort a little while longer."

"Sure, no problem. And let me be the first one to congratulate you on your engagement. I think you two fit together perfectly."

"I must admit that I am surprised by your reaction to our engagement. I had suspected more resistance to the fact that B'Elanna and I have begun a relationship."

Carey shook his head when he heard that. "Neh, Seven, not anymore. Sure, the first year you were on board pretty much nobody trusted you. But three years have passed since you got here and you have shown us, on numerous occasions, that we can trust you. You have saved this ship several times and you have proven that you certainly deserve a place here. I know that you don't have many close friends but you also, as far as I know, have no more enemies on board this ship and we all like you. So we certainly won't mind that you would get involved with our stubborn Chief Engineer here."

"Hey, I resent that. I am not stubborn. Okay, so I'm a little bit stubborn." The Klingon said, in mock outrage before getting serious again, "Thanks, Joe, that means a lot to me, to us. I'm glad that I don't need to go around breaking noses left and right."

Carey rubbed his own nose in response to that. "That would be a good incentive. But it really isn't necessary. I guarantee you, there's only sincere well wishes from the crew."

"Most of the crew." Seven corrected.

B'Elanna knew whom Seven was talking about so she decided not to react. She was sure that her friend would be happy for her. Certainly, Chakotay would only wish for her happiness.

"Well, see you later, Carey."

Seven gave a small nod to the Engineer and left together with the Klingon.

***

They were halfway to the turbolift when they met four members of the crew debating something rather actively.

"It appears that the Ensign was quick in spreading the word. They are talking about our relationship." The Borg sometimes found her enhanced hearing quite useful.

"Yeah. It looks like the news might reach the bridge before we do."

"I highly doubt that, the bridge is a sealed off part of the ship. I am sure that the entire ship knows by now, except the bridge. I do not believe that anybody from the crew would specifically go to the bridge to spread gossip. Nor would they send a message. I believe that this is one of those cases where everyone knows except the senior staff."

"You're probably right. But only because lunch break hasn't started yet. Because then I'm sure they would know."

By now, they had reached the crewmembers who were suddenly extremely quiet, not really knowing what to say. Finally, one of them gathered the courage to speak.

"Sooo. Um, is it true? You guys finally got involved, officially, I mean?"

"Yes, X." B'Elanna answered the woman whose real name was so difficult to pronounce that everybody simply called her X, which was at least the first letter of her name. "Seven and I got engaged yesterday, according to Klingon tradition, and today, Mesh agreed to move in with me. Which means you and Rachel will have to help Harry, Seven and me build a new alcove in our quarters. I want that finished by the next time Mesh has to regenerate."

"Sure, boss. You just give the word and we will be ready. I like that nickname by the way, Mesh, sounds like something I would come up with. Um, that is… not that I have dreamt of being close enough to Seven to have a nickname for her." Then X realized that Seven was also present. "Oh, God. I'm not saying that I wouldn't want to be close to you, just that I ain't. I certainly wouldn't mind being close to you. As a matter-of-fact, I have dreamt of that, um… I didn't say that, you didn't hear that. What I meant was…"

"X, stop digging." B'Elanna came to the rescue. The Klingon certainly couldn't blame her for having a crush on Seven. "She will let you go on until you wish you could sink through the floor."

"That warning comes a bit too late, boss. I already want to sink through the floor. But…" X sighed and took a deep breath. "Let me assure you that I am absolutely happy for you. You deserve each other. And I mean that in a good way. Not that I mean… I am going to shut up now."

"A very wise decision." The Borg finally said. "I thank you for your well wishes. They are… unorthodox but appreciated. Shall we continue, Kyamo?"

The Klingon didn't answer but started walking to the turbolift with a big grin on her face. She looked to the side and saw a smile on Seven's lips when they both heard the excited X saying: "Did you hear what she called her? That is so…wow."

When the doors to the turbolift finally closed behind them, B'Elanna could not contain her laughter and even Seven was laughing silently. "Do you think she's part of this group Rachel was talking about?" The Klingon finally asked.

"I would say that the chance of this is highly likely." Then the Borg sobered up and her voice became serious. "I was fully prepared to ignore the negative reactions of the crew to our involvement but these positive reactions make me feel accepted, part of the collective."

"I think Carey was right, Annika. You may only have a few good friends but you certainly have a lot of friends on this ship, even if you don't know it yourself."

"I am starting to realize that." Seven said while the doors to the bridge opened and they both stepped out. "It is just that..." But Seven never finished her sentence. Her eyes had drifted to the viewscreen and she had seen the ship on it. Suddenly, she couldn't move anymore. Now that Species 8472 was once again back into fluidic space there was only one known species in the Galaxy that were a threat to the Borg collective. For eighteen years, Seven had lived with the knowledge that there was one thing that could threaten the continued existence of the Borg collective. Now that Seven could feel emotions again, seeing that ship filled her with fear. However, that fear was only short-lived. It was quickly replaced with the need to protect her collective. To protect Voyager.

"What's the matter, Mesh?" B'Elanna asked when she noticed that Seven had stopped moving. But the Borg never answered her. What happened next on the bridge was more important.

"Okay, Tuvok..." Janeway said.

But before Tuvok could do whatever the Captain was about to order, a purple light was filling the bridge. "WE are being scanned." Tuvok said calmly, if a bit redundant.

Seven could feel how Tuvok was looking at her but she couldn't tear her eyes away from the ship on the viewscreen.

"Raise Shields."

These words from Janeway were finally enough to prompt a reaction from Seven. She knew that she had to act now or it could already be too late. So while Janeway was still saying her last word, her voice was drowned out by a not so cool nor composed blonde urgently screaming...

"NO!!!"

That reaction was even enough to stop Tuvok from carrying out his orders.

"Seven?" A surprised Janeway asked.

That question and B'Elanna's hand on the small of her back guiding her was enough to finally get the Borg moving. And it was only the contact of that hand on her back that gave Seven the self-confidence she needed at that moment.

"Seven, I am waiting for an explanation. We are sitting ducks with our shields lowered."

"I realize that, Captain, but they never attack unless provoked. However, the meaning of the word 'provoked' is rather broad-based with them. Everything can be a provocation if they are looking for it. Raising our shields could be considered a provocation."

"Okay, I can accept that. But I would still rather have my shields up in case they decide that something else is a provocation and start firing upon us."

The Borg opened her mouth to start explaining more precisely what she meant but decided that she really needed to get the Captain's undivided attention before Janeway would make a decision based upon only a part of the information. So she opted for a very blunt but effective; "If they start firing upon us then our shields would not make any difference. There weapon technology is far superior to Voyager's."

"Come now, Seven. I'm sure that we could handle a ship that is ten times smaller than Voyager." The Captain said. But to her credit, she didn't simply assume this. She wanted Seven to prove her wrong. However, it was not Seven who was going to prove her wrong but the other ship.

"Something is happening." Harry said when he saw the indicators on his board lightening up. They are powering up weapons and shields, Captain."

"Tuvok…"

"This is a unwise decision, Captain." Seven tried again.

"Your objection is noted, Seven, but I still want those shields up."

"Kathryn, you will kill us all." Seven said in a last desperate attempt.
But, luckily enough, that attempt was very effective.

"Harry, what do those readings tell you?" The Captain asked. But when the young lieutenant didn't answer, she looked at him and saw disbelief written all over his face. Janeway had enough of it. She wanted answers and she wanted them now. So instead of trying to give another order, she stood up and walked to Kim's station. When she saw the readings that were on the board, she too needed a moment to find her words.
"I stand corrected. Thank you, Seven. At the moment, that little ship has a weapon signature that is more than fifteen times as powerful as that of the most powerful ship in the Federation. The shields measure as more than twenty times as powerful as anything the Federation has."

"That is correct." Tuvok had rerouted the information through his board because he saw it as his duty to double-check those readings. And he saw it also as his duty to give more information. "And I suspect that they are not running at full capacity. The readings are too steady for that. They do not show the power fluctuations one gets when the systems are running at top capacity."

"So they are just showing off?" Paris chipped in.

"I think it is more like they are looking for what our reaction will be." Janeway took the time she needed to get back to her chair to think about what her next action would be. "Any suggestions, Seven?"

"They always allowed the Borg to retreat. Maybe they will allow us to back up."

"They ALLOWED the Borg to retreat?" Janeway asked. "Very well, they didn't answer our hails, they won't let us through, and they just basically told us that picking a fight with them is not a good idea so let's see if we can go around them. Tom take us back fifty thousand kilometers at warp seven, then set a course that will take us around them, leaving at least those fifty thousand kilometers between us."

"Yes, ma'am."

The next five minutes were spent in tense silence. Finally, Tom set the new course and they once again started in the direction of the Alpha Quadrant.

"If you want to raise the shields, Captain, then now is the time to do it." Seven said, knowing only too well that the shields really wouldn't help them but they would make Janeway feel more comfortable.

"Well in that case, Tuvok, raise shields."

"Shields at one hundred percent."

All the time this was happening, the mysterious ship didn't move. But when they finally came alongside the ship, though at a fifty thousand kilometer distance, the ship started moving and then it just disappeared. Only to reappear in front of them again, blocking their way once again.

"All stop." Janeway ordered. "Did my eyes just deceive me or did that ship jump from one place to the other."

"It did not 'jump'. It moved at a speed in excess of warp ten." The now completely calm Borg explained.

"What? They have Transwarp capabilities? But I didn't see a Transwarp conduit?" Janeway asked surprised.

"They do not need a conduit. Their shielding is strong enough to protect the ship from being torn apart by the forces that act on a ship at Transwarp. The fastest speed that the Borg have ever seen one of their ships travel at was warp sixteen point six. But the Borg believe that they might be capable of speeds in excess of warp thirty."

"This just keeps getting better. Any idea why they won't let us through? And what more can you tell us about them?"

The only two reasons I can think of for why they won't let us through is because either they are protecting something, or we have reached the border of their territory. And as for what more I can tell you, do you want this information now or do you want to hold a senior staff meeting?"

"You're right again, Seven. A senior staff meeting is definitely what we need right now." Janeway got up and moved in the direction of conference room one and only gave the order as in an afterthought. "All senior staff to the conference room."




Chapter 9


(Author's note. In the Star Trek Voyager episode 'dark frontier II' the Borg Queen tells Seven that they are about to assimilate species ten thousand two hundred something. I used that number as an indication for the amount of races there are in Empress Shadeen's Empire.)



Somewhere else in the galaxy.


"I don't care."

Zerisan was the aid of Empress Shadeen from her birth. She was one week younger than the Empress and they had been brought together for that single purpose. Shadeen was to be a possible heir to the throne and Zerisan was to be her aide. Luckily for both of them, they fitted together perfectly and a strong friendship had built between them from a time even before they could speak. So, Zerisan could see that her Empress was in danger of losing her patience.

"By the Divine ones." Empress Shadeen continued. "Why do I even bother with these fools if they really think that I would, for one minute, believe their excuses. They start wars with everyone they can find. They are stupid enough to actually begin an attack on MY Empire. And then, after they don't have a single spaceship left, they come crying and begging to ME for help because the other races they had started wars with suddenly saw the chance at vengeance. And when I agree to protect their miserable excuse for a society, they have the impudence to tell me that OUR researchers were faulty. Tell me, Zerisan, I have twenty-one thousand six hundred and eighteen races in my Empire. Why do I even bother with such fools as the BroN'es?"

"You bother because you DO care, my Empress. But not about the fools that are in power, you care about the common people. Because the government was so set on winning wars, ninety-five percent of the population now lives in poverty. Thousands die each day of hunger. THAT, my Empress, is why you bother."

"Well then, I guess that means that I have to do something about the fools that are in power. The time for playing nice is over. Send in the troops. Occupy the planet. I want each government position filled with one of my soldiers."

"You want to occupy the planet because they falsified reports? Isn't that a bit… drastic?" Zerisan asked. Being the aide of the Empress, Zerisan was one of the few from whom it was actually expected that they questioned the Empress's orders. Questions made a person think. Only dead rulers had no one to advise or question them.

"It isn't about the falsified records. It is about what they are lying about. They agreed that in exchange for protection they would abide by our rules. Now, I have no delusions. I know that gifts are exchanged to gain favor. But on a government level, there is NO, I repeat, NO corruption in my Empire, or anything I protect. I do not allow it and I do NOT tolerate it. If they wanted to keep their precious system of buying their way into government help then they shouldn't have come to me. They shouldn't have agreed to follow the rules. So now it is time I introduce them to the first rule. 'Abide by the rules or suffer the consequences.' I want that planet up to standard within two years. I want poverty erased in one year. And within three months, nobody will die of hunger anymore on that plant. Also, introduce our standard government system into their society. I have a feeling that the population will like it, even though the 'rulers' won't."

"Do you want to take the planet into the Empire, Empress?"

"The size of the Empire hasn't changed in three thousand years. And it's also not going to change for these idiots. I will be glad to hand the planet back over them once a government is in place that can actually think. But until that day, their planet will be occupied territory, but not part of the Empire."

"And if the new government asks us for our continued protection?"

"Then it will become one of the places outside the Empire which are not possessions of the Empire but still protected by it. Zerisan, if I were to take everybody who asks into the Empire then everybody would come begging for help against their biggest enemies. I would end up ruling over the entire galaxy and frankly, I don't need the headache of that."

"Yes, Empress, it will be done." Zerisan said with a smile. She knew what Empress Shadeen was talking about. At least once each month somebody came pleading for help. If it wasn't against the Borg, it was against the Hirogens or against the Voth, or, or, or.

"Anything else?"

"Several things, Empress. But they are subjects with blurred lines."

Empress Shadeen lifted her hand to Zerisan. Indicating that she wanted her to come forward. "In that case join me, my wife, I have gone too long without touching you."

Their race was proud of the fact that they were multifunctional. Everybody had more than one function. It often happened that a person receiving orders from somebody one moment, would, at the next moment, be giving orders to the same person because they both were filling a different function at that moment. Zerisan had several functions. Imperial Guard. Bodyguard of the sole heir of the Empire. Chief pilot of the Imperial wing. Aid to Empress Shadeen. And Lady of the Empire, wife of Empress Shadeen.

Zerisan joined her wife on 'the throne' as it was called. It really was simply a comfortable chair with buttons built into the armrests. All the Empire was at Shadeen's fingertips. It was positioned with the back against the wall, directly opposite of the only entrance to the room but it certainly wasn't the lavishly decorated center of the room that most would expect. While their race did know what luxury was, even though they were warriors, Empress Shadeen had never been one for excess. As long as her clothes fit her well and her chair was comfortable she was satisfied.

Zerisan opted to sit on her wife's lap and took a good deal of time to properly welcome her wife with leisurely kisses. They both had long ago grown accustomed to not holding back their love for each other because others where present. If they were to do that, then they only would have the five hours a day that the Empress tried to spend with her family.

Not that any of the operatives in the room had a problem with this show of affection. As a matter of fact, in the entire Empire only a few would have problems with it. The rest, as the operatives, wanted their Empress to be happy. They wished her a healthy and lucky family life. And the operatives in the room knew only too well that occasionally, weeks went by without the Empress being able to enjoy her family life. She tried to spend several hours each day with her family but too often the Empire came first. So, nobody in the room would even think about the possibility of being upset over the fact that their Empress took a few minutes with her wife.

"Talk to me, love. What is wrong?"

"Before I came in here, the minister of family affairs wanted a moment to talk with me as Lady of the Empire. He asked me when we were planning on having more children. He reminded me that it was tradition for an Emperor or Empress to at least have fifteen potential heirs to the throne."

Shadeen laughed at that and then once again kissed her wife. "Just like it is also tradition for the Emperor or Empress to have a harem of three thousand wives and or husbands. But you are all the harem I need. There isn't, and won't ever be, anyone else but you." Then she got more serious. "You should have reminded him that only THE divine ONE, The Traveler, the ruler over all of the other divine ones, has the powers to make a mortal pregnant without the interference of technology. So when I found myself pregnant with Xakana seven years ago, and tests showed that the rest of her DNA came from you, my wife, I saw that as a clear sign that Xakana is to be the sole heir to the throne. If The Traveler wants more heirs to my throne then he will take care of that. But as long as neither of us suddenly becomes pregnant, there will be no other heirs."

"Um, I did tell him this. He took that opportunity to tell me that it was time that we told the Empire the truth. That we used technology to create our child."

"He said what?! Get him in here, NOW!" Empress Shadeen shouted. The minister of family affairs was the last descendant of the previous imperial family before the throne was appointed to family Shadeen almost twenty thousand years ago. He was one of the few who was against the rule of Empress Shadeen. Simply because he wanted to rule for himself. He had actually entered the last election three years ago and only seventy-four people in the entire Empire had voted for him. Yet, he still harbored illusions about his family name once again being the Imperial one.

"Beloved." Zerisan said. Trying to temper the angry ruler. "It is his right not to believe in the Divine ones."

"Zeri, I couldn't care less about what he believes in. That has nothing to do with this. What this is about is that I proclaimed that I found myself pregnant with Xakana, OUR child, something you know is true. And he basically says that he doesn't believe that our child was conceived only with the blessing of The Traveler. That, is what this is about."

When Zerisan understood what her wife was saying, she too got became furious. The actions of the minister were inexcusable. "Carizon."

That one word was enough to be considered an order for Carizon. An order which he had received from the Lady of the Empire. "Yes my lady, my Empress." The last two words were directed at Shadeen and then he was out the door.


"You wanted to see me, Empress?" The minister asked calmly after Carizon shoved him through the door. Carizon and Zerisan had understood the hidden insult after the Empress had made it clear and now they both could barely themselves in check. They wanted to kill this worm who dared to insult their Empress.

Empress Shadeen waited until Zerisan had stood up and was standing to the side of the throne. "Zerisan tells me that you told her that we should officially announced that we used technology to conceive our child. What do you have to say for yourself?"

"Empress, as you know, we may all choose whether or not we believe in the Divine ones. And I do not believe in them. There is no crime in that."

Shadeen slowly rose from her throne and came closer to the minister. "Do you really believe that I wouldn't recognize the real meaning behind those words?"

"Empress, I, eh, really don't know what you are talking about. It is my right not to believe."

"This has nothing to do with your right to believe and you know it. I said that one day I suddenly was pregnant, and the second parent of that child is my wife and that this has happened thanks to intervention of THE Divine One. And you say that you don't believe this?"

"Agan, Empress, it is my right…"

"So you are saying that I lied to my own people, my own race? You accuse ME, Empress Shadeen, of lying to her soldiers? How dare you?" Shadeen reached to her hip and pulled the ceremonial warrior's knife out of its sheat. This knife was given to each soldier to indicate that they had passed the training and could now call themselves soldiers to the Empire. In this time of phasers and projectile weapons the knives were rarely used, but it was the first weapon one had to master before one could become a soldier. The knife was still used in challenges and close combat; when an enemy was so close that phasers or projectile weapons were more a hindrance then they were of help. They were made of a special material so strong it could cut through duranium and it wouldn't even leave a mark on the thirty-centimeter long blade.

The knife Shadeen was holding at the moment had been handed down through time from Emperor to Emperor for the twenty thousand years that the Emperor or Empress had been called Shadeen.

"Defend yourself, for you are going to die today." Shadeen said in the standard opening to a challenge ritual.

The minister drew his knife and started circling the Empress, who did nothing more than keep him in her line of sight. Tradition stated that the challenged, in this case the minister, should have the first attack. That first attack was nothing more than a pathetic slicing of air and to her disgust, Empress Shadeen could easily see that the minister had only kept his training proficient enough to pass the tests without being punished. While his skill was enough to serve in a war, it was pathetic compared to someone like the Empress.

But still, the first attack had been made and now she could kill him. She was just about to move forward and plunge the knife into his heart when he started talking, hoping that he could break her concentration enough for him to win the battle.

"Do you really expect people to believe that crap about The Divine One being behind your pregnancy? I bet that you and your little whore got it on one night and decided to use the 'services' of one of the guards. Am I right?" He asked with a sneer.

Even though his words had an effect, it was not result he was expecting. Empress Shadeen slowly put her knife away, deciding that it was too good to get dirty with blood from the likes of him. Then she looked at him and her eyes told him that at this moment Empress Shadeen was at her most ruthless. Now, he was facing the person who could order millions of people to death because they had threatened the Empire. And the minister realized that the last minutes of his life had just begun.

"Not only do you call me a liar, you also dare to insult my wife?"

Before the minister could answer, Shadeen slipped through his defenses and hit his chest with so much force that the splintering rib bones penetrated every vital organ in his body. "Nobody insults my wife unpunished. Die slowly, you vermin."

Their bodies were strong, built for battle. So even with a pierced heart it took the minister almost ten minutes to die. The last thing he saw before everything went dark around him was the Empress looking at him with contempt in her eyes. At that moment, when he knew that this ambition would never be fulfilled, realization hit him. He understood how poorly he had served the Empire the last years. Even if he didn't like the Empress, he still should have served the Empire. And with his last breath he was glad that he was about to die. Because the Empire didn't need people like him. He thought about how the Empire would have fared with him as Emperor and for the first time in his life he was glad that such a good person as Empress Shadeen was sitting on the throne. So with his last breath he whispered: "Long live Shadeen."

Two guards stood beside the body of the minister, waiting for the order of what to do with the body. Empress Shadeen had heard his last words and knew that in his last moments of life he had once again become a worthy servant of the Empire. "Give him a soldier's funeral. Let his body burn up in the sun of or Homeworld so that his spirit is free to be judged by the Divine Ones."

"Yes, Empress, it shall be done."

Zerisan took hold of her wife's hand and they both went back to the throne. "Are you coming home with me now?"

"Yes, my wife. When we were joined I promised you that the Empress would never enter our household, save for when she had to give orders to others. But in our household, she would never exist. When Xakana was born six years ago I promised you both that I would always be there on special days. The only thing that would keep me from that would be an all-out war. I may be an hour ore so late, but I will never miss one of those days. So yes, my love, we will go home now as I do not intend to miss my daughter's birthday." Shadeen then took a deep breath before slowly beginning. "My love, today or daughter celebrates her sixth birthday. I know that training only starts after the eighth birthday usually. But she IS the heir to the throne. I think it would be best that from now on she would attend official gatherings. And I would like it if, from now on, everywhere we go she would be introduced as the heir to the throne. I want to slowly start introducing her to the knowledge of politics."

"But love." Zerisan countered. "I know that one day she will take your place on the throne, and I know that training usually starts at eight years; mine did. And I also know that this training builds gradually, leaving enough time in the beginning for the child still be a child and play. I know all that. But still, love, can't we wait till her eighth birthday just like the rest? Can't we give her those two extra years?"

"Zeri, it is time. When I was six years old, I was leading admirals, generals, and tens of thousands of troops into mock battles against my father in training exercises. I was seven when I won the first training battle against my father's troops. I was eight when I succeeded in capturing my father. Yes, I know, the outcome would have been different if it was a real battle and actual people would have been killed; then I would never have won those battles against the Imperial Guards. But the fact is, when I was as old as Xakana, I spend all my time training and learning. I don't want that for my child. But it IS time for her slowly start. Simply accompany me and watch and listen."

