A Mile
By Elizabeth Carter
Part Ten
"Janeway to Torres." Beeped the Klingon's combadge.
"Torres here Captain." B'Elanna hit the badge. Her beautiful dark brown eyes never wavering from her BangwI.
"B'Elanna I need you to go on the away team to the Wysanti vessel. There is an EM polarization that is interfering with beaming out the survivors. I need you to stabilize the ship long enough to scan for the survivors and beam them out."
"Understood."
"B'Elanna there is something I need to see you about, report to my ready room."
The Klingon frown but nodded. "On my way. Torres out."
Moments latter B'Elanna Torres was standing before the Captain. The look in the ever-expressive grey-blue orbs revealed a hidden truth B'Elanna wasn't so sure she wanted to know. "Captain?"
"Lanna . . ." the nickname secretly informed the young Chief that this was on a personal level. "We scanned the Wysanti vessel there were three Borg signatures."
B'Elanna dropped her mouth. Seven had cried out something about the Borg. B'Elanna assumed that perhaps Seven had detected distant Borg with her proximity admitter, or was lapsing into regression. She never thought about the children. In fact she had been so concerned about her Benel . . . yes she had started to think of Annika as her wife. . . for B'Elanna there could be no other.
"B'Elanna I have a gut reaction to this. The EM signatures were mixed with Wysanti and Norkadian. "
B'Elanna winced not wanting to hear what was coming. She felt sick inside. "They're dead?"
"It's very likely. B'Elanna right now you are the closest to Seven."
B'Elanna shuddered and looked away.
The only other time Kathryn had seen such a reaction was during B'Elanna's insistence of her near death experience and the Barge of the dead. "Lanna?"
Steadying her breath, the young Klingon retold everything that had happened in Hydroponics as well as Sickbay. Everything that Seven said about the Silence, about severance the pain she had endured.
Janeway for a moment her face flashed deep abiding concern for the woman she loved, a woman she knew she had lost to B'Elanna. Yet she could easily concede to the fiery Klingon knowing Seven would be loved and more importantly protected. It was this protection that caused her to act now.
"I told the away mission that should they find the children have been killed that Seven is not to be notified. Not until she's ready. When she is, we'll tell her together."
B'Elanna nearly nodded. "I hope we don't have to do that captain. The strain on her heart would be too much. She's at a very fragile state right now, I don't want to lose her."
"You won't B'Elanna, if I can promise anything . . .I promise that. Now report to the shuttle bay, and I pray you bring those kids back alive."
B'Elanna weakly nodded as she left the Captain's Ready Room. 'Sweet Kah'less. . . this will kill her.' B'Elanna swallowed the rise of her heart in her throat and moved on. She would see her beloved before reporting to the shuttle bay with the rest of the team. At the very least she could try to soothe Seven's fears.
"I have heard the Captain's call to have you report to the away mission. I will accompany you." Seven said calmly as she watched her lover enter the circumference of the medical bay.
"No!" B'Elanna roared. "No fucking way! Nadda, not going to happen. So get that through that thick blonde skull of yours."
"I am needed." Seven retorted. "I will not stand by while they need me. They called, I must answer."
"And what? Fall on your angel-face because you're too damn weak to stand? And if the Borglings see their hero fall what the hell do you think that will do to them?"
"B'Elanna . . ." Seven stood up from the bio bed. "I am functioning within acceptable parameters."
"Look the Captain wants me to go because there are some Engineering problems I need to fix so we can beam more than one of the survivors out at a time. Right now that is all we can do, one at a time, not exactly efficient. There are some environmental problems as well as structural integrity issues. I will find the kids and bring them back to you. I need to concentrate on my work, if you're there I'd be worried about you."
"I am Borg, I will adapt." Seven said stubbornly.
"No you are only half Borg. I don't care if you had your old armor on you're not going in there." B'Elanna crossed her arms in front of her chest growling under her breath.
At the mention of her old Borg armor, Seven started to formulate a plan.
"You can not stop me." Seven spat determinedly.
"Oh?" B'Elanna stepped up facing the woman that irritated her beyond belief. "Really? Then with all her Klingon strength she pushed Seven back down onto the biobed. "Tell me Blondie, if you're so strong why the hell can I push you like that!"
"Irrelevant." Seven said.
"Hirogen are as strong as Klingons. I am only half Klingon you dumb Blonde and I pushed you around. What do you think they will do?"
B'Elanna sighed. Frustration and age old anger pulsated within her. Then she smiled. The anger and frustration were old and obviously Seven had 'adapted' to the weaponry. Time to bring out the big guns.
"BangwI do you trust me?"
Seven settled her nerves and with a heavy sigh she said. "Always."
"Then you're going to have to trust me to bring back the Borglings to you okay. Please Seven comply with me, don't argue with me about this. I love you and because I do I have to insist you stay here for now."
Seven thought for a moment. Then drew her love in her arms. "I will comply. I will stay here for 'now'."
B'Elanna kissed her beloved. "Thank you Annika."
When Seven made up her mind it was almost impossible to alter it. Seven of Nine had a reputation of becoming difficult and stubborn, willful even. She could be inventive and resourceful. Besides she reasoned she had clearly followed B'Elanna request as the Klingon never defined what 'for now' meant. She had stayed until she knew the away team was heading out. Seven justified that she fulfilled the 'for now' guidelines and so she was free to leave.
Keeping her blue eyes steady upon the physician, Seven rolled off the bed and moved soundless to the bulkhead behind the bed. Her long fingered Borg enhanced hand snaked up to the panel and removed it. The EPS conduits would lead directly into the Holoemitters. Clamping her meshed hand into a fist she flexed causing the tubules to snake out and link directly in to the circuitry.
She glanced over her shoulder and watched as a Holo-Seven shimmered into existence. She tiptoed back to the biobed and looked at her double with a raised ocular implant. She had devised the holo-image of herself in order to escape sickbay if she ever felt the need to do so. The idea came to her soon after the incident with her cortical node failure. It was actually B'Elanna who inspired her to create the image of herself to escape the Doctor though the Engineer had never known it."
"Efficient." Seven approved of the holo-body on the bed.
"Indeed," The holo-Seven said. "You will have two point three hours before The Doctor and therefore the Captain are aware I am not the real Seven of Nine."
"More than enough time for me to accomplish what I need to do."
"The parameters of my distraction protocols are distinctive." The photonic double said. "I will comply. I would surmise the appropriate term for your mission would now be Qapla."
