| |
Nine Months – Meeting the Others
By Kudara
Disclaimer: Star Trek Voyager and all who sail in her belong to
Paramount/Viacom and no infringement of copyright/trade marks is
intended.
Rating: Adult
Feedback: Always welcome, feedback is what encourages me to keep
writing. Please let me know what you like and what you dislike
about the story.
Revision History: 12/11/05; minor revision 01/05/07
Summary: B’Elanna and Seven’s conditioning has been completed,
and they are allowed to join the other captives.
****************************************************************
Chapter 18 - Stardate 52562.64 (July 25, 2375 08:45am)
B’Elanna ran her hand up the side of the boot sealing it closed
around her ankle and lower calf. Straightening, she absently
checked her appearance; black, on black, on black, the robots
definitely not into color accents. Black undershirt under a
black shirt neatly tucked in at the waist, black pants with a
black silver-buckled belt that were bloused into black boots,
the only thing left was to run a brush though her hair.
Satisfied with her appearance, she turned and left the bedroom.
Entering the main living area, she smiled as she saw Seven
wiping her hands dry after washing the last of their breakfast
dishes. Seven hadn’t noticed her yet, and B’Elanna took a moment
to admire the blonde. Her long, golden hair was gathered up in a
pony tail at her neck, and hung to just blow her shoulder
blades. She was wearing white today, and the cottony material of
the long sleeved loose fitting top clung only to her full
breasts, elsewhere it hung loosely and swayed with her
movements. The white pants were made of the same material as the
shirt, and clung to her hips and rear then fell to just above
her ankle, on her feet were a pair of white loafer style shoes.
Seven finally noticed her standing there, and quirked one
metallic brow at her in a silent question. “Just admiring how
beautiful you are,” B’Elanna said in a candid tone, as she began
walking toward Seven, grinning at the now somewhat embarrassed,
but smiling blonde.
Ever since the night she had apologized, things had become more
relaxed between them. Seven smiled more frequently, she
initiated physical contact such as hugs and kisses more often,
and sat close enough to B’Elanna that their thighs touched
instead of keeping an inch or so between them. She also talked
more freely, and with less pauses to consider what she was about
to say.
It had been enough of a change that B’Elanna was dismayed that
she hadn’t noticed that Seven hadn’t been completely relaxed
around her before. Of course, Seven had been relaxed compared to
how she had acted around B’Elanna aboard Voyager, but now it was
clear that Seven hadn’t been as relaxed around her as the
half-Klingon had thought she had been.
“Thank you, B’Elanna,” Seven replied, after a short silence.
B’Elanna could tell the blonde still didn’t feel entirely
comfortable with the compliment, but when Seven met her gaze,
she could see that the blonde did accept it. She didn’t know if
Seven accepted that she was beautiful yet, but the blonde did
seem to accept that B’Elanna thought that she was.
The doors to their quarters opened and B’Elanna turned,
immediately wary and alert, the training robot was ten minutes
early and she didn’t know why, or what it wanted.
“B’Elanna Torres, phases one and two of your training have been
completed. You have been assigned to Alpha Squad, Primary Leader
Elizabeth Janeway…”
B’Elanna gaped in surprise at the name, wondering immediately if
there was some familial connection with Captain Kathryn Janeway.
“You and your hostage will now follow me to Alpha Squad’s
Community Room where you will join Alpha Squad and their
hostages.” The training robot finished.
B’Elanna immediately turned to look at Seven, the blonde
appeared frozen, eyes slightly widened, face tense as she stared
at the robot. “Seven,” the half-Klingon called, and held out her
hand. Seven jerked out of wherever she had gone to, and looked
over at her. She could see that Seven took a moment to compose
herself, then the blonde nodded to her and came over, accepting
the reassurance of her outstretched hand.
After their discussions over the past few months, B’Elanna knew
that Seven strongly disliked meeting new people. There had been
too many times that she had been seen only as a Borg, and
treated with hostility and fear, for her to approach such a
situation with anything but dismay. Unfortunately, Seven’s
response was to put up a façade of unemotional detachment and
superiority, almost the polar opposite of B’Elanna’s anger and
aggression reaction. Both reactions, however, were usually
equally good at provoking just the response they had expected,
thus doing a fine job of justifying their going into such
situations expecting just that response.