"The reason why the Emperor was training you so hard was because he was already aged two hundred and eighty-five years and even though we stay strong and healthy till the moment we die, we still only rarely live beyond three hundred years. The reason he was training you so hard was because he was disappointed in his other children and you were born fifty years after the last of his sons. He saw you as the last hope to keep the name Shadeen a proud one. A name that the soldiers would want to die for. And he was right. His hard training paid of and also prepared you for the Imperial Guard training you did later on. But you, my beloved wife, are merely thirty-seven years old. You have still more than enough time to prepare your heir."

"And that, Zerisan, is the reason why I want Xakana to slowly ease into this. To merely accompany me in the beginning; to just sit and see what my job really is. She will still have years to be a child and play, to form that strong friendship she has with the girl which will one day be her aide."

Shadeen smiled knowingly at her wife. Both of them had seen the strong connection between Xakana and Dorani, the young girl who accompanied Xakana everywhere. They both knew that the bond between the two young girls had been made. Pending intervention from the Divine Ones, the name Dorani would one day make its entrance into the imperial family's history.

"I know, and understand that, but still..."

Shadeen sighed deeply. She was used to giving orders and whatever she said happened. But at that moment she was not the Empress. She was a woman talking to her wife about the future of their daughter. Her wife, whom she had to convince, not order. And Shadeen was glad that her wife had always been able to stand up to her on those occasions where the Empress did want to surface and give orders. That did not happen in their marriage and Zerisan was sure to remind her of the fact often enough. That was one of the reasons why Shadeen loved her wife more than life itself. Even if it sometimes made things a little bit harder.

"Beloved, we can't wait too long with this. Because one day, there will come a time when I have to teach my daughter to give orders." Suddenly Shadeen touched a couple of buttons on the armrest and a small screen came out of the chair, filled with information. "One day I will have to teach her how to say 'attack' and then later on, read a report like this. This is about the BroN'es. More than six hundred thousand dead. Over two million that will never be the same again because of wounds they had suffered. How many of those were fathers? Or mothers? Or daughters? Or sons? How many little six-year-old BroN'es will never see their parents again because I said the word 'attack'?"

"They started a war against us, they suffer the consequences."

"I know that Zeri, and I would have still given the order if ten million of them had died. But that is not what I'm talking about. I can give that other because of my training. I can give that order because, if needed, I would destroy everyone who would dare to attack the Empire. But I know that I couldn't have given those orders if I hadn't been trained to handle their effects. Beloved, I don't want our daughter to suffer because her training was not good enough. I would rather train her too much then have her experience a single nightmare over the results of orders she has given. Zeri, beloved, it IS time for her training to begin."

Now it was Zerisan who had to sigh deeply. "You are right, of course. It is time. But promise me, love. Promise me that it will happen slowly."

"That I promise you. I promise you that as your wife, the birthmother of our child, AND as Empress Shadeen, ruler of the Empire. That is the major advantage I have over my father. He had only ten years to train me. I have one hundred years to train Xakana, and hopefully more than one hundred fifty years to be her adviser. Her training will be so slow that she won't even really realize that she is being trained. As I said in the beginning, she will merely accompany me and listen. She will be excited about the fact that she can see the Empress of the Empire at work. She won't even realize that she is learning things at the same time."

"Very well, that approach I can except. You have my blessing, Empress."

"Thank you, my wife. Now, let's go home and celebrate our daughter's birthday."

"Gladly."

But just when they were about to get up Carizon approached them.
"Empress, my lady, the ISS (Imperial Space Ship) Zakood has encountered a spaceship which might just be the 'something' we are looking for."

"Zakood, Zakood." Shadeen said while thinking which ship this was. "Ah, scout ship eight thousand seventeen. At the moment it is patrolling sector ninety-five of the border."

"That this correct, Empress. They are, at the moment, blocking the way of a Federation starship..."

"Federation? What are they doing at sector ninety-five of our border? Besides the fact that they don't have the technology to get there in the first place, there is also the small detail that my Empire lies between their current position and their Federation in the Alpha Quadrant."

"That is correct again, Empress. The Zakood has scanned the ship and from their database, it seems that they were taken to the Delta Quadrant against their wishes by..."

"... The Caretaker." Shadeen finished. "I told him that we could help him reproduce offspring. Or else that we could take over protecting the Ocampa. But no, mere mortals couldn't possibly protect the Ocampa. Whatever happened to the Ocampa by the way?"

"I don't know, Empress. Do you want us to send a scout ship and see?"

"Yes, does that. But whatever happened, do not intervene. We offered our help and it was rejected. Now survival is up to them."

"It will be done, Empress." Carizon said and then returned to the subject at hand. "About the ship. From their files we know that they are on route to the Alpha Quadrant and that is what brought them to our border."

"Ah, yes. A little inconvenient that my Empire lies between them and the Alpha Quadrant. Did they try hailing our ship?"

"Of course. It is a Federation ship after all. And from what we know from their database, they survived seven years in the Delta Quadrant while keeping their Federation principles relatively intact."

"I almost feel sorry for them. The sophisticated Federation people suddenly being dropped in the roughest part of the Delta Quadrant. You said that their principles stayed 'relatively' intact. So they were tried?"

"Yes, Empress. And you have every reason to feel sorry for them. The first enemies they made were the Kazon. Their database shows that over those seven years they had to break their 'Prime Directive' on several occasions to survive. But it seems that their Captain also had the difficult task of incorporating criminals into her crew."

"Now it becomes interesting." Shadeen said leaning forward a bit, which caused Zerisan to stand up and take her rightful place beside the throne.

"Yes Empress." Carizon agreed. "Apparently, they were pursuing a group of what the Federation called terrorists when both they and the terrorists were taken to the Delta Quadrant by the Caretaker. The detailed information is in this padd." Carizon handed Shadeen the padd and continued. "But, to make a long story short, they ended up integrating the 'terrorists' into the crew. And then some years later they came across another Federation starship brought there by the caretaker. They hadn't succeeded in living up to Federation standards but the crew of Voyager, that's the ship by the way, ended up taking them on board also. And from this data it seemed that the Captain was able to make a functioning crew from this."

"Hum, you are right. This might just be that 'something' we are looking for and..." Shadeen interrupted herself when she saw the gleam in Carizon's eyes. "And what else? I know that look, my friend. You are keeping the best for last. So what more is so special about this ship?"

Carizon smiled at his friend and Empress and then specifically looked at Zerisan to indicate that she would find the following information also very interesting. "It's about two of the crewmembers. One is a former Borg drone. Severed from the collective and now an extremely productive member of the crew who has actually helped defend the ship against the Borg on several occasions."

"Interesting." Shadeen agreed.

"Yes, my Empress. And you, my lady, will find the other crewmember very interesting. She is a human/Klingon hybrid."

"Klingon?" Zerisan asked excited. I like the Klingons. They are a little bit like us and..."

"Yes, beloved, we know about your hobby of keeping up with different honorable warrior races in the Galaxy. And it seems as if you are about to meet your first Klingon, even if she is only a hybrid."

"Ah, but with the Klingons, their hybrids often are more like what the Klingons want to be then the real Klingons are themselves."

"We will soon find out. Carizon, give the orders. The imperial wing will leave in one-hour." Then Shadeen focused her attention on our wife. "And you will be on the bridge with me as my wife."

"But I am your chief pilot. I should be at the helm."

"Not this trip, beloved. On this trip you will be my wife and bodyguard of the heir to the throne. Xakana is coming with us."

"But..." A sigh. "Yes, a good choice, my love," she then said, specifically saying 'my love' to indicate that she was agreeing with her wife that this would be a good opportunity to start the training of their daughter. And that she wasn't bowing to the orders of her Empress. "However, we can't be too careful. There is Borg technology on that ship. I want our daughter to be injected before we even leave."

"Of course, I was about to suggest that you do that while I prepare everything on board the ship." Shadeen agreed. "And please tell our daughter that I haven't forgotten about her birthday. That Federation ship isn't going anywhere. They have to get through our space. So, we won't be traveling quickly. Once the wing is underway we will celebrate her birthday and she can have a good time with her friends."

"Thank you, beloved. Thank you for taking time for your family."

"I won't lie to you and say that I would destroy the Empire to save my family, you know that this would be a lie. But I would die for my family and I will certainly take the time for you if I can. Now go and make preparations. By this time tomorrow, you might just meet your first Klingon."

"Yes, Empress." Zerisan said while she turned and left the room.

Shadeen looked at her wife as she was leaving the room and with difficulty suppressed a lustful growl. 'By the Divine Ones. How I love that woman.'




Chapter 10


Since the most of the senior staff had been on the bridge anyhow, the doctor and Neelix were the last to arrive. Almost no one had noticed the change in seating positions. The only person who had noticed was Tom, since Seven was sitting in the chair he usually sat in, the one beside B'Elanna. So, he had taken the chair that the Borg usually occupied and was now sitting across from them, looking at them with a triumphant smile on his face.

"Now that we are all here." Janeway opened. "Care to fill us in, Seven?"

The Borg took a deep breath and was thankful for the feeling of B'Elanna's calming hand on her leg. "Species thirteen. They, and everyone else, simply refer to them as 'The Empire'. But their name is The Followers."

"The Followers?" Janeway asked. "Strange name."

"As far as the Borg know, it is because of their spiritual belief system. They are highly devoted to a race with almighty powers. And even though they believe in the entire race of omnipotent beings, there is one that is placed even higher than the others. The leader of that race. And that is where the name comes from. For wherever that leader of the omnipotent race leads, they will follow. Hence, the Followers."

Chakotay leaned forward when hearing that. "Gods? You mean that they believe in a race of gods?"

"That term is relevant." Seven said carefully, not really certain herself what would be considered a god. "It depends on one's description of 'gods'. The Q, for instance, would be considered gods to a many races in the galaxy. Yet, we have all seen Q and felt his powers. But we still do not call him, or his race, Gods. The same description applies to this race with omnipotent powers. The Followers have seen them, have actually experienced some of the results of actions taken by these powerful beings. It is up to the person if they want to call them Gods. The Followers call them..."

"Wait a minute, Seven." Janeway interrupted. Just hearing the word 'Q' always gave her a headache. "Are you telling us that these people see the Q as their gods?"

"Not at all. The leader of this almighty race is more powerful than the Q could ever be. You have to make a distinction between the Followers and their Divine Ones, as they call them. The Followers are the people which are in that ship out there. They are the guards of their Empire. It is when a race like the Q threatens this Empire that their Divine Ones start protecting it. But only then. For anything other than threats of omnipotent beings, the Followers take care of themselves."

"And what happens if the Q do decide to attack the Empire?" Tuvok asked.

"If the Q were to do so then they would be eradicated, and they know this. That is why no one with almighty powers has ever threatened the Empire, as far as the Borg know. If they ever were to do this, their existence would be wiped out, down to the last member of their race. As far as the Borg know these Divine ones have never attacked any of the other races with omnipotent powers, but the fact that none of those races have ever attacked the Empire would suggest that these Divine ones are indeed capable of killing beings like the Q."

"Sounds like a 'you stay away from my home and I will let you do what ever you like outside of my home' kind of deal. No wonder the Q would stay away." Harry said impressed.

"Simply put," Janeway cleared up. "If immortals attack the Empire then their Divine Ones defend it; if mortals attack the Empire, the Followers defend it?"
"Simply put? Yes. That explanation is acceptable."

"So... Seven." Neelix started slowly. "You said that the Empire calls their gods the Divine Ones?"

"They never actually call them Gods. They only call them Divine Ones. Whether or not they are gods is left to the personal belief of the individual."

"Why do you ask, Neelix?" Janeway asked kindly, seeing that this was difficult for the furry man for some reason.

"Because rumors of this Empire are known all over the Delta quadrant. When the war, which eventually destroyed my homeworld, was raging at its fullest, some wanted to ask for help anywhere it could be found. Rumors were heard of a race so powerful that nothing could defeat them. So some wanted to try and find them to ask for help. But since the government didn't know if this 'Empire' really existed and where it could be found, the government finally decided that the spaceships that the search for this Empire would require would be better spent fighting in the war. And... well, I find it difficult to accept that my homeworld is ruined because it was decided by the government that the spaceships were too valuable for a 'wild goose chase', and here we come across one of their ships. Maybe we could have found them and they could have helped us. Maybe..."

"They would not have helped you." Seven interrupted, trying to make Neelix understand that his 'what ifs' were of no use. "The Borg have assimilated almost one hundred species who asked this Empire for help, usually help against the Borg. They do help and protect certain races on occasion but they decide who and why they help. They most probably would not have helped you because, though you may have lost your homeworld, for them it would have been a simple war between two parties in which they had no business interfering."

"We are digressing." Chakotay spoke up. "Tell us what you know, Seven."

"They are..." Seven paused and looked a bit uncomfortable. "First, I must say that all this information is secondhand. The Borg were never able to assimilate anyone of their race, or any of their technology. The information I have is from encounters the Borg had with them, and from information that races had which have been assimilated by the Borg."

B'Elanna laughed quietly at that. "Are you trying to tell us that the information you have comes from the Borg equivalent of rumors?"

Seven surprised everybody by merely smiling tolerantly at the remark and then went on surprising them even more by saying, "Kyamo, if anybody knows the value of rumors then it is you." And for the first time in her life Seven experienced the strange phenomenon of how a quiet room can get even quieter. But just as it is with most phenomena, it lasted only for a couple of seconds.

"Yes!" Tom said excited. Even though he couldn't understand the word, he understood an endearment between lovers if he heard one.

After Tom's outburst, realization hit the others and everybody started talking at once.

Hu? (Harry)

What? (Neelix)

But... (The Doctor)

Interesting. (Tuvok)

Oh boy. (Janeway)

This is not good. (Chakotay)

Everybody started quieting down when B'Elanna reacted. They all wanted to hear her reaction to this slip of the tongue. "You sure as hell know how to break the news, Mesh."

Janeway decided that she better take hold of the situation before anybody could start asking questions. "Um, am I to understand that your relationship has shifted to a more personal level?" Deliberately 'forgetting' that questions about personal matters were usually not discussed during a senior staff meeting.

"You could say that, Kathryn." B'Elanna replied. She specifically called Janeway 'Kathryn' to indicate that she was now talking unofficially to one of her friends, and not to the Captain. "Yesterday Mesh... Seven and I finally had 'that talk' and..." B'Elanna started blushing now but still continued. "And we confessed what we've been hiding for months."

When she heard 'for months' Janeway quickly made the small calculation and then looked to Tom who was sitting there with a smug look on his face, as if he was somehow responsible for what had happened between B'Elanna and Seven. And now the relatively sudden divorce between Tom and B'Elanna made complete sense to her. He had known before either of the women had wanted to accept it. "Well then, let me congratulate you both on taking your relationship a step further."

"Actually, Kathryn, Captain." Now B'Elanna changed back to using 'Captain' to indicate that the next part was more official. "We did more than taking it 'one step' further. We combined Borg efficiency with Klingon straightforwardness and got engaged last night. And this morning I asked Seven to move in with me, and she said yes." Now her eyes found those of Tom. She apologized quietly, apologized for giving more to Seven in twelve hours than she had ever given to him. She never asked him to move in with her. It had been his idea. B'Elanna could see the trace of hurt in his eyes that he couldn't quite disguise but luckily, she also saw how his smile was genuine, and that he was really happy for them.

"Congratulations to both of you." Tom said with a clear voice that led no doubt to anybody in a conference room that he sincerely meant it.

It was Chakotay who disrupted the good reactions to this news. "I must admit that I would never have pictured you two together since you are really nothing alike. But let me also congratulate you on taking your relationship further." Nobody in the room had any trouble hearing that Chakotay certainly didn't mean his felicitations. "But, I must also admit that the engagement doesn't really sound too wise. Don't get me wrong, if you have been together for some time and feel then that you should get engaged, fine. But isn't this just a little bit... quick? Wouldn't it be better if you waited some time before getting engaged?"

B'Elanna couldn't believe that her 'friend' would say something like that but before she could react, Seven did.

Seven shifted the chair back and stood, leaning forward on her arms and fisted hands, which she had placed on the table. "B'Elanna and I ARE engaged according to Klingon tradition. And according to that tradition anybody who does not agree with the engagement can challenge the person who is not yet part of the Klingon house, in this case me, to an honorable combat. Do you wish to challenge me? Please, say yes."

Those last words gave Chakotay a pretty good indication of what would happen if he were to say yes. "No, I don't want to challenge you. I was just wondering if you two had actually thought this through."

"Okay, that's enough." Janeway intervened. She had waited so long because first she couldn't believe what Chakotay had asked and after that she had a feeling that interrupting them before Chakotay had answered would have been the wrong thing to do.

But Seven wasn't quite finished with making a few things clear. "Let me make this clear to you. B'Elanna and I have not made this move without reason. We may have become engaged relatively quick by your standards, but you seem to forget that for the last three months B'Elanna and I have spent at least twelve hours each day, seven days each week, together. When we became engaged yesterday, we did so because we simply could not hide how we felt for each other anymore. So, do not DARE to question our motives. I would die protecting my Kyamo, and I would certainly defend our relationship to someone like you. So... do... NOT... try... me... on... this, or else I WILL show you how much I intend to embrace Klingon customs under which B'Elanna and I are engaged." By now her tone of voice had changed from the cold Borg monotone to something best described as barely contained danger.

"That'll do, Seven." Janeway interrupted with a tone in her voice that could have chilled the room by ten degrees. She knew that Chakotay was not a man to back down from being challenged like that. But the Borg chose to ignore the Captain, for the moment.

"Have I made myself clear?" Seven whispered dangerously.

And then Chakotay surprised the Captain by saying; "Very clear. I didn't intend to offend you, Bo... Seven. I'm sure you two will be very happy together."

"We will." The Borg said, accepting the fact that Chakotay was backing down. She then set down again and immediately felt B'Elanna take her hand and place both hands on the table, showing without a doubt her support to Seven in this. The ex-drone then took a calming breath and focused her attention on Janeway. "I apologize, Captain. I had expected some resistance from the crew against our engagement." She then looked at Chakotay again for moment. "Resistance which till now has only come from one single person." Then back to Janeway. "My behavior does not belong in a senior staff meeting. It is just that the Commander's reaction so openly during this meeting still came as a surprise, even though I expected that he would not approve of our engagement."

"I can accept that." Janeway said understandingly because she too was surprised at Chakotay's reaction. "But this is the first and last time this happens. Such a reaction, while on duty, is unacceptable." Janeway's tone made it clear that a next time there would be severe consequences.

"Yes, Captain," Seven agreed.

"Very well, let's get back to the matter at hand. We have a spaceship out there."

"Actually, Captain." B'Elanna spoke up. "Now that we are talking about this, I would like to officially request that my quarters be designated from now on, as the 'Torres -...'" A quick look to Seven. "Nine, or Hansen?"

"Hansen is acceptable."

"Then I would like to ask if from now on they will be the 'Torres - Hansen' quarters."

"Very well." Janeway agreed. But before she could finally start about the ship again, Seven spoke up.

"And I would like my status changed. Humans are listed as either single or married, according to Federation rules. However, engaged Klingons have status as such which is accepted by the Federation. From now on I would like to be listed as Seven of Nine, Tertiary Adjunct to Unimatrix Zero One, née Annika Hansen, Lady-to-be of the House of Torres."

"If you ask me, you're just going for the record of longest name." Tom reacted amused.

Even the serious Janeway couldn't contain a small laugh at this. She then looked at Seven and merely asked; "Lady-to-be?"

"Yes. Since the Klingons put the females equal to the males long before the humans ever did, the names Lord and Lady are not necessary restricted to respectively male and female. Usually it is, but with the same gender pairings, as B'Elanna and I, the names are assigned differently. Since B'Elanna and I agreed that she will be the leader of the house, she will be called Lord of the house. Which means that I will be the Lady of the house."

"And what is if two males get married?" Tom asked. "Sorry, but somehow I simply don't see a rough male Klingon warrior calling himself 'lady'."

"You're right." B'Elanna spoke up. "But as far as I know they change the name then to ruler of the house, and Lord of the house. Still indicating that one is higher. Klingon customs simply demand as much."

Janeway sat up a little bit straighter and cleared her throat. "Okay, now, officially we should be talking about something else entirely. So, Seven, we know by now that the Borg call them species thirteen, that they and everybody else simply call them the Empire, and their official name is The Followers. Now, what more can you tell us?"

"They are a warrior race. The average height of the individual is two meters and ten centimeters (seven feet), and they have an according body bulk."

"Like the Hirogen?" Neelix asked.

"No, more like a broad shouldered human of that height. Though their body is much more enduring than a human's, or Hirogen's for that matter. Just as with humans there is a distinct aesthetic difference between males and females of their race. However this is only limited to aesthetics and biological differences in the bodies. Male and female are of equal heights and strength."

"So male and female look different but basically are the same?" Harry wondered out loud. It wouldn't be the first time that they encountered a race in which male and female were almost the same.

"Not at all. There is a distinct difference between the two, just as with humans. Basically you could actually compare them with big humans, it is just that the average male is not taller or stronger than the average female. On first impression they look quite a bit like humans. But there are distinct differences. Their bone structure is much stronger than that of a human. So strong that it is difficult for a Borg drone to break any of their bones, it would be impossible for human to do so without the help of heavy objects. Physically, they are also much stronger. Strong enough to overpower a Borg drone."

"That doesn't say much." Chakotay interrupted. "Everyone of us has the fighting skills to outfight a Borg drone."

"That may be. But I said that they are strong enough to overpower a Borg drone, not outfight. They are actually physically stronger than eighty-nine percent of Borg enhanced drones. One thousand, one hundred and eighty-five races are stronger than The Followers if those races have Borg enhancements. The Borg do not know of a race that is physically stronger than The Followers without Borg enhancements."

"You said they are a warrior race. Do you mean like the Klingons?" B'Elanna asked.

"Partially. Just like the Klingons, they have certain warrior beliefs, traditions and customs. But they are more... sophisticated. More like what the Klingons can be in the future, if they do not destroy themselves in the process of getting there."

"You said that you could basically compare them with big humans, do they also look the same as humans?" The Doctor couldn't help but ask. His programming automatically made him curious to what these aliens would look like.

"At first sight they do. But if you take a moment to look at them you will see certain differences. The heavier bone structure and more dense muscle tissue does give their bodies a look quite different from humans. Just like the Klingon's bodies look different than humans, though their faces and foreheads do look more human than Klingons although, their heavier bone structure makes their foreheads more prominent. More like yours, B'Elanna, except that the lower ridges go on and circle the eyes, like with the Cardassians, and the most upper ridges are almost invisible. But unlike the Cardassians their skin is as smooth as that of a human, and their skin color is, in general, also more like yours, B'Elanna. Though, just as with humans, this varies from white to almost entirely black. But the majority of them are just a little bit darker than you."

"Thanks for the visual, Seven." Chakotay interrupted "But why not tell us about important things now."

"You said that the Borg never succeeded in assimilating any of them." Janeway intervened. "Why not? Aren't they suitable for assimilation?"

"To the contrary. The Borg believe that they would be very suitable for assimilation. However, they use one of the most effective Borg systems against the Borg. Nanoprobes."

"You mean they are cybernetic, just like the Borg?"

