MAIN DISCLAIMER: See Prologue
Alternate Choices
By H.W.
Chapter 2
A little more than half an hour later all the senior staff members except the engineering representative, found themselves standing in a room inside the Klingon ship awaiting the arrival of the Intendant who, Janeway assumed, was inspecting his latest spoil of war: Voyager. The door behind them opened and someone came storming in. From the reaction of the guards in the room, Janeway assumed that this would the Intendant. The Klingon stopped in front of them and the Voyager crew was shocked to find themselves face to face with a fuming and obviously severally pissed off B'Elanna Torres, "What are you doing with that clone of me?!"
Janeway took in the warrior uniform this B'Elanna was wearing and she saw the clear confidence with which she was wearing it. This B'Elanna had been wearing Klingon battle armor for a long time. Knowing that this was not her B'Elanna, Janeway spoke carefully, not sure of how volatile this B'Elanna could be, "I'm Captain Kathryn Janeway. I oegf!..." Janeway was cut off by a fist to her stomach; the force behind it had been enough to actually lift Janeway off her feet.
When the human had started to give her name, Intendant B'Elanna Torres stepped up to her, taking a good hold of her with one hand and hitting her in the stomach as hard as she could with the other, "Listen, human, I didn't ask for your name, I asked what you are doing with a clone of me. Don't try my patience again." The Intendant let go of Janeway who immediately sank to the floor, trying very hard to draw air into her lungs.
The man with the facial tattoo further down the line spoke up, clearly trying to get the Intendant's attention away from the woman lying on the floor gasping for air, "She isn't a clone, she is B'Elanna Torres, the B'Elanna Torres from our universe."
"There, that wasn't that hard." The Intendant strolled up the line until she was standing in front of the man, "Well, go on; don't stop now that you got my attention. Talk. And you'd better make sure that I believe you."
And so Chakotay started to explain in a short and clear manner the story of who they were, where they came from, and what had brought them into the situation they were now in.
The Intendant barked a short laugh when Chakotay was finished, "Oh, are you ever shit out of luck. I love it. Here you poor humans go from being so fierily independent, to being slaves, all in the matter of hours; and that while your Terran Homeworld is within spitting distance. Do you know what your planet is here? It's nothing more than a slave breeding ground." The Intendant took a step to the right and was standing in front of Seven. She looked into Seven's eyes for a quiet minute and then reached up to tap against the metal above her left eye, "Hmm, looks nice. But I'm willing to bet that this is no mere decoration."
"What of our B'Elanna?" Seven asked.
"Good question." The Intendant agreed, "Your doctors should not have tried to save her. They cheated her out of an honorable death." She looked to one of the guards and addressed him, "Give the order to have those machines turned off. Let her die."
"No!" Before any of the guards or the Intendant herself could react, Seven had taken a hold of her, threatening to break her neck, "She can fully recover with your help. Say that you will help her, or die."
The Intendant was surprised to find that she could not break the hold the woman had on her; and that while she had trained to escape holds like that, it was the sheer strength of the blonde woman that was preventing the Intendant from doing so now. The Intendant was also surprised to find that she was enjoying the situation. The blonde presented a real challenge for the Intendant, and she didn't come across those often these days, "Stay back," She ordered the guards before addressing Seven, "I find it interesting that you are threatening to kill me, B'Elanna Torres, to save B'Elanna Torres."
"Irrelevant."
"Yeah? Then how about this? You say that I can save your B'Elanna, but if I'm dead I can't save her, now can I? So if you kill me, you also kill your own B'Elanna."
The Intendant could feel the hands of the blonde start to shake a little when she started to realize her dilemma.
"I... You can save her. You have to help her, please."
The Intendant stopped the little struggling that she had been doing the entire time, "I must admit that this is the first time that someone is begging and pleading for my help, and yet at the same time has my neck ready to break. What is it going to be, human? Are you going to kill me or release me?"
Realizing her emotion driven stupidity, Seven let go of the Intendant.
The Intendant turned around and in one fluid motion treated Seven to a right hook that would have floored Kahless himself. Seven was indeed floored, but stood right up again. While the Intendant on the other had was shaking her hand to get rid of the pain. Blood was seeping from the wounds where her fist had hit Seven's implant.
"Kahless be dammed! What are you!?"
"I am Borg."