Fortunately for them both, B’Elanna had some experience with
changing her reactions, having been quite bluntly informed by
Chakotay during their first year in the Delta Quadrant, that as
the Chief Engineer, she had to stop going into situations with
such an attitude, or she would loose her post. Not that
well-meaning councilors and teachers hadn’t pointed out in the
past that going into a situation with an aggressive attitude
usually provoked an aggressive response, they had, she just
hadn’t had such a good reason to stop the behavior before.
With the motivation of losing the Chief Engineer posting she was
so proud of obtaining, the assistance of Lt. Cmdr Tuvok, and her
general high regard for Chakotay, she had stepped back, and
taken more than the token effort she had made in the past.
Finally, she had acknowledged that how she behaved in situations
affected the behavior of others, and that going into a situation
expecting hostility often provoked just that response. But even
with her determination to change, it had been a slow process to
adopt a less aggressive style, and to learn to use Tuvok’s
meditation techniques to control her anger instead of letting it
have free reign.
She had been proud of her success until Seven of Nine Tertiary
Adjunct to Unimatrix One came aboard and forced them into a
confrontation with Species 8742. The day that she had been
forced to corporate with the drone in installing the Borg
upgrades necessary to survive the confrontation had been
distinctly unpleasant. The Borg’s chilly, dispassionate stare,
as she turned the engineer’s engine room into a mishmash of
Federation and Borg technology, had infuriated B’Elanna. She had
lost her temper more than once, as Seven of Nine invaded and
took over her territory with cool aplomb, and treated the
engineer and her entire staff as if they were her personal
drones to order around.
When they had succeeded in driving Species 8742 back into
fluidic space, she had thought it would be the last she would
see of the arrogant Borg until Captain Janeway decided to rescue
Seven instead of returning her, and had separated her from the
Collective. B’Elanna had honestly intended to given Seven a
chance, but she had seen no apparent change in Seven’s demeanor,
no sign that the woman regretted her past at all, and little to
no change in the way the Borg treated others. She had decided
that the Captain had been wrong, they might have taken Seven out
of the Borg, but they couldn’t take the Borg out of Seven. And
B’Elanna had stubbornly held by that decision until they had
been captured, and she had been forced into controlling her
angry responses to keep the former drone from being punished. It
was only after a month of close contact with Seven that she
finally saw that the woman’s Borg mannerisms were just the
blonde’s way of protecting herself.
After Seven’s recovery from the robots attack, and their
newfound friendship, they had begun discussing some of the
ex-Borg’s experiences aboard Voyager. These discussions often
touched on Seven’s distance from the crew, and her inability to
figure out how to bridge that distance and show them that she
had changed. Over the course of a few of these talks, it became
apparent to B’Elanna that Seven had always felt defensive and
wary around Voyagers crew, and that the blonde hid behind her
Borg mannerisms when she felt unsure, and B’Elanna suspected,
afraid.
Eventually, seeing the parallels in their behavior, B’Elanna had
taken the opportunity to tentatively point out that perhaps
reacting to others in a very Borg like manner, might possibly
increase the chances that others would only see her as Borg.
After considering B’Elanna’s words, Seven had been quite
dismayed that she had fallen into such self-justifying circular
reasoning and actions, but had been at a loss, as to how to
rectify the situation. Falling back on her Borg past, and
silently declaring her emotions irrelevant, was the only way
Seven knew to control her emotions when they threatened to
overwhelm her. The candid admission had surprised B’Elanna, and
not knowing what else to do, she had attempted to explain
Tuvok’s meditative techniques to Seven, but they had been
designed to help her deal with her anger, and Seven’s problem
was slightly different.
Glancing down at the blonde woman holding her hand tightly,
B’Elanna wondered how effective Seven found the techniques.
Prior to and during the treatments a few weeks before they had
been working on them almost nightly, but more recently they had
found other, more interesting, things to do in the evenings.
B’Elanna smiled at the thought of those things, then it faded as
she took in the tenseness of the woman walking beside her. She
certainly understood why Seven would be tense, not only were
they about to meet people that might see her as Borg, but they
were about to meet those that had captured them in the first
place. She wasn’t too certain what she felt about the upcoming
meeting either. Even though she knew the other prisoners had
only captured them to protect their own hostages, she still
couldn’t quite dismiss the anger she felt toward them for
obeying the order, and thus being partially responsible for the
things that had happened to she and Seven since then.
