Old Traditions
By Cirroco DeSade
B'Elanna stepped into the turbolift trying to ignore the presence of the tall shapely blonde situated at the back of the car. Honestly, she only had to travel a couple of decks, and then she could join Tom & Harry at Sandrine's. She was planning on drinking the two men under the table as it had been one hell of a day in engineering. She turned to face the door, the other passenger already a faded memory, and called out her destination. As the lift began to accelerate the woman behind her spoke up, a rare thing since Seven didn't usually start social interactions with the engineer.
"Lieutenant," Seven spoke in that cool crisp way she had of addressing her and B'Elanna's shoulders literally twitched. She had forgotten about Seven all too well it seemed. "I was curious; would it be bothersome to you, as Chief Engineer, to find that some crewmen were using parts of the ship in an illicit fashion?"
B'Elanna turned to face the former drone, even as alarm bells began ringing in her head. Something about this was off, she was sure of it. She was also sure that for some reason she really didn't want to get into this conversation with the blonde bombshell in front of her. It sounded all too much like one of those 'philosophical discussions' that Seven and the Captain were always having. Even Janeway was known to toss down a couple of whiskey and sodas after those talks.
"Why do you ask, Seven?" B'Elanna asked warily.
"It came to my attention recently that a very old practice has found its way to Voyager," Seven said. She turned her head thoughtfully and then added. "From my research it began in buildings in were what then called 'elevators' and has progressed to its current form on starships. It probably was instated on Voyager shortly after the ship got under way in the Alpha Quadrant; however there is no data to rely upon."
Again, B'Elanna couldn't really decide if she wanted to continue this conversation. She wondered crankily why the lift couldn't just get to the damned floor already. "What are you talking about, Seven?" she growled out.
Just then the lift doors opened to reveal Tal Celes and Jennifer Delaney, fairly inebriated, arm in arm and giggling. Simultaneously Seven answered B'Elanna quite clearly.
"I am inquiring about Turbolift sex Lieutenant," Seven answered very clearly.
The two drunken women became unnaturally quiet for a moment then Jennifer, always much bolder than her friend Celes, ranted, "Whoa! This lift is obviously taken!" Celes just goggled open-mouthed.
B'Elanna spun around at the sound of Jennifer's voice in shock. "You're supposed to seal it, guys, and put it in maintenance mode! Computer, send this lift to Maintenance Bay Alpha and begin maintenance plan Beta," The Delaney twin ordered.
Since Voyager's computer simply followed any order given without accounting for anybody's emotional state or desires, the lift immediately chirped and started rushing off in another direction entirely from the way B'Elanna had been headed.
"What the," B'Elanna cried out, staring at the now closed doors. She turned back to glare at Seven. "Do you realize what those two think now?" she cried incredulously.
"That we are about to engage in non-reproductive copulation," the Borg answered, unruffled.
Putting her hands over her face B'Elanna wondered what she had done to deserve this day. It just couldn't get any weirder. Then it did, of course.
"Apparently, one of the benefits of such an adventure is that it can be performed with somebody with which one has no commitments to," Seven added.
B'Elanna peeked at the blonde from behind her fingers, and then realized how ridiculous she must look because of the facial expression that the normally unreadable drone was making. Dropping her hands quickly to her sides she coughed, clearing her throat, attempting to get a head of steam together so she could lay into the woman in front of her. After all, they had just arrived at the maintenance bay, and the computer would send it through a lengthy maintenance, trapping the two women for at least a half hour. The only escape was a transport that she would not dare call for, considering the fact that she'd have to explain why to the Captain; nope, no transporting, B'Elanna thought.
"I do find you to be the most attractive person on the ship," Seven said, actually a little more quietly and shyly than B'Elanna had ever heard her speak.
The angry and outraged arguments vanished like so much loose latinum near a Ferengi family. The bubble well and truly burst when she saw Seven starting to look at her as if she were a premium specimen of her species. The long, hot look that the Borg partook of her body actually made her temperature rise a little and her pulse accelerate. When the blonde's eyes met hers again, they were dilated, and B'Elanna wasn't exactly sure if she remembered any words anymore anyway.
"Me?" she asked. Seven nodded. "Me and you… and sex?"
When the Borg nodded again B'Elanna was glad that her Klingon heritage kicked in, because she was convinced that if she had waited on the Human part of her brain much longer, they would have wasted a few more precious moments of that maintenance cycle. And, by Kahless, she needed every second she could get just to figure out how to get into that damned biosuit!
The End