"I have no idea what that means, but I'm sure that explains it al." The Intendant looked at Seven for a moment, not really sure what she should do with this human woman who had challenged her in front of her men. The obvious response would be to kill her, to kill them all. Kill... an idea snuck into her mind, she was going to have some fun with this human, "Hehehe," The Intendant chuckled while she licked the her blood from her knuckles, "I'm going to enjoy breaking you. You are going to be my little special project."
Seven was surprised to see several of the guards looking slightly disappointed at the Intendant's words.
The Intendant strolled up and down the line of the senior staff until she was standing in front of Seven again, "Tell me about my counterpart, and why you think I can save her."
Before the blonde could start, the bald man in the middle of the group cleared his throat, "Intendant, I know I have no permission to speak, but I'm the medical officer onboard Voyager, maybe I could explain."
The Intendant strolled back to the man and gave him a quick once over. She liked the way had had addressed her, like someone that knew his place and who only spoke up if it was about something he could actually talk about. But there was something strange about him; she couldn't quite make out what it was. Taking a deep breath she realized it was something about his smell, or lack there of. The man wasn't giving off any smell at all, "You're not human."
"No, I'm not. I am a sentient hologram. I started my life as an emergency medical program; originally I wasn't designed to be online for long, only in emergencies. But since Voyager's original human medical officer died, I have been online all the time as his replacement. Over the years I have become a sentient being," The Doctor knew that speech from heart, he had deliberately stopped counting the times he had to give that little speech to get people to see him as more than just a thing.
The Intendant strolled back until she was standing in front of the blond, but talked to the bald man, "Keep your holographic shirt on, you might be glad to know that in this universe that means that you are above humans. Now, start talking, but keep it quick and simple."
The Doctor did and a couple of minutes later the Intendant spoke to Seven again, "So that's what you meant when you said that I could save her. I as B'Elanna Torres can save your B'Elanna Torres. You need me, and only me. So, Borg, wh... What's your name anyway?"
"My name is Seven of Nine."
"Seven huh? Well, Seven, what is it worth to you if I would save your B'Elanna?" The Intendant knew only too well that there was nothing that the slave could offer, but that didn't mean that she could not torment the blonde a little.
Seven thought about that question for a few seconds. What was it worth to her to save B'Elanna? She remembered what she had vowed less than an hour before; she would do everything to help B'Elanna. But there was one problem; there was nothing that she could give the Intendant in exchange for help. There was absolutely nothing, she possessed nothing... except for one thing.
What was it worth to save B'Elanna? What was it worth to help the rest of the crew? Seven had heard the Klingons; she knew that she would end up with one of them if the Intendant didn't keep her with her. She had a feeling that this was something she would not like at all. She had seen how the senior staff was treated and the ex-borg could only guess how they would be treated if the Intendant actually gave the other Klingons free range to do with the Voyager crew what ever they wanted. Seven knew there was no easy way out. The only thing she could do was to beat the Intendant to a decision that the Klingon already had hinted that she would make.
What was it worth to help the Voyager crew? "I would do anything you want, save killing someone." Her blue eyes never left the Intendant's brown ones and Seven got the feeling that she had made a smart decision to put the limit of killing in her statement.
"Anything?" The Intendant laughed.
"Anything," Seven repeated calmly.
"Human you have no idea what you've just gotten yourself into."
"I think I do," Seven disagreed.
"We will see, we will see. I will think about whether or not I'm going to help your B'Elanna." The Intendant now looked at the rest, "And I will also think about what I will do with the rest of you." She walked away from the group a little and addressed one of the guards, "For now, throw them and the rest of their crew in cellblock A, there should be enough room there, since I had to kill those two hundred slaves that tried to escape." The Senior staff understood only too well that this last was a warning towards them.
"Intendant, there are also some non-slave races under their crew. Including, Bajoran and Trill."
"Never easy," The Intendant said in a way that made it almost a curse, "Until we know their loyalty, they go with the rest of the crew. Throw some other slaves in the A block too so that the non-Terrans can hear from them what kind of life they can expect if they don't distance themselves from the slaves."
"Intendant," one of the other guards braved, "There are also several blonde slaves amongst them..." He left his sentence unfinished; knowing that leaving his statement open would be the best thing to do. Make a clear suggestion, and chances were that the Intendant wouldn't do it just to spite him.