"Not at all, Doctor. As far as the Borg know, the children of the Followers only get injected with their nanoprobes when there is the possibility that they will encounter the Borg. And they will also be injected at the moment they become soldiers. But unlike the Borg, the nanoprobes of the Followers lie dormant in their bodies and only become active and reproduce when needed. As far as the Borg know, that is when the person comes into contact with something that is not natural. As long as damage to the body has occurred naturally, for instance in battle, the nanoprobes stay dormant, even if they could save the life of the person. They believe that letting the nanoprobes save the life on occasions like that is 'cheating'. However, the nanoprobes will become active as soon as something happens to the body that the normal immune system cannot defend itself against. For instance, if the person were to be poisoned or would come into contact with chemical or biological weapons. Thanks to their nanoprobe technology, the Followers are almost immune to weapons of this kind.

"But it is when a Borg tries to assimilate the person that these nanoprobes show their true potential. If this happens, then the nanoprobes first destroy the Borg nanoprobes that are trying to enter the body, then the Follower's nanoprobes travel up the Borg's assimilation tubes and destroy every nanoprobe and implant in the Borg's body. Leaving nothing more than a dead drone which obviously died because all the Borg technology that was needed to sustain the drone's life was turned into nothing more than useless and irreparable metal."

"Wow, talk about unlucky thirteen." Tom said.

"Lieutenant?" Janeway asked.

"Um, sorry Captain. Old Earth superstition. Far into the twenty-second century it was believed that the number thirteen was unlucky. Even going so far that in the high-rises of that time they most often skipped the thirteenth floor. Going from the twelfth to the fourteenth floor. And since Seven said that the Borg called them species thirteen and the Borg are not able to assimilate them, it reminded me of that old superstition."

"Indeed." Seven said, lifting her eyebrow. "It seems appropriate. They are also far more advanced than the Borg as far as weapons and shielding is concerned."

"I would say so, judging from the readings we got from that ship out there." Chakotay couldn't help but point out the obvious.

"That 'ship out there' is only one of their Scout ships. Just as Voyager's weapons are superior to one of the shuttles, the Scout ship has only light weapons and is only lightly armored compared to one of their bigger ships. As far as the Borg know, their battle cruisers are the most powerful ships they have."

"Even more powerful than that ship?" Harry asked, surprised.

"The last battle between the Borg and the Empire was sixteen years ago. The Borg were on the verge of assimilating a heavily populated solar system. Six planets were populated with possible drones, all worthy of assimilation. Twenty-nine billion in total. So to assimilate efficiently, the Borg had come en force. Twenty-seven cubes and sixteen spheres were dispatched. The Borg were just about to begin assimilation when they noticed an Imperial battle cruiser coming through the system." Now Seven looked at Neelix. "Since the assimilation that was about to happen was of no business to them, the ship continued its course through the solar system without interfering." Then she looked to the Captain again. "However, since the Borg were there in such great numbers they saw this as the perfect opportunity to finally succeed with assimilating Imperial technology. They shifted their attention from assimilating the solar system to attacking the battle cruiser. Now that they were attacked, the battle cruiser came around and answered the attack. F..."

Seven took a deep breath and was once again thankful for feeling B'Elanna's comforting hand. "Five hours later, one single, heavily damaged sphere was all that was left of the Borg force and the Imperial battle cruiser allowed it to go when the sphere set a course for Borg space."

"The single battle cruiser destroyed twenty-seven cubes and fifteen spheres?!" The Klingon asked surprised. "Did the Borg later return to still assimilate the solar system?" B'Elanna then asked quietly because she knew that if this had happened sixteen years ago the ex-drone would actually know every detail of the massacre, even though she never was at the actual battle. 'Thanks' to the collective Borg mind.

"The Borg did return eight months later. However, when they arrived they found an Imperial Starbase and four Imperial battle cruisers waiting for them. It appeared that since the Borg had decided to attack a battle cruiser in that solar system the Empire had punished the Borg for this by protecting the entire solar system."

Janeway understood now. "So that is what you mean with that they choose who they protect, and why. They first didn't protect the solar system against the Borg, and after they were attacked there they started protecting it as a punishment to the Borg."

"That is correct. However, make no mistake about the sincerity of their protection. They would defend the solar system down to the last person. Their honor as Warriors demands it."

"So did the Borg try another attack?" Harry asked.

"The Borg collective did not achieve its present magnitude by taking stupid risks. They often make calculated sacrifices but attacking a second time would not have served any purpose. The Borg retreated without a single shot being fired."

"So if you knew that we were heading for this 'Empire', why didn't you warn us before?" Chakotay asked. "If you had, we could have set a course around it without losing too much time."

Seven could clearly hear the challenging tone in that question. However, since it was a legitimate question, she chose to answer it and ignore the tone, for now. "I could not warn you because I do not know where this Empire is. I do not know if that ship out there is guarding the borders of the Empire, or if it is protecting something else. It is always assumed, and I must admit that I have often said so, that a Borg drone possesses the knowledge of the entire collective. That is not entirely correct. There is approximately two percent of information that is only known to the Borg Queen. The location of this Empire is information that is not known to the normal drone."

"Why not?" A surprised doctor asked.

"Voyager itself succeeded in severing a drone from the Collective --me --and giving me my individuality back. It is conceivable that somebody else would do the same and then the knowledge of that Borg drone would be at the disposal of that somebody, just as my knowledge is at the disposal of Voyager. It would be unacceptable to the Borg if some one was to learn the position of the only known thing that can destroy the Borg Collective. That is why certain knowledge is kept from the average drone."

Janeway leaned forward and held up her finger for a moment. "But in that case, why not keep ALL the information from a normal drone? I mean, the information you have provided us with has been, and continues to be, of immense value to us."

"A drone needs information to be able to function properly." A quick look to Tuvok. "For instance, to know that they simply have to kill Vulcans because they are not suitable for assimilation. And a Borg drone also needs to know how important information about the Omega molecule is. Only things that have the potential of destroying the Borg collective are partially kept from the average drone. For instance, I still know that this is an Imperial scout ship out there; I still know that trying to assimilate one of the species would mean the end of my existence. But I do not know the location of the Empire. I do not know the place that races could go to ask for help against the Borg."

"Okay." Janeway agreed, seeing the logic Seven's speech. "What more can you tell us about them? And what now? Set a course and see if we can find a way around this Empire, if this is the Empire?"

"I still have a lot of information about them, but I can not tell you more that is really relevant at the moment. Perhaps that they exist far longer than the Borg. The first contact the Borg had with them was early on in the Borg's existence, hence the designation species thirteen. Since before that day, they have had a technology far superior to that of the Borg. And up-to-date, that superiority has only increased. And IF this is the border of the Empire, then setting a course to find a way around it is not advised. I do know that the expanse of the Empire rivals that of the Borg and that the Borg actually expect that the Empire is far greater than Borg space. It is likely that finding away around their Empire would prolong the journey to the Alpha Quadrant by decades. We could try going around them at a distance of several light-years. If they still block our way then it is conceivable that this indeed the border to the Empire. And in that case I would suggest, waiting."

"Waiting?" Janeway repeated.

"Yes." The Borg answered shortly. But then realized that the Captain would not be satisfied with that answer. "If this is their Empire, we have only the option of receiving their permission to pass through their space, or basically spend the rest of our lives trying to go around it. But if we wait, they will eventually contact us, even if it is only to say that there will be no further contact. That is what they usually do. I just informed you of the Borg retreating the second time they wanted to assimilate that solar system. The Followers also sent the Borg a message that day. Very clear, very simple: 'Leave, or be destroyed.'"

"Anybody else have any suggestions?" The Captain asked. When nobody replied she continued. "Okay then, but I am not going to back us up any more. Tom, I want you to set a course to starboard, warp six. If they are blocking our way only for something they are protecting then they will keep up with us until we have reached a distance far enough away and then we can go through. If it is the border to the Empire then they will eventually have enough of us sliding along their border and contact us."

"Or blow us to bits." Tom added.

"I doubt that." The Borg replied. "If they were looking for a provocation, they would have destroyed us by now. That time is over. Now they will wait until we do something they find unacceptable. At this point we would receive some kind of warning. That is one of the paradoxes with this race. Once the first threat is over and they have not destroyed you, they will give you the opportunity to leave."

"Very well, dismissed." The Captain ordered.

As soon as everybody stood, Chakotay intercepted B'Elanna at the door. Seven realized that now was not the time to intervene, now was the time to let the Klingon have her say.

"B'Elanna, I really think..."

"Stuff it, Chakotay. Just stuff it. I can't believe you are doing this. The only reason I didn't react like Seven did is because I have learned to control myself, at least during staff meetings. But if you are even thinking about saying that Seven is no good for me, I swear to Kahless that I will honor my Klingon heritage and stand up for my fiancée. So think really hard about what you're going to say now, really hard."

"I..."

"Yeah, I thought that this would be what you had to say. You be really careful Chakotay because right now you're on my bad side. And if you really think that I would give this up, give up my love for Seven, give up life, just because you think it's a bad idea, then you've got another think coming. Now, you are my commanding officer and I have to work with you, but outside that you better stay the hell away from me, you got that?"

"I got it, Klingon. Well, if you want to throw away your life that's your business." With that said, Chakotay headed the last couple of steps toward the door but he just didn't make it.

"Commander, a word with you, if you please." The Captain said in that quiet tone of which everybody knew that it meant nothing good. "Ladies, you're dismissed."




Chapter 11


(authors note. When you get to the first of these *** markings this story changes from PG-13 to NC-17. If you wish to keep reading this story as PG-13 only then you can stop reading at that marking and continue with chapter 12. You will miss some talking and... other things between B'Elanna and Seven, but you won't miss anything plot wise.)


B'Elanna let herself fall onto the coach and groaned. "That must have been one of the weirdest shifts ever. Nothing happening at all and yet more tension on the bridge then most of the times when we've been attacked. But I guess this proves your point, Mesh. Twelve hours at warp six and that ship just simply keeps pace with us. This must be their border. I wonder when they'll contact us."

"I do not know that for certain, but I suspect within two days at the most." The Borg answered while she went to the replicator.

"Well, at least now it's the beta shift's turn to keep an eye on our company."

Seven sat down on the little part of the couch not covered by B'Elanna's body and put two glasses on the coffee table. "And we have twelve hours before we have to report for the next senior staff meeting."

"What's that?" B'Elanna asked, eyeing the two yellowish white glasses suspiciously.

Seven handed one of the glasses to the Klingon and simply said, "Try." Which B'Elanna did.

"Um, not bad. A little bit thick to drink but definitely a nice taste. Now, what is it?"

"Nutritional supplements. You would most likely call it 'energy drinks' or 'liquid dinner'. This is what I usually drink instead of eating."

"Well they're not bad, I kind of like them. But I thought we would have dinner later on?"

Seven took a long drink from her own glass, emptying it halfway. "And I said, we have twelve hours before we have to report for the senior staff meeting. I think it would be wise if you would have eight hours of sleep, and we should also calculate having at least an hour to prepare for the meeting tomorrow. Which leaves us with three and a half hours of free time. If you wish to spend a considerable amount of that time eating, we can do so. But I was hoping for something else."

"Yeah? What were you thinking of?" B'Elanna asked, not catching on.

As an answer, Seven stood up and started walking to the bedroom. "Kyamo, I think it is time for you to show me if my research was efficient." The blonde said while she started opening her biosuit, leaving no doubt about exactly what she was talking about.

"Wait!" The Klingon said, finally understanding. "I want to help you with that." And then mumbled under her breath, knowing that Seven would understand her anyhow, "The sooner I learn how to get into that damn biosuit, the better." She then remembered the glass in her hand and quickly emptied it, then she saw the still half full glass that Seven had left and drained that as well, her Klingon side hoping that she would need it. But when she reached the Borg who, by now, stood in the doorway to the bedroom, she suddenly became nervous. Realization about what was going to happen gave her a shuttle load of butterflies.

"You are nervous." The watchful Borg observed. "That is unnecessary. What is about to happen is nothing more than physical affection."

"Are you telling me that this doesn't make you nervous?" A surprised B'Elanna asked.

"I am Borg." The composed blonde said before she could no longer contain her cool façade. She then took a shaky breath before honestly admitting; "I think the correct term is that I am 'nervous as hell'." She took a deep breath, smiled, and then closed her eyes for a moment, trying to control herself. A combination of reactions that the Klingon would never have asserted with the cold Borg a mere couple of months back. "But I also desperately want this, I..." The Borg was silenced when B'Elanna leaned forward and kissed her. A tender kiss at first, but one which quickly became more passionate.

"You are nervous because you're looking forward to it," the Klingon said after she broke the kiss. Deciding that in this situation it was up to her to take the lead, at least for now. "But as nervous as you are, you can't wait to do more than look," the Klingon's hands found her way to the Borg's hips and she leaned forward again, kissing the blonde passionately. A kiss that only became more needy the longer it lasted. B'Elanna then moved forward and closed the space that had been between them. Now they stood against each other, feeling the heat of one another's bodies. "Your heart is racing about a million beats a minute, I can feel it. Mine are doing the same," whispered B'Elanna. "You're sweating and the room temperature seems to have increased by forty degrees."

"I am Borg, I should not sweat. My nanoprobes should prevent that."

"Yet you are." The Klingon said after another kiss, and before she shifted her attention to that beautiful neck.

"Y.. yes, I... I... yes. Ohhh, Kyamoooo." B'Elanna smiled at the lustful moan coming from those beautiful lips.

"Maybe your nanoprobes weren't designed with an aroused drone in mind. I like that. I look forward to making you sweat." Slowly her hands started moving from the blonde's hips, roaming over her body but staying in the 'safe zones'. "Kahless, how I have dreamed of touching you like this." B'Elanna decided to move a little bit. Pushing Seven further into the room and then backing her into the wall; this way the poor drone wouldn't be resting against the small edge of the doorframe. "So, MY beautiful one, is this anything like your research taught you?"

"W... What resear..." Seven's reply was broken off when B'Elanna started sucking and nibbling her neck in earnest. "I... I... I... do not think I can s... stand a... anymore."

With that, the Borg started slowly sliding to the floor, but before she was completely to her knees, the Klingon used both of her hands to take a good hold of the biosuit and lifted the heavy ex-drone up again, accidentally slamming her against the wall rather hard. "Ummmm!"

"Kahless, I am s..." B'Elanna started to apologize before she realized that Seven's moan was one of lust, and not of pain. Making the Klingon understand that the ex-drone really would be able to handle the Klingon when she would become rougher. Something that was bound to happen in the future. 'But not today.' B'Elanna promised herself, 'today all that Seven will know is tender lovemaking.' She than asked out loud, "Are you still with me, Mesh?"

"Yes, Lanna. However, I do not know what to do. I can just tell you that I like what you are doing to me. Please continue, show me, teach me."

"Gladly." B'Elanna said, deciding that it was time to get a little bit more intimate. While she felt Seven's hands drifting over her body without a real purpose, just touching her, the Klingon decided to make her own hand movements a little bit more precise. She brought her hands up between them and slowly started grazing the underside of Seven's breast. Not really touching, just letting Seven know that more was to come. Of course, during all of this, their mouths kept busy. Changing between kissing long and deeply, and focusing on each other's necks. The way Seven had learned how to make love to B'Elanna's neck in mere minutes of feeling B'Elanna do the same to hers, showed the Klingon that the 'teaching' part of their relationship wouldn't last long. She was sure that by the end of night they would be equal partners.
"Let's move to the bed."


***

When B'Elanna had seen how difficult it was for Seven to get out of the biosuit without help and lying on the bed, she couldn't help but point out that a simple uniform was much quicker and easier to put on and off. Which she of course had to demonstrate by shedding her own uniform.

"The major advantage of these bodysuits, besides regulating my body temperature, is that it is actually more protective then standard Federation uniforms," the Borg said while she kicked the biosuit off the last part of the journey down her legs in a very un-Borg like manner. "They also are more comfortable because the material stretches, it is actually softer and stronger than a standard uniform. And it wears so comfortably that sometimes I do not feel that I am wearing it at all." She then saw how B'Elanna, who was sitting on her knees beside her on the bed, was looking at her and getting a distinct paler complexion. "Breathe, Kyamo."

"Kahless, you're beautiful, Mesh."

Automatically the Borg's hands went to her abdominal implants and rested there as an insecure expression formed on her face.

B'Elanna knew what Seven was about to say and quickly stopped her by laying alongside the long blonde's body and then shifted down a little bit until her face was equal with the metal bands. "You're beautiful Annika, beautiful." The Klingon said and started tracing small kisses along the metal. "Don't take this the wrong way and think I'm only saying this to make you more comfortable. But I actually like this," she then continued to trace the outline of metal with her fingertips and looked deeply into the ex-drone's eyes," I think it looks... nice."

"It looks hideous. It is metal ruining what could have been a beautiful body," the blonde said. Knowing enough about humans to know that her female form would be aesthetically pleasing to humans, and a lot of other races, if it had not been marked by Borg implants. Of course, she had observed the reactions she always received from the other crewmembers, how they would react to her presence. But that, in her mind, was only because the biosuits accentuated her female form while hiding a lot of the implants.

"No, you're wrong," the Klingon said. Moving up the blonde's body again and then sitting up, straddling the Borg's legs. Her satin covered center almost touching that of the blonde's bare one, it aroused the Klingon more than she had been in her entire life. Yet, somehow she knew that she first had to make this clear to the Borg before continuing. "It isn't hideous." Also knowing that she had to be absolutely honest with the Borg about this, she continued, "It had the potential of being hideous, I agree. If the implants had simply been straight metal strips." The Klingon demonstrated by using a finger to draw a line across the ex-drone's abdomen, actually crossing some of the metal bands. "If they had been like this. And if they had been surrounded by scar tissue, then yes, they probably would have been... hideous." She then used her finger to follow the curving line of the implanted strip that flowed just along the line of the ex-drone's rib cage. "But they aren't made like that. There is a curving form to them and where the flesh reaches the metal there is a perfect transition. As if the flesh changes into the metal. As if the metal is a part of the body, designed that way by nature. There isn't any scar tissue, or even an abrupt stopping of the flesh. It simply... changes."

"The reason why the metal is curved is because straight strips would reduce the drone's abilities to move. And the reason why there is no scar tissue is because the nanoprobes in a drone's body prevent cicatrix from forming because if an implant is surrounded by scar tissue the functionality of that implant might be reduced."

"Yes, fine, nice reasons," B'Elanna said. Wanting the Borg to see what the Klingon was seeing. She leaned forward and started kissing the drone. But after a moment she started moving down Seven's body again, ending up at the biggest implant, the abdominal one, a second time. "But the fact is that thanks to that, it looks nice. Some races we have encountered have actually asked if the implants on your face were facial art. Tell me something, Mesh. Do any of these implants reduce your feelings?"

"What do you mean?"

As an answer B'Elanna used the tip of her tongue to softly trail along the line of one of the metal strips. The Borg's sudden shaky intake of breath answered the question that the Klingon was about to ask, but she asked anyway. "Did you feel that?"

"Yes, th... oh, Kyamo." The Borg interrupted herself when B'Elanna started following the second band with her tongue. Making it continuously more difficult for the blonde to answer. But yet somehow the ex-drone managed. "The nerve endings, mmmm, in the flesh surrounding the... Ohhh Lanna... Implants are actually very sensitive. One of the, that feels sooo gooood, one of the side effects of having the doctor 'wakeup' the, ahhh, nerve endings of my entire body, please continue."

By now B'Elanna had finished tracing the last of the metal bands and suddenly looked up into Seven's eyes. "Are you telling me that all of your implants can be considered erogenous zones?"

"Some more than others, and normally they are simply more sensitive but if you give them the same treatment you just did, I think you could describe them as erogenous zones."

"Good to know," B'Elanna said with a wicked smile. "So do you now believe that you are so beautiful it really can make me breathless? Do you understand that your implants don't bother me, that I like them? Do you like it when I treat them like I just did?"

The Borg thought about that for a moment. Then she relented, but did change B'Elanna's words slightly. "Yes, Kyamo, the fact that you almost asphyxiated while looking at me proves that YOU think I am beautiful. I am glad that my implants do not bother you. And I really like it when you treat them as you did. It, I believe it arouses me."

The Klingon laughed at that. "Oh, I know that it arouses you," she said while she abandoned the implants for a moment and moved up the blonde's body again, using her own body to sensuously slide along Seven's body. Making as much skin to skin contact as possible. Feeling the warmth of that long, silky smooth physique against her own was enough to make the Klingon almost growl from the sheer pleasure of it. "You don't need my Klingon sense of smell, or paying worship to your abdomen to smell that."

They took their time to enjoy the experience of kissing each other for minutes on end. Small kisses were traded and then followed by the immense pleasure of giving and gaining equal access to each other's mouths. Their tongues locked in a dance of sheer ecstasy. Eventually B'Elanna moved her focus to the neck of the long blonde. For the first time, but certainly not for the last time, truly enjoying that the ex-drone measured a delicious hundred and eighty centimeters (six feet). There was so much of her lover to enjoy. All of it worthy of thorough attention. But eventually she moved her attention from the Borg's neck to her breastbone, quickly placing a kiss there.


***

The Klingon moved a little bit further down until she reached the valley between Seven's breasts. Taking her time, B'Elanna slowly started placing small kisses on the underside of the breast. Sometimes using her tongue to taste the heavenly flesh, sometimes using her teeth to softly nibble, and sometimes simply use her lips to place sweet kisses. After several kisses she would move to the neglected twin and start the same procedure there. Continuing like this she slowly worked her way up the beautiful mounds and closer to the taut nipples, closing in on the peaks in a devilishly slow pace. When the Klingon was about to close her mouth around one of the nipples she realized that something had changed. Seven was no longer moaning like she had done when B'Elanna started her treatment but was trying to control the heavy panting she was doing. But the Klingon was rather fond of that moaning and changed her approach. Continuing to shift between the two mounds she used her tongue to softly caress the areola but never touched the nipples themselves. She smiled when within a minute the moaning returned and then relented when Seven spoke up. "Please, Lanna, do not tease me like that. Please, Lanna, please."

"Only if you stop trying to be quiet. I like to hear you, Annika." B'Elanna then took one of the buds into her mouth, very softly biting down and than quickly but, barely touching, she flicked her tongue over it. When she heard the 'ummmohhh' coming from the Borg she decided that it was time to get down to business. She used her mouth to give the peaks the attention they deserved, while rolling and pinching the other bud to give Seven all the pleasure she could, using whatever hand she had free to massage Seven's mounds.

After long minutes the Klingon slowly started moving down the body of the Borg again but continued to give the blonde's mounds their proper attention with her hands. Reaching Seven's abdomen again, B'Elanna once again taking time to make love to the implants, showing Seven that she really didn't think they were repulsive. B'Elanna hadn't been lying, she did like them, somehow they fitted Seven. Moving slightly lower she took a moment to dip her tongue into the Borg's naval. Suddenly she heard a 'oh, Lanna' and found her head being held in place rather forcefully by strong Borg hands. "Annika, love, please let go of my hair."

"I am s..." The ex-drone started to say.

