DISCLAIMER: I don't own them. Paramount holds all rights, titles, etc. to the Star Trek: Voyager concept and characters.
The Fallacy of Anger
By Lone Templar
Seven of Nine, Tertiary Adjunct to Unimatrix 01, stepped back from the small table with a happy sigh. Spread out across the fancy lace tablecloth was a wide variety of dishes covered in small stasis fields that represented over six hours of hard work in Neelix's kitchen. Like everything else in her life, she was bound and determined to make this evening as perfect as she could. She eyed the centerpiece for a moment before reaching out and adjusting it two point three centimeters so that it would be in the exact center of the table before she lit the delicate candle in the middle of it.
Stepping back again, she was satisfied with her work. After lowering the lights to fifty percent normal, she reflected on how the candlelight illuminated the table with a soft glow. The candle itself was at pre-calculated height to illuminate the table with maximum efficiency without getting in the way of her being able to watch her dinning companion. All in all, she was satisfied with her endeavor. Glancing down, she smoothed several wrinkles out of her blue sheath dress and nodded in satisfaction. Yes, this evening would be absolute perfection. And because it was followed by two days off duty for her and her companion, the perfection would be extended until they both collapsed from exhaustion. Just the thought of that brought a bright smile to her face.
Glancing at the chronometer, she saw that she only had ten minutes left to finish preparing. Walking serenely to the bedroom, she pulled the red silk sheets back and lit the two candles that bracketed the bed on nightstands. These were thicker than the one on the table, designed to last for seventy-two hours before extinguishing themselves. Taking a quick glance around, she idly twisted the three bottles of champagne sitting on ice along with two inverted champagne glasses. Yes, this would be perfection.
Walking back out to the living room, she glanced at the chronometer once again. Only three minutes left until her wife arrived from her beloved engine room. Then Seven was going to wine, dine, and make love to the half-Klingon woman until she got the brunette to beg for peace. A small, evil grin that some would call a combination of a leer and a smirk danced across her face at the mental images that suddenly formed in her mind. Oh, yes. B'Elanna was in so much trouble.
Just then, the entire room shook violently followed closely by the red alert klaxon. Seven looked at the table just in time to see the candle and three dishes fall crashing to the deck, spilling their contents. She stood there in shocked dismay even as the room shook again, indicating that Voyager had taken another hit. The perfect little vacation was ruined. She closed her eyes and fought to get her racing emotions under control, but it was a loosing battle. For the first time in her life, the ex-drone felt a new emotion coursing through her veins. Disappointment led to dismay. Dismay led to despair. Despair led to anger. Anger led to rage. It was a rage that made her blood burn. It burned unlike anything she had ever experienced before in her life. She could feel her pulse pounding in both her ears and her fingertips. The hair on the back of her neck stood out as a quick chill shot up her spine. Her eyes widened even as she drew her lips back to expose her teeth. A feral snarl ripped out of her throat as she ripped her dress off with a quick flick of her Borg enhanced hand.
She raced to the bedroom and threw open the closet. Reaching inside, she withdrew her Klingon leather armor, not even remembering that the one and only time she had ever worn it was on her Oath Day. The day that she and her wife had stood in front of their friends and family and exchanged the Oath in front of witnesses to lay claim to each other. Now, she hurriedly dressed without thinking of the significance of her actions. Different blades were tucked into her belt as she slid her feet into her boots at the same time. Her wife's only family heirloom, an ancient disruptor, was hurriedly strapped to her waist. When she finished, she was the very model of a Klingon warrior. She was a warrior with only one purpose: to kill and destroy. One thought kept repeating in her mind, over and over: revenge would be hers.
"Shields are down, Captain!" Harry Kim shouted from the Ops station, never looking up from his display.
"B'Elanna, I need those shields now!" Captain Kathryn Janeway shouted into her communicator, turning her head slightly to look into her own display unit.
"Weapons are having no effect!" Tuvok called out from his own station, maintaining his calm even as a sense of dread began to settle in for the first time since Voyager had been stranded in the Delta Quadrant.
"Evasive maneuver Gamma four, Tom!" The small redhead called out, punching in a set of commands to the damage control parties, even now racing through her ship in a desperate bid to stave off disaster.