"Put them with the rest. Until I make a decision on what I want to do with them they are to be felt alone, and not just the blonde ones. I'm talking about all of them."
"Yes, Intendant." The guards started to shove she senior staff out of the room, but when one of the guards went to Seven, the Intendant spoke up, "No, not her. She stays here, she's mine. She said she would do anything, so I'm going to keep her reeeaal close."
Two of the guards stayed behind while the rest and the Voyager crew disappeared out of the room. "Leave us," The Intendant told the guards. "And you, come with me," She addressed Seven.
One of the guards spoke up when being dismissed, "Intendant..."
"Don't worry, I'm perfectly safe, aren't I, Seven?" Seeing the doubt on the faces of the guards she said what Seven obviously had already understood, "Of course, were something to happen to me before I can decide what I'm going to do with these new slaves, than you can just kill them all. Including my look-alike." The Intendant was not in the habit of explain herself to her guards, but they had a right to be concerned. Seven had already shown that she was capable of overpowering the Intendant.
"Yes, Intendant, you are safe from me."
"See? Now leave us."
The guards left without another word.
Seven followed the Intendant through the ship for several minutes, which included one turbolift ride, until they entered what were obviously the Intendant's living quarters. The Intendant headed straight for the bathing room and started to strip out of her uniform. Once she was naked, she got into a large sunken bathtub that could hold at least ten people, "I was about to take a bath when we caught up with you." The Intendant looked up at the blonde who was still standing fully clothed at the side of the tub. "Do those things rust?" She asked, pointing a leisurely finger at Seven's implants.
"No."
"In that case, strip and get in. I'm about to explain my rules to you," While Seven hesitantly started to undo the bio-suit the Intendant continued, "The first thing you should know that it is up to you how we do this. We can do this easy, or we can do this hard. As long as you always do what ever I say, we should have no problems. Since you are new to being a slave I can accept you not knowing certain things. So if you do something wrong I won't punish you for it... the first time. I will tell you what you did wrong and what you should do the next time. If you do it wrong a second time though..."
The Intendant left the sentence unfinished since it didn't really need further explanation, and because Seven was now standing naked at the tub edge. The Intendant took her time to admire the blonde's beauty, "Very nice. I see that those things are also on other parts of your body. I never saw anything like it before. They look good on you. Get in."
Seven did as she was told, for a moment wondering how the Intendant could find her Borg implants attractive. Standing in the bathtub the water came exactly to the apex of her legs, covering her most private parts, but showing off some of her blonde curls. Seven realized that if she had embraced her humanity as much as the Captain had wanted her, then she would have felt insecure and ashamed standing in front of a virtual stranger naked. But being naked didn't bother the blonde at all. She could help B'Elanna, she could help the Voyager crew, her collective. The how was irrelevant. Why else would she feel glad to see approval in those eyes?
The Intendant took her time taking in Seven's body, her eyes flashed to Seven's breasts first but soon roamed to every other part of the blonde's body. Taking in every square millimeter; loving every curve she saw, "Turn around."
Once again, Seven did as she was told, strangely satisfied when she heard the Intendant making a 'mmmhmm' sound behind her back. She wondered why she would feel satisfaction from the fact that the Intendant liked her body. Then she reasoned that it was that if the Intendant liked her, she would be more willing to help B'Elanna. That HAD to be the reason why hearing the 'mmmhmm' felt so good.
"Sit." The Intendant grinned when Seven set down on the other side of the tub, as far away as possible, 'That will change soon enough,' She took the bath soap and put some on a sponge and started to move it over her body, "You know what you are from now on?"
"Your slave."
"My body slave," The Intendant corrected, "You will see to all my needs. You will do this next time," She lifted the sponge lightly to explain what she meant with 'this.' During the next bath Seven would be washing the Intendant, "You will get my food for me. Stuff like that. Since this is actually the first time I will have a body slave since I was a child, I don't know all of your tasks yet. I will make them up as we go along. But there is one thing you can be sure of, you will have to service me when ever I'm in the mood, including tonight."
"Service?" Seven wasn't sure if the Intendant meant what Seven thought that she meant.
"Pleasure me, fuck me, what ever you want to call it. We can do that two ways too. You can resist, or you can work along. You're mine, if you try to resist me, I will take what is mine. Oh, I know that you're stronger than me, but I can put you in chains. I can have you beaten. I can have you violated until you die from it. You understand me?"