But B'Elanna wasn't looking for an apology for a perfectly normal reaction. "You like that, don't you? I was wrong, you don't have erogenous zones on your body. Your entire body is one big erogenous zone." She interrupted, making Seven's clouded mind understands that she didn't have to apologize for everything.

"Only for you, Kyamo, only for you. Please..."

B'Elanna continued making love to the Borg's naval for a couple of minutes, even though her entire body was urging her to move that little bit further down. But her mind wanted to give Seven as much pleasure as possible. Finally she couldn't wait any longer. The smell reaching her Klingon nose was wreaking havoc on her brain.

Slowly she started giving the hairless mound the same treatment with her mouth as she had done to the breast. Concentrating on the mound and occasionally shifting to the thighs, thoroughly enjoying the continuously soft moaning of her ex-drone. Finally the Klingon focused her attention on the soft pink folds which were begging for her attention. Continuing her soft approach, B'Elanna softly put her tongue at the bottom of the crease, flattened it, and in one soft but sure stroke moved all the way up, collecting all of the dampness that had formed as a result of B'Elanna's treatment of the Borg's body.

The Klingon couldn't help but groan when she tasted her lover for the first time. Her Klingon taste buds caused the taste that humans would find heavenly to tasted even better to her. From that very first taste B'Elanna knew that she was addicted. Needing... craving that unique taste that was Seven. She took a deep breath trying to concentrate, but it didn't help at all. Because now her nose was filled with the unique smell that was Seven.

Gathering her wits somehow, B'Elanna reluctantly took away her hands from the Borg's breast so that she could put them to better use. Using her thumbs, she spread the soft lips and used the tip of her tongue to caress the soft flesh. Deliberately staying away from the little bundle of nerves on the top and the opening further down.

"Oh, Lanna, don't stop. This is so much more than I ever expected."

The Klingon smiled when she heard the normally so cool blonde say 'don't.' Now she finally knew what it would take to get the ex-drone to shorten her words. It excited her to know that she was the only one who could bring Seven to talk like that, and that she was the only one who would ever hear Seven talk like that. She then decided that if what she had done to Seven now was more than what the ex-drone had ever expected, it was high time to show her all she could feel.
She decided to start with the little opening and slowly started swirling her tongue around it. Occasionally entering the blonde.

"Kahless, B'Elanna!" Seven shouted while her hips bucked off the bed.

Causing B'Elanna to smile once again. She understood that Seven had said 'Kahless' because she needed to say... something. The Klingon wondered who else would appear before she was finished.
Eventually she was entering Seven as far as she could reach with her tongue. Slowly establishing a nice rhythmic pace for a couple of minutes, she once again reduced Seven to moaning so deliciously and using an occasional 'oh Lanna.' Eventually the Klingon moved up to the bundle of nerves. Using her fingers to expose the little bundle of nerves even more than it already was and then stroking the length of her tongue along it.

" God, B'Elanna."

'I've been promoted, I'm a God now.' The Klingon thought ridiculously. She then closed her lips around the sensitive flesh and let her tongue dance around it. By the increased moaning and hip movements of Seven, B'Elanna knew that the Borg was getting closer. But the Klingon wanted her to experience one more thing and slowly slid a finger deep inside the warmth of Seven. Even though the ex-drone was tight, B'Elanna could feel that one finger wouldn't be enough. So she eased out again and then gave Seven a delicious feeling by filling her with two fingers.

"Lanna, oh, Lanna. How I love you. It feels so good to have you inside me. Now I know what the word heaven means."

Never easing up on her light, but continuous assault of the Borg's bundle of nerves, B'Elanna started to establish a slow, steady, pumping rhythm. By the way Seven's warmth kept squeezing her fingers, the Klingon could feel that the blonde was real close. Suddenly she had a desire to see Seven's eyes. So she abandoned the little bundle of nerves with her mouth and moved up the body again, remembering to replace her mouth with the thumb of the hand that also filled the Borg.

They kissed when the Klingon reached Seven's waiting lips. Giving the Borg her first taste of herself. The ex-drone realized that she really liked tasting herself on B'Elanna's lips.

"You're really close, aren't you?"

"Y, yes, v... oh, very."

"Good, I wanted to see your face when you come."

Seeing B'Elanna's face, looking into her eyes, it sent Seven over the edge. Her body started bucking and she clamped down on the Klingon's fingers with enough force to stop their movements. But B'Elanna wanted to prolong this moment for Seven so she started rubbing her thumb a little bit faster and with a fraction more force over the slippery bundle of nerves.

"Lannaaaa!"

B'Elanna relished hearing Seven scream her name at the height of the moment. After being married, and having several relationships before that, she was sure that screaming out the name of your lover was something out of a holo-novel romance. Nobody ever had screamed her name, nor had she herself ever screamed somebody else's name. When Seven's scream ended, B'Elanna had reached a small orgasm just from the sheer ecstasy of it.

The Klingon slowly eased her fingers out and licked them clean. It really was an addictive taste to her. Nothing could ever come close.

***

After they had kissed and caress each other for several moments Seven's hands started to move more deliberately, tracing the outlines of B'Elanna's satin bra. "I can not believe that you made love to me like you did and through it all continued to keep your underwear on." The blond said with a smile, showing that her remark wasn't meant negatively. "However, now is the time to remove them. Let me make love to you, Lanna."

"That's okay, Annika. I had my release at the same time you did, you took me over the edge with you."

"Do you not want me to make love to you?" The Borg asked surprised.

"Sure I do. I'm just saying that it isn't really necessary."

"Explain." The blonde demanded with a voice nowhere near as warm as it had been mere moments before.

B'Elanna sighed and then started explaining. "Over the years, I have learned to get my pleasure from giving it. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy s... making love. And it isn't that I can't reach orgasm. Thank Kahless I can or else I'm sure I would have killed several people here on Voyager. Can you imagine my, um, temperament and not been able to get rid of that in some other way than fighting?" Seeing that Seven wasn't smiling at her joke, B'Elanna took a deep breath and then sighed again. "It's because I'm a hybrid. I'm just not as sensitive as a normal woman is in the areas where it counts. So, as I said, over the years I have learned to get my pleasure from giving it. It is easier than somebody desperately trying to get me off. What I just did to you, excites me. So much so that I did reach my peak. Annika, I just don't want you to get upset because you can't satisfy me the way I did you."

Seven realized that Mr. Paris could be really glad that he now was a friend of hers, or else she would have to seriously consider causing his body permanent damage. But since he was her friend she decided to leave things as they were and consider this a bit of luck for her. Because she knew only too well what B'Elanna was talking about. "Lanna, I want to make love to you. Please let me. And I will promise not to be upset if I 'can not satisfy you.' I want to feel you, touch you, taste you. Please do not take that away from me."

"Oh, of course, how stupid of me. Here, let me..." The Klingon said while she moved her hands to take off her bra.

"No, I will do that, when the time comes." The Borg stopped her. "I like you in these. Black definitely is your color."

"No, blonde is my color." The Klingon teased.

"Very funny. Turn around." Seven said while she moved enough to give B'Elanna the opportunity to shift and lay face down on the bed.

"Why?" B'Elanna asked while she already did as told.

"Humor me." Was the Borg's only reply while she waited until B'Elanna was settled. When the Klingon finally was, Seven moved over the body and started placing kisses everywhere. From the Klingon's feet to the crown of the her head. She then took hold of the damp satin panties and slowly took them off. Using enough time to shower the legs with kisses, she then moved to B'Elanna's beautiful rear cheeks and started kissing those. Now it was the Klingon's turn to moan. But Seven could hear that it was more and moan of pleasure than of lust. Showing that the Klingon tremendously enjoyed what Seven did to her but that there was something missing.

The Borg thought that B'Elanna had a rear she should be proud of. Lean, yet muscled like the rest of her body, and beautifully shaped. So it was with an effort that Seven shifted her focus a little bit further down. She tenderly spread the legs of the Klingon and quickly found her center. She knew that B'Elanna would think that heading straight for her center was a result of the Borg's inexperience. But Seven had an ulterior motive. But before that, she first needed B'Elanna to feel how it was to be touched by her without the massage.

The research that she had done had given the Borg massive information about how to treat a female Klingon body properly, she had specified her research to female Klingons since that was the only thing relevant to Seven. So now she knew everything from just how many Klingon myths were true or not to some very... interesting positions one could take while making love. But one of the most interesting things that the blonde knew was just how sensitive a Klingon's body could be if treated correctly. She was looking forward to introducing B'Elanna to some bodily sensations the Klingon had never felt before.

As the damp panties had already proven, the Klingon was very lubricated. Confirming the Borg's suspicion. She first took a moment to play with the Klingon's bundle of nerves for a few minutes and then moved her fingers to the entrance, sliding two fingers deep inside B'Elanna.

From her research the Borg knew that even though the Klingon women had an outside stimulus like human women, in the form of a little bundle of nerves, the Klingons were actually even more sensitive inside. Because, where human women had a single 'g-spot,' as it was called, Klingons had thousands of nerve endings just as sensitive placed throughout the inside of their entire womanhood.

From B'Elanna's changed moaning Seven could hear that she was most definitely having an effect on the woman. She knew that even contradictory to the Klingons word, she would be able to make B'Elanna reach her peak. But that was not what she wanted to show the Klingon. So she removed her fingers and went to sit on B'Elanna's legs, just under those beautiful cheeks. The Borg took a moment to taste the sweetness of B'Elanna from her fingers, preferring that her first taste would have come from the source directly, but knowing that doing that would distract her at the moment where she shouldn't be distracted.

After her fingers were clean Seven started massaging the shoulders of the Klingon. "Why did you stop?" A disappointed B'Elanna asked.

"Patience, Kyamo, patience. I assure you, I will be visiting that place again." The Borg then went back to administering her massage. Moving all over the back of her lover and finally concentrating on the lower back.

B'Elanna couldn't believe what she was feeling. There was a saying, 'better than sex'. And B'Elanna had to agree. The massage that Seven was giving to her was doing something to her body. She really did feel better than she had on more than one occasion during sex. "I don't know what you're doing to me but you can keep doing it for the next hundred years."

The Klingon had just finished saying that when Seven changed the massage. Using her thumbs more, putting greater pressure on certain parts of B'Elanna's lower back. The immediate result of this was that B'Elanna's occasional moan changed to a continuous deep Klingon growl. Almost making it seem as if she was purring. The Borg then moved back to the shoulders, deliberately not going the other way, nearer to B'Elanna's center. "Turn around." She then whispered in her lover's ear.

When B'Elanna did so, Seven laid down on the bed on her stomach and took position between her lover's legs. She knew that she couldn't use her thumbs to spread her lover's lips without ruining the surprise so with Borg efficiency her tongue found B'Elanna's bundle of nerves and flicked over it.

"Sweet Kahless!" The Klingon shouted and then closed her legs in an automatic response.

Seven laughed, pleased that she succeeded in surprising her lover. Something that was well worth the small displeasure of having her head crushed between the powerful thighs of the Klingon.

"Wha... what, what have you done to me?" B'Elanna asked surprised while she carefully touched herself, finding herself more sensitive, and more lubricated, than she could ever remember.

"Go inside." Seven merely said, but then quickly added; "carefully."

B'Elanna did so. Slowly sliding in two fingers, and thereby treating the Borg to a side that almost robbed her of her ability to think. After the Klingon's fingers were into the first knuckle, her breathing changed to a helpless panting. She couldn't believe what was happening to her. It felt as if the slow penetration of her fingers caused thousands of little orgasms to trigger.

"So, what do you think about my research now?" The Borg asked amused.

The Klingon removed her fingers and laugh at Seven's remark. By now both of them knew that the talk about research would be an inside joke of them for years to come.

"Over time you will get used to the sensation you just felt, but it never lessens. You will always feel that when being penetrated. But because you get used to it, it becomes a 'great' feeling you will enjoy tremendously. As I just showed you, your clitoris is also more sensitive. Just as your nipples are."

Hearing that made B'Elanna automatically touch the buds through her bra and she found that those little buds were more sensitive then they had ever been. As a matter-of-fact, they were now just as sensitive as her bundle of nerves usually was. "What HAVE you done to me, woman?" She asked with a smile.

"I massaged your back," the Borg stated matter-of-factly, and accompanied that statement with a raised eyebrow. "You can take off your bra now. I wanted you to keep wearing it so that the sensitivity of your nipples would be disguised by the fabric." While B'Elanna took off her bra, Seven used the opportunity to drink in the sight of her naked lover. But when the Klingon looked at her expectantly, she started explaining.

"As it seems, your sexual organs are purely Klingon. Which means that they have to be 'turned on' before use. Klingons are obviously different than humans. On a normal basis the blood supply to the sexual organs are limited by the body. It is believed that this is a side effect from Klingon evolution. When the ancestors of the Klingon started walking upright the blood flow in certain blood vessels was reduced. But because the Klingons have so many redundant systems other blood vessels took over the blood supply. However this resulted in a reduced blood flow. As you know from your own experience, Klingons are still able to mate with this restriction so evolution never corrected this problem. But thousands of years later it was found out that by massaging a Klingon's lower back the blood flow to the sexual organs is increased, which results in a higher sensitivity."

"Are you trying to tell me that I could always have felt like this if somebody had known how to massage my back years ago?" The Klingon asked. Even though she was more aroused than she could ever remember, she still wanted to know about the new sensitivity of her body.

"No. The effects of the massage I have given you will start to wear off in several hours. This is not permanent. However, it is also something that can be repeated as often as you like. So in other words, the massage has to become part of our foreplay. Which I do not mind since I like being able to make you purr like a kitten."

"Hey! At least keep it Klingon and call it Tika cat." B'Elanna mock defended. Knowing that there was no way out of it. She HAD purred like a cat.

"This puts me in a strange position." Seven confessed, while trying to ignore the needs of her body, or what being that close to her lover did to her senses. Somehow she felt that she had to make this point before they could continue with anything else. "I am saddened by the fact that you have never experienced this before in your life. But at the same time I am also... glad. "

"Glad?" The Klingon merely repeated while she pulled Seven closer until the Borg was lying partially on top of her.

"Yes, because you are my first lover. And now, in a certain way, I am also your first lover. B'Elanna, let me introduce you to the new sensitivity of your body."

"Yes." B'Elanna agreed and then pulled Seven closer for a kiss.

The Borg knew that this was not a time to play with B'Elanna as she had done with Seven. The ex-drone decided to keep it pretty basic, in the beginning. More would come later in the evening. But for now Seven wanted to show B'Elanna what a Klingon orgasm could be like. So while she used her mouth and one hand to make love to B'Elanna's mounds and the little buds on top of them, her second hand once again found the moist heat of the Klingon's center. She used her hand to make slow, but steady, circles over the entire center. Using her palm to place just enough pressure on the little bundle of nerves.

B'Elanna agreed that this could be seen as being the first time because for the first time in her life the Klingon felt the joy of making love. This had nothing to do with pent-up energy which needed release, or simply feeling horny. This wasn't about that. This was her partner, her 'Lady-to-be' loving her.

The Klingon was nearing her peak faster than she could ever remember and just when she thought that she was about to fall over the hedge, Seven proved to her that another Klingon myth wasn't a myth at all. Suddenly she felt those long fingers enter her and establishing a slow pace. Keeping a peak what usually only lasted several seconds going for minutes. It felt as if the slow pumping fingers moving along the nerve endings inside of her were giving her a continuing shower of one orgasm after the other.

Only when B'Elanna stopped screaming her release did Seven carefully withdraw her fingers. Taking pride in fact that her lover had screamed her name, or variation of it, fifty-eight times.

"K... Kahless, I promise you, Seven I will never complain about your research again."

"Yes you will, but not on this subject." The blonde argued amused before asking, "Are you functioning?"

"Functioning?" B'Elanna asked, laughing. "I don't bloody think so, you made sure of that. But I feel terrific if that's what you mean."

"That is what I meant."

"You know what's really funny? Usually I had enough after I came. But after all you just did to me, I am ready to go again, how is that possible? I should be spent, only being capable of babbling incoherently."

"That is also due to the increased blood flow. That is one of the negative side effects of this. I can only give you the massage if we have time to enjoy the results. Unfortunately a 'quickie' as it is called, is something we will never be able to do."

B'Elanna decided that it was her turn again and started kissing the Borg in a way that showed this. "I don't know, I also enjoyed what you did to me before you give me the massage. I enjoyed it more than anything else I can remember. So even without the massage, I definitely see the potential of a 'quickie' in my office." B'Elanna decided to see if Seven was susceptible for dirty talking. "Can you imagine that? You, me, in my office? During Alpha Shift? You bend over my desk while I'm fu..."


It seemed that Seven was very susceptible to dirty talking because B'Elanna ended up only sleeping for five hours. And 'surprisingly enough' the Borg also slept for those entire five hours. And it certainly wouldn't be the last time that B'Elanna and Seven tired each other out.




Chapter 12


The next day found the senior staff in the conference room again. "Okay, Seven," Stated Janeway to open the meeting, "Almost an entire day has passed and the only thing that has happened is that they are keeping an exact pace with us. Now, I know that you said that the only other option was waiting, but surely there must be something else we can do?"

"Once again, Captain, I believe that waiting is the best option. I am fairly certain that something will happen rather quickly."

"FAIRLY certain?" Chakotay asked. Making obvious that he didn't believe her. "We don't have much use for 'fairly certain'."

"There is nothing else I can tell you. I can not give you a precise timeframe. All I know is that something will happen..."

Suddenly the conference room was filled with the eerie red glow of a red alert and Seven was interrupted by the warning klaxon that sounded just before the nervous voice of a beta crew ensign was heard over the com system; {Red alert, Captain to the bridge.}

"... Very soon." The Borg couldn't help but finish.

Since they had been through this procedure often enough the senior staff was on the bridge, and at their stations in mere seconds. "Report." Janeway said forcefully while taking her chair.

"Three ships just de-cloaked alongside the scout ship."

"De-cloaked?" The Captain asked while she looked at the viewscreen and saw three ships which were several times bigger than Voyager and which also dwarfed the scout ship. Making it look in size about as big as the Delta Flyer compared to Voyager.

"I believe so, Captain. There was a fraction of the standard distortion that always appears when a ship de-cloaks and they were traveling at warp six without showing any signs of reducing speed from coming out of trans warp."

"They are Imperial Battle Cruisers," Seven interrupted. "And the Empire indeed has cloaking capabilities. Also highly advanced. The Borg do not know of anything that can detect one of their ships while cloaked."

Janeway was quicker than Chakotay but still the question was the same. "Why didn't you tell us this before? Those ships might have already been out there since yesterday."

"I... Captain, I told you the essentials. They can destroy us within a moment if they wish. If I were to tell you everything I know about them, I would be giving you information for days. All of which is potentially important. Remember, the Borg have known of the existence of species thirteen almost as long as the Borg itself exist. And for that entire time the Borg have gathered information about them."

"But whether or not they can cloak is very important." Chakotay objected.

"Not more important than the fact that they use autonomous regeneration technology which automatically repairs small damage to the ships. Only larger damage is repaired by technicians. Or the fact that they have the technology which makes the use of our tractor beam impossible. If we were to try and lock onto one of the ships with a tractor beam we would receive a massive power overload which would destroy Voyager. Or the fact that they have a system that makes beaming to one of the ships without their permission impossible. The pattern would be scrambled beyond repair and thus, the person who is trying to beam aboard is killed. Or the fact that..."

"We get your point, Seven." Janeway interrupted.

"What's with the overkill than?" Tom suddenly asked.

"Lieutenant?"

"Well, Seven, you just explained how phenomenal those ships are. Heck, yesterday you explained that one of those Battle Cruisers took on forty-three Borg ships and came out on top. So why do they send three of those ships to intercept us. I mean, that would be enough to win a war. What's the point?"

"That is the point." Seven explained. "It is more a political statement then an actual show of force. This is standard behavior if a representative of their race is sent to a meeting. The 'point' they are making is that you are not merely meeting a representative, you are meeting the Empire. Whomever will be speaking to us will be doing this not only in name of the Empire, but also has the authority to make immediate decisions in name of that Empire. And that is what those other ships are for. It is a statement to show that the representative of the Followers does have the power of the Empire behind them."

"As the old Earth saying says; a picture speaks a thousand words." Janeway clarified. "Have a single person say that they represent the Empire and a enemy could still choose to kill the representative and start an attack on the Empire. But had the representative show up with enough force to win a war before it ever started and an enemy will think twice about starting anything."

"Indeed." Seven agreed.

A bleep from Harry's workstation interrupted the conversation and made everyone look in his direction. "We are being hailed."

"On screen." Janeway replied while standing up. With that the viewscreen changed from showing the alien ships to showing two people, obviously women, sitting beside each other in two chairs. Though one chair was slightly bigger than the other, showing that this person was the one in charge. "I am Captain Kathryn Janeway of the Federation starship Voyager." Janeway said to begin the conversation.

"Yes, we know who you are. Our scan of your ship told us everything about you." The woman sitting in the smaller chair replied.

"Then you know that we mean you no harm." Janeway said in her best diplomatic voice, which caused the woman in the bigger chair to snort dismissively and the woman in the smaller chair to smile.

"Captain Janeway, you couldn't cause us harm even if you wanted to." The woman who had been talking before said. "Now, how can we be of service?"

Janeway understood only too well that if they knew who they were from the scans, then they also knew that they were in the way of Voyager's return to the Alpha Quadrant. They wanted to hear her ask. Well, that was something she had learned by now in the Delta Quadrant. To ask if they could pass through someone's territory. "As you probably know from the scan, we are currently en route to the Alpha Quadrant, and it seems that to do this, we need to cross your space. We would like permission to do so."

"And why would we give you that permission?" The woman in the smaller chair asked. By now it was obvious that she was the one who usually did the talking while other woman was the one in charge. "Why would we allow you into our space when we can turn you back just as easily?"

Janeway opted for the easy answer and hoped that it would appeal to these people. "Because the only thing we want to do is get home."

"Captain, from here on, the shortest route through our space, which wouldn't take you into Borg space, is almost twenty thousand light-years. Surely you understand that we can't let you make a journey through our space which would take you more than twenty years with your ship. We would have to monitor you for that entire time. Sending you away is a lot easier."

Janeway was quiet for a moment, trying to wrap her brain around the number of twenty thousand light-years. The entire Federation was only eight thousand light-years across. "Surely there must be a way we can come to an agreement?" She asked after she found her diplomatic voice again.

Suddenly, Seven stepped away from her workstation and joined Janeway on the lower part of the bridge. "Explain. We are not asking you for your help. We merely want to pass through your space. Something that you even allowed the Borg to do on several occasions. Monitoring us could easily be done by an unmanned warhead which could destroy us if we were to leave the preassigned route. I know that you possess such weapons. So monitoring us is also not a problem. Why are you being difficult?"

That last question caused both women to smile.

"Because, Seven of Nine, Tertiary Adjunct to Unimatrix Zero One, in contradiction to the Borg or others, the scan of your files show that quite often agreements like this have resulted in you not being welcome in that system anymore." The woman in the smaller chair said before looking back to Janeway and addressing her again. "Tell me, how many races now see you as enemies when you only started out to help them?"