"Aye, Captain." Ensign Tom Paris called out as his fingers danced across his keyboard, doing everything in his power to cause the Intrepid class starship to dance and spin through space.
"Warp engines just went offline!" Chakotay called out from his seat, his hand gripping the armrest so tightly that his fingers were white. The ship shook again as green fire lanced out from the enemy ship to punch through Voyagers thin hull.
"Hull breach on decks thirteen and fourteen!" Harry called out, panic clearly evident in his voice.
"Raise containment fields on those decks!" Chakotay called out, his eyes wide with fear.
"Tom, take us out of here, full impulse, any course! Tuvok, lay in a series of torpedoes in our wake!" Kathryn ordered, slowly standing up and glaring at the large view screen in front of her. "As soon as the warp engines are online, engage maximum warp!"
"Aye, Captain." Tuvok and Tom responded, punching in commands on their individual stations.
"B'Elanna, I need those engines up as fast as possible!" Janeway spoke into her communicator.
"We're working on it, Captain, but I don't think we're going to make it in anything less than two hours!" Lieutenant Torres yelled back.
"Torpedoes away!" Tuvok informed the Captain, even as more bad news was displayed on his screen as the ship took another hit. "Phasers and photon torpedoes off line!"
"Hull integrity down to fifteen percent, Captain!" Chakotay yelled.
"Evasive maneuver Delta two!" The Captain called out desperately, sinking back down into her command chair.
"Helm control is off line, Captain." Tom Paris yelled, raising his eyes from his board to stare into his Captains. Panic and fear could be easily seen crossing his face.
The ship rocked again, almost throwing the bridge crew to the deck in its violence. "Internal communications are down!" Harry Kim called out in a subdued voice.
The bridge became quiet as each crewmember looked at each other in confusion and acceptance. "Sensors are now offline, Captain." Tuvok spoke calmly.
"Hull integrity now at five percent." Chakotay said quietly.
Feeling as she had failed her crew, Kathryn Janeway stared at the view screen which showed the enemy ship cruising slowly towards their position without a care in the universe. She closed her eyes and hung her head in defeat. "Signal out surrender." She ordered, feeling like weeping with her loss. Five years of surviving only to fail in a five-minute battle with some strange race. Life just wasn't fair, she thought quietly.
"Transporter activating, Captain!" Tuvok called out as he punched in command after command into his board trying to bring life back into his station.
"Enemy vessel not responding, Captain." Harry stated clearly. "Resending our surrender."
"What? Transporter? Where to?" Kathryn asked confusedly.
"Partial sensors back online." Lieutenant Kim called out.
"On screen, Mister Kim." Janeway ordered before turning her attention back to her Chief of Security. "What happened with the transporter, Tuvok?" She asked.
"We have ten percent of the impulse engines back, Captain." Tom informed her, laying in several emergency options on the off hand chance that he would be able to use them.
"Someone transported over to the enemy ship from transporter room two, Captain. I am unable to determine who or why, however." Tuvok responded dryly.
"Tom, lay in a course for two three two mark one. Tuvok, find out who it was that transported over. Harry, concentrate our sensors on that ship. I want to know what's going on, people!" The fiery redhead snapped out orders quickly.
"B'Elanna says that she's dispatched a team to shore up the hull integrity. Give her ten minutes and she'll have it back up to at least twenty percent." Chakotay stated calmly. "Sickbay reports that all casualties are being taken care of with no fatalities as yet."
"Excellent, Commander. What's the status of the warp engines?" Kathryn asked, turning to face her first officer.
"A minimum of two hours for limited warp capability, Captain." He informed her.
"Captain, something's happening on the other ship!" Harry called out in excitement.
"Report, Mister Kim!" Janeway snapped out.
"I don't know how, Captain, but I'm reading at least twenty fewer life signs on the enemy ship!" He practically squealed the information out in his excitement.
"Tuvok? Any answers yet?" The Captain asked.
"Negative, Captain." He responded, still working feverishly at his station.
"Check for intruders, Tuvok. I want to know where those missing personnel are going." Kathryn ordered in a cold tone.
"Internal sensors are still down, Captain." The dark Vulcan replied.
"All hands, be alert for possible intruders!" Chakotay said after activating his comm. badge.
"Enemy life signs are still disappearing off of their ship!" Lieutenant Kim reported.