"Qapla." The true Seven of Nine tilted her head ever so slightly, wishing her double success as well. She then took off her combadge and placed it upon her Photonic-double. Insuring that she would have the true distraction she needed.
"Computer site to site transport to Cargo Bay Two."
She had gone just in time as the Doctor looked through the glass partition of his office to see his patient still sleeping soundly on the bio-bed. The Photonic physician hummed softly to himself going over the files for the Wysanti physiology. He was preparing to go on the away mission, as his medical skills would no doubt be needed.
Within moments Samantha Wildman walked into Sickbay. Tom Pairs had been the primary medic in training but Captain Janeway had learned that relying on one medic was more than foolish. And so she had asked for volunteers. Samantha Wildman and been one of the first to step forward.
It would be she who would take the Doctor's place in monitoring Seven as the tall Nordic blonde began her struggle back to health. The Ensign had no idea that the Seven she was watching over was a photonic patient. Perhaps it would be longer before the imposter was realized for what it was.
Before Seven initiated her plan to join the away team she had to make a few adjustments. She wasn't going to go into a Hirogen hunting ground without the proper precautions taken.
"Oh my God," Security 2IC Amanda Rothery breathed in a stunned whisper as she was hurled against a bulkhead as the Wysanti ship lurched, as her eardrums resonated painfully as the sound of a massive explosion echoed throughout. It was a sound of an internal blast, the shock waves pulling stabilizers off operation mode. The room's axis swung ninety degrees; the port bulkhead became the floor.
The away team was caught in an insane tumble of arms, legs, and furnishings---all outlined against the pulsing amber light of alert. The momentum dashed the crew against the bulkhead forcing the air out more than one pair of lungs. For an instant, no more, the ship hovered on its side, then righted itself with a cold metal groan. The away team was flung back against the metal floor and the softer, more forgiving surface of other crewmembers.
The Wysanti ship wouldn't be stable for long. Already the environmental controls were down seventy-five percent. It had been the best B'Elanna could do in the short amount of time she had to correct the problem with auxiliary power. The turbolifts were useless and clearing all the debris away would take too long to locate all the survivors in time.
Tuvok, Rothery, The Doctor and Chakotay, and of course the Chief of Engineering inched their way to the bridge, their wrist torches glaring garishly against the skeletal remains of the distraught vessel. They worked their way up the cluttered stairways, and with strength they did not know they had Chakotay and Tuvok pushed against the unyielding hatch. They recruited Rothery and B'Elanna, and with their combined strength exerted against the resisting hatch, they managed to open it slowly. B'Elanna being the smallest of the five and the Doctor being the most versatile slipped through the crack to attempt to force the door open to accommodate the others.
The five raised themselves onto the demolished bridge. The doors stood open; inside was a scene of unbearable carnage of mangled bodies and blood. Bodies, pieces of bodies, arms and legs, panels, chairs bulkheads were strewn crazily across the floor, all of it splattered with blood.
"Kah'less!" B'Elanna whispered as she looked around. She observed that the blast had occurred in the center of the bridge. It was a vision of hell; the pattern of destruction radiated from the center of the blast to the outer walls. The inner sheathing of the hull was destroyed by the violence of the blast, and Torres soon detected a weak spot in the outer hull.
"Better get the survivors out of here quickly Chakotay," She suggested. "That outer sheathing will go any minute." She checked the Wysanti crewman nearest her dead. Scrambling over the wreckage, she looked for the other survivors.
"Right. Rothery take point. Keep your eyes open." The Commander ordered not wanting to get caught unawares with a ship he was positive wasn't vacant of the Hirogen hunting parties
"Aye sir." The young security office nodded and went back out into the corridor. She saw a body of a Wysanti security officer with his chest crisscrossed with phaser wounds, the walls and ceiling spattered with his blood. She didn't allow herself to react, to slow her pace. She stumbled over the bodies of those she might have considered colleges at one time.
Tuvok found a male who had to have been the captain; his tunic was covered with blood and was torn as the body within it. The entire area was spattered with blood, strewn with twisted metal. The body of the young navigation cadet was hidden under debris mangled almost beyond recognition. B'Elanna caught the look of the Vulcan's unsettled expression.
She wandered over to him and found the cadet was none other then the boy Rebi. "Oh God." B'Elanna let out a gasp. With almost reverence she kneeled beside the dead body touching the dark matted hair of the child. "He was only a baby."
Spatters of black-red led B'Elanna to the prone figure of Azan, laying face down near the smoking, blackened science console. A jagged piece of metal was protruding from his little back. In all her years of training, and control of her experiences in the Maquis, had not prepared B'Elanna for this scene of mayhem. Unshed tears stung her eyes as she worked along the others of the away-team, moving amongst the dead of the completely demolished bridge.
"Concentrate on the living!" Chakotay shouted, watching the bulge in the outer hull enlarge.
Seven of Nine fizzled into existence in the corridor below the bridge dressed in an amalgamated Borg-Klingon armor. She quickly evaluated the extent and nature of the injuries as she passed the bodies littering the corridor with cold candor. So far she had not found her quarry. She found herself filled with dread, worry and unforeseeable hope that her young former charges were a live and well. She hoped futilely that the children had somehow had been spared the destruction the young Hirogen hunters had caused.
The lights were fading still further. Seven ignored the distraction around her whether out of Borg-Myopic routine or her concern to find the possibility of the children she did not know. It was irrelevant. She was listening with all of her senses, listening to the ship, to the booming vibrations and the creaks and groans coming from the vessel's fabric. She was listing as the ship was dying. She found herself praying her children weren't dying with it. But she could not hear them.
She moved with determined grace in the debris filled corridors. All round her floors, walls even the ceiling were stained in red-violet blood. She drew in a breath; Seven turned her head sharply to study the corpses, seeing more severed limbs and pools of blood. She stopped when she saw three young Hirogen hunters. "I am Seven of Nine---USS Voyager NCC-74656. You hunted down innocent children, silencing them. Your distinctiveness will cease to function. Resistance is futile." The black armored warrior with a golden mane moved forward with deadly purpose.
Rothery having been ordered to take point by the first officer heard the sounds of combat down the corridor. She hit her combadge. "Rothery to Chakotay. They are sounds of battle here sir. The Hirogen may still be aboard."
"Acknowledge. Go with caution Rothery, tell me what you find. If it's the Hirogen take them down with stun, I want to avoid any more deaths." His voice sounded grim and thick with sorrow.
