Seven of Nine entered the room with a twinkle in her eye and carrying a concealed dish. “Captain, I have something for you.” She uncovered the dish to reveal a miniature cake with a single candle flickering in the breeze she created as she walked over to my desk.
Naturally, I smiled at the welcomed intrusion. Merely being in her presence lately brought out my good side. “What’s the occasion?”
“Today is May 20th. It is the anniversary of your birth, is it not?”
I had forgotten all about it. That’s what happens when you’re in space for so long. All concept of time seems to come to an end, and before you know it you’ve forgotten birthdays and anniversaries and every day is like the next, except you’re getting older and people you know start dieing. I was truly surprised that someone even remembered it was my birthday, other than Neelix, who made it his mission to know these things, and it warmed me that someone had made the effort to celebrate it with me. “I guess it is. How did you find out it was my birthday?”
“I am Borg,” she quipped, adding a slight raise to her brow and the smirk I enjoyed. Sometimes I think she does that on purpose just to get a rise out of me.
“I keep forgetting.” I gestured for her to join me on the couch so we could share the few minutes we had together before returning to duty. I could have taken more time, I should have taken more time that morning, but I didn’t know then what I know now.
She watched me carefully as I made my birthday wish. Every year since being stuck out here in this God forsaken place I’ve wished for the same thing- that we would find a quick way home. Apparently no one had been listening, so this year I altered it. I think I even put my hand on her knee when I blew out the candle. It wasn’t conscious, and I’m not even completely sure I did it. It’s just a vague feeling I have now, the memory of it fading away as quickly as she did. “Thank you, Seven, for sharing this day with me. I am truly flattered that you remembered.”
“Thank you for allowing me to celebrate this day with you, Captain. You have taught me many things, the most important being friendship, and I value your company. You are a good friend.”
If there was anyone who could make me all gooey inside it was Seven. I don’t even know how it happened, how she found her way into my heart, but that’s where she was. I should have said something…done something…but I was so hell bent on protocol and ethics that I let the opportunity pass and all I did was thank her for being a good friend too.
“I must return to Astrometrics now. Crewman Celes is running a diagnostic and her work must be constantly monitored.” She rose from the couch and almost reached the door before turning. “Would you like to have dinner with me on the holodeck tonight?”
Would I? Oh Seven, I wanted to have dinner with you so badly. Dessert too, and make you breakfast the next morning after spending the entire night in your arms. I’m such a fool to let things happen the way they did. “That sounds wonderful. 1800 hours?”
“Acceptable. I shall meet you there. Happy birthday,” She added before leaving.
That was the last time we spoke.
There was only one reason she would ask me to dinner on the holodeck. It was a date. I suspected for quite some time now that she had a crush on me, and my own feelings for her sometimes kept me awake at night, but I never acted on them. I figured it was all right to indulge this one time, being my birthday, but I had to be careful. I couldn’t let things advance too far. I found myself a million miles away daydreaming about our date that evening when he showed up.
“Kathy…Kathy…Kathy. Why didn’t you tell me there was someone else?”
I immediately recognized his smug voice and knew I was in for another round of troubles. Quickly regaining my composure, I turned to face the flamboyant man I swore loved nothing more than to bother me. “Q. To what do I owe the pleasure this time?”
“Oh you remember me! I’m flattered!”
“How could I ever forget you?” I was never amused with his intrusions and this time was no different.
“If I knew you loved the Borg so much I would have tossed a Cube or two your way.”
I hate when he plays games with me, but he lives for that. “What are you talking about?”
“Oh come now, Kathy,” he smirked, “I almost needed a hose to put out the fire in this room. I’ve never seen you so…aroused before. It’s exciting. Jean Luc never opened himself to me like you have.”
I was extremely thankful he wasn’t aware of how I really felt, how my stomach tingled and pulse throbbed at the mere thought of Seven of Nine. I crossed my arms and went back on the offensive. “Why are you here?”
“Oh all right,” Q gave in for once. “I’ll let you off the hook this time. I came on behalf of the Continuum to thank you. Junior restored peace among us once again. I told them it was all my doing, that he’s a chip of the old block, but they didn’t buy it.”
“Hmph…imagine that.”
“You know how those old prudes get. They never acknowledge the good things I do. Just between you and me, I think it’s a conspiracy.”
“Really?” I never understood how someone with so much potential could be so self-absorbed. He could do so many great things, help so many people, but instead he spent his time wrecking havoc throughout the galaxy and harassing me when he got bored with that.