"Yes."
"Good. But that is normally not what I like. As long as you do what I tell you, it shouldn't be to hard for you." The Intendant put away the sponge before turning back to regard Seven, "When we are private like now, you can talk to we without being spoken to, just don't argue with me and shut up when I tell you to. You understand?" The Intendant grabbed the sponge again and threw it at Seven, who caught it in mid air, "And for Kahless sake, we are in a bath, bathe yourself."
Seven started to use the sponge to wash her body, it took her a moment to realize that the Intendant was watching her closely, her eyes following the sponge on its way over the blonde's body, "I will not resist. But you can not make me enjoy it. What should I call you?"
"I think I could prove you wrong if I wanted to put the effort in to it, but I really don't care if you enjoy it. You just make sure that I enjoy it. And what do you mean, 'what should I call you?'"
Seven finished her quick and efficient bath, and sat back against the tub wall again, "I just thought that since I am your slave, you would not like me to call you the same as your soldiers call you, Intendant. Neither would you like me to call you B'Elanna, I assume."
"Did I tell you to think or assume?" The Intendant asked, raising her voice slightly.
"No you did not. Are you now telling me not to think?"
The Intendant laughed at the question. Her new slave certainly was smart, in more ways than one, "No, I'm not telling you that. Just don't try to outthink me. And you can call me Mistress until I get tired of that."
"Yes, Mistress."
The Intendant grabbed the bottle of bath soap and threw that to Seven, showering the blonde in a spray of soap before she could catch it, "Use this on the sponge and wash yourself again, slowly this time. Make it an enjoyment for me to see you bathe." The Intendant watched Seven's slow movements for a few minutes, "Much better. Don't rush, take your time."
Seven was glad that for now, the Intendant seemed happy to just watch her take a bath. It gave her a few minutes to sort her thoughts and think. The last hour, from the moment that they had first seen the Intendant, Seven had only been reacting to the situation at hand. Now she had a moment to think about the situation she found herself in. She knew from what the Ferengi had told the Voyager crew that in this universe, the Klingons were the most powerful race. And that meant that the Klingon Intendant had to be one of the most influential people. Nobody would dare to ask the Intendant about the fate of a group of humans.
The Intendant, this B'Elanna, could have them all killed with a single word. However, that also meant that this B'Elanna had the power to heal Voyager's B'Elanna; that she could have Voyager repaired, that she could deactivate the weapon platforms guarding the entrance to the wormhole. Seven knew that she had to gain the trust of the Intendant. It was the only way that she could help Voyager. And she could gain the trust of the Intendant, simply by doing whatever the Intendant told her to do.
Seven judged this Intendant on what she knew of Voyager's B'Elanna, keeping in mind that the character of the Intendant would be different because of living her life as a Klingon, and because she was a very important person, used to people listening to her. From that she guessed that the Intendant had told her the truth. The Intendant would treat her fairly, as long as she did what she was told. But she also knew that she was only a 'thing' to the Intendant, a mere slave. The Intendant had more than likely also told her the truth about what would happen is she resisted. The Intendant would take what was hers.
Seven's thinking focused on what it would be like to be a slave. Her first reaction was that she wouldn't mind it too much. Seven had been told what to do, how to move, when to regenerate, for twenty-four years. The first six years by her parents, and then eighteen years by the Borg. She missed the simplicity of that life sometimes. She had tried to explain this to the Captain once, but Janeway had not been able to see the freedom that came from having someone else make all the decisions for you.
"I know that you're thinking," The voice of the Intendant suddenly interrupted. But you better start moving again; give me something to watch while you make up your mind."
"Yes, Mistress," Seven continued to move the sponge across her body, making sure not to stop again.
But, once she was severed from the collective she also discovered that she liked her individuality, to make decisions on her own. The Captain had informed her that she could not have it both ways, have someone order you around, yet keep your individuality. Janeway had assured her that eventually she would grow out of wanting someone to have control over her. Seven had not been so sure.
Seven focused her eyes on the Intendant, surprised to see that B'Elanna was caressing her own body leisurely, "Do... um, I know that YOU own me, Mistress. But as slave, does it mean that I have to do whatever anyone else tells me to do?"