The blonde security officer moved with determined care, knowing the Hirogen to be deadly and ruthless. But she could be just as deadly. She and the Hirogen shared a commonalty; since their youth they were both trained to hunt, to kill, and to survive. Swallowing down her unrest the officer followed her commander's orders. Chuckling to herself she muttered as she pulled her sidearm to the ready. 'They don't call us Red-Shirts for nothing, even if we do wear gold.'
Seven held her quarry tightly, her enhanced Borg hand moved with quicksilver speed plunging through the armor of the Hirogen, through the heavy breast bone and into the massive heart. "You are meat to be wasted hunter. I would not even feed your heart to my pet targ." With that she ripped out the heart.
An agonized scream. A body sailed through the opening of the corridor, followed by a trail of slick blood, violet turned brown in the pulsing amber light. A discarded heart followed after, spewing a bloody trial that pooled on the floor.
The lighting flicked. And Amanda could hear the muffled screams of slaughter ahead of her. Pools of violet blood slicked the floor making her boots sticky as she moved towards the sounds. When she rounded the corner what she saw stopped her.
Seven of Nine was garbed in a shining black protective covering that looked like a nightmare marriage of Borg and Klingon armor. She held aloft the dangling form of a brown-scaled young Hirogen warrior. With swiftness that came from her assimilation days, Seven snapped the neck of her pray. The body dropped lifelessly to the floor. "Your resistance was futile."
"Ah Seven " Rothery hesitated with her phaser not knowing if she should holster it or keep it trained on the senior officer. She compromised and lowered her arm to her side.
When the younger blonde whipped around her eyes frozen blue glared at Rothery.
"They silenced them." She said slowly recognize the new comer was not a threat.
"Silenced who?" Security training told the other blonde to keep Seven talking until she could properly assess the situation
"The children. The Hirogen silenced them." The voice was more than Monotone it was the voice of Death, the voice of a Borg drone.
"Seven . . . I need you to come with me now." Amanda kept her eyes peeled for more of the Hunters as well as keeping an eye on her distressed crewmember. "Lieutenant Torres is on the bridge of this ship. Why don't you rejoin us?" Rothery deliberately kept her voice calm, soothing hoping to talk Seven down.
The coldness in Seven caused the young security office to become extremely uneasy. The last time she saw such a look from this tall blonde was when Seven was first severed from the Collective and she was guarding her in the Brig. Despite her fear that Seven would regress, as many victims of extreme violence tended to do Rothery played the only card she knew would reach Seven.
"We can rejoin the away team. B'Elanna will want to see you. She'll be worried."
"B'Elanna . . ." Seven shook her head as if waking from a nightmare.
"Yeah, she's on the bridge. I'll take you back to her."
Seven titled her head. "Proceed."
Rothery let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding. In her relief she hit her combadge. "Rothery to Chakotay. Commander the sounds of distress . . . it was Seven of Nine . . .apparently she came to assist." Amanda deliberately kept her findings silent. As far as she was concerned Seven was protecting herself.
"Seven!" B'Elanna interrupted before the tall Native American would utter a syllable.
"I am here, B'Elanna. I am functioning within acceptable parameters," the Nordic beauty added knowing her lover would be worried for her welfare.
When they arrived B'Elanna and the other members who stumbled out of the destroyed bridge were taken aback by the sight of Seven in the bastardization of Klingon-Borg deuterium and leather armor.
Seven in all respects looked like a goddess birthed from the fires of Stov-o-Kor. No one could say that fear did not rise in their hearts at the site of her. They were astonished, or amazed. Seven was the perfect embodiment of a warrior. Even her golden locks were pulled back in a traditional ponytail She was the image of pure raw power. So stunned at the vision of her presence that none dare move, none dare breathe.
B'Elanna merely stared. Her mouth fell open and she felted an ancient song rise in her blood. 'She's beautiful!' She whispered to only herself, allowing a micron of awe to take her attention from the horror around them. "Annika? What are you doing here? You're supposed to be in Sick Bay." There was a note of heated irritation that her lover was irresponsible enough to leave Voyager when not less then two hours ago she could not even stand without aid.
"B'Elanna . . ." The tall blonde moved for the Bridge
"BangwI . . . no don't go in there. There isn't anything for you to see." B'Elanna stood before the woman she loved trying to hold her back.
"Bella I must." The blonde's voice quivered as she spoke. "They called out to me. I must go. They were in pain they called to me. They need me."
B'Elanna shook her head violently. "No! Annika no. You don't want to see them like that. Please Annika I am begging you don't go in there." She grabbled the leather-clad arm.
"I can feel the call. I cannot ignore it. The pull is too strong." Seven stumbled her voice catching in her throat. "B'Elanna I can not resist the call. I will not resist." The blonde pushed past her lover and into the disabled bridge.
B'Elanna grabbed for her arm again to pull her back but Seven was quicker. Despite her weakness, the ex-Borg managed to move with celerity that belied her condition. B'Elanna was quick on her heals, Chakotay behind her.
When Seven saw the children her breath came in raging grasps. She fell down beside Azan the metal shard was still in the boy's back. It took all of her Borg enhanced strength to remove the invading shrapnel, which, slurp of blood and a final grunt of effort the shard came out with a sickening grating of bone against metal. The scent of blood assaulted everyone.
Seven took hold of the boy cradling his prone form tightly to her chest, she rocking him back and forth. She moved slightly so she could touch Rebi as well.
"Annika " B'Elanna kneeled beside her beloved. "Annika listen to me we have to get out of here. It's too late for them. They are gone."
"No."
"Annika it's not safe here "
"I can bring them back. The nanoprobes . . . we brought Neelix back we can bring them back"
"Annika please they're gone. The boys are dead. Its too late."
"No Neelix was brought back . . . Doctor Comply! Bring them back. Heal them."
The photonic physician held an agonized look upon his kind face. "Seven I can't. It's too late. We can't bring them back."
"You claim to be a doctor. Heal them. You will comply!" Seven snarled.
The doctor looked to the chief then back to Seven. He couldn't do anything for the twin boys. There was simply too much damage. Not even Borg ingenuity could resurrect the lost children. B'Elanna hoped beyond hope the Doctor could save them bring them back as they did the cheerful Talaxian. But she saw him shake his holographic head and knew it was futile to even try.