"Security reports no signs of intruders, Captain." Tuvok added to the report.
"What the…?" Tom declared loudly, drawing attention to the view screen. The view displayed the enemy ship, hanging serenely in space, all weapons charged and ready to fire. The only difference in the appearance of the lethal looking ship was the orange and red fireball currently escaping the port nacelle as a tremendous explosion rocked the enemy ship.
"Scan for other ships in the area!" Kathryn snapped out.
"Nothing, Captain!" Harry reported loudly.
"Could it be a lucky accident?" Chakotay asked the Captain sotto voice.
"I don't know, but I'm definitely going to take advantage of it." Janeway responded quietly. "Tuvok, do we have weapons online yet?"
"Negative, Captain. Estimated time to repair is approximately six hours." The Vulcan responded.
"I need to know what's going on, Mister Kim." The Captain growled.
"I'm trying, Captain. Sensors are still operating at partial capacity." The young Asian man replied.
"Hull integrity at fifteen percent. Shields are back up and holding at five percent." Chakotay reported.
"Remind me to give B'Elanna a commendation when we make it out of this, Commander." Kathryn told him quietly. "Her performance has been absolutely amazing."
"You got it." He responded with a smile, crinkling his tattoo.
Just then, another explosion rocked the enemy ship. The bridge crew watched in amazement as a larger fireball started at one end of the starboard warp nacelle and traveled the length of it, sending pieces of the warp engine flying in all directions. The entire nacelle seemed to expand for a brief second before suddenly collapsing and disappearing in a bright flash of light. When the explosion was over with, they could see the large amount of plasma gas venting out into space along with large sparks of power dancing back and forth along the tip of the now sheared warp nacelle stem. Turning their eyes back to the port nacelle, the crew were just in time to watch the same procedure occurring there. Luckily for the Voyager crew, the replaced shields were enough to turn most of the debris aside, avoiding any more damage to the ship as a whole.
"Harry, I need to know what's happening over there." Captain Janeway ordered desperately.
"I'm not sure, Captain. Approximately half of the enemy life signs have just disappeared. I'm not picking up any transporter activity or shuttle launches." He responded quickly. "I think that something's killing them off some how." The young man theorized.
"Tuvok? Have you made any progress in finding out who beamed over?" Kathryn asked her old friend.
"Not yet, Captain. I am attempting to access the transporter logs now." The Vulcan replied.
"Captain, I'm receiving a transmission from the enemy ship!" Harry called out.
"On screen!" The Captain snapped out.
The view screen changed from a view of the exterior of the enemy ship to one of the command deck. The aliens were large, approximately two meters tall and bulky. They wore black armor, the plates of which shone brightly. The aliens were dark in color, and either naturally bald or they made it a practice to shave themselves so. Both energy weapons and strange looking bladed weapons adorned their bodies. All but one of the aliens appeared to be busily at work at the different stations. The one that wasn't busy was standing in the center of their bridge, glaring hatefully at the screen with his arms crossed angrily over his chest.
"You wished to speak with me?" Kathryn asked calmly, leaning back in her command chair to give the appearance of nonchalance.
"You will call off your attack or we will destroy your ship." The alien snarled, shaking a fist at the screen. He somehow managed to remain standing as his ship shuddered violently from another explosion.
"I'm not sure what you're talking about." Captain Janeway stated calmly. "If you would provide more information, we would be most appreciative."
"You know what I'm talking about!" The alien screamed loudly. "Call off your boarding party or loose your ship!"
"Captain, I didn't send over a boarding party." The small redhead explained calmly.
"You did too!" The alien captain yelled, placing both of his hands on his hips in defiance. "Right now they're sabotaging my ship!"
"Captain, sabotage goes against everything we believe in. We are a peaceful species who were merely traveling through on our way home. You attacked us without provocation." Janeway declared coldly, shooting the offending alien her best glare.
Another explosion rocked the enemy ship, forcing the alien captain to grab hold of a console to steady himself. "I suppose that explosion was some sort of glitch?" He remarked snidely before straightening up to his full impressive height. "You will remove your boarding party or we will fire." He declared in a voice totally devoid of any emotional overtones at all.