"But those same files you scanned should also show how many races we did help." Janeway pointed out while the old saying, 'the good with the bad' came to her mind. "Cultural differences are bound to happen if two species meet. Yes, I agree that sometimes those cultural differences were the cause of misunderstandings between us and others. But our files should clearly show that only with a small amount of the races that we helped did misunderstanding actually happen.

"No." The woman in the big chair suddenly said with authority. "The problem is that you people try to subject everyone to YOUR rules. And when others don't abide by them, you interfere. What is there to keep you from trying to enforce my people and my Empire to abide by YOUR rules?"

"The Empress." Seven whispered as her eyes grew wide in shock. For one who always held back her emotions from the view of others, Seven still couldn't hide her surprise at coming face to face with the woman who could have the entire Borg collective destroyed by simply giving the order. The ex-drone had never thought that it would be her stay onboard Voyager that would bring her into the presence of the only threat she had known for eighteen years.

Shadeen's eyes quickly darted to the Borg and then back to Janeway while she continued talking. "You arrive somewhere, say that you will abide by the local laws but as soon as you don't like those rules, you break them because they don't measure up to Federation standards. In my Empire my word is law, yet six months ago, when my wife and I were on Zidok three, we followed the laws of the people that govern the planet. They have the strange customs that married couple are not allowed to see each other during the daylight. I, Empress Shadeen, who could enforce whichever rules I want on that planet, who basically can do whatever I want, abided by that rule. Simply because it is a rule on that planet. A rule that is part of their self-government. So even I, Empress Shadeen, follow the rules that are set forth, even if I don't like them. But had you been in that position, you would have insisted on seeing your wife during the day simply because you are used to that and wouldn't let other people tell you whether or not you could see your wife."

Janeway took a moment to see if Seven was all right and saw that Seven was fine, finding reassurance from B'Elanna who had come to her side. She then focused her attention back to the Empress who was still talking.

"Such self-focused thinking certainly won't convince me to let you pass through my Empire. It only proves my point. You want everything done your way. Everything you have done up-to-date has been done to further yourselves and not the people that you were 'helping'."

Hearing the Empress talk about 'convincing' finally gave Janeway the handhold she needed. Now she knew that her first approach of being friendly in the face of a mighty opponent had been the wrong thing to do. So acting like the Captain she was, who knew that her actions had been the right ones, at least in the light of the moment, she stated confidently, "No, we DID help people. We did help the Ocampa, we interfered with the Ocampan way of life, forever change their history by destroying the caretaker's array..."

"And that is a good thing?" Empress Shadeen interrupted. "You didn't give the Ocampa any choice in a matter, did you? You decided for them what was best."

Instead of reacting to that Janeway went on as if she hadn't been interrupted. "Not to mention that by destroying the Caretaker's array we prevented other ships from becoming the victims of an abduction just like we were." Janeway was set on defending not only the Federation principles, but her personal morals as well.

"But what about the Caretaker himself? You killed him, destroyed him because he didn't abide by your rules. You oppressed your way of life on him and when he didn't accept that, you killed him." The Empress retorted back calmly.

"We didn't kill him, he was already dying. We merely destroyed the array after he died." Janeway immediately corrected. Somewhat offended by the suggestion that they had killed the Caretaker.

"You seem to forget the unique nature of the Caretaker." Shadeen disagreed. "Who is to say how long he would have lived if you hadn't interfered with him, if he didn't have to use his powers to try and correct the damage you caused."

"But he was harming and killing other people, other races, innocent ones." Janeway could see that the Empress was about to react to that again so she decided to shift to another example. "Fine, then what about the Vidiians? We were attacked by them on countless occasions, barely coming out of each fight alive. B'Elanna, over there, was genetically dissected and split into two, in hopes that the Vidiians could find a cure for the Phage. Yet after all of that, it was our Doctor who, in the end, came up with a cure. We handed it over to them, helping them cure that deadly disease." By now, the Captain was trying her best to remain calm, remembering that these people could easily wipe out her entire ship.

"And what of Species 8472 and your alliance with the Borg to help destroy them?" The Empress came back and then smiled before adding, "Not that you actually did destroy them, but nevertheless, you participated in what you thought was the destruction of a species."

"What do you mean 'we didn't destroy them'?" Janeway asked, surprised about that statement and the smile which certainly wasn't a friendly one.

"What I mean is that you didn't destroy Species 8472, or the Dareni, to use their real name. We did."

"What..."

"That is of no concern at the moment. Just that they know that we will annihilate the rest of them if they ever leave fluidic space again."

"So you also oppress your rules onto others." Janeway stated as if she had won the 'yes but' game.

However, the Empress was not that easily defeated. She leaned back in her chair a little more and spread her arms in a 'so what' manner for a moment. "I never said I didn't. You can't rule an Empire of the magnitude that mine is without rules that everyone has to follow. I never said I didn't do that, I asked what was there to stop you from oppressing YOUR rules in MY Empire. What is there to stop you from trying to contradict MY rules." Shadeen then leaned a bit forward again. "And right now you still haven't convinced me that you wouldn't do that. Right now, you still sound like somebody who only does things to better themselves."

"Fine." Janeway said, realizing that she had to number some of the good things that had come from Voyager's interactions with others. "What about our help in freeing the inhabitants of Unimatrix Zero?"

"And what about the Hirogen?" Shadeen once again countered. "You gave them holographic technology. A clear violation of your own prime directive, your own rules, to change their lifestyle. To inflict upon them, YOUR vision of what was right and wrong."
"They were hunting us! They were killing everyone unlucky enough to be deemed a worthy prey." Janeway was slowly beginning to lose her cool and self-control. Having every questionable decision she had ever made over the past seven years being thrown back in her face, as if the nightmares and constant guilt weren't enough, really ticked her off. After all, she was only doing her best trying to protect her crew, trying to get her crew home without any of the Federation's assistance each starship captain was used to, and most often took for granted. She couldn't let the Hirogen keep hunting her crew. She couldn't try to go around Borg space each time, it would add an unacceptable amount of time to their journey home. But she also wasn't about to let the Caretaker hurt and abduct anyone else, even if that was at the expense of them getting home. All she had done had been for the greater good and the well being of her crew. With that, she decided that she wouldn't deny her beliefs. "We represent the Federation of United Planets, and the rules they have set forth. The Federation consists of..."

But Janeway was interrupted by Shadeen. "We know everything there is to know about the Federation, our ships go there on a regular basis. But I am not talking about the Federation, I'm talking about you. The Federation is all the way back in the Alpha Quadrant. They have little, or basically even no, say in the action you take here in the Delta Quadrant, do they? Tell me, Captain, if I told you that right now, fifty light-years from here we are forcefully removing a population from its home planet, how would YOU react to that? Would you object?

Janeway knew that their scan of the Voyager files would have shown that she was a person to do this so she stood by her beliefs. "We would like to know why, but I think that I would object, yes. I, the Federation, is against the forceful deportation of people."

"And yet your precious Federation has done the same on NUMEROUS occasions. Now, you see, we have experience with the relocation of people. Their planet is about to be destroyed by a exploding star. Unfortunately, it is our belief not to stop these acts of nature since the galaxy has to keep renewing itself. But we don't see why we should let those billions of people die simply because they think that they should die with their planet."

"But that is their right." Janeway argued. Not understanding what the Empress was trying to explain.

"Ah, but you see, in the history of the Empire, this has happened several times before. And you know what the funny part is? Every time, EVERY time those billions of people who hate us because we took them away from their planet, suddenly love us when they see their precious planet destroyed. And when they understand that it wasn't for us, they would be dead now. Then suddenly not a single one of those billions hates us anymore. And suddenly they are so thankful to us for giving them a new home to live, because that is what happens. We give them a new 'world' to live on. We help them with building their society again.
And that is the problem. There are things happening in my Empire you would not agree to simply because you only see the moment. You do not see the bigger picture, what we are doing, what is really happening."

"Then why don't you enlighten us?" Janeway asked. If this was the problem then she might just have the answer. "You are right. We only see the moment. We arrive somewhere and only see what is happening, we have to make our decisions based on that. But if you let us pass, you would be deciding which course we would take through your space, so you would know what we would encounter. Simply tell us why you are doing that..."

"Enough!" Shadeen interrupted again. "I am not in the habit of explaining myself to anybody but my advisers, and my wife. And I'm certainly not in the habit of explaining things to someone who is ASKING ME if they can pass through MY Empire."

"Then maybe you should stop playing word games. Deciding if someone is an enemy merely due to the consequences of choices made is not honorable." B'Elanna mumbled so quietly that the Captain standing four meters (12 feet) away hadn't understood what she said. But apparently The Followers had excellent hearing for even over the comm. system, they had heard what the Klingon had said.

"Spoken like a true warrior, we might disagree on the fact whether or not this is honorable, but truly spoken like a warrior." The woman in the smaller chair said with a smile before the Empress replied.

"And I never said that you were our enemies. I just want to know what insurance I have that you aren't going to try and change my, our rules. For no matter what your dear Captain here says, you people have the habit of bending even your own rules to suit you."

B'Elanna quickly looked to Janeway who just slightly inclined her head, giving the Klingon permission to continue the conversation. "Seven, here, says that you are a race of warriors. In that case, our word should be insurance enough."

"But nobody gave me their word that they wouldn't interfere with our rules." Shadeen said calmly.

"Fine, then I'll give you my word." B'Elanna responded, irritated. She couldn't believe that the Empress hadn't simply asked for that if that is what she wanted to hear.

"The word of a Klingon is worth more than any contract put to a padd." The woman in the smaller chair explained, mostly for the benefit of the Empress since Shadeen didn't know as much about Klingons as her wife did.

"Hmm, well in that case, I hope for you, B'Elanna Torres, that your Captain will uphold the word that you have just given me. For I give you my word as Empress Shadeen, ruler of the Empire, that if your word is broken, all of you will regret it for years to come. Many years to come. A day won't go by that all of you will wish that you were dead. But that is a luxury that only old age will provide you. That is my word I gave to you." Then the Empress looked back at Janeway and addressed her. "Of course, we have to talk some more, but I would like to do that face to face. I suggest that you, and whoever you want to take with you, will gather in your conference room in one hour. We will then beam you over to my ship."

Janeway was glad that some headway had been made in the conversation but when she heard the Empress basically telling her what to do it somehow rubbed her the wrong way. "We would be more than willing to welcome you to Voyager." But Janeway stop talking when she saw how the eyes of the Empress had narrowed to mere slits.

"Captain Janeway, I understand that a strong will is a requirement for a Captain. And that this strong will has helped you survive by yourselves here in the Delta Quadrant for seven years. I can even admire that. But I am not the representative of some way off planet. I am the ruler over an Empire that is bigger than anything else in this galaxy. Do you really think that I would come to YOUR ship to talk about ME giving YOU permission to travel through MY Empire?"

"You are right, of course." Janeway agreed. Not because she didn't want to irritate the Empress but simply because she could see the point that Shadeen was making. "I'm afraid that during our years here, it has become kind of second nature to have talks onboard Voyager."

"Which probably is a good thing." Shadeen agreed, obviously more calmed down. "Seeing that we know some of the parties you have had talks with. Going to their planet wouldn't have been the smartest thing to do. Then we will beam you to my ship in one hour?"

"We will be ready."

"Good." Was all that Shadeen said before the connection was terminated and the viewscreen returned to showing the Imperial ships.

"Well, that was interesting." Tom said, mostly to break the silence on the bridge.

Janeway then looked to Seven. "You could at least have said that they could be so damn irritating." But the tone of her voice made it clear that this was not really meant, more of a way of breaking the tension. "That could have gone better."

"Actually, Captain," The blonde contradicted. "Even though it does not look that way, it appears that this conversation went very well. Being invited to their ship is certainly not standard procedure. There are a few races who have been assimilated by the Borg which had information from when they asked the Empire something, long before the assimilated races met the Borg. Usually when one is invited to their ships their whole behavior changes. To use a human saying, one could say that 'the battle is won' when one is invited to their ships. If they were not interested in us, they would have sent us away."

"You could have fooled me by the way the Empress was talking."

"To be honest, I can see their point. Partially at least." Chakotay spoke up. "I'm not talking about our history in the Delta Quadrant. I'm talking about the fact that we have encountered an Empire many times larger than the entire Federation, powerful enough that even the Borg perceive them as a threat. And then here comes a small starship which means nothing to them and we come very close to giving them OUR demands for passing through THEIR territory."

"Come now, Chakotay, I did no such thing." Janeway was obviously surprised by his words.

"Kathryn, you have to see it from their point of view. You heard what she said, she is not in the habit of explaining herself except to her advisers, and her wife. Since she is the Empress of such a large Empire, I can see her making decisions each day that affect millions, or even billions. To then suddenly have somebody come along and almost demand passage, I can imagine that this Empress wouldn't like that too much."

"I'm afraid I have to disagree with you there. She may be the Empress of her Empire, but that doesn't mean that I will do everything she says. I..."

"Captain, can I speak with you for moment, in private?" B'Elanna interrupted.

Noticing that this was somehow important to B'Elanna, Janeway agreed. "Let's use my ready room." She said and saw that B'Elanna gave Seven a small push in the direction of the ready room, indicating that she wanted the Borg to come along.


"Okay, what is it, B'Elanna?" Janeway asked after she had entered the really room and took position on the couch.

"Permission to talk freely, Captain?"

"Go ahead."

"Captain, about your remark that you wouldn't do everything the Empress tells you. I gave her my word that we wouldn't interfere with anything."

"And I guarantee you, B'Elanna, we won't unless it is absolutely necessary."

"Captain, the whole point of that conversation was that the Empress didn't want us to decide what was important and right or wrong in her Empire. And yet now you tell us that you are going to do so. I gave her my word!" B'Elanna almost shouted the last sentence.

"Settle down, Lieutenant. As I said, we won't interfere unless it is absolutely necessary."

"But who decides what is necessary? You said it yourself, we only see the moment. Kathryn, they have existed longer than the Borg. If they didn't know what they were doing then they wouldn't have survived until now."

"Listen, B'Elanna. I don't intend to break the word that you have given. But there are some things that I, as the Captain, can't ignore and nobody can make me ignore those things."

"The Empress can." The Borg spoke up. "Captain, up to now you and Voyager always managed to survive. Called it luck or ingenuity, you have even managed to outsmart the Borg on numerous occasions. But the Empress is not the emotionless Borg. If we were to break the promise that B'Elanna has given her, and we were to interfere in something. First she would correct what ever we had done, so we would have broken B'Elanna's promise for nothing, and then she would hunt us down like a Klingon would if he was fulfilling a blood oath. The only difference is that she has the means to find us anywhere in the galaxy, not that it is likely that we would get more than a few light-years from wherever it was that we had interfered."

"I understand that, Seven, but I am a Starfleet Captain, I have to stand by my beliefs."

"You do not have an option in this, Captain." Seven stated determined.

"As Captain James T. Kirk once said: 'Starfleet captains always have options'." Janeway quoted.

"As Captain Jean-Luc Picard once said: 'a Captain's first choice should always be to ensure the well-being of the Federation, even if this comes at the cost of that Captain's own beliefs'." Seven immediately replied, wondering why the Borg collective had kept that quote as relevant information.

"Meaning?" Janeway asked, surprised that Seven would answer her by also quoting someone.

"Captain, you know that I am not one for exaggerating. So believe me when I tell you that this Empire is capable of defeating the Borg collective. And the way we, Voyager, behave ourselves will determine whether the Empress thinks of us as people she can not trust and with whom she does not want any further contact. Or whether she see us as trustworthy enough to establish further contact. The potential gain for the Federation by how we conduct ourselves here is tremendous."

After that Janeway was quiet for a moment. She stood up and walked to the window before sighing deeply and turning to the two women. "You are of course right, both of you. Damn, when did I became so damn stubborn? I spent years in the Federation following orders that I often didn't like. I should be used to that. And most probably, I am only making smoke for nothing. If we are allowed to pass and they gave us a route to follow, of course they are going to keep us well away from anything that might 'tempt' me. If I had gotten a deal like this after we became stranded here in the Delta Quadrant seven years ago, I wouldn't have thought two seconds about it. I would have jumped at the chance."

"I, for one, am glad for that stubbornness." B'Elanna said to Janeway while she laid a hand on Seven's shoulder, giving her next words more meaning. "That stubbornness saved us more often than I can count, and that stubbornness brought Mesh into my life."

"Adapting is hard." Seven automatically put her arm around B'Elanna's middle, pulling her a little bit closer, not caring whether or not it was appropriate behavior. She had to show B'Elanna that she was just as glad that Janeway's actions had brought the Borg collective to send a drone to Voyager to mediate. "For years, you had to adapt to the fact that out here you ARE the Federation. And then you suddenly had to adapt again to listening to others telling you what to do."

Janeway turned to the window again and spoke more to herself than the two women. "Well, it seems that with some luck this is what I will be doing for the next twenty years. At least they should be safe years, somehow I think that the Followers are the only race with battleships in this Empire."

"It should be a safe time." Seven agreed. "However, it would not necessarily have to be twenty years."

Janeway's eyes immediately found those of the blonde. "What do you mean?"

"As I already stated, there is a high possibility that the next encounter will be a lot friendlier. Maybe actually friendly enough so that we COULD ask for their help."

"You mean trans warp?" B'Elanna asked surprised.

"Yes, as mentioned, the Borg have only seen them travel at warp sixteen. But still, that would mean that we could be in Federation space in less than two months. But if what the Borg have 'heard' is correct then they can travel at speeds of up to warp thirty?"

"That would mean that we would be in Federation space in..." Janeway stopped talking when she tried to calculate the timescale. Speeds up to almost warp ten were something every Federation Captain knew. But calculating trans warp speeds was something else entirely.

"We would be in Federation space in less than fifteen minutes." Seven said, knowing that at this point neither Janeway nor B'Elanna would actually want to hear the answer down to the seconds. "However, I doubt that this would be a speed often used since the power drain is something to be considered. After all, it already takes fifty thousand times as much energy to travel at warp thirteen than it would to travel at warp three."

"Yeah." B'Elanna agreed. "But even though it is fifty thousand times as much, our warp core still provides enough energy that we could sustain warp thirteen."

The blonde nodded her head slightly. "You are correct. But let us not forget that the Empress said: 'We know everything there is to know about the Federation, our ships go there on a regular basis.' So maybe it is as simple as going along on the next ship going to the Federation."

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves." Janeway interrupted. "Getting home really quick is a possibility that has passed us by on too many occasions. First, let's see how that talk goes. And B'Elanna, I now give you my word that I will keep the word you have given to the Empress."

"Thank you, Captain."

"Okay, Seven, since you are our expert on the Followers, I would like to have you with me during that face to face meeting. As well as you, B'Elanna. You have caught their attention. I expect you both in conference room one in thirty minutes. Tuvok will be the fourth and final member of the away team. Dismissed."


When the two women had left the ready room, Janeway settled back into the couch and looked out of the window. Realizing that she had almost blown the best chance of getting home they had had in a long time, only because she had become so damn stubborn. More stubborn than was even good for a Federation starship Captain. And that made her mind drift to something else she was stubborn about. For two years now they hade managed to hide it from everybody, except Tuvok. And the only reason they were hiding it was because Janeway insisted that the crew needed to think that the Captain was above things like that. 'No more.' she promised herself. No matter how this business with the Empire would turn out, after things had settled down she would no longer hide it. Janeway shook her head slightly and then said quietly, "Oh, Rebecka, how do you stand being in a relationship with me? You deserve so much better."



(Note. All knowledge contained in this chapter about warp/trans warp speeds, as well as the power usage for those speeds isn't mine. I got that from: Daystrom Institute Technical Library (at: http://www.ditl.org/ ) a very interesting site. Go have a look.)




Chapter 13


Meanwhile on board the ship of Empress Shadeen.


"Thank you for joining us so quickly, my Eminence," Shadeen said while she turned around from one of the monitors on the Bridge, satisfied that everything was in order in the Empire.

"Of course, my Empress," Danzoc said while bowing slightly. "When I heard that you had cleared my ship to travel at warp twenty point one I knew this had to be important so I came right away. Now, my Empress, if I may ask, what is so important?"

"Screen." Shadeen said shortly and a second later the image of Voyager filled the viewscreen. "I assume that you have detected that ship when arriving?"

"Yes, a Federation ship. Is that why you summoned me here?"

"It is." Shadeen pointed to a screen on one of the consoles and Danzoc quickly read the text speeding by. "As you said yourself, we don't really know what we are looking for, but all of that indicates that one of the people on that ship might just be the one we are looking for. But since we don't have any real clues this also might just be wishful thinking on our part. So Zerisan and Carizon here both agreed with me that we should bring you in on this. You, as the keeper of the holy texts, should be best suitable to interpret the clues we might find."

Hearing their names spoken was enough for Zerisan and Carizon to leave their posts in the capable hands of the people standing by for that very occasion, and join the conversation. "As you can see," Zerisan said when Danzoc finished reading. "There is nothing that we can point to as a clear sign, everything is explainable using simple logic. Yet overall, it has a certain feeling about it. Something that tells us that the chosen one must be on that ship."

Danzoc closed the file down and nodded in agreement. "Yes, I too get the feeling that whoever we are looking for is on that ship. But from this I cannot point to a certain person, there are several that could be a possibility. And as you know from our history, sometimes the ones that don't seem like a possibility at all are the ones we are looking for. So if the chosen one is on board that ship, identification will have to be done through conversation. It is absolutely certain that if the chosen is on the ship that The Traveler will have left behind the obvious clues..."

"Obvious only to you, my Eminence," Carizon interrupted. "And that is why you are here. The obvious clues, as you call it, are only described in the holy texts, and thereby only known to you."

"True," Danzoc agreed. "However, you will also recognize these clues. They are easy to understand, it is just kept secret in the holy text to prevent impostors from pretending to be a chosen one."

Empress Shadeen made a gesture to one side of the bridge, where the door to the conference room was located, indicating that she wanted to take the conversation to that conference room. "As you know," Shadeen started again after everybody was seated. "I usually don't ask about details concerning the closed parts of the holy text. But now I have to know, just how certain is it that nobody knows these clues?"

"Absolutely certain, my Empress. The books themselves are protected by The Traveler, nobody but the spiritual leader, his or her Eminence, can even touch them without dying. And as you know, never in all of our history has a spiritual leader broken his or her vow to serve The Traveler."

"Very well," Shadeen said, leaning back in the chair. "In that case we will treat this as a standard ship based meeting, with the exception that you, my Eminence, will be present during the meeting. We still have thirty minutes before our guests arrive. Does anyone have something to add?"

"My Empress." Both Zerisan and Danzoc started at the same time. "Please continue, my Lady." Danzoc then said with a polite smile, giving the first word to the Lady of the Empire.

Zerisan made a small nod of acknowledgment before starting to talk. "My Empress, from what I read in those files, their standard behavior during first contact will mean that they will bring Seven of Nine with them as a 'expert' on our race. So we have to beam them into sickbay when we bring them on board. With your permission, I will welcome them and after everything is in order, I will bring them to the secondary bridge."

"Very well." Shadeen agreed, seeing that Zerisan had something more to say but needed to close that subject first.