"Annika " the young Klingon reached up and touched her love. "Annika, Sweetie listen to me. We can transport the bodies back to Voyager. We'll give them a proper burial I promise. I swear on my House, on everything that I am I'll take care of everything."
"Their blood is on my hands." Seven said gravely.
"No! Kah'less no! Annika you didn't do this. You had nothing to do with those bastards that did this. The Hirogen "
"I won't be able to get it off. All the blood. It covers everything Bella." Seven looked up and showed her human and meshed Borg hands palms up both covered in thick dark blood. "Do you see? Their blood it covers me. So much blood."
B'Elanna's heart lurched. "Annika . . . come away with me. Please Annika come with me right now."
When she reached to take the dead child from Seven's arms, the ex-Borg growled. "No!" Seven cradled the body closer to her own. "We must save them. Blood. So much blood. I cannot get it off." She rubbed her hands, desperately trying to rid herself of the blood.
B'Elanna winced. "Please Annika come with me right now! I am begging you Annika it is too dangerous to stay here. The ship isn't stable; the environmental controls won't last long, the containment field I erected is down thirty-four prescient. Annika . . . BangwI, if we stay here we die. Annika to day is not a good day to die!"
For moment B'Elanna felt as if she had Seven's attention, but then the ex-Borg turned her head sharply to her left. " I sense her."
"Her? Her who?" Chakotay said quickly scanning the wreckage with his wrist torch.
Gingerly as if the tiny corpse was made out of spun glass Seven set the body of Azan next to his nearly decapitated brother Rebi. The tall ex-Borg then moved to a blackened wreckage of shredded bulkheads. "She's here." Seven said as she tore into the plating. "She's here! She's here."
B'Elanna closed her eyes swallowing back the pain in her chest. Her lover had lost all her senses just as B'Elanna knew she would when Seven insisted coming onto the bridge. But to see the mangled corpses of your children, what parent could withstand such carnage and not for a moment lose their connection to reality?
"Oh BangwI . . . I am so sorry.. believe me when I tell you if I could take their place I would. I am so sorry . . .I am so sorry. . ." The proud warrior could only watch as the woman she loved beat and tore into the bulkhead with utter despair and desperation. Mindless of the damage Seven was inflicting upon her hands, mindless that her body was screaming at her to stop, that she was weakening at each passing second, she pursued her hunt, mindless beyond everything but her task, myopic and desperate, Seven tore into the wall.
B'Elanna checked her phaser dreading the fact she may have to stun her lover into unconsciousness to stop her in order to get her to safety. "I am sorry Annika I have to do this, but you left me with no choice." B'Elanna raised the phaser. One shot. One stun. Seven would be safe. "Know I do this because I love you." B'Elanna knew her aim would be true. Her finger was a hair's breath from firing.
Then Seven stopped suddenly.
B'Elanna lowered her phaser, realizing why her traumatized beloved had stilled her actions.
Mizoti lay unconscious; Seven could see she had been slammed into the Opps panel, which was now a splattering, flaming mass of twisted wires. The injuries of the wee one were extensive, the blood loss critical, but there was breath left in the child.
"She's alive!" Seven turned to her lover. Her human eyes puffy and read from tears. "She's alive."
B'Elanna rushed to her side, ready to give her lover any help she could. Praying that the child was alive for Mizoti and for Seven herself.
The ship lurched once more sending those on their feet grasping for any handhold to keep their precarious balance.
"We must evacuate." Tuvok snapped, his dark eyes falling on the bulkhead near Seven and the unconscious body of Mizoti.
Seven gathered the girl into her arms then she and B'Elanna sprang for the hatch, reaching it just as it started to close. The rush of displaces air and the shattering of over-stressed metal combined into an awesome roar as the entire dome of the bridge broke off with a sudden tearing wrench, sending the ship into another series of dips and spins.
Unfamiliar with the construction of Wysanti ships, B'Elanna was still a very brilliant engineer and quickly assessed the damage to the ship. The strain suffered when the bridge sheared off was too much for the craft, and she knew the entire primary hull would have to be jettisoned or the resulting stress would rip the ship aboard. That was of course if they wanted to save the ship, right now the only concern was to get back to Voyager.
The Delta Flyer, knifed through starry blackness away from the tubular shaped Hirogen cruiser. Armaments bristled from every port and bay seemingly training every weapon up the sleek lines of the modified areowing shuttle.
Rothery's hands moved swiftly over the controls as they steered closer to the Federation ship like a gnat circling a great beast. There was an excited and yet controlled energy to her movements that was unmistakable. She fully expected the Hirogen vessel to open fire. The Hunters would not like their prey escaping; moreover they were loathed to be humiliated.
Almost as if reading her thoughts the Hirogen vessel opened its aft bay doors expelling three small one-warrior fighters. Her enthusiasm overrode her good since, and she whipped the Flyer toward the center of the three ships. All of her flying instincts kicked in. She was back in the Wastelands of New Hope, a part of her shi, locked in on the intoxicating challenge of winning.
All that mattered now was to get her 'cargo' back to Voyager without killing them in the process. Rothery seized controls of the twin joysticks cursing under breath at the inefficiency of them, and flipped the power feed, and jammed the thruster bar to the left. To her surprise and everlasting gratitude, the Delta Flyer banked sharply in response and they shot past the triple fighters and rose into the Ion trail of Voyager.
An enemy fighter drifted into her sights, it was B'Elanna that barked the order not Chakotay. "I've got this petaQ" Her slender dark hand trailed over the phasers and stuck the Hirogen vessel with Borg-enhanced phasers.
At the same time the Klingon released the phaser banks, Rothery yanked hard on the steering, shooting past the lumbering Hirogen Mother ship and her 'cub' fighters in a series of evasive actions. The enemy ship was behind them again and closing. Amanda banked the flyer hard to starboard and brought it back toward the swarming fighters. Phaser blasts ripped past the Flyer, barely missing.
B'Elanna's control over the weaponry was perfection. She was a warrior avenging her mate and her family. It was proving to be a very bad day to be a Hirogen. The enemy vessels had no time to respond to the maneuver and exploded into red starbursts of sparks and debris.
It was then that Voyager swooped in like an avenging angel. Her own phasers opened up and struck the three Hirogen fighters simultaneously in precision Tuvok admired. Rothery banked hard once more bringing the Flyer in a synchronized position to enter the aft shuttle bay.
Aboard Voyager, Janeway snapped her head for a moment away from the firefight long enough to bark an order to Harry Kim. "Get a lock on Seven and the children and beam them directly to sickbay."