“Of course, why else would they ask me to come and thank you? They want to get rid of me. I told them you don’t like gratitude but they insisted. They’re probably plotting against me this very minute.” He caught me smirk in disbelief but continued, “So, on behalf of the Continuum, thank you, Kathy.” Then he bowed his head, turning something so simple into a grandiose gesture- the Q way, and gave me a data padd filled with mathematical equations to shorten our journey by five more years.
Red flags went up immediately and I went on guard, certain something much grander going on. “What are you up to this time, Q?”
“Moi? Honestly, you humans are so suspicious of everyone.”
“I think I have good reason, given your history.”
“Well that’s all in the past. I’ve turned over a new leaf.” Then he leaned in, invading my personal space, and continued. “You’ve shown me the error of my ways. I’m a new man and it’s all because of you.”
At this point I wouldn’t have believe him if he said rain was wet, but I gracefully took the data padd, hoping he would leave, and returned to my desk. I needed to finish my own work and prepare myself for dinner that evening. I planned to look over the specs after he left and would decide what to do with the information at that point. B'Elanna and Harry were still reviewing the equations of the last gift the Continuum had given them when I helped his son. That would shorten our journey by five years too, so this additional information would definitely renew our hope of reaching home again.
“Thank you,” I said, smiling politely, but he couldn’t resist one last cocky remark before leaving.
“I would have given you roses but I think your Borg friend might get jealous.”
“Q, whatever you think you may have seen is all in your head. I have no interest in any of my crew other than that of a professional nature.” Who was I kidding? Could that have been a bigger lie? There were times I was convinced my lust for her was tattooed all over my face, but I still did my best to hide it.
“Madame Captain, if that’s the way you feel then who am I, Your Omnipotentcy, to argue?” He raised his hands in surrender and vanished as hastily as he appeared.
I shrugged it off, relieved to have survived another round with Q, something I hoped I wouldn’t have to deal with again anytime soon, though deep down I didn’t trust him one bit and still suspected he was up to something more. I began losing myself in possible motives when the ship jolted violently, the klaxons sounded, and all hell broke loose.
“Captain to the bridge!”
I stormed onto the bridge and was in awe when I saw the ship on the view screen. It was enormous! A warship nearly as large as a Borg Cube was prominently displayed, and as Voyager continued jolting with blasts from the invading vessel all I could do was hold on to the side rail for support.
“Report!”
“They are not answering hails,” Tuvok responded in frustration, very unlike his Vulcan demeanor.
“They’ve got a tractor beam on us, Captain,” Harry reported.
“Send a feedback pulse through their tractor beam. Tom, go to warp 3 when we break free.”
They keyed in a series of quick commands and we had broken free, but our warp engines were damaged in the process. Then a soft chirp alerted us that the aliens suddenly wanted to talk. It’s interesting how it always works out that way.
“Why have you fired on us?” Their leader demanded. I didn’t recognize his species, and he was far from friendly looking with his ridged brow and black eyes.
“Excuse me?” I was in disbelief. Why was it always the Delta Quadrant way to shoot first and ask questions later? “I believe it was you who fired at us.”
“You have Borg drones on your vessel. Lower your shields and prepare for boarding.”
“Our Borg have been separated from the Collective. They’re individuals now and members of my crew.”
“I don’t care if they run your entire ship. The Borg destroyed our race and now we destroy Borg.” The alien’s voice grew increasingly antagonistic and arrogant. “Lower your shields and prepare for boarding or you can die with them.”
I was furious at this point and I made it known in my tone. “I don’t think so. Not today, and not by you.”
Before I could even sit down, Harry detected a series of upcoming weapons fire aimed straight at decks 8 and 11 a split second before they hit. “I don’t know how, Captain, but they penetrated right through our shields.”
I thought it was strange that we hadn’t felt anything up on the bridge. They couldn’t have missed, not that close, yet Voyager hadn’t even budged since we broke free of the beam, much less felt like we were under attack again. “Status?”
“I…don’t…understand what’s happening. Ops controls are fried.” I could tell he was frustrated as he continued tapping keys and got no results. “Backup systems aren’t coming online either.”
“Captain, I am experiencing similar reactions,” Tuvok informed me from Tactical.
“Sickbay to bridge,” a male voice called out.
“Go ahead.”
“The Doctor’s offline and we’re being swamped with injuries. We need help.”