"And also, my wife," Zerisan continued, calling Empress Shadeen her wife to indicate that she was asking on a personal basis. "You know how I dislike the dry talking of negotiations. So with your permission, when the first meeting is over and the negotiations start with the second meeting, I would like to take the opportunity to get to know the Klingon. Somehow I have the feeling that she will dislike those negotiations just as much. Perfect opportunity to spend some time with her, talking."

Shadeen spent a moment thinking about that, and also thinking about the information she had gotten on B'Elanna Torres from the files she read. She realized that her wife was right and there was no real reason to torture either one of them with meetings they both would probably not like. "Very well. After the first meeting is over and we agree on the next meeting to do the negotiations, you will be excused from them." Then Shadeen looked to his Eminence and prompted, "My Eminence?"

"I just wanted to remind you that if the chosen is on board of the ship this person will have to be tested in the usual way."

"Ah, yes. The tests. We did talk about that before your arrival. And have already planned a way of carrying them out once the chosen is known."

"It is lucky for whoever the chosen is that the tests are not about strength or endurance," Carizon said looking at a padd and going over Voyager's crew manifest. "Some of the races represented on that ship are so... weak. On our Homeworld, half of them wouldn't be able to walk around the palace without the gravity becoming too much for them and they having to crawl on hand and knees. And none of them would stand a chance in a hand to hand fight with a Follower."

"Most races we know wouldn't stand a chance against a Follower," Danzoc reminded. "That is why the tests have never been about that. The tests are there to show whether or not the chosen is worthy of being adopted into our race. If the chosen is worthy of that, then this person doesn't have to be strong, after all, we protect our own."

"That we do, my Eminence, that we do," Shadeen interrupted thereby bringing the focus to herself again. "Well, it is almost time and..."

Empress Shadeen herself was interrupted by the sound of her communicator. "Speak." She ordered after activating the device.

{My Empress, your presence is required on the secondary bridge. The Borg are on their way to one of our new protectives.}

"On my way," Shadeen said before closing the channel. Knowing that this minor problem could only be because the Borg did not yet know that the Empire protected their destination. But that would change. "I'll take care of this, Zerisan, bring our guests to the secondary bridge whenever they are ready. My Eminence, I would appreciate your presence from the very beginning. If you would also join us on the secondary bridge."

"Of course."

"Very well." Shadeen said shortly while standing up and starting for the door.

***


When Janeway, Tuvok, B'Elanna, and Seven materialized on the Empress's ship they were surprised to find themselves in something that was obviously a sickbay.

The woman that had been sitting beside the Empress during the conversation over the viewscreen stepped closer and thereby gathered their attention. "Welcome on board, Captain, Lt. Commander, Lieutenant, Seven of Nine. I am Zerisan, personal aid to Empress Shadeen." The tall woman said, indicating that she knew all of their ranks and that further introductions were not really needed. Janeway noticed that the woman deliberately was keeping a small distance, probably so that she didn't tower over them. The woman had to be at least two meter and ten centimeters (seven feet).

Then another Follower standing a little bit to the side cleared his throat quietly. Obviously some kind of signal that he was ready for something because Zerisan then looked directly at Seven. "Would you please step over here for a moment so that the doctor can scan the signature of your implants," She asked while she walked the few steps toward the other Follower. But when she noticed that Seven wasn't moving, she
explained why this was necessary. "We like to be prepared. And just in case the impossible happens and Borg drones somehow manage to get onto the ship, we have systems on board the ships that would kill you before you reach the end of the first corridor. The doctor will scan the signature of your implants, which is unique for every drone, and then put that information into the ship's computer so that the security systems know that you are not a Borg intruder and that you are allowed on the ship. This will not harm you in any way."

Seven inclined her head to indicate that she understood and accepted an explanation. Then after quickly glancing to Janeway and B'Elanna to see if they also agreed with this, she walked to where the doctor was waiting with some kind of scanning device. "You could have gained this information during the transport to this ship. Why did you wait until now?"

"As you already know." Zerisan said, and then looked to the others briefly, indicating that she was talking to all of them. "The scan we made of your ship also immediately downloads all the information in your computer system, which also includes the medical files. And we could also have scanned you all during the transport. However, we believe that one's body is the most private thing one possesses. All information about it should be given freely, not taken. This is well established in our society and constitution; we like to give others the same courtesy. Of course, we have to be careful. So the medical files of your entire crew were indeed checked to see if there was something that could cause a problem. But this was done by one of our doctors and as long as there's nothing that could be a threat to us this information will stay only with that doctor. You could compare this to doctor/patient confidentiality. Nobody else has seen those records, nor will anybody else see those records as long as there is no threat to us. But since we already know about Borg signatures, and that they are certainly not a threat to us we did not scan you for it. After all, we know you have one. It is up to you if you want to share that information about your body with us."

"The information has been uploaded." The doctor interrupted before speaking directly to Seven. "It is now safe for you to be on the other parts of the ship."

"Well then, allow me to escort you to Empress Shadeen." The tall woman said while she walked past them to the door.

Immediately upon entering the hallway they noticed that they were obviously on a military ship. The halls were wide, without a doubt constructed with the thought of moving a huge number of people quickly through the ship. The group was quiet as they walked through the halls, knowing that the real conversation would only start in the presence of the Empress. It was Seven who first noticed the decorations on the wall. But
it was Janeway who saw the true craftsmanship. By the third wall painting they came across all of them slowed down to look. It was a beautiful nature scene, from floor to ceiling and more than six body lengths long, showing a beautiful sunrise over a peaceful beach and two people that were obviously lovers sitting in the sand looking at that sunset. The painting seemed so real that it looked as if it was a window that you could step through and be on the beach. It seemed so real even that Janeway just had to touch it. "What..." Was all that Janeway could ask. Somehow something as beautiful as that didn't seem to fit on a warship.

"Our history." Zerisan explained. "You will find paintings like this throughout the ship, throughout the fleet. As The Traveler once said: 'Surround yourself with your history and you can never forget it.' This is part of our history."

"What does it depict?" Seven asked. Somewhere in the back of her mind, the scene seemed so familiar to her. As if she knew that beach.

"That is the beginning of our race. Almost sixty thousand years ago, there was a war going on. Two races were fighting each other for nothing more than the 'sport' of beating each other. Never realizing that if they united themselves they could be unstoppable. One day two troop transporters met in space and a battle began. Within minutes, both transporters had to make emergency landings on a beautiful, but uninhabited, planet. There were more than a thousand of each race on each transporter. So the first thing they did after surviving the crash was start fighting each other for the planet. Any excuse would do. Just when the first drop of blood hit the ground a person suddenly appeared and said to them that fighting for the planet would be of no use since they could never own it. It was his and only he would decide who was worthy of living there. So both sides started fighting for that. Thinking that if they would beat the other they would be worthy of living there.

"But in all the people that survived the crash, only one hundred of each side wished to live together, thinking that might be the way to survive this ordeal as the stranger had suggested. So those two hundred people settled somewhere far away from the others. Those who stayed behind continued fighting until every one of them was dead. However, the survivors continued living together, building a society and over time the blood of the two races mingled and a third, combined, race appeared. They were the perfect combination of all of the strong points of the two separate races and so the Followers were born. The two lovers you see there were of two different races, but they were the parents of the first Follower."

Tuvok was the first to reply. "Interesting."

Zerisan nodded her head a little bit and then made a hand gesture down the corridor "Please, follow me."

When they started walking again, B'Elanna lingered behind a couple steps, taking one last look at the wall painting. Somehow it seems so familiar to her, but she couldn't place it. Just that she had a feeling that she knew that place.

"Thank you for sharing that with us," Janeway said after another moment of silence. "I realize that we didn't make the best first impression. So I'm glad you invited us. I must admit that during our conversation there were moments where I was not so sure about whether or not you would agree to meet with us."

They reached a turbolift and after getting in, Zerisan gave the destination of 'second bridge' before answering Janeway. "That is because our initial talk was to see whether or not you would be worthy enough for a second talk."

"Than I'm glad that we proved worthy enough that the Empress decided that she would see us," Janeway replied, not entirely able to hide what she thought about being 'worthy enough' to be granted a second conversation.

"Actually, Captain, the Empress was leaning towards sending you away. That you are here now is because the Empress is doing me a favor. One of my hobbies is keeping up with other warrior cultures in the Galaxy. The fact that you had a Klingon hybrid on board..." Zerisan's eyes quickly darted to B'Elanna for a second, "... was really the deciding factor. My Empress wants to give me the opportunity to talk to her."

"It would be my pleasure." B'Elanna replied immediately. Even if she wouldn't have wanted to talk with Zerisan she would have done so simply because she realized that if the Empress was doing this woman a favor then this woman could be a powerful ally in the quest to get home. But surprisingly enough that thought didn't even really cross B'Elanna's mind. It was something she realized, but also something that wasn't of importance. She simply wanted to get to know this tall woman a little bit more. She seemed so fascinating, so civilized, and polite, yet without a doubt, there was a warrior aura around the woman. Even if you were not a warrior yourself, you could easily see that Zerisan was. B'Elanna got the impression that the woman was at complete ease with herself. Knowing what she was, knowing her capabilities, and knowing her limitations. The Klingon could not remember ever encountering that before. The Klingon race was always proving what tough warriors they were. Most often they were proving that to themselves instead of others. But B'Elanna suspected that Zerisan, or her race in general for that matter, didn't need to prove what they were. Everybody knew, including themselves.

Once again it was quiet for a moment while they moved out of the turbolift and down another corridor. When they reached the door that was at the end of the corridor, Zerisan once again turned to speak to the others. "We are about to enter what we call 'the secondary bridge'. This serves the dual purpose of being the reception hall where people traditionally meet the Empress in person for the first time, and it is also the command
center of the Empire if the Empress is away from home. After the first introduction is over we will move to a conference room. This first introduction is always done this way to make people truly realize that they are not just meeting a mere representative of our race; they are meeting the Empire itself for the Emperor or Empress IS the Empire."

Zerisan was about to step up to the sensor which would open the doors to the secondary bridge when B'Elanna's eyes fell on another wall-painting a little bit further down the corridor. She couldn't help herself and stepped closer to take another look. This was nothing like the other paintings they had seen. It depicted a group of Followers laughing cruelly while killing persons by using long blood-covered knives. Once again the others also came closer to take a look and now that they were standing in front of the painting the vision of exactly what was depicted was gruesomely obvious. The Followers in the painting were not just killing people, they were killing children of another race. Young children. And on the edge of the painting sat what had to be the parents begging and pleading. Four pairs of eyes went to Zerisan and she started to explain.

"As The Traveler said in that same speech about history; 'Never distort the facts. How can your children learn from your mistakes if you don't honestly tell them what those mistakes were?' We are proud of our past. We think we did well. But that doesn't mean that in the sixty thousand years that our race exists no mistakes were made. A little more than twenty thousand years ago we started to expand our Empire and we found that all the races we encountered were weak; incredibly weak. Therefore, we quickly became predators, robbing, and plundering whole words, using the inhabitants as our slaves. This continued and gradually became worse until eventually a new form of entertainment was created. We would capture people, kill, or torture their children in front of their eyes and broadcast the parent's reactions as entertainment throughout the Empire. We may have become an advanced race compared to others, but that doesn't mean that this advancement was flawless. We made mistakes, and we learned from them."

The others were quiet for a moment. Never had they met a race so open about their past. B'Elanna thought about how different this was from Klingons. With Klingons, it was a well-known fact that history was always rewritten by the victor. This rewriting of the facts often happened even before the last battle was won. This race however obviously didn't believe in distorting their history. The Voyager crewmembers could see that the tall woman wasn't coloring even the most gruesome facts, or that she was making it sound as if it was unimportant. She was simply stating the facts about what was shown in the wall painting. "So, what happened to change... this?" Janeway finally asked, gesturing to the wall painting to indicate what she meant with 'this.'

"What happened is that the old Imperial family was overthrown and the Shadeen family was elected to take control of the empire. Ever since, an heir of the Shadeen family has ruled the throne. It was a difficult time in the beginning, especially for the first two Emperors. They had a hard time keeping the throne. Each Emperor brought about rigorous changes and the Empire had a hard time adjusting so quickly and willingly. But things changed. Within a hundred years we went from being the barbarian bullies to being people which one could do business with. Almost to the day those hundred years later, the planet we terrorized the most, willingly and freely became a member of the slowly growing Empire. And of course much came after that, but the Empress is waiting. If you would please follow me?" Zerisan once again stepped up to the door, but this time close enough so that it would open.

They walked into a square room of at least twenty by twenty meters (sixty by sixty feet) that was lined on both sides with batteries of workstations. But unlike the standard formation of consoles of Federation ships, the workstations were not facing the wall or even worked into the walls, instead they were placed in such a manner that the operators would be facing the room instead of the wall. Thereby, it gave them a clear view of what was happening in the room. The space between the workstations was big enough to give the operators easy access to the center of the room should it be needed. All in all it was very clear that these people also functioned as a guard for the Empress who was sitting in a rather modest throne, rather a comfortable looking chair, against the far back wall of the room. Zerisan led them closer to the Empress until she finally stopped several steps away from the throne.

Janeway's eyes quickly darted to the two men standing beside the Empress, one on each side, and then her eyes went back to the woman herself. Empress Shadeen sat back in the throne comfortably, looking at them as if she was studying them. Janeway was almost biting her tongue so that she wouldn't start talking. She was so used to opening conversations, telling everybody just exactly who she was. The stretching quietness was quickly getting on her nerves and she wanted to change that. But she knew that this time she was at the mercy of others, this time she had to wait until spoken to.

Finally the eyes of Empress Shadeen came to rest on Seven of Nine and after yet again a moment of continued silence, she suddenly stood up and started to walk towards Seven like a predator stalking its prey. Shadeen walked around Seven until she was standing so close behind the blonde that their bodies were almost touching. "I'm disappointed in you, Borg. No shaking, no almost fainting at the mere sight of me. So disappointing. It is always amusing to see emotional drones. They are so rare."

Seven turned around at the words and looked up into the eyes of the Empress. "I am over my initial reaction to you, triggered by nothing more than Borg memories. The Borg may fear you. But I am no longer Borg." Seven squared her shoulders and let her well-known cool defiance take over. "I am NOT afraid of you."

Janeway groaned inwardly at the words, here she thought she was making progress, and then Seven had to go and be, well, Seven. However, when she heard how the Empress started laughing she realized that for some strange reason normal diplomacy did not work on these people. 'But then again,' she thought, being honest with herself. 'I don't have the best track record when it comes to dealing with any kind of warrior race.'

Empress Shadeen strolled back to her throne but did not sit down. Instead she turned around and looked at Seven with her amusement clearly showing on her face. "Good. I like that attitude a lot more than the one I observed before. Contrary to what the Borg might believe; I don't enjoy people cowering in front of me." Suddenly Shadeen became serious and her tone of voice could be best described as deadly. "People know soon enough when they should fear me." Then she looked at Janeway and added, "But I do expect people to remember exactly what I represent. I am not to be spoken to as a Starfleet cadet reporting to their Captain. I AM the one in charge here. Remember that and we might actually get along."

Janeway slightly dipped her head indicating that she understood and acknowledged that. "I most certainly understand that. And I think I would have acknowledged this sooner. It's just that, well, as you probably already know from reading our files, most of the species we have dealt with only acknowledged me when I asserted myself as in charge. If you didn't act bigger and tougher than them, they tried to take advantage of you
if not out right kill you. To then meet a species such as yourself who doesn't tolerate being treated that way, who go so far as to question decisions I've made? Well it took me some time to adapt to that, but I think I have succeeded in doing so."

"Well, it sure sounds as if you found your diplomatic side again. However, I don't like diplomats very much. So if you just tone down your stubbornness you should be fine."

Janeway was about to react to that when she realized she almost proved Shadeen's point. Instead, she allowed a smile to form on her lips. "I will try to do that."

"Good, in that case, follow me and we can continue this conversation in the conference room."

***

Once in the conference room, Danzoc and Carizon were quickly introduced before talks began. For almost two hours they talked, getting to know each other better. And it was agreed upon that Voyager would be brought to the Followers Homeworld for a short shore leave while it would be decided if, how, and how much, the Followers would help the Voyager crew in getting home. It was the decision on exactly how to get Voyager to the Follower's Homeworld that really brought to light signs that Shadeen and the others were looking for.

"No, Captain Janeway," Empress Shadeen disagreed. "Having you go to our Homeworld on your own is not really feasible. Our Homeworld is pretty much centered in the middle of the Empire, so it would take you at least ten years to get there. And also..." Now Shadeen smiled. "It would do exactly what we are trying to prevent. Give you ten years of opportunity to stick your noses into things that do not concern you."

"We have two simple options to resolve this," Carizon spoke up. "Either we take your spaceship in a tractor beam and tow it behind one of our ships while we travel at Trans warp, the tractor beam itself would then protect your ship from being destroyed by the forces of Trans warp travel. After all, it is designed that way. But if you, for some reason, object to this we could get a cargo ship and transport your spaceship in one of its cargo bays. Whichever you prefer."

B'Elanna knew that Janeway's suggestion of having Voyager travel by itself was just done so that they wouldn't look too eager. After all, the Klingon could do the math. If the Homeworld was centered in the middle of their Empire it would also mean that it would be half of the journey through that Empire. So when the time came for Voyager to leave, the Followers would either have to bring Voyager back to its original position or closer to the Federation. And since the distance would then be pretty much the same, it
would be a small thing to bring them closer to the Federation. No, being invited to the Homeworld made it pretty much a certainty that they would at least help Voyager through the vast expanse of the Empire, if not the entire way home to the Alpha Quadrant. Unless of course they would do something stupid enough to get themselves killed. But the Chief Engineer found it her duty to remind the others of the problem they had been having for the last couple of months. "If a tractor beam was used, there would be a possibility that the viruses that have been plaguing us could travel down the tractor beam's carrier wave and infect your systems. So a cargo ship seems like the better option."

Shadeen brought up the results of the Voyager scan on the padd lying in front of her and quickly went over them once more. "Viruses? I assume you're talking about computer viruses? There are no indications of any kind of viruses on board your ship. Our scan would have picked that up."

Seven looked a bit uncomfortable while offering her suggestion on why the viruses may not have showed up. "Perhaps your scan did not find the viruses since they are hidden by Borg encryption codes. However, there are still several hundred viruses unaccounted for and also several hundred that we have found and bypassed to 'pacify' them. It is..." Suddenly, Seven stopped her explanation abruptly.

"What?" Janeway prompted when Seven didn't continue.

"Captain, I just realized. We did not have any more trouble with those viruses from the moment we encountered the Follower scout ship."

"Maybe their scan somehow neutralized the viruses?" Janeway offered.

The way Danzoc leaned forward upon hearing this indicated to Empress Shadeen that this subject needed more attention so she spoke up. "That is not possible. Our scanning system has been designed in a way to prevent such a thing from happening. We scan and download information. We don't want to change systems or programs running on said systems. Even if a program were designed in such a way to stop working when being scanned, our scan would then override this. In other words, except for information being downloaded, your systems would not react to our scan, even if they were designed to do so."

It was then that Danzoc spoke up for the first time after being introduced. "Tell us more about these viruses. Tell us about what they do, and how it came that your ship was infected with them."

And so Janeway started to explain about the strange circumstances that led up to their ship being infected like that. About how a traveler came on board Voyager for a short time and what happened after that. How it became obvious that this traveler had somehow been able to make them do things and believe things they normally never would. She stopped explaining when she saw how the four Followers were looking at each other.

"Please, describe this traveler for us in a little more detail. What did he look like?"

Not really knowing what Danzoc was getting at, Janeway started her description. "Well, he was tall, about the same height as you, Empress. Let's see, slender, his shoulder- width even less than mine. Reptile skin, green/bluish and scales. Crooked walk, more..."

"That is incorrect."

"Seven?" Janeway asked, surprised to be interrupted by the ex-drone.

Seven didn't understand why Janeway was giving a wrong description, but she did know Janeway well enough by now to know that she was not trying to deceive these people. She truly believed in her description. "Your description of this traveler is incorrect. Except for the height. But he did not have a narrow shoulder width, nor did he have reptile skin."

"No, Seven," B'Elanna disagreed. "He did look the way the Captain is describing him."

Tuvok, who had been pretty much quiet up to now, letting his Captain do the talking and only giving a suggestion here or there when he was asked for it or thought it prudent to mention something, was the one who brought up the most simplest of questions. Wondering why humans always wanted to disagree instead of finding out all angles. "Then please describe this individual the way you saw him."

"He looked like..." Suddenly Seven's eyes went wide and darted back and forth between the Followers. "I did not realize until this moment that the traveler shares characteristics with your race. Yet I do not believe he was of your race."

"No!" Carizon suddenly interrupted with a loud voice, only to be silenced by the Empress raising her hand slightly.

"Not of our race?" Danzoc asked.

"It is hard to explain. He looked similar; yet different... his features seemed smoother. One could say that he looked genetically less advanced..."

Danzoc nodded his head slightly. "As if we were descendents of his?"

"Exactly."

"No!" Carizon once again interrupted.

"Carizon." Empress Shadeen quietly warned.

"No, my Empress. She is Borg. An enemy! I will not allow this!"

Empress Shadeen looked at Carizon quietly for several seconds and even the Voyager crew had no trouble understanding the look in her eyes. Finally she spoke. Quietly, deadly. "And 'I' will not allow a behavior like this. But, unlike you, I can do something about what is bothering me. Act in a way your function requires of you. Or... suffer the consequences."

The Voyager crew could easily see that Carizon realized that he had gone too far. He looked at Seven for a second with hatred clearly visible in his eyes before looking back to Empress Shadeen. "Of course, my Empress. I apologize. This will not happen again, I was just surprised by this turn of events."

"Very well. See that it indeed doesn't happen again. You are warned."
Then Shadeen ignored Carizon as if nothing had happened and spoke to Danzoc, however immediately making it very clear that this interruption was certainly not forgotten. "My Eminence. Even though my adviser chose his words rather poorly, is there anything else you would like to ask before we explain to our guests what this is all about?"

"As a matter-of-fact, there is." He then looked back across the table to the Voyager crew. "You have described to us just how much of a nuisance these viruses have been to the entire crew. But has any of the crew in some way benefited from these viruses? Or from any of the events they cost?"

Janeway was about to say 'no' when B'Elanna spoke up. "Seven has."

Janeway beat the Empress to what she was about to say, but only because at that moment the Captain did not have to bother with a polite 'please' before saying: "Explain."

B'Elanna had seen that Seven was not going to mention the incident with the alcove. And she wondered if that was because the ex-drone felt that she didn't deserve to be the only one benefiting from what others were suffering from, or because she didn't want to share her secret with the rest of the group. Probably both, the Klingon realized. Yet this was too important not to mention. "By freak chance, one of the viruses changed the programming of Seven's Borg alcove in such a way that now it is possible for her to dream while regenerating."

"And why was that not brought to my attention?" Janeway asked, clearly not enjoying that she was left in the dark about this.