"Yes Ma'am." The young Asian said quickly. His face fell into a frown as he realized that Seven's signature was already in sickbay. But they had discovered the ruse Seven had replaced herself with a hologram in a most clever maneuver to escape Voyager. He quickly scanned the Delta Flyer for all Borg signatures, locked onto them and commanded the Energizer to activate.
Aboard the Flyer all words were drowned out by the growing hum of the transporter effect.
"Not without me!" B'Elanna snarled and sprinted with speed she didn't know she had and jumped for her beloved and Mizoti. She almost laughed when she felt the familiar dizziness that accompanied dematerialization. The scene faded as the crew of the Delta flyer could only stare.
Janeway, the doctor and Samantha Wildman appeared appalled at the vision of Seven of Nine coated in blood holding a dying child.
"Help her!" Seven commanded in no uncertain terms. She pushed past the stunned captain, nearly knocking her down to the floor in the process as she deposited her child onto the biobed.
The doctor who had been transported back into his domain a moment later was staring for only a micro of a moment but it was too long for Seven. Her blue eyes became deadly cold and frozen. "You wouldn't save my sons you will save her!"
The Doctor went to work right away. B'Elanna touched her lover on the arm and moved to the doctor's side before snapping her own orders. "Wildman get Icheb up here. We need him."
"Right right away."
Janeway was shocked, stunned, furious and frightened. She took Seven's armored clad arm and started to ask the younger woman questions, but Seven ripped her arm out of the Captains grasp. "I don't have time for you." She said firmly and moved to her daughter's side.
It took all of The Doctor's professional detachment to suppress his despair when he fully examined his patient. There were just so many organs one could transplant, just so much one could patch and mend in a body. Mizoti's wounds pressed that limit. In fact it had been the Borg reinforced skeleton and the nanoprobes that had even kept the girl alive this long. She needed massive amounts of blood. The hard-pressed photonic physician had exhausted the supplies he had on board when the children were still residing on the ship. The only thing he had left was Seven's nanoprobes, which she could ill afford to donate. Icheb himself was the one who could donate without risk to himself or Seven. However his offer to donate all he could to both is mother and baby sister had to be declined for the Borg-killing virus he was engineered with. And so in order for Mizoti to heal it was on Seven to make it happen.
The doctor worked on relentlessly, hour after hour, backed up by B'Elanna, losing all track of time as they worked to save the life of Mizoti. The sophisticated medical technology of the day had made such extensive time in surgery unusual, but The Doctor, Icheb and B'Elanna continued diligently, repairing the body of the girl that was Seven of Nines' daughter in every respect but DNA. Only when they had done as much as they believed they could, and B'Elanna's endurance would no longer sustain her, did the team conclude the operation.
B'Elanna retreated to the biobed next to the girl where Seven of Nine had been sedated into forced regeneration. The battle with the young hunters, not to mention the despair of finding her sons dead had taxed even the limitless reserves of tall blonde who was still weak from her own injuries that were still healing.
The Doctor had discretely moved into his office allowing B'Elanna a moment to herself. Only then did she quietly weep-for her lover, for the lost innocent boys, for Mizoti, for her lack of skill in her weariness, and with despair greater than any she had ever felt. The hours she had spent with The Doctor and Icheb rebuilding the child, the strain she had put on herself, the acceptance of her limitations as an Engineer, the as-yet-unknown prognosis-all-built up to this release of emotion and tension.
From nowhere a Black and emerald sphere merged with subspace.
Aboard the crippled Hirogen vessel the young would-be captain Torg stared in abject horror as his viewscreen filled with the Borg mense. His beady black eyes dilated in his terror.
"Sir the shields are destroyed, we have no warp engines .and. . ."
"Nevermind you simpering larva!" The boy turned to his helmsman. Swallowing the bile caught in his thick throat the young male turned back to the Borg Sphere. There would be no hiding from the Borg hunters. "Emergency power to thrusters." His terrified voice cracked.
"Yes sir." The young helmsman squeaked.
The lights on the bridge further dimmed as the thrusters drained the small ship's power, but the tumbling slowed and ceased. The ship stabilized.
"Lateral thrust!" Torg barked.
The helmsman obeyed, bringing the ship around in a futile attempt to flee. "Stand by weapons."
"Hirogen vessel." The sultry voice of the Queen herself was heard on every comm. channel aboard the limping ship.
"We . . . did as you asked!" Torg stammered. "We hunted the Wysanti ship and took them down as trophies."
"You killed all of them?" The Queen hissed.
"No. . . we were stopped. Voyager came just as you said it would, they attacked us. My hunters who were left aboard the ship said they had the tall one the golden haired female in their sites. . ."
"Seven of Nine." The name was uttered like a lover's caress.
"Yes! She came as you said she would. We tried to hunt her. She would have made a fine trophy. . . but she must have taken the hunters. They haven't reported in. . ."
"Foolish child. You are no match for her. I created her. She is my perfection. She will always be mine." There was pride in the disembodied voice. The Queen sent shivers down Torg's back as she spoke with a voice filled with smoky undertones; a purr of a forest cat. He and the other youth aboard the vessel were utterly terrified by this female who was like no Hirogen woman. She controlled countless billions of hunters with only her thoughts. She was power.
"It took a great deal of effort to ensure the variables of this equation fell in line. I am not pleased with the outcome of this encounter." The voice was pure darkness.
"You said if we hunted this Wysanti . . . ship with the child drones you would let us go. The Voyager has the useless female child . . .the one you call Seven must have taken her."
There was silence.
"Sir . . .they are powering up weapons."
"You promised! You said we could go free!" Wailed Torg at the viewscreen. "We did as you asked! We did as you asked. We attacked them and killed the identical ones . . .just as you asked! You said we only had to hunt them and we would be free!" Torg whimpered, the frightened child within him betrayed his false bravado. "We had a deal!"
"I am altering our bargain." The Queen said blandly.
It was said around the Great Fires of the Gatherings when you bargained with the Huntress of Shadow; you bargained only death, for she always stole the soul of the Hunters who came before her. No Hunter ever won a trophy worthy of the price of the soul. And yet her bargains were always tempting and Hunters always fell before her as pray. Torg fell before the temptations of the Huntress of Shadow and he had won only his doom.
"We are the Borg . . . "
"NO! This is not happening! This is not happening! No you said . . .."
"Your organic and technological distinctiveness will be added to our own . . ."