“Seven,” she said softly to get the blonde’s attention. When the
tense, emotionless face of her lover turned toward her, “I
thought you were going to give people a chance to see you?” she
asked gently. The expressionless mask shattered completely at
these words. B’Elanna cursed herself for being so thoughtless.
She should have realized that Seven veneer of control would be
brittle and thin, given the stresses of the past few months.
Seven’s anxiety was clearly visible now, and she stood unmoving,
striving to regain control over her emotions.
Seeing that the robot was drawing away from them, B’Elanna bent
and picked up Seven in her arms, startling a surprised
exclamation from the blonde, as she wrapped her arms around the
taller woman’s neck. “Can’t stop moving.” she explained, noting
that she had at least startled Seven out of the anxious
expression she had worn. “They can’t treat you too badly you
know.” she reminded Seven. “And I’ll be with you, no matter how
this goes.” she hugged the blonde more tightly to her. Their
eyes met, blue ones searched hers questioningly. Resolutely she
met them, trying to let the other woman know that she meant what
she said, she would be with, and for her.
Seven took in a steadying breath, nodded. “I wish to walk now,”
she informed B’Elanna.
Silently the half-Klingon paused and slowly released the blonde,
letting her slide down her own body until she was standing on
the floor once again. Swiftly Seven lifted her face, and going
up on her toes, she pressed her lips against B’Elanna’s, and
whispered, “Thank you,” then turned and walked after the robot.
B’Elanna quickened her stride for a few steps to catch up with
her, and reclaimed her hand. Seven glanced over at her, and a
small smile graced her lips in response. They were rapidly
approaching the end of the hallway, as the robot approached the
doors; they opened revealing a large room beyond them.
B’Elanna gasped, shocked, a sound mirrored by the blonde beside
her. She had been expecting to see several other women, after
all the robot had stated that she was the 150th member of the
squad, but not children. Tall women dressed in black uniforms
like hers’ stood beside women of all different heights, dressed
in variations of the same outfit Seven wore. All of the couples
had a child, or in some cases children, B’Elanna noticed looking
at the couple that stood in front of all the others.
The half-Klingon guessed that the woman in the black uniform
stood six foot and three inches tall, the exact same height as
herself. She had russet hair and piercing grey eyes, and was
beautiful in the manner of those classically elegant. Suddenly
B’Elanna was certain that she was looking at Elizabeth Janeway,
and if the woman wasn’t related to Captain Kathryn Janeway,
B’Elanna would eat gagh, which she detested, willingly. Her
hostage was a much shorter brunette, caramel skinned woman, and
B’Elanna felt a moment of kinship as she realized that the woman
was of Hispanic heritage like herself. The smiling generous
mouth, and crinkles at the corner of dark, bright, merry eyes
betrayed a warm disposition at odds with the more intense,
poised, grey-eyed presence at her side.
The two women stood beside one another, the taller with a hand
resting on the shoulder of a brown haired girl perhaps six or so
that meet the half-Klingon’s look unabashedly. Beside her was a
smaller russet haired girl, obviously much shyer, who held onto
the shorter woman and peeked uncertainly at the two newcomers.
Behind the lead couple stood the rest of Alpha Squad, B’Elanna
didn’t bother to count she knew there would be 149 couples.
The robot had continued moving forward until it stopped a few
meters in front of the lead couple. “Elizabeth Janeway, Alpha
Squad Leader. Electronics and Communications Specialist,
B’Elanna Torres, has completed training, and has been assigned
to Alpha Squad. Alpha Squad orientation for the new member will
begin in two hours.”
***************************************************
Chapter 18 con’t - Stardate 52562.68 (July 25, 2375 09:05am)
B’Elanna and Seven had belatedly followed the robot, and now
stood just inside the room listening to it. As soon as it had
finished it turned and headed back toward them, and as they
hastily moved out of its way, it moved pass them without any
further communication, and left via the same door they had
entered, leaving them with the others.
Seven’s grip on her hand tightened as almost all eyes in the
room focused on them. “I’m here,” B’Elanna reminded her in a low
whisper as she moved closer to the blonde woman.
The silence stretched on for a moment longer before it was
broken by the piping voice of the brown haired child standing in
front of Elizabeth Janeway, “Mama, she has pretty stuff on her
face.”
B’Elanna couldn’t help but smile at the comment, even as she
uneasily wondered how the two women would react to it. Scanning
the faces of the crowd of women, she was surprised to note that
she could see no hostility apparent in anyone, only curiosity
and a few friendly smiles.