The Intendant's fingers stopped for a moment before continuing across her own throat and down her side, "If you were a common slave, yes," The Intendant could see that the blonde did not like that answer at all. And for a moment she thought about leaving things at that. But there was something about the blonde. Something that made the Intendant suddenly take a personal slave even though she had not had one since she killed the annoying slave that was supposed to raise her as a child.
For some reason the Intendant wanted the slave to be hers, willingly. This, she assumed, was also the reason why she had given the slave already more patience and explanation than she usually showed her subjects. The Intendant was not in the habit of explaining herself, especially not to a slave. But the Intendant had a feeling that giving the slave some patience at this point would only pay off in the long run.
After letting the slave wait for a moment longer, the Intendant finally continued, "But that is the advantage of being a body slave. You're mine. You have to do what ever 'I' tell you. This means that the trials and tribulations of all your actions fall back on me. If someone has a problem with something you do, than they have to take it up with me. If I think that they are right then it is up to me to give you what I deem a proper punishment.
"You are my slave, if I say that you have to lick my boots, then you will kneel and do so right away, no matter where we are. But as far as humans go, you will be one of the most independent humans alive; one of only a hand full of humans that actually have rights. If anyone but me commands you to do something, you actually have the right to say no. Not even the other Intendants can order you around." The Intendant could see that this answer was a lot more to the liking of the blonde, "And now, human, it is time to make a decision. What is it going to be?"
It was an easy choice for Seven, having already decided that working along with the Intendant would be in the best interest of the Voyager crew, and herself. Seven lowered her eyes, assuming that a slave was not to look her master in the eyes, "I am yours to command, Mistress."
"Good, but look at me. There is no need to do that... when were alone. If we are in public your position as my body slave means that you can look everyone lower than me in the eyes. So that really means that in public you can't look me or the Klingon chancellor in the eyes."
"There is something you need to know, Mistress," Seven lifted her mesh-covered hand out of the water, "These implants need periodical maintenance. The Doctor has the right tools for this onboard Voyager. And because of these implants I need to regenerate for eight hours every seventy-two hours. This is done in certain alcoves also onboard Voyager."
The Intendant stopped her wandering hands and used them to lift herself out of the water until she was sitting on the side of the tub, her legs still hanging in the water, "I will keep that in mind. Now, come here."
Hesitantly Seven came closer until she was standing in front of the Intendant.
"Kneel."
Once again, Seven did as she was told and kneeled in the tub. This brought her head on the same level as the Intendant's knees.
"Enough talking for now, it is getting late and I need something from you. We will talk more in the morning," The Intendant leaned back until she was resting on her elbows and spread her legs, opening herself for the blonde, "Service me, human."
Seven blinked her eyes a couple of times in a severe un-Borg like manner and tried to swallow against a suddenly dry throat. She could smell the Intendant and see moisture that she knew only too well from her own body. Seven leaned in slowly, hesitantly. She knew why the Intendant was doing this, beside obviously also needing release, this would make it real. Up to that point it had only been talk, but once she started to satisfy the Intendant, to touch and taste her, it would be more than words. From than on she would truly be the Intendant's slave. Seven started to use her tongue and lips slowly, hesitantly; exploring the Intendant's most private parts.
After a few minutes of that the Intendant suddenly griped a hand full of blonde hair and pulled Seven's head back. Brown eyes filled with annoyance locked on blue eyes filled with unease, "What?! You don't like women? You better learn real quick," The Intendant's question made it clear that she was disappointed in the way Seven was pleasuring her.
"No, Mistress. I have not yet been with anyone, male or female, but I know that I like only women. It is... please, Mistress, give me one minute."
"I'm starting to lose my mood here. Don't make me regret taking you as a body slave, human."
"Please, Mistress, I do want to please you," And while she said it, Seven knew it to be the truth.
The Intendant let to of the blonde's hair and leaned back again. Mentally counting the seconds of a minute.
Seven looked at the sight in front of her, knowing that what she did at that point would plot the course of the rest of her life. She put everything off her, she forgot about consequences that would come forth from her choice. She asked herself what she really wanted. Disregarding the rest, what did Seven of Nine really want?
The Intendant had counted to fifty-six when she felt a tongue start to explore her once more. It felt different this time, a lot different. It felt right. And then all the Klingon Intendant could do was lay back and hold on for the best ride she ever had in her life.