"NO you promised. You promised!!" Torg screamed.
"You will be assimilated. Resistance is futile!!"
"NO!"
"Doctor how are our patients?" an extremely concerned Kathryn Janeway said as she entered sickbay.
The doctor moved round the biobed he was standing by as he had been monitoring Mizoti. His face grave and unmasked. "Seven will heal but her endorphin levels were of the charts. She should not have engaged in such stressful actives. She was duly warned. I told her. . ."
The Captain held her hand up, her patience with the doctor was almost taxed. "Doctor what about Mizoti?"
"I gave her a sedative and an analgesic. Her test results are all over the place. Liver function, kidney function, endorphins, electrolytes, levels indicated muscle deterioration. She suffered respiratory distress. Frankly it was only because I my superior medical skills she survived this long."
Janeway settled her breath with a single heavy sigh. "Will she live?"
When the doctor didn't answer right away the diminutive captain snapped her head around to him. "Doctor!"
"I don't know Captain. Her condition is very critical."
Kathryn rubbed the bridge of her nose, taking in another heavy sigh. "Keep me appraised of her situation, doctor."
The Captain steadied herself as she prepared for the answer to the questions he didn't want to ask. "Doctor the boys Azan and Rebi . . .there was no possibility in saving them?"
"Normally when a Borg drone is deactivated, even severely damaged as Mizoti they can be restored in approximately seventy-two hours after death…or rather deactivation. Azan . . .the shrapnel of the bulkhead severed his spinal column, he was dead almost instantly. And Rebi was decapitated; there was only a bit of flesh that connected his head to his body. I am sorry Captain." The doctor looked grim.
"The nanoprobes did bring Neelix back to life. You can at least try to save Azan."
"Not this time Captain, I am sorry. Sometimes they die. And no genius physicians can bring them back."
Janeway merely nodded her auburn head. And looked back to the two slumbering females. She couldn't help but wonder if she hadn't sent out the subspace transmissions, if she hadn't asked, no ordered, the reluctant Seven to search for Wysanti life signs that the boys and Mizoti would still be aboard Voyager. Aboard Voyager, yes, they were underfoot with Seven of Nine, but they would be very much a live. And Seven. . .she had come to love the children to the point where long hidden maternal instincts kicked in and took over. Seven had made a beautiful mother. You could see it in her eyes when she looked at the children how deeply her love for them went.
Then Janeway in her self-righteousness had contacted the twins homeworld and gave a direct order to the broken hearted Seven to give up custody not only of the twins but of Mizoti as well.
'God if I would have left well enough alone they would never have been placed in such danger. They would have been alive . . .they would have been were they truly belonged. They belonged to Seven. I made her their custodian and then I snatched them away the first chance I got, thinking she hadn't invested so much of her heart into them. Thinking they were better off with people who could love them. Real parents. I never even considered that Seven would be capable of being a parent. Come on Katie who the hell are you trying to fool? Every fucking time I think I am doing the right thing it bites me in the ass. This time it didn't get us lost. It cost the live of children. And it cost Seven. . . so much. My sweet Seven of Nine. . I am so so sorry.'
The Doctor watched for a moment then departed, knowing his Captain well. She had always favored Seven whether out of guilt because she severed Seven from the only life she knew and felt responsible or because the responsibility and care developed into something more encompassing, the physician was hard pressed to say. More than once the photonic being wondered just how far Kathryn Janeway would go, what she wouldn't do for Seven of Nine.
Janeway moved to the bed Seven was resting upon. Her steel-blue eyes betrayed her heart that she so carefully tried to hide. But this enigmatic artic beauty had captured it. A delicate defined hand moved in a whispered movement as she traced a line across the soft brow of the younger woman. "I am sorry you have to go through this loss Seven. I know what it means to lose someone you love. My father . . . I lost him." Janeway closed her eyes. "He was such a pivotal person in my life. My hero, I always looked up to him, idolized him. And I lost the man I once loved. Justin…was killed senselessly just like your boys. I know this pain. It feels like it's going to eat you alive and sometimes you wish it would. It will consume you. Crush you. Seven let it. Let it crush you, it makes it worse if you fight it, if you don't grieve. Losing someone close to you, losing someone you love is one of the worst experiences humanity will ever give you.
"To quote Naomi Wildman 'it sucks.' But you have people who love you. Some more than you will ever know." Janeway leaned over the bed and placed a ghost kiss upon the full lips of the young woman. "Some more than they should."
"Bella." Seven uttered so softly Janeway had to strain to hear.
Janeway felt her heart slam against her chest with the utterance of B'Elanna's pet name upon Seven's breath. "You will never say my name like that. Not now . . .not when you have her. I am glad you found your happiness … Annika. You have no idea how hard it is to let go of love." Janeway steeled herself pulling on the ever-present Captain's mask. A mask she hid behind for several years now. 'I do love you Seven. No. I am in love with you . . .but you're B'Elanna's now and she will love you like you deserve to be loved. My first lady must and always will be Voyager.'
From the entrance of Sickbay, B'Elanna Torres leaned against the doorframe her arms folded across her chest. She watched the iron-maiden become incredibly soft as she spoke to Seven unaware that she was being watched. When the Captain stole a kiss from her BangwI's lips the Klingon in B'Elanna roared a challenge.
But the young engineer watched silently. Her keen hearing picked up the uttering of her name upon her beloved's lips. And for a moment, B'Elanna felt bad for the Captain. Here she was pouring her heart out thinking she was safe to do so and the woman she confessed her love to uttered the name of another. On another note her heart thundered as she heard her name whispered out of Seven's mouth.
"Hey how are the sickies?" B'Elanna said a little more loudly than she normally would have to allow the Captain a moment to recompose herself.
"Seven's on the mend, but Mizoti . . . that's a different story." Janeway swallowed, praying to whatever celestial being was out there that her Chief Engineer had not seen that very unprofessional moment of weakness.
"Well I think Seven's just faking it to get out of work." The Klingon hybrid hid behind humor to mask her worry. There was that same slim smile on her face everyone tends to paste on when seeing a terminally ill patient in the hospital. The look of false confidence was more than apparent on B'Elanna than it was on the Captain as she stepped up to where the tiny child was nuzzled under the thermal blankets.
"Yeah this one here is just playing sick so she can cut class." B'Elanna bit her lower lip, wiling herself to move past the stress and worry.