"In the beginning, Seven told nobody because she was afraid that the alcove would get 'fixed' and she would no longer be able to dream. She didn't want to lose what she thought she could only have in her dreams." The small blush that the Klingon was sprouting was obvious enough and therefore nobody asked exactly what Seven had dreamt of in those dreams that she didn't want to lose. "And after she told me I checked the alcove myself. I checked it once or twice extra just to be certain..." Now a small much saying smile formed on B'Elanna's lips that made everybody understand that 'once or twice' was a gross understatement. "...but I found absolutely nothing wrong except for the fact that the alcove somehow even worked better now than what we always assumed as peak efficiency. I wanted to tell you later, Captain, when I could also assure you that we did not have to change this, and that Seven really was safe. But with every thing that
happened next, I just... forgot about it."

"This, however, is not the only benefit I had from these viruses," Seven said hesitantly. "Looking back, B'Elanna nor I personally ever had any problems at all because of these viruses. From then on, we did however spend almost every minute of the day together repairing the damage done by the viruses, or the viruses themselves. One could say that we are now engaged purely because we got to know each other during the great amount of time we were together while taking care of the viruses."

"Yes, one could," B'Elanna agreed, not really liking what Seven was saying. "But one could also say that this was simply bound to happen and we would have ended up together anyhow."

Seven turned to B'Elanna and looked her in the eyes. She wanted her fiancée to understand. "I agree, Kyamo, that we were bound to be together. And eventually that would have happened. I am sure of that. But how many weeks, months, or even years would it have been before we realized this? How much longer would it have been before we acted upon our feelings? The first civil conversation we had several months ago, where you said it was possible I could be your friend, happened also while you were trying to repair something of which we discovered later was one of the viruses. I know you do not like this, Kyamo. But I truly think that we are together NOW because of those viruses. I... we both, have gained so much because of those viruses."

A sound from somewhere around the table made B'Elanna and Seven break their eye contact and look once more at the people sitting around the table. B'Elanna wanted to apologize for what obviously had been a private moment that did not belong on a meeting like that, but it was Zerisan who spoke first while looking up from the padd in front of her. "Interesting. I have been going over the scan results one more time and there are indeed several hundred places where there are Borg encryption codes that serve no purpose whatsoever. It does look, however, as if they were indeed placed to hide something. But that 'something' has disappeared."

"Which fits perfectly." Danzoc agreed before explaining. "If our assumption is right then those viruses have now served their purpose and they disappeared to make it absolutely clear that this is not just coincidence. This is the Divine One leaving us a message." Then his Eminence went from explaining to asking the Voyager crew a question. "I have one more simple question for you. Could you tell me the name this person went by?"

There was a strange moment of silence while the Voyager crew looked at each other and even Tuvok seemed a bit uncomfortable, if that was possible for a Vulcan. "Um, it never occurred to us to ask." Janeway finally admitted. "It just seemed natural to call him 'the traveler' whenever we referred to him in third person. We still do as a matter-of-fact. We traded goods with him. So an obvious name would then be 'the trader' yet somehow we kept calling him 'the traveler' even now. As if that was his name. The Traveler. Just like the person Zerisan here has already referred to on... several... occasions... and... Oh, boy. That would explain the earth coffee."




Chapter 14


After more talk, explanation, and negotiation, it was agreed that Voyager would be taken in a tractor beam and would travel like that for the duration of the five-day journey to the Followers' Homeworld. Janeway had opted for the tractor beam because the idea of having Voyager stored in the belly of a giant freighter ship as if they were nothing more than cargo didn't appeal to her at all. Both sides had agreed to a relatively slow journey that would take them five days, that way they had some time to interact and get know each other before arriving at the Homeworld. Of course this 'slow' journey still meant that Voyager would be crossing a distance in five days that would take them ten years to travel on their own.

During that time, people were free to visit back and forth between ships. Nobody was surprised to find out that beaming from ship to ship during trans warp was an everyday thing for the Followers. Only a few strategic places of the Imperial ships were off-limits to the Voyager crew. Usually when the Voyager crew was given 'free range' on a ship of a different race things like engineering, sickbay, and the research labs were still kept off limits. But this was not so with the Followers. The only things that were off limits for the Voyager crew were the primary and secondary bridge, as well as the private crew quarters. Everything else was freely accessible.

So almost everybody from the Voyager crew made sure to find some time to go over to one of the Imperial ships and take a look around. For most of them, it felt as if they were permitted to look into the future. They compared the every day technology the highly advanced Followers used to what they themselves were familiar with. B'Elanna Torres, for instance, had stood almost half an hour gaping with an open mouth at the engine of Empress Shadeen's ship. To B'Elanna, what she had seen was the stuff the Federation declared impossible. A single engine for warp as well as trans warp, capable of smoothly accelerating from taking over from the thrusters at light speed and then simply going on, and on, and on, well into the high trans warp ranges.

But it was equally interesting for both sides. More than one Follower could be found roaming through Voyager to look and see how people were capable of doing such extraordinary things and survive with such basic equipment.

They were on their second day of travel when the rumors started spreading on both sides. For the Followers, there was excitement. It was said that they possibly found the new Chosen One. Things were about to change, and what would the future bring them? On board Voyager, it was slightly different. Everybody was excited that once again their journey home had become a lot shorter. But they to had heard some of the Followers talking about how one of the Voyager crew was now the Followers' Chosen. And people started to wonder just what the price was for the help in getting home. Some people were even afraid that the person they had gotten to really know and like in the last couple of months would be leaving Voyager and staying behind at the Followers' Homeworld as payment for the offered help. In a way a lot of people on board Voyager thought it strange. A couple of months ago they sure wouldn't have minded if the person, which the Followers said she was their Chosen one, would have left the ship. But now they had gotten to know her for whom she truly was. And now nobody on board Voyager wanted to see Seven of Nine leave.

Well, almost nobody.


"Wait, wait, wait," Chakotay said while he was trying to make sure nothing spilled out of the mugs he was carrying back from the replicator to the table. Chakotay knew he was drunk. But his time in the Maquis had taught him several things, one of them being that information was often easier to gather over a strong drink. He settled the mugs full of strong blood wine on the table before sitting down. After that, he pushed one of the mugs to his companion and swallowed some of his own blood wine before continuing. "So let me see if I understand this correctly. Once in every several thousand years, one of the beings your race worships..."

"Not just one of them, The Traveler himself. Ruler of over all the lesser Divine Ones," Carizon interrupted and explained.

"... right, So once every several thousand years, this Divine One decides that is time for your Empire to change and he goes out to find a person that will bring forth that change..."

"Right." Carizon agreed after emptying his mug in one gulp.

Chakotay once again got up to get more blood wine from the replicator. But this time he only replicated one mug for Carizon. He knew that the drink on his side of the table would be the last for him. Even he couldn't hold four mugs of blood wine. And then to think that Carizon had just drained his eighth mug as if it was nothing. Chakotay handed the mug to Carizon and he was glad to see that the Follower simply put it down on the table instead of emptying it once more. 'Time to get my information,' Chakotay thought before speaking up. "However, this Traveler doesn't simply say 'Here, this is your new Chosen'. You people must actually go out and find this Chosen..."

"Which we always do within a few months of a new Chosen being... well, chosen," Carizon said proudly before his face turned into a frown. "And look at what we found. If we weren't talking about the Traveler himself, I would be sure that this was a joke of one of the lesser Divine Ones."

Chakotay nodded his head in sympathy for the man sitting across from him. "But maybe you have the wrong person. Maybe you need somebody else instead of Seven. After all, what do we have that really proves that Seven of Nine is supposedly your Chosen? Just because she and B'Elanna needed to spend time together while getting rid of those viruses? That could mean that B'Elanna should be your Chosen because she has just as much advantage of that as Seven. Or what about Tom Paris? After he was almost sucked into space thanks to one of those viruses Jennifer Delaney realized that she couldn't wait forever. The man she wanted could die before we reach the Alpha Quadrant. Last thing I heard was that Tom and Jennifer are talking about moving in together. So he definitely had a positive thing happen to him thanks to the dealings of your Divine One." Chakotay deliberately forgot to mention that before that accident Tom was already married to somebody else. He was desperately looking for signs that somebody else could be the Chosen, Anyone else but Seven.

"No, no, no," Carizon disagreed. "Look, all of that is just extra. To make sure we find the person we are looking for. There is one thing however that proves that she is the one we are looking for. The Traveler showed himself to her in his true form. Only members of our race, and the Chosen Ones, are permitted to see the Traveler in his true form. It has always been that way ever since the first Follower was born. Well, except of course on the Traveler's home planet. There everybody can see him in his true form. But then again, anybody who is on the planet without being protected by the Traveler will be dead long before they ever get a chance to see The Divine One."

"Whata ye mean?" Hearing how he was slurring his words, Chakotay realized it was time to get his information while he at least could still think a little bit clear. And he mentally kicked himself for also drinking the strong blood wine instead of opting for something a little less strong.

Carizon was a little surprised by this change of direction in the conversation. And it showed in his answer. "Huh?" But then he realized what Chakotay meant. "Oh, nothing of importance really. You see our Homeworld is not same planet on which the first Follower was born. It is in the same star system, it is even a neighboring planet, but is not the same. At some point in our history we decided that we didn't want to expose such a beautiful planet as the Traveler's Homeworld to a continuously expanding society. Even if we kept the beauty of the planet in mind, the simple fact is that for houses you need space. Even if that space was once a beautiful forest or beach. So we settled on the neighboring planet leaving the Traveler's Homeworld to him solely. Over time, without us being on top of the food chain on the planet, other animals took that place. And now the Traveler's Homeworld is one of the most beautiful planets we know of, and also one of the most deadly."

"Ah," Chakotay only said, once again mentally kicking himself, this time for letting the conversation slip off target like that. "Well... so the fact that your Divine One showed himself to Seven in his true form proves that she is this Chosen One. So tell me, what does that actually mean?"

"But I told you already. The Chosen brings change for the Empire. We don't know upfront what that change is going to be, we just know that things ARE going to change."

Chakotay sipped a little bit more of his blood wine and then nodded his head in agreement. "Yes, I know. I know. But what I mean is how do things change? What do you want from Seven? For instance, does she get command over a part of your army? Can we see her being in command of a hundred of those battle cruisers out there?"

"Oh, no. No, not at all. Nothing like that." Carizon emptied his mug with a last big swallow. "No, if that was the case I would be a happy person now. No, the point is that we change nothing for the Chosen. We don't give the chosen any powers of that kind. We don't give her a position of power within our military. It's much worse than that. You see we act on what ever the Chosen does. We are going to protect her, whether she wants it or not. So... well it is like this. This Seven of Nine will still be working here on Voyager, but there will always, at the very least, be one battle cruiser following your ship around. And even though you and others you might meet on your journeys might never know that we are around since the battle cruiser would stay cloaked, we will interfere to protect Seven of Nine. For instance, some time ago the Borg Queen took her drone off of this ship. We would never allow that. We would attack the Borg and destroy them."

"Sounds pretty good for us." Chakotay was glad to hear that maybe there was a positive side to it after all.

Carizon shook his head slightly after hearing that. "Ah, but here comes the 'but' that you will not like. We would not allow the Borg to take Seven of Nine. But we would also not stop Seven of Nine going to the Borg if she wanted to. And there in lies the power of the Chosen. We react to what she does. What if she decides to go back to the Borg and stay there? I tell you what. There is a strong chance that soon a Borg/Follower alliance would be made. After all, if Seven of Nine wants to go back to the Borg, surely that must mean that the Traveler wanted us to work together with the Borg. Who knows what that alliance might lead to? At the very least the Borg would finally get some of our technology. But where would it stop? Followers becoming Borg drones? The Borg Queen becoming the new Empress of our Empire? Can you imagine that combination? The Borg always wanting to have, and our technology enabling them to take. The Borg would rule the galaxy."

Hearing that made Chakotay drain his own mug. Unlike the others he was not fooled by Seven's so-called integration into the Voyager community. He knew that the ex-drone was only waiting for the right time to put Voyager in a situation where the Borg could assimilate them all. After all, the fact that Seven was on board had already been the reason for several encounters with the Borg. Chakotay knew that when they would get closer to the Alpha Quadrant, a place where the former Borg drone would be imprisoned, at the very least. Seven would realize that being once again a member of the Borg collective was better for her. And he knew that when that time came Seven would take all of them with her. But after hearing what Carizon had said that vision paled in comparison with what he just heard. He knew that something had to be done or else, soon everybody in the Federation and beyond would be going by Borg designations. "But surely there must be a way to prevent this from happening."

Carizon sighed and slowly shook his head. "I don't see how. The Empress has already decided that as far as she is concerned, Seven of Nine is the Chosen. And we have to follow what ever the Empress says." Suddenly Carizon smiled a little bit, obviously trying to put himself in a better mood. "But, who knows. Maybe I'm wrong here. Maybe Seven of Nine will turn out to be an excellent Chosen. Maybe her dislike for what the Borg have done to her will even cause the opposite. Maybe we will finally be allowed to rid ourselves of the nuisance that is the Borg Empire."

'That is a big maybe,' Chakotay thought. 'Too big, we cannot simply hope for that. Something has to be done. But what? But what?' Then, having the information he needed, he smiled at Carizon before saying; "Well, either way, I had way too much to drink. I'm going to sleep that off. Thanks for the company. See you around."

"The same to you." Carizon looked at how Chakotay slowly stood up and walked out of the mess hall. Then seeing Neelix walking by the brooding expression he had on his face during his conversation with the commander disappeared and he lifted his hands to get the Talaxian's attention. "Could I have another one of these? This blood wine tastes really good. I think I will download the replicator pattern later on."

"Um, sure," Neelix said hesitantly while slowly taking away the empty mug. But he saw it as his duty to inform Carizon of the dangers of blood wine. "Um, you do realize that this is quite potent stuff? And you already had quite a bit. Wouldn't you prefer something different? Something... less strong?" Neelix was surprised when the Follower started laughing and sat up a little straighter. This little shift in position, combined with a slightly different body language, changed the man's whole demeanor from a slumping and obviously intoxicated person to a person obviously aware of his surroundings and very in control of his body.

"Don't worry, Talaxian. This might be strong stuff for you and a lot of other races, like these humans here for instance. But we are not affected by alcohol. Do you want to know why I am going to download the replicator pattern? Because my two-year-old son is just leaving the donsing-sap stage and I'm pretty sure that he will love this stuff."

During this small conversation, Neelix had replicated the drink and giving it to Carizon. "But I thought... the way you were drinking here with the Commander... well, I, um, assumed that you were sharing some kind of drinking contest."

"I'm sure that he thought the same." Carizon looked at Neelix for a couple seconds before softly hitting the table with his open hand a couple of times, indicating that Neelix should sit down. "Join me for a few minutes. Let's talk about the crew. About what kind of people they are."

"Well, I don't know." Neelix stated while he was already slowly beginning to sit down. "I'm usually not want to gossip about the crew. They are my friends."

Carizon reached over and padded Neelix his shoulder. "Of course they are. Don't worry, I'm not looking for dirt here. I just want you to tell me about them, and what you think. That is all. Tell you what, I will make you a deal. I tell you something, you tell me something. How's that?"

Neelix liked this man, he was so different than how he seemed when the commander had been there. The way Carizon was acting now reminded Neelix a lot of the way he has seen Klingons act on the holodeck, when they were sitting around the table having fun. Looking around the mess hall, the Talaxian decided that he could spend a couple of minutes talking to this Follower. "Okay, you have a deal. But you begin."

"Good." Then Carizon made a show of inconspicuously looking around the mess hall before indicating that the Neelix should lean closer. "Well, since you are the keeper of this place, how about I tell you how to get a Follower drunk? If you want to get one of us drunk you just have to give us liquids with caffeine mixed with sugar. The combination of caffeine and sugar has the same effect on us as alcohol has on you."

Neelix couldn't believe his ears. "Wait. Are you trying to tell me that you get drunk from coffee?!"

"No, we get drunk from coffee with sugar. That's why I never touch the stuff."

"Coffee you mean?"

"Caffeine I mean."

"Ah. Soda?"

"Oeh, one of the strongest things around. Just the smell of it would make me pass out."

"Hmm, I never would have guessed."

"Well. Now it's your turn, Talaxian. I told you something about us. Tell me something about the crew of this ship."

"Okay, I did agreed to that. Let's see, where should I start?"

"Well, why don't you tell me why your commander doesn't like Seven of Nine," Carizon said and it was clear that he was a lot more serious now. He wasn't trying to fool Neelix, he wasn't hiding that he was truly interested in the answer. Neelix liked that, and so he started to explain.

"Well, you see..."

******

Meanwhile Carizon was not the only Follower onboard Voyager. Several decks below, Zerisan had just entered engineering and was about to ask where she could find B'Elanna when she heard the Chief Engineer shout.


"Get the fuck out of here before I throw you out!"


So instead of asking she only nodded to Carey and pointed to the office. Indicating why she was there.

"Good luck," The engineer mumbled before turning back to his work and pretending that he didn't hear the Klingon blowing a fuse.


"I am leaving, but only because I see that trying to communicate with you is an inefficient waste of time. Grasping a context as simple as advanced communication is beyond your narrow-minded capabilities. The only communication you are capable of is a useless show of basic emotions."

"OUT!"

"Since reasoning is obviously beyond you, I will give my own recommendations to the Captain in the morning." The Borg said while leaving B'Elanna's office. When she came out, Zerisan saw a small smile playing on the ex-drone's lips and Zerisan assumed that it was because Seven had managed to get the last word in.

"Did I come at a bad time?" Zerisan asked the pacing Klingon while she entered the office.

"No, I'll be all right in a few moments," B'Elanna growled out through her teeth while she continued pacing. "It's just that that stupid Borg sometimes has the cunning ability to GET ON MY NERVES!" The Klingon shouted the last words, knowing that Seven would still be in main engineering downloading the information she needed and that the Borg would hear her.

"Ah, so this is standard behavior? Interesting. From our previous encounters, I had thought you two to be actually quite close to one another." Zerisan sat down without asking permission to, knowing that most none-Followers actually preferred it when she was sitting instead of standing and towering over them.

B'Elanna stopped her pacing at that observation and set down behind her desk. "We ARE very close. We are engaged to be married as a matter-of-fact, and I love that woman to death. But that doesn't mean that we agree on everything. Nowadays we usually talk about our differences of opinion and come out with a workable compromise. But I don't know what's wrong with her today, she's even more stubborn than she usually was before we got involved."

Zerisan's sensitive hearing registered the unique sound of Seven of Nine's walk leaving engineering. "I assume that you two usually fought a lot?"

The usually private Klingon's knee-jerk reaction was to tell Zerisan to mind her own business. But for some reason B'Elanna felt comfortable in the presence of the tall woman. 'Maybe it is because she is also a warrior,' B'Elanna reasoned with herself. 'Somehow I don't see us sharing a barrel of blood wine and telling ourselves strong stories, but I feel as if I can talk to her.' "Yeah," She finally said out loud. "Before we got involved we always fought like cats and dogs... if you know what that means."

"We say 'like Broka and Deniri' but I understand what you mean. But now that you are involved, you don't fight anymore? Why not?"

"Because we are engaged to be married of course. We are supposed to get along."

"And who is talking about not getting along?" Zerisan asked, pulling the chair a bit closer to the desk. "My wife and I fight at least once every week, quite often more than that. But that doesn't mean that we don't get along. If there is a problem, or even a beginning of a problem, we talk about it. The fighting we only do over unimportant things."

"Then why fight at all?" B'Elanna wondered out loud.

"Because we enjoy the fights. We love to fight." Then Zerisan smiled a very satisfied smile. "And we also love to make up after the fights. Tell me," She then asked, getting serious again. "When you fought, before you got involved, did you enjoy the fights?"

"No, yes, sometimes." B'Elanna sighed deeply, trying to find the words that she wanted to say. "Look, I admit that I enjoyed fighting with her. But it didn't last, if you know what I mean. One of us would without a doubt say something that hurt the other and the other would then reply in kind."

"Then you are now in a perfect position to fight and enjoy it, are you not?"

"What do you mean?" The Klingon asked confused.

"If you truly love each other to death, as you say, then you are in the unique opportunity to have fights with each other and know deep down that the other person doesn't really mean what she says, and that the other person knows that you don't really mean your words. Yet after the fight, you still have a perfect reason to make up."

"I doubt that Seven would go along with that. After all, fighting is 'inefficient'."

"Fun usually is inefficient. Doesn't mean that an ex-drone can't have fun. I think she might just enjoy the fighting as much as you do. At least that would explain the smile on her face when she left your office."

"She was smiling?" B'Elanna asked surprised.

"Most definitely."

"Damn, I forgot. A couple of months ago, she actually told me she liked it when we fought." Suddenly B'Elanna thought about a conversation that she and Seven had a couple of days back.


'I agree that there are certain things about you that annoyed and irritated me,' Seven had said. 'but, B'Elanna, I do not want you to change on account of me. If you want to change then only do so if you would also have done the same if we were not involved.'

'Yeah but surely you could do without things like my short temper.'

'No I could not. I fell in love with the mix that is B'Elanna Torres. You are my perfection. Your short temper is a part of that perfection. Please, do not change my perfection unless it is on the simple bases of you being yourself.'


"You know what my biggest problem is?" B'Elanna suddenly asked, and Zerisan realized that the Klingon was really speaking more out loud to herself than to Zerisan. "I spend so much of my time trying to fit in that I simply can't believe that somebody would want me for what I am. The good with the bad. Every time Seven and I face something that other people usually couldn't accept, I don't simply believe that Seven CAN accept it. She always has to prove that to me. I mean, how often has she already told me that she accepts my Klingon side? Yet the day before yesterday she was the one who dragged me to the holodeck and initiated the training program that got me so worked up that I finally let go completely when she suddenly started to have her way with me."

"You mean having sex?" Zerisan deliberately interrupted, not because she didn't want to hear what B'Elanna had to say, but because she wanted to respect B'Elanna's privacy.

"What?" B'Elanna asked and looked at the tall woman. She then realized what she was talking about. "Yes, no, I'm talking about making love. Major difference. Kahless," B'Elanna said while she stood up and started pacing behind her desk. "I don't even know why I'm telling you this. I don't even know you."

Zerisan stood up and went to the door to close it. After she had done this and sat down again, she finally answered. "Maybe that's why you're telling me this. You don't really know me, I'm just a guest on this ship. After this conversation I will go back to my own ship, and soon we will part ways again. Then I will be taking whatever you told me with me and nobody on your ship will know about it. Furthermore, I'm a warrior like you. Talk to me, or don't, that is up to you. But I will give you my word that whatever you say will stay between you and I."

B'Elanna looked at Zerisan for a moment and then sat down with a sigh. "I hurt her, you know. We had to use the dermal regenerator for our bruises and I'm sure that the only reason why nothing was broken is because the Borg strengthened her skeleton and my bones are simply stronger than humans."

"Ah, you are talking about that 'famous' Klingon sex I read about."

"I prefer the word lovemaking and yes, that is what I'm talking about. Even though those stories are usually exaggerated."

"So you hurt her. So what? It isn't something my wife and I do very often, but on occasion we do enjoy playing a little bit rough. And on those occasions we don't mind a little pain. Because it's part of the game and then pain can feel surprisingly good. The important part is whether she enjoys it? Did she play along willingly or did she ask you to stop?"