Captain Kathryn Janeway knew her ship couldn't handle another hit from the enemy ship's disruptors. Hell, even a hit at half the strength as the others would tear the ship apart, she mentally argued with herself. Seeing no choice, she prepared herself to surrender her ship and admit defeat. Just when she had opened her mouth to do so, another explosion rocked the enemy bridge violently, causing the entire crew to be thrown to the floor. As they regained their feet, one called out, "Weapons offline, sir!"
Seeing that they couldn't carry through with their threats, Kathryn calmly settled down and watched the scene unfold before her. "Having a problem, Captain?" She asked, allowing her command mask to drop and a small smile curl the corners of her lips.
"Damn you! This is your last chance! Remove your boarding party or else!" The alien screamed madly.
"Or else what? You'll scream at me some more?" Janeway asked with a smirk.
The alien captain spun around on his heels to face another of his crew. "Get those weapons back online now!" He screamed, spittle flying from his mouth in his rage.
"Engineering reports that they need more time, sir!" An alien responded, cringing in anticipation of drawing his captain's ire.
"I want my weapons now, do you understand me?" The alien shouted while backhanding the one who had dared to defy his wishes. The blow knocked the smaller alien to the deck. When he regained his footing, he simply nodded and raced towards the door leading off the bridge.
When the door opened, he ran into the still raging Seven of Nine. Her artificial arm shot out and grasped the small alien around his neck, lifting him clear of the deck where his feet were madly trying to gain traction to escape the nightmare than he had found himself in. With a simple flick of her risk, Seven sent the alien flying the length of the bridge to crash into the view screen.
"Who is in charge here?" She asked coldly, her impassive face not betraying anything as her human hand held her wife's disruptor out in front of her.
The alien captain spun around to stare slack-jawed at the avenging angel before him. As soon as his amazement turned to comprehension, his hand slapped the holster hanging from his right side to withdraw his weapon. A single bolt from the ex-drone's weapon smashed into his own weapon, causing it to explode in protest, sheering his hand off at the wrist.
Seven stared at his cauterized wrist in puzzlement, glancing down at her own weapon for a brief second. "It always worked in those stupid holovid adventures of Tom's." She muttered to herself before turning her attention back to the bridge crew in front of her. "I will ask my question only one more time. Failure to answer will result in the immediate termination of everyone here. Who is in charge of this ship?" She asked coldly.
Without a word, every member of the bridge crew raised a single hand and pointed at the now sobbing captain. He was clutching his shorn wrist and trying to prevent himself from screaming out in pain.
Nodding, the tall blonde stepped through the doorway towards the alien. "Get out." She commanded the rest of them. Her voice left them little opportunity for disobedience. Within seconds, Seven was alone with the alien captain.
Her Borg enhanced arm reached out to snag him about the neck and slammed him back over the console he had been leaning against. Her other hand drew back and then thrust the disruptor into the aliens crotch hard enough to draw a scream of anguish from the poor alien.
Onboard Voyager, Captain Kathryn Janeway watched in total disbelief. She shot a quick glance at her First Officer only to see the same expression that was adorning her face appeared on his.
"Captain, I believe that Seven of Nine was the individual who beamed over to the enemy ship." Tuvok stated calmly. Normally, he wouldn't have stated something so obvious, but his mind had temporarily rejected his Vulcan training for the moment as he watched the stunning scene along with the rest of the crew.
Kathryn opened her mouth to say something, but her mind was blank. She closed her mouth only to immediately open it again only to pour a meaningless series of vowels into the general confusion. With nothing important making any sense, she shut her mouth once again.
Back on the enemy ship, Seven ground her disruptor deeper into the poor beings private area. "You will surrender your ship now or face the consequences." She dutifully warned the alien, who was still bent over backwards, pinned in place.
"I can't surrender!" He whimpered in a high tone. "Warriors never surrender!"
Seven simply ground her disruptor even further into his crotch, eliciting a high pitch squeak from the suffering alien.
"If you do not feel that having children is relevant, then continue to resist." She hissed, allowing her anger to appear on her face. "You have interrupted my anniversary dinner. This is unacceptable! You will correct the damage you have done immediately, or I will see what you look like as a soprano!" She finished in a roar, digging the disruptor into his crotch so far that the barrel was no longer visible from her perspective.