Janeway taking her que moved forward and placed a comforting hand upon the brunette's shoulder. "Well we can always have Naomi drop by with her homework."
B'Elanna snicked under her breathe. Humor what a wonderful weapon against stress. Was it any wonder that so many used it to shield themselves?
Janeway looked to her chief amazed at the change in this rebellious woman. B'Elanna had taken her by surprise more than once. Her expertise in engineering aside, this incredible woman had ascended into a whole new conscience within herself. The Captain reflected on the last few weeks. Watching the two young women that had come to mean so much to her grow together was incredible. Kathryn admitted she cared a great deal for B'Elanna and wanted to save her pain if she could. And yet she could not have saved either this pain. The grave was a fine and safe place, but if we live, we bleed. Taking that into her heart the proud Captain of Voyager would see that these two precious spirits would survive this trauma.
There was something else that worried the Captain. B'Elanna was a woman of great passion. If she got it into her head to seek out and exact vengeance upon the Hirogen Hunters, Janeway began to doubt if she could stop her. She doubted if she even wanted to stop B'Elanna, if the Klingon exacted her rights as a warrior.
B'Elanna turned to her Captain and placed a caramel hand upon her shoulder. "Kathryn you carry a heavy burden with you always, don't carry the weight of the dead." The proud Klingon warrior moved past her Captain to her lover and took up her hand to bring to her lips. "Seven of Mine." She said the new endearment loud enough to catch her captain's attention allowing the older woman to know full well whom Seven belonged to. "You better get that cute lazy butt of yours outta bed or I'm putting Tel Celes in charge of Astrometrics… you know considering its under my department and all. Besides your surrogate mother is worried that you'll like to stay in bed and be coddled." She cocked her head to the side watching the expression change on the captain's face. The Klingon woman again in no uncertain terms had placed Kathryn Janeway on a different level.
Janeway stepped back. 'God she must have heard me! I should probably thank the powers that be she didn't come right out and challenge me.'
"You wouldn't dare recommend Ensign Tel as my replacement she is complexly incompetent." Seven murmured with her eyes still closed. "And furthermore, Lieutenant, you do not have the authority to assign her such a ranking position. That duty belongs to the Captain and first officer." There was a ghost of a smile. You truly had to know Seven to know she was smirking.
"Try me Blondie . . .your mother aka the Captain is here. Push me and I'll do just that, well recommend the replacement anyway." B'Elanna said in a voice reminiscent of her former confrontations of her battles with Seven. Yet her words had been carefully chosen to force Janeway to realize her position in Seven's life. As a mother figure she would be tolerated anything else and B'Elanna would challenge her. And the Captain was wise enough to realize she would quickly lose.
Janeway was almost twenty years Seven's elder and B'Elanna was only three. There would be no question from the fiery Klingon as to whom Seven belonged to. In that sprint B'Elanna turned to the Captain. "She's' standing right here. Of course I have a question to ask your Maternal figure." more to the Captain then Seven.
B'Elanna flashed predatorily grin that just begged Kathryn to challenge her.
When Janeway titled her head B'Elanna she continued. "It's a bit traditional and all and Seven's a big girl but Kathryn as Seven is more or less your surrogate daughter" another unquestionable placement of Kathryn in Seven's life "I will tell you I have every intention of courting her your 'daughter' and winning her. There is not question in my mind as to what will become of it."
Janeway pulled back into herself and found that the smile on her lips was a true one. "If Seven wants you in her life Lanna, who am I to stand in her way of true happiness? But I will be extremely displeased as her maternal figure if she was to be harmed."
"As long as we understand one another." B'Elanna retorted not backing down. "I don't foresee a problem."
Seven was now sitting up in the bed and looked to her beloved. "This common occurrence of me in sickbay has become tedious."
B'Elanna couldn't help herself, if her BangwI had meant her comment as a joke or stating a blunt truth, but find it funny. When the silver ocular implant went up, B'Elanna threw her arms around Seven, laughing all the harder. "Kah'less, Annika, I love you."
Seven allowed a fraction of a smile as she nuzzled her lover's ear and kissed her.
The affection displayed was not lost on Janeway who had a small feeling the display was deliberately planned for her benefit.
Taking control of the situation once more, the Captain turned the conversation to a more professional capacity.
"Seven do you want to tell me what you were doing on the Hirogen vessel?"
"Is it your intention to prosecute me in violation of Starfleet protocol?" Seven's voice dropped several temperatures. And as she spoke fire blazed behind dark brown eyes of her lover.
Janeway sucked in a breath.
"If you expected me to stay away while the children were in danger, then you do not know me Captain." Seven continued in her icy tone.
"Seven…I can understand how you feel. More than I think you realize. I. . .. didn't think how closely you and the children had become. And actually Seven I am not all that surprised you took off after them the way you did. And no I have no intention of punishing you for something I have done myself. But Seven, I will insist that you request permission if you go on such a mission again."
"Had I asked, you would have denied me. As B'Elanna wished me to stay for a moment, I complied with my BangwI's wishes. Had I asked you and you denied me I would have gone regardless thus breaking your order. I went on my own breaking a minor infraction of protocol. I made the logical choice. The children called to me. I would not have stayed behind. Had I not gone Mizoti would not have been in critical condition she would have been dead."
Janeway looked down for a moment then placed a hand on the shoulder that was now covered in patient scrubs. "How did you know the children were in danger?"
To this B'Elanna wanted to know as well, she was far more than curious for she knew her lover wasn't telepathic yet the engineer's imagination opened up to other possibilities, but before she voiced her theory she wanted to see how close she was.
"When they were still aboard Voyager, in an attempt to control their most chaotic behaviors as well to ease their integration Voyager's collective, I made an interlink between the five of us. It was more efficient to do so. Though the link was not as intrusive as the Hive mind I was able to discern their location at any given time."
Janeway blinked a little surprised
"Ha, I knew it." B'Elanna smirked gingerly smacking her lover on the arm. "And you cheated. I'll bet all moms would kill to have that sort of link with their kids. Junior misbehaves and bam a given order to comply."
"No!" Seven said. "I would not take away their freewill, I would not make them willless drones!"
"I didn't mean it like that Annika…" B'Elanna quickly balmed the feelings that were bruised. "I was just saying kind 'a convenience and all you know. Kids are chaotic, brings a little order to them…"
"Seven, Icheb said you had been assimilated by the Queen . . ."