“Yes, she does,” the tall brunette agreed, while watching them
intently.
No one had, as yet moved, though B’Elanna could see increasing
numbers of the women looking back and forth between Elizabeth
Janeway, the woman beside her and their children, and Seven and
she. It was the shorter Hispanic woman that broke the silence
first, picking up the young girl clinging to her, she stepped
forward with a friendly smile. “I’m Maria Rodriguez, the tall,
silent one is Elizabeth Janeway,” the woman at her side smirked,
rolled her eyes and followed her, ushering along the older girl.
“And this is Ruth, and my oldest one is Mary.” She continued the
introductions.
“Hello,” Elizabeth greeted them.
B’Elanna examined the tall russet-haired woman intently as she
returned the greeting, Elizabeth Janeway’s grey, calm eyes
meeting the half-Klingons unswervingly. They held both sorrow
and resolve, and as the half-Klingon dropped her eyes to the
child standing in front of her she felt the last of her anger at
the woman drained away. Somehow she didn’t doubt that their
captor or captors were more than willing to use the two children
as hostages in addition to Maria, and that changed everything.
“B’Elanna Torres, and Seven of Nine,” she introduced, and as if
this had been some type of signal the rest of the women began to
come forward. Directly behind Elizabeth and Maria, were two blue
eyed blonde women, with matching blue eyed blond girls, who
looked to be the same age as Elizabeth’s children. They
introduced themselves as Christina Myers, Secondary Leader of
Alpha Squad, and Nancy Miller, the children were Carol and
Rebecca.
As the remainder of the women closed in around them and began
introducing themselves, their voices a mixture of tones and
strange accents. Seven stepped closer to B’Elanna and gripped
her hand tightly. Glancing over she could see that Seven was
becoming increasingly nervous as the crowd around them grew.
Before B’Elanna could say anything Maria spoke up, “Ok, everyone
back up some. There will be plenty of time to introduce everyone
later. Let’s give them some room.”
As the half-Klingon turned and wrapped Seven in her arms she
could see the women pause at Maria’s words, and look at them
intently. She over heard whispered and murmured comments, “She’s
scared,” “We’re overwhelming her,” and even one, “I don’t blame
her, I’d be ready to run if this many strangers came up to me
all at once too.” Slowly, with disappointed, but understanding,
looks they dispersed, leaving only two couples, Elizabeth and
Maria, and Christina and Nancy, and their children.
“Is that jewelry on your face?” asked Mary, boldly curious after
a moment.
“Mary,” Maria said chidingly. B’Elanna noticed Elizabeth’s mouth
twitch in a smile before she hid it at the child’s blunt
question.
B’Elanna loosened her arms as Seven turned in them to face the
child, she stiffened defensively, “No, they are Borg implants.”
the response was flat and unemotional.
The four adults eyed her intently, slight puzzled frowns
apparent on Christina and Nancy’s faces. The child, Mary, had a
very obvious frown on her face at the tone of the reply.
B’Elanna stiffened uncertainly, wondering what would happen
next, and wishing that this topic hadn’t been brought up so
quickly. Seven feeling her response, glanced back and up into
her face, her blue eyes held a certain amount of wariness, and
the half-Klingon realized that the blonde expected her to
disapprove of the way she had responded. Ever so slightly she
tightened her arms around Seven, and tried to convey her
acceptance of how the ex-Borg was feeling, and her understanding
of why the blonde had reacted the way she had.
She wasn’t aware of how successful she was being, of the way it
showed in her face, or the thoughtful looks being directed
toward them from the two couples, as they stood staring into
each other’s eyes. Finally Seven drew in a deep breath, and
B’Elanna could see the renewed calmness in her eyes, before she
turned to face the other two couples once again.
“We don’t know who, or what, the Borg are,” explained Elizabeth
Janeway as soon as they looked toward her again. “But, I’d guess
from your response that your pretty use to getting hostile
reactions when people find out about your implants.” Her voice
was quiet and even as she spoke, and her countenance was kind,
and maybe even sympathetic as she spoke to Seven.
“You are correct, the Borg are feared and hated by most.” Seven
replied warily.
The taller blond woman spoke up, “So how did you get the
implants?”
Before B’Elanna could interrupt Seven replied, “I was
assimilated as a child along with my parents, and was Borg until
severed from the Collective 18 months, 13 days, 6 hours and 23
minutes ago by Captain Kathryn Janeway of the Federation
Starship Voyager.”