The alien captain tried to resist, be he found it to be futile. Reaching the conclusion that it was much better to be a live coward who surrendered when threatened or a live hero who had no hope of progeny, he quickly squeaked out, "I surrender! I surrender! Of merciful Golgar, I surrender! Please don't hurt me!" He begged, tears streaming down his face.
"You will repair the damage that you have caused?" Seven asked roughly, still not releasing her grip around his neck. She did, however, pull her disruptor out of his private area a few inches.
"Yes! Yes! Anything!" He cried loudly.
"Very well." She said, releasing him. She then straightened up and faced the view screen. "Captain? I am ready to be beamed back aboard Voyager."
"Ah. Yes. Um. Sure." Kathryn stuttered before turning around in her seat to face her Security Officer. "Tuvok, please beam a security detachment over to their ship to oversea the… repairs… that we'll be receiving."
"Of course, Captain." Tuvok responded with his perfect Vulcan aplomb.
"Ah, Chakotay?" Janeway asked hesitantly, looking down at her hands.
"Yes, Captain?" Her First Officer replied.
"I think that we should give Seven and B'Elanna some time off." Captain Janeway suggested softly.
Chakotay stared at her for a moment before looking at the devastation on the other ship. Turning back to face her, he said, "I whole-heartedly agree, Captain."
She nodded and stood up. "I'll be in my ready room, Commander." She said to him before beginning to walk off. After a few steps, however, she turned back to face him. "I think that it would be a really good idea to have the computer remind us when their anniversary comes up so that we don't have any… scheduling… problems later on." Kathryn said in her soft, quiet voice.
"I'm already on it, Captain." He agreed with her.
Later that night, in the quarters assigned to the Torres family, Seven finally nodded to herself. The place had been cleaned up and everything that needed to be replaced had been replaced. The bedroom was back in its perfect condition. The dinning room table had been cleaned off and restocked. The candles had been replaced and lit. Everything was back to being perfect.
She looked down at her newly replicated dress and made sure that there wasn't an inappropriate wrinkle in the outfit. Then she checked her sandals, followed by her hair. Everything was in its proper place, she said to herself.
The door to their quarters hissed open and Seven turned around to greet her wife. "Hello, B'Elanna. Happy Anniversary." She said softly, wrapping the little Klingon up in a hug and pressing her lips to the other woman's.
Finally released from the passionate kiss, B'Elanna smiled back at the tall blonde. "Happy Anniversary to you too. The Captain called right after the attack and said that you were fine, so I kept working to get the warp drive back online. Otherwise, I would have been home sooner."
"It is not a problem, B'Elanna." Seven responded, not letting go of the smaller woman as she guided her to the table. "I prepared your favorite meal to celebrate this occasion."
"I noticed." The engineer said with a smile before turning thoughtful. "Did you notice anything odd about the Captain today?"
Seven froze momentarily before regaining her composure. "I have not seen the Captain today. You know that I have been ordered to remain in our quarters by the Doctor." She said with a perfectly impassive face.
"Oh, yeah. I forgot about that." B'Elanna said, looking down at Seven's abdomen for a second. "So everything's ok with the little one?"
"The Doctor came by to check on me. He said that everything was fine." The blonde hastily assured her wife.
"I'm glad. I definitely don't want anything happening to you and her." The Klingon told her. She was about to take another bite from her dinner when she noticed a familiar object lying on the couch. "Seven? What is my mother's disruptor on the couch?" She asked in a puzzled tone.
Seven kept her eyes on her plate and remained silent for the split second it took to think of a response. "I wanted to clean it today." The blonde stated, not looking up from her plate.
"Oh, ok." B'Elanna said, turning her attention back to her meal. "Anyway, the Captain came up to me today and ordered me to take the next few days off in order to celebrate our anniversary. She kept giving me this real funny look."
"Really?" Seven replied in that tone of voice that indicated that she really wasn't interested in the current topic.
Being married to the ex-drone for over a year, B'Elanna knew it was time to change the topic. When her wife got that particular tone in her speech, something was going to happen if she kept on with it. "So, what did you do today?" She asked hastily.
"I did a little research." Seven replied. "But for the most part, I remained here in our quarters." She said with a small, secretive smile.
"What did you research?" B'Elanna asked.
"Anger and the appropriate uses of it." Seven said calmly.
The End