"Partially by the Queen. It was her nanoprobes that . . ." A human hand touched the starburst implant beneath her ear. ". . .started the process, the rest was finished by the maturation chamber. I was chosen because she felt I was a difficult pupil. I would be a promising proxy for her consciousness when her current body would expire or become deactivated. To expedite the procedure in greater efficacy all female drones infected by the Queen's nanoprobes can create links between the drones she assimilates and command them if we are severed from the Collective. At one time I had done so when my Unimatrix had crashed landed on a planet." Seven took in a breath as she recalled the drones she linked together. Of course they had sought her out to separate them from each other once they too were severed from the Hive Mind permanently.
" The Queen's drones are given a higher 'rank' within the unit were we are conjoined. Nine of Nine she was higher than I for example and she was also once of the Queen's chosen. The Queen's females are always apart of Unimatrix Zero-One. Since the first Queen it is her own Unimatrix.
"No wonder the Queen wants you babe, you're her heir." B'Elanna wrapped an arm around her lover's slender body.
"I would have been only her surrogate host to her subroutines. Mine would have existed but been dominated by the new consciousness of the Queen. She is the only one who is an individual and many. She is the Borg. She is the one who is many. " Seven said.
"Yes but from what you described you are in your own right a Queen."
"Those subroutines would not awaken until one of two things occurs. The Queen is deactivated and my body becomes host to her conciseness during the Resurgence. Or she is utterly destroyed and the majority of her subroutines with it. I would carry much of her consciousness but in this case my personality would be the more dominate one. However because of my unique position being assimilated by the Queen, I have abilities to generate a small collective and control it as the Queen would the true Hive Mind. The Queen would similarly know if I have been deactivated or my activation was seriously compromised, as I knew Rebi and Azan were deactivated and Mizoti was in grave danger."
"But you were severed form the Collective." Janeway said almost protesting the facts Seven had laid for her.
"True. However on occasions the Queen has been able to contact me as I regenerate when I am most vulnerable mentally and physically. Most notably when I first agreed to rejoin the collective so Voyager would be spared, then when she threatened to destroy Unimatrix Zero. On those occasions she attempted to give me ultimatums to spare my new Collective as well as seduce me on a more physical level because apparently I am her favorite."
'Kah'less! What the hell is it with you and maternal figures lusting after you? They both had better keep their mitts off of you.' Grumbled B'Elanna to herself. 'Because you belong to me.'
Seven lifted her blue eyes to her Captain. "Please understand that the children had unwittingly found a place in my heart. I could not abandon them. I was forced to comply once with your orders to let them go. I will not do so with Mizoti nor Icheb, again." Seven looked down to her folded hands, which were immediately covered by B'Elanna's darker hands. That action gave her the courage to say what she felt needed to be said. "If you attempt to take my children Captain Janeway I will leave Voyager and I will take them with me. And there is nothing you can do to stop me." Blue eyes turned into pure chilling ice. "Nothing. To try would be futile."
B'Elanna squeezed her lover's hand as if to say she would join her in the escape. Besides she was Maquis; rebellion is second nature to her.
"I will never ask that of you, Seven. Not again. Never again." Janeway uttered. "In fact I'll have Chakotay draw up adoption papers so that they are legally yours."
She turned having decided she had eaten enough time of the two lovers as it was, she new they needed this time together to draw strength from one another. Besides she had other things that needed her attention. Such as the reports given to her by the away team, there was something in Rothery's report that didn't sit well with the Captain. With Tuvok present at the inquiry Janeway intended to uncover the discrepancy the young Lieutenant had reported.
When the Captain left B'Elanna playful backhanded Seven on the arm with, as much force a marshmallow thrown at her would have caused more damage. "You know I don't think I have seen so many shades of pale in a single person." B'Elanna smirked.
"I am serious." Seven said now rising from the bio-bed.
"I know." B'Elanna placed her hand upon the ample breast directly over Seven's heart. "So am I. Annika you." She stopped, took a breath and started again. " . . I know what it feels like to watch someone you love die, and I know what it is to watch those you care about put themselves in danger because of some greater good. I am Maquis you know." She turned to see the expression on Seven face range from worry for her daughter to cool reserve as if she was struggling with herself.
"You know Annika you make it hard to simply stand back a be a girlfriend." B'Elanna said softly.
Seven looked down and away unwilling to met this woman's eyes. "After hearing that I was assimilated with the sole purpose to become host to the Queen. I can understand it is not a favorable trait." Her voice started to shack with emotion.
"Annika. . ."
"If you intend to terminate our relationship I ask you call me Seven of Nine." Seven murmured struggling to replace the safe Borg shielding. But the ice was not as quick to erect itself. Somehow the fire of the hybrid Klingon had weakened her.
"Annika!' B'Elanna grabbed the taller woman by the arms.
Seven's jaw was clamped tightly, her teeth grinding against one anther. "Release me."
"No." B'Elanna lifted Seven's face looking directly in the eyes that had welled in unshed tears. "I don't want to let go of you."
"You said it was difficult to be my 'girlfriend.' It is obvious we are not compatible."
"Are you so sure? Annika. . . BangwI qawIu!"
Seven blinked. She could not have heard B'Elanna right. B'Elanna did not just tell her that she had chosen her. Without realizing she was going to reciprocate the traditional answer, Seven merely wanted clarification when she asked if B'Elanna really did chose her. "ChowIu?"
"qawIu! Dichdag Qatihe"
Seven took a step back looking rather fierce, her blue eyes narrowed in cold reserve. B'Elanna reiterated she had chosen Seven further she boasted she would chase her. Seven was not easy pray, she was both strong and free and she would tell B'Elanna so.
"Jithab! HosjIH!"
B'Elanna flashed a very toothy grin as she watched Seven backed away once more. Strong? Seven was indeed very strong and the Klingon thrilled to have it so. A mate must be strong. Free? Not for long. B'Elanna would catch her.
"Dichdag qajon."
"Chotoj." Seven's voice became a growl telling B'Elanna she was wrong in her boast that she would catch her.
"Jogh!" B'Elanna demanded Seven's surrender. "Dichdag chargh soHjlH."
"Chojeylatlhe." The blonde scoffed at B'Elanna's declaration not only has she demanded her surrender but then further told her she would be conquered.
B'Elanna stepped up to the tall blonde "qamusHa Hoch'wi."
The words I love you, my everything had defeated Seven's token protests.
B'Elanna took Seven by her arms in a fierce grasp. "Become my Benel Annika Hansen. Marry me."