Seven’s reply received almost matching curious and puzzled
responses. Elizabeth tilted her slightly sideways at the answer,
a slight frown upon her face, “Maybe we ought to go sit down
before we discuss anything more.” She motioned toward one side
of the room where there were several large tables.
“Hmm, yes I think so,” agreed Maria, “And maybe Janice and Lee
should come and listen as well.” she said watching Seven and
B’Elanna perceptively.
“Good idea,” agreed Nancy, almost absently as she watched the
new couple.
B’Elanna frowned wondering why they wanted to invite the two
women mentioned, and why Elizabeth and Christina glanced at one
another with almost matching raised eyebrows and knowing looks,
after hearing the names.
After sending the children off to play, they were introduced to
Janice Young and Elizabeth Scott, more commonly called Lee Scott
to cut down on the confusion. Lee Scott was an older woman;
B’Elanna guessed she was around fifty. Janice Young was around
B’Elanna’s age, mid twenties or so, and exotic looking, with
almond shaped dark eyes, midnight black hair and light brown
skin. She presented a serious, no nonsense demeanor, yet her
eyes showed great kindness.
Lee Scott intimidated B’Elanna, the woman practically radiated
an odd combination of power, self-assurance, serenity, and
kindness. The woman was very petite, standing less than five
feet tall and weighing perhaps ninety pounds. She reminded
B’Elanna of Kathryn Janeway in that both women exuded power far
in excess of their physical size. Short layered brown hair
sprinkled with grey framed a strong face that was perhaps more
handsome than beautiful, and keen grey eyes studied them
intently as they were introduced to her. Staring at the woman
curiously, B’Elanna had the distinct impression that she had
seen this woman before somewhere, but the where eluded her.
A few minutes were spent on catching up the two new women before
Elizabeth turned to them and asked, “So what is assimilation,
and who is Kathryn Janeway?”
“Before we answer there are some questions I’d really like to
ask,” B’Elanna interrupted.
“Of course,” Elizabeth nodded, “Just keep in mind that all the
restricted topics of conversation are still restricted.”
B’Elanna nodded, “I didn’t expect otherwise,” she said
resignedly, no where was free of the robots surveillance. “Can
you tell me where we are, and why we are here?”
“About twenty light years from where we found you,” answered
Elizabeth. “As for why, I don’t know exactly, every month or so
we go and compete against other units.”
“Other units like this,” B’Elanna indicated the other women in
the room.
“No, we’ve competed against no other unit of humans, their
always aliens, sometimes all one type, sometimes mixed.”
Elizabeth replied.
B’Elanna absorbed this information then asked the one question
that was still burning in her mind, “Who are you?”
“Col. Elizabeth Janeway, United States Marine Corps.” she
answered.
“That organization has not been in existence for 262 years,”
stated Seven.
“What happened 262 years ago?” asked Christine.
“The United States of America ceased to exist as an independent
nation when it became a part of the United Earth government.”
the blonde responded, frowning slightly.
“We don’t have any knowledge of what has happened there since
2025, all of us were taken between 2000 and 2025.” Lee spoke for
the first time.
“But, how long have you been here?” asked B’Elanna confused.
“Eight years,” replied Lee.
“Seven,” said Elizabeth, Maria, Christian and Nancy.
“Four,” finished Janice.
“Stasis or cryogenic suspension,” theorized Seven. B’Elanna
nodded; it was really the only thing that made any sense at all.
“Do you know why it was 350 years before you were awakened?” the
half-Klingon asked.
“No, none,” Elizabeth shook her head. “Now that we’ve answered
some of your questions, how about my two? What’s assimilation,
and who is Kathryn Janeway?”
Seven, with a few comments thrown in for clarification by
B’Elanna explained the Borg structure, their determination to
assimilate technologies and cultures to achieve perfection, and
then moved on to how nanoprobes were injected into the body,
formed an initial set of implants, altered the pathways of the
brain and joined the new drone to the Collective. Seven then
explained the different types of drones, the fitting of the
secondary implants and replacement of organic parts with
cybernetic ones suited to the drone’s function and the fitting
of the body armor.
The women, despite the occasional look of dismay and disgust at
some of the descriptions of what happened during the
transformation into a Borg drone, seemed to be wholly
sympathetic to Seven and what she had undergone. Finally they
took turns relating how Seven had been severed from the
Collective, and gave the women the short version tale of how a
Federation Starship managed to be out in the Delta Quadrant and
something about the woman who was it’s Captain.