"Oh yeah, she enjoyed it all right. She came immediately the first time I... eh, yeah she enjoyed it. And she doesn't have to ask me to stop. If she wants to stop, she can make me. You know how strong Borg drones are. She may be more human now but she still has most of her Borg enhanced strength. Look, the problem is that I promised her that I would never intentionally hurt her. Yet I did hurt her intentionally."

"No, you didn't," Zerisan stated with confidence. "I had a similar talk with my wife shortly before we got married. It is part of the marriage ritual that the day before you get married you spend talking with your future partner about any secrets or insecurities you might still have. The reason for this is so that you can enter the marriage without the problems that issues like that could eventually cause. We also talked about never intentionally hurting each other. But, B'Elanna Torres, at that moment, one is talking about hurting emotionally, not physically. Thinking about physical pain doesn't enter your mind at that moment because it is a non-issue. Why? Because physically hurting your partner would also hurt her emotionally. But that doesn't mean that you can never be rough with your partner, as long as your partner wants, condones, and enjoys that. To be absolutely honest with you, I thoroughly enjoy receiving, and giving, the occasional spanking."

"I'm talking about more than a spanking."

Zerisan rolled her eyes and sighed, starting to understand why one of the descriptions of Klingons was being very stubborn. "I know you are, my wife and I also do a lot more than that when the mood strikes us. I simply didn't think that you would want a detailed description. From what I heard you say, this wasn't a one-sided thing. You talk about your bruises, and your Klingon bones as well. So she also hurt you."

"Yeah, but I'm part Klingon. I relish a little bit of pain now and again."

"And who says that Seven of Nine doesn't?"

"Well uh..."

"B'Elanna Torres, do you want my uncensored and straightforward advice?"

"Sure... I guess."

"Get over yourself. Stop thinking about human, Klingon, or Borg. Start thinking about individuals. You are a person who has found a perfect match. Physically and emotionally. And you have the incredible luck that this perfect match also loves you and wants to be with you. What more do you want? Simply enjoy what you have and stop questioning yourself. Seven of Nine seems to me as a person who speaks her mind. If there was a problem in your relationship would she be quiet about it or tell you?"

Now it was B'Elanna who sighed, knowing that the tall woman was right. "Seven would tell me before it could even become a problem."

"Then stop worrying and enjoy what you have. B'Elanna Torres, you have found a woman who enjoys it when you let go completely, but she also likes to fight verbally with you. If she wasn't prepared for the consequences, she wouldn't do that," Now Zerisan smiled. "And I'm willing to bet that with all of this she also has a tender side we haven't even talked about."

"Oh yeah." B'Elanna agreed with a smile of her one. "You know, I'm supposed to be this tough warrior, yet when we sleep she always has her arms around me. As if she's protecting me. And you know what? It works. Since we're been sleeping together, I sleep better than ever before and she also k... she also keeps the nightmares away."

"Well then, what more do you want? You have it all, B'Elanna Torres. Enjoy it."

"As simple as that, huh?"

"As The Traveler once said; 'There is nothing wrong with having goals you want to achieve. Go and try to make them your reality. But inner peace is not found in what you do, or do not, have. Inner peace is found in having somebody accept you unconditionally'."

"A nice saying, not really fitting to either humans nor Klingons, but on this occasion it fits. Of course, I could simplify that by saying that I should be myself for that is the person Seven fell in love with."

"Also a nice saying, but that however doesn't really fit Followers."

"It doesn't?"

"No. In our race, the bond between partners starts at a very young age. Often, as in my and my wife's case, before the people involved can actually speak. Once the second stage of adulthood sets in, the love for our partner is for life. No matter what happens, the love will never lessen. Even if my wife would use the power that she has to do the terrible deeds we only know from our history, I couldn't love her any less. We have no choice in that. So you see, it doesn't matter what kind of person my wife is. I will always love her."

"Interesting. Do you have some more time? I would love to know more about that."

"Certainly. I don't like the dry negotiations your Captain is having with my wife anyhow. The padds will record all I need to know..."

"Wait a minute." B'Elanna interrupted. "The negotiations my Captain is having with your wife? Are you telling me that Empress Shadeen is your wife? Now, I would definitely like to know more about THAT."

Zerisan laughed at that. "That's right, you didn't know that. Well, you see..."




Chapter 15


***

Extra note. This chapter is NC-17 from start to finish. If you are not interested in that than you can skip this chapter and continue with chapter 16. You won't miss anything plot wise. If you are interested in NC-17 then please let me know what you thought of this. Also, this is not sweet and tender lovemaking in bed. Nothing bad, I think, but I thought you should know.

***

The bath had done wonders for B'Elanna. It had soothed her so much that she had actually fallen asleep in the bath for half an hour. But the moment she got out of the bath she was reminded of the fact that she hadn't seen Seven since their fight earlier that day. It had been the black silk bathrobe she had put on after drying that had reminded her of Seven. It was her favorite bathrobe, or better said, it was her favorite since Seven had seen it for the first time and had stated that it was 'aesthetically pleasing' to see B'Elanna wear it. That had been only moments before the coffee table had been christened. Since then B'Elanna referred to the bathrobe as her 'lucky' robe.

"Where is she?" B'Elanna asked out loud to the empty room. "Her shift ended two hours ago." The Klingon thought for a moment to simply ask the computer, but she decided against that because it felt as if she would be checking up on Seven. However, that didn't stop her from slowly starting to pace the room.

Ever since she and Zerisan had talked earlier that day about fighting with your partner, B'Elanna was looking forward to continuing the fight that had started in Engineering that day. So when half an hour later the doors finally parted to let Seven through, the first words the Borg heard were; "Where were you?"

Seven was about to explain that she had visited Naomi for a little while since she felt sorry for not being able to spend much time with the child lately. But when she saw the hotheaded Klingon standing there, hands on her hips, and only wearing that robe that Seven loved, the Borg quickly changed her reaction. "That is none of your business," She said while she walked past the fuming Klingon and put a padd she was carrying on the coffee table.

"Hey, don't you dare walk by me," The Klingon said while grabbing Seven's arm.

The blonde simply shook off B'Elanna's hand and went to the replicator. "Why not? You showed this afternoon that communicating is beyond you."

"Oh, so that is what this is about." B'Elanna said, waving her arms in an exaggerated gesture and stomping up behind the Borg.

Suddenly the Klingon pushed herself between the replicator and Seven, forcing the Borg to look at her. "Very well, if you want to make dinner then that is acceptable." Seven merely said after lifting her eyebrow and then moving away again, but not before giving B'Elanna the opportunity to see the want in those blue eyes.

"You better stop ignoring me, you stupid Borg."

"Why should I? The only thing you seem capable of saying is the same standard limited vocabulary. Listening to you saying the same thing over and over again is truly inefficient."

"You better watch what you're saying." B'Elanna growled, once again stalking after the Borg. "Or else I'm going to rearrange that glacier you call a face."

"Threatening me with your mediocre engineering knowledge is another show of your inadequacy in even basic communication."

At that the Klingon decided on a direct approach. "That was a low blow, you Borg." She gritted through her teeth and lunged herself as the ex-drone who had obviously not expected that maneuver and was tackled to the ground. After a few moments of wrestling, B'Elanna came out on top, straddling the blonde and breathing heavily. "Kahless, Seven, what a woman you are. I think I'll keep ya."

"Kiss me," Seven demanded and B'Elanna immediately obliged. Leaning forward, their lips met with passion and within seconds B'Elanna felt one of Seven's hands on the back of her head, pulling her even more into the kiss. When B'Elanna felt the tongue of her lover demanding entrance she willingly surrendered to that demand and didn't waste a second before she started using her own tongue to make love to Seven's. They parted for a moment to take the necessary air and then Seven willingly surrendered to B'Elanna who then took control of the kiss.

The Klingon moaned into her lover's mouth when she felt Seven's other hand drifting up her leg, conveniently shifting the loose robe up, and then B'Elanna moaned a second time when her lover started kneading her muscled cheeks.

With that, the Klingon decided that it was time to put her own hands to good use and started massaging the Borg's breasts. She laughed softly when even through the fabric of the biosuit she felt Seven's peaks immediately coming to full attention at her touch. She loved how responsive Seven's body was to her touch. "Let's go to bed," The Klingon whispered.

But Seven had other plans and her lover's words were enough to bring her back from her temporary leap of concentration. Without warning, the Borg pushed her lover off her and stood up. "If you think that I will let you have your way with me after the way you just treated me then you are sorely mistaken. Do you really think that I would copulate with somebody who just tackled me to the floor? I think that you should sleep on the couch tonight."

"What? Are you nuts?" B'Elanna asked and once again started following Seven. "You just got me hot beyond belief and you better take care of that."

"Only in your dreams," The blonde said with a sexy smile while she reached the wall behind the couch and she turned around. The place seemed random to the agitated Klingon but Seven had chosen that spot deliberately. With the couch that was standing a little more than a body length away being the closest thing, they would have enough room to play.

"No, no, no. You don't seem to understand, Borg. That is not open for discussion. Tonight you're mine. Even if that means that I have to take what is mine." By now they were standing almost against each other and they could both feel the body heat radiating off the other. B'Elanna could clearly see Seven's erect nipples showing through the fabric of the biosuit. A clear testimony to how aroused the ex-drone truly was.

"You should not claim as your own what you can not handle."

"Oh, I can handle you all right. You're mine and you will do whatever I say."

"If you want something from me, then you better be prepared to take it. For you will not be getting anything at all from me willingly tonight."

With that B'Elanna shoved Seven back and immediately followed, pinning the Borg against the wall. "I'm going to take what is mine now," She growled. Then she ignored the game for a moment and with a voice full of lust asked, "Have you any idea how worked up I am now? I'm only barely able to keep myself under control."

"Who said that you should control yourself?" Seven asked while she struggled a little bit against B'Elanna's hold and then pushed the Klingon away, thereby getting the Klingon back into the game.

With another growl, B'Elanna launched herself at Seven again, body slamming her back into the wall with enough force to knock the air out of the Borg's lungs. But with nowhere near the force to really hurt the ex-drone. "What the fuck gives you the idea that you can defend yourself against me? I'm in charge here."

Once again Seven struggled and pushed the Klingon away, only this time she took a good hold of B'Elanna robe and kept her at a small distance. "Maybe if you started acting as if you were in charge, I could actually believe that." The Borg's voice was more arrogant then B'Elanna could ever remember it being.

"Get your hands off me," B'Elanna growled through closed teeth in a tone that held many unspoken threats.

Seven let go of the robe, but obviously wasn't quick enough because B'Elanna brought up her own hands and pushed Seven's away, slamming them against the wall and holding them there. Using the rest of her body and her body weight, the Klingon once again pushed the blonde into the wall. "You think that's so funny, don't you? Torturing me like that? It is high time that you are put back in your place."

"As if you would have what it takes to put me in my place," Seven came back while struggling against B'Elanna's hold, but making sure not to use enough force to actually break free.

The Klingon growled again, she couldn't help it. Seven knew exactly what to say. Keeping the Borg's hands firmly pressed to the wall, B'Elanna pushed those hands lower until they were behind Seven's back and she could hold both hands in place with just one of her own. Using her now free right hand, she took a firm hold of Seven's hair and brought the blonde's head down. The Klingon claimed the lips of her lover roughly, demanding entrance with her tongue with an authority that Seven couldn't deny even if she had wanted to.

Abruptly the kiss ended and Seven's head was yanked back. "Apparently you don't understand. I own you, you're mine." B'Elanna's fingers traced Seven's lips. "These are mine." The Borg parted her lips slightly in response and suddenly B'Elanna felt one of her fingers captured between neat white teeth. "Do that and I'll make you sorely regret it." The words had been spoken in a soft whisper, but somehow that only gave the Klingon's threat more meaning.

Immediately B'Elanna felt the pressure of the teeth letting go. However Seven then began to use her tongue to make love to the finger inside her mouth. "Oh yeah, that's more like it, baby." The Klingon purred before she reluctantly removed her finger. She needed her hand for something else.

Suddenly Seven felt B'Elanna's hand between her legs, cupping her center through the biosuit and slowly rubbing up and down. The feeling tore a moan from Seven's lips and for a moment all pretenses of resistance fled from the Borg's mind.

"This is mine, all mine," The Klingon once again purred. Then she lifted her hand, putting more pressure on Seven's sensitive flesh, which caused the blonde to move her body up until she was standing on her toes. "Get down here and feel what I do to what's mine." B'Elanna said with a voice full of lust. She pulled Seven back down by the hands that she was still holding behind the Borg's body. She then started to put more pressure on the Borg's oversensitive bundle of nerves and was thrilled by the lustful grunt that Seven produced at that. "Tell me, who owns you?"

"No one."

B'Elanna smiled at the resistance and started to rub her hand a little faster. "My, you're swollen. You really want it," B'Elanna stated, knowing it to be the truth. "Who owns you?" She asked again just before she bit down on the soft skin of Seven's neck. Pinching, but not drawing blood.

"N... Oh, Lanna. You do. You own me. I am all yours. Please Lanna. I need more, I need you," Seven pleaded. She wanted to feel B'Elanna, to feel B'Elanna take her.

"I can smell you, you know. I can smell that delicious wetness between your legs. You know that." The Klingon said while she removed her hand from between Seven's legs and moved it up her body until she reached the blonde's breast and started kneading those hard. "I always can. Sometimes when we are in Engineering, I can smell you. Have you any idea what that does to me? To be standing in Engineering talking to Vorik, and I fucking know that one meter away you're standing, ready to take whatever I can give you." She moved her hand to the neck of the biosuit. "And you know what makes it even worse? That I know you are absolutely naked under this. That I just have to do this..." a ripping sound was heard when B'Elanna tore open one of the seams of the biosuit, knowing that not even she could rip the fabric itself. "... and I can have what is mine." A couple of more tears and what was left of the biosuit was hanging between Seven's feet and her wrist. B'Elanna realized that the sleeves of the biosuit were now trapping Seven's arms behind her. While this was not the intention, it pleased the Klingon nevertheless because that freed up her second hand.

Seven once again started to struggle, this time against her new captivity. While her legs were still pretty free, which would come in very convenient, she hoped, there was no way of really moving her arms unless she used more strength than she wanted. After a moment of struggling, she realized that this confinement excited her tremendously. She was now completely at B'Elanna mercy, B'Elanna truly owned her. She stopped struggling when she saw the Klingon taking a deep breath. Her excitement had not gone unnoticed.

Without a word, B'Elanna dropped to her knees and buried her face in Seven's overheated flesh, feasting on the Borg's excitement. Causing Seven to grunt approvingly. She was way past moaning.

B'Elanna put her tongue to good use, making sure that not a single drop of the aphrodisiac that was Seven's arousal went to waste. Finally she honed in on the source. For the moment the game was forgotten and there was only one purpose in life for the Klingon. Pleasing her lover. Using her hands she angled Seven's lower body a little bit away from the wall to gain better access and then immediately plunged her tongue as far as possible inside of Seven. B'Elanna simply loved the feeling of the Borg's muscles gripping at her tongue.

"Yes!" Seven said loudly when she felt B'Elanna entering her. She then spread her legs even further apart and angled her body a little more to give B'Elanna even better access. Never before had she been so glad for the rough soles on the shoes of her biosuit because their grip on the floor was the only thing keeping her up in this position. "Please, faster."

However, B'Elanna had other plans and moved her mouth to concentrate on the bundle of nerves that was begging for attention. Capturing it between two fingers, she attacked it ruthlessly with her tongue.

"Yes, Lanna." The Borg panted, trying to keep her legs steady. "Please, Lanna, just a little more. I am so close."

"You are?" B'Elanna suddenly asked, breaking all contact and standing up again. "Well, that was actually not what I had in mind for you, I got a little distracted." The Klingon then looked to the ignored nipples of the Borg, which seemed rock hard. A theory that B'Elanna quickly tested by pinching them. "Oh yeah. It seems that I neglected those poor guys, let me rectify that."

"Nooo. Please, Lanna. I am so close, I need release."

"Too bad. Live with it." B'Elanna grabbed a hand full of hair and then claimed the Borg's lips once more. "Taste that? That'll have to be enough for now. Because you can only have release when I'm good and ready to give it to you. Is that clear?"

"Y... Yes," Seven reluctantly agreed while B'Elanna concentrated on those full mounds. Kneading them and always pinching and rolling one bud while biting, sucking and licking the other. But only after a couple of minutes of this Seven pleaded again. "Please, Lanna, now. I can't stand it any longer."

Hearing Seven shorten her words was always a clear indication for B'Elanna and she realized that Seven really meant her words and immediately reacted. She put one of her legs between those of her lover, knowing that this would be more than enough for the highly aroused Borg. "I'm busy right now. If you want to come so desperately, you'll have to work for it."

Seven didn't hesitate and immediately brought her wetness down on B'Elanna thigh. This was the first time they had done this, but they both knew that it wouldn't be the last time. The sensation was overwhelming for both of them. For Seven to feel the muscled smoothness of B'Elanna's silk-like leg against the sensitive flesh of her womanhood, and for B'Elanna to feel the warm wetness of her lover coating her thigh. Both were sensations they wanted to experience more often. After a moment Seven finally started gliding along the surface she knew would bring her release and B'Elanna once again brought her mouth to the candy in front of her.

She simply couldn't get enough of Seven's mounds. The firm, yet incredible soft feel of them in her hands when she was molding them. The hard buds on top of them, standing as proud and erect as could be. B'Elanna felt like a kid in a toy store and couldn't help but bury her face in the valley between two of her favorite toys. She loved Seven's large breasts, lots to play with. And just as if Seven had been made just for B'Elanna, they were exactly the perfect size. She took a moment to taste the sweet skin between the Borg's mounds before concentrating on her nipples again. She took one of those perfect buds in her mouth and the feeling of the hardness of it against her tongue went straight to B'Elanna's center and she could feel herself getting even more lubricated than she already was.

And to top it all off, there was the incredible sweet torture of feeling her lover sliding over her thigh. "Kahless, I don't know what I did to deserve you, baby, but I swear to you that I will fight Kahless himself before ever giving you up."

"Uhg, umm. You won't have to, Lanna. I'm yours forever, forever."

"And I'm yours forever, Annika. You own me."

With that the Klingon decided that it was time to send her lover over. She put her hands on the Borg's hips and started setting the pace. "Come on, baby, I know you're close. Come for me."

Those words had the desired effect and with a last grunt Seven came. But it wasn't enough for B'Elanna. She immediately brought a hand to Seven's center and started rubbing the sensitive bundle of nerves while the Borg was still on the last wave of her organism. B'Elanna had only a sole purpose so within mere moments she sent Seven over a second time. The Klingon didn't mind the shout of 'Laaannaa' right by her ear at all since it had been what she was looking for. And just as always, hearing her lover shout her name had taken B'Elanna over the edge too.

Closing her eyes to concentrate, B'Elanna fought getting too caught up in her own release. Her lover was all that mattered to her at that moment and just as the Klingon loved bringing Seven to her peak, she also loved coaching her down. While she once again started nibbling and teasing those perfect breasts in front of her, she started slowing the pace of her rubbing and steadily helped Seven ride out the waves of pleasure.

Finally the Borg relaxed her muscles and leaned back against the wall while getting her breath under control again. "I love you, Lanna. You are my life, Kyamo."

Continuing to calm her lover down, B'Elanna shifted her attention to placing soft, soothing kisses all over her body. Working her way up to Seven's lips. Finally claiming those in a long passionate kiss. Then she brought her hand up and clean Seven's wetness of one of her fingers before once again sharing a long kiss with her lover. She then offered a second finger to Seven who gladly took the offer. "And I love you, Annika. You are the reason for my existence. You are more important to me than the air that I breathe."

They kept exchanging words of love with kisses until they both had calmed down enough. "I'm, umm, I'm sorry about the suit, baby." B'Elanna finally said while freeing her lover of what was left of the biosuit.

"Do not feel sorry about that, Kyamo. I have the pattern in the replicator for a reason. I... in situations like today, I... I actually enjoy it when you do that." The Borg explained in something that came close to a shy confession.

"Really?" The Klingon asked with a toothy grin. "That is good to know." But then she became serious again. "So, listen, why don't you put something on to keep me from temptation while we work out a compromise that we can offer to the Captain tomorrow."

"That is not necessary. We already reached a compromise," The Borg said while walking to the coffee table in a sensual way that left no doubt that she was trying to work B'Elanna up again.

The Klingon's nostrils flared when Seven came back to her. The Borg was wearing nothing but that sexy smile that was only reserved for B'Elanna. And she was walking deliberately slow to give B'Elanna a good view her extraordinary body, a body just begging to be touched.

But knowing that she also had a duty to the ship, B'Elanna somehow managed to concentrate long enough to read the information on the padd. "You made quite some concessions here, baby."

"As have you, love," The Borg said with that sexy smile. "I think those are acceptable compromises. Do you agree?"

"Yeah, first we enter the suggestions that the Followers gave us for enhancing the warp drive into the computer. And while the computer tests if Voyager can take a consistent cruising speed of warp 9.99997 we go work on your precious sensors."

"Lanna, if we succeed in reaching and sustaining a cruising speed that is almost warp ten then we need to upgrade 'my precious sensors' or else we might already be crushed in a black hole before the sensors can warn us that we are even nearing one."

"I know, Mesh, but still. We also need to adapt the inertial dampeners frequency. We could just as well do that instead of..." B'Elanna's words trailed off when Seven came closer. "...um, great suggestions, I'm all for them." She let the padd slip from her fingers. The compromises she made, they both made, already forgotten before the padd even touched the floor.

"Excellent," Seven said, standing so close to B'Elanna that their chests were touching, the only barrier being B'Elanna's silk robe. "In that case, answer me a question."

"Sure."

"Why is it that almost every time when you first make love to me, you end up keeping some clothes on?"

The Klingon laughed at that. "Maybe I am just to impatient. Come on, Annika. If you are standing before me like you are now. That look in your eyes, that smile on your lips..." B'Elanna took a moment to take a deep breath through her nose. "... your body so ready for me. Taking all of my clothes off simply takes too much time."

"Indeed. Then I believe it is time that we took this garment off."

"Going to bed, are we?" B'Elanna asked, more than ready for some lovemaking with her partner.

"We will go to bed, later. But first..."

Before B'Elanna really knew what was happening, Seven had taken her into her arms and was carrying her to the kitchen area of their quarters.

"... but first, I am going to show you one of the reasons I insisted on a kitchen table in our quarters."

"Did I already tell you how much I love how strong you are?" B'Elanna asked while she felt herself been lowered onto the table. "That is such a turn on for me."

"All my strength is at your disposal, Lanna. To give you pleasure, and to protect you. You are my life. You are the reason for my strength. The Borg may have altered my body. But I would die without your love."

"You never have to worry about that, baby. I'm yours for eternity."

"Thank you," The Borg said quietly before showing that sexy smile again. "Now, before I give you your massage and you can feel even more, I need a little snack to ensure my energy level..."

B'Elanna heard Seven pulling a chair closer and sitting down. Indicating that she was planning on spending some time on what ever came next. She started to grin, wondering and hoping. And with the next words she heard her grin only got wider.

"... so spread them, Lanna, I want my snack."

And with a delighted laughter, the Klingon obliged.




Continued...

H.W. Scrolls
Index Page