“So if drones only obey the will of the Collective, how do the
Borg decide what to do next?” asked Elizabeth curiously, when
they finished.
“The Borg Queen brings order to the Collective, and provides
direction to the Borg,” Seven answered.
“So you have one person at the top that gets to order everyone
else around, and they aren’t allowed to even think rebellious
thoughts?” asked Christiana. “Sounds like every crackpot
dictator’s wet dream.” she noted sarcastically.
Seven reacted defensively, “The Borg Queen is not a dictator.”
Before anyone could respond Lee held up her hand commandingly,
everyone looked at her silently. “Do you still think that the
Collective can obtain perfection by assimilating cultures and
technologies?” she asked in a non-judgmental tone. B’Elanna
noticed immediately that her accent was clearly different from
everyone else’s around the table.
B’Elanna frowned at the question, not liking it at all; Seven
didn’t like talking about the Borg, not even with her. Those
times she had asked Seven had looked so uncertain and miserable,
that she had dropped the topic, not wanting the blonde to feel
as if she had to answer. Their discussions had centered around
Seven’s adjustment to Voyager and individuality.
Seven stared at Lee in surprise, she opened her mouth as if to
reply then fell silent, and a distressed frown formed as she
considered the question.
The half-Klingon frowned as well, wondering why Seven just
didn’t come out and say that the Collective was wrong. She was
certain that ex-drone didn’t want to go back to the Borg, and
she knew that Seven enjoyed her individuality. But that wasn’t
what was important at the moment, “Seven you don’t have to
answer.” She glared at the other woman, knowing that if said
anymore she was likely to sound angry and get Seven punished.
She was aware that the other women were staring at her but she
didn’t care, she had promised Seven she would be here for her,
and she would be.
“I can understand why you would want to hold onto the idea that
the Collective was moving towards perfection.” Lee said gently,
completely ignoring the glaring half-Klingon, “You spent several
years of your life obeying their directives, and if the
Collective is wrong, then everything you did while with them was
futile.”
B’Elanna felt Seven tense up at these words and she glanced over
at her. Seven’s face was very pale and her eyes were fixed
rigidly upon the older woman.
Lee continued, “If you hold onto the idea that the Borg are
right, then the life you lost, your parents, everyone the
Collective has assimilated, all the cultures wiped out still
have meaning to them, they contributed to something greater than
themselves. But if the Collective is incorrect in their
assumption...then it all means nothing.” Lee looked sorrowfully
at Seven. “If I were in your place I would have great difficulty
admitting that as well, anyone would if they were truthful with
themselves.”
Soft murmurs of conversation went about around them, but at the
table where they sat it was pensively quiet after the diminutive
woman’s words. Maria was the first one to sigh and then quietly
nod, apparently agreeing with Lee’s words, Nancy followed then
Elizabeth and Janice. Finally Christina grimaced, scowled, and
looked away, but despite that her face was thoughtful.
“I do not know,” Seven finally admitted to Lee.
B’Elanna looked back and forth from Lee to Seven, in dismay.
They, meaning Voyager’s crew, had insisted that Seven admit that
the Borg were wrong ever since they had severed her from the
Collective. Certainly she had held Seven’s continuing defense of
the Borg’s purpose against her, and she knew quite a few others
did as well. But she had never considered what they were asking,
from this point of view. Looking at Seven’s tight, strained face
she realized that perhaps they should have, it certainly
explained why the blonde continued to defend the Borg. It
changed the meaning of the question from a simple we’re right,
you’re wrong, which was how she had seen it, into something much
more thorny and difficult.
Lee considered Seven for a long moment, “Understandable.” she
finally assured her.
B’Elanna glanced over at Lee, the older woman had a thoughtful
look on her face as she watched Seven intently. The entry of the
training robot interrupted any further conversation, and as she
left with the other black uniformed women, B’Elanna glanced back
to see that Lee and Maria had moved to sit on either side of
Seven. She felt a moment of alarm that they might continue to
press the blonde, but relaxed when she saw they appeared to be
concentrating on something that Mary was showing Seven.
The doors closing cut off her view and she looked forward,
wondering what was going to happen next, and would she finally
know why she and Seven had been taken captive, why she had been
taught the skills she had, and what did their captors get from
holding them captive.
|
|