“I’m sending Lt. Paris down now.” I nodded to Tom but he was already up and on his way before I had to verbalize anything. “Tom, keep me informed.”
The minutes passed by like hours as I waited for an update from Tom. The alien ship jumped to warp as soon as it fired the weapon that disabled most of Voyager’s computer systems. Everyone had been occupying one station or another, desperately trying to get the computer and other damaged systems back online, including Chakotay who had been in Engineering all morning working with B'Elanna.
“Sickbay to Janeway.”
They say no news is good news, but in this case that couldn’t be farther from the truth. “Go ahead, Tom.” I waved my hand and cut off Tuvok as he was reporting various malfunctions throughout the ship.
“Captain, you should come down here. Chakotay’s dead and Seven’s hurt bad.” His voice was as solemn as possible, and he hesitated to say more, given the nature of her injuries. Sickbay was flooded with patients burned by console blowouts when the weapons fire hit Voyager, but among the worst injured were Seven and Icheb, the two Borg who were being targeted.
Seven’s hurt? Of all the words I heard, those two echoed through me with a painful chill. I knew it must have been serious or Tom wouldn’t have told me to come down. I don’t remember my exact thoughts at that moment, but I do remember leaping out of my seat and practically running to Sickbay.
Icheb was much luckier than Seven was. Since his physiology depended less upon his Borg implants than Seven’s did, his condition was stabilized within minutes, but Tom was forced to continue administering hypo spray after hypo spray to Seven with no results. The neural stimulator on her neck acted as a mild sedative but still didn’t relieve most of the pain he knew she was feeling. He was working at the medical console, frantically trying anything that would ease her pain and slow the degradation when I bolted through the doors and stopped dead in my track upon seeing her frail body spasming uncontrollably on the biobed.
“What happened?” I raced over to Seven’s side, inadvertently ignoring the other patients in the room and completely forgetting about Chakotay when I saw her convulsing so heavily. Subconsciously, I placed her fragile hand in my own, softly, while studying her pained expression as Tom explained the situation. Whether it was my protective nature or something else, I wasn’t sure, but watching Seven in this much pain was hurting me too and I wished to God I could trade places with her and make her well again.
According to Ensign Gilmore, as Seven worked in Astrometrics, the weapon hit her console and sent electrical pulses through her body. The weapons had to have been designed specifically to destroy Borg technology, as her Borg implants were the only damaged parts of her body. Unfortunately, they regulate her vital organs, and as Tom surmised they acted as a relay for the energy blast and continued fusing her Borg implants one after another. The nanoprobes that regulated her body’s functions weren’t able to repair the damage quick enough, and she immediately fell unconscious and began suffering from severe seizures as her systems shut down one by one. Working at a nearby console, Gilmore had managed to drag Seven into the corridor and Chell, who just happened by at that same moment, helped her get Seven to sickbay.
“If her Borg implants become fully non functional,” Tom continued explaining, “her human physiology will begin shutting down within minutes.”
He tried everything he knew to stop the spread of damage, or at the very least ease her pain, but he didn’t know enough about her unique physiology and therefore was no better help to her than a random person in the corridor. I made a few suggestions, but they were methods he already tried. The only thing left to do at this point was wait for The Doctor to come online, but since Seven’s condition degraded so badly in the few minutes since she was injured, neither of us thought she would last that long.
I never felt more helpless than I did in those moments. I ordered Harry and B’Elanna to speed up their recovery of The Doctor’s program, but I knew they were already working as quickly as possible. I was tempted to take control and bring him back myself but I knew I already had the two best people on the job. It was so frustrating standing there waiting for help that might not arrive in time. B’Elanna explained that they were working as fast as possible but repairing his matrix was going to take at least an hour, so Tom continued trying all he could while I stayed with Seven and began preparing myself for the worst.
I hunched over Seven’s body and whispered comforting words, though who needed them more, myself or Seven, I wasn’t sure. “Seven, you’re going to get through this. I want you to hang on. We’ve got holodeck plans for tonight. You don’t want to stand me up on my birthday, do you?” I hoped that last part would convince her to fight. In reality I didn’t give a damn about my birthday. I would gladly give up everything birthday for the rest of my life if she pulled out of this.
I thought she had heard me when her spasms suddenly subsided and I had that nervous tingling feeling in the pit of my stomach. When I turned to look at Tom for some sign of good news, hoping that something he did had somehow stopped the degradation, his frown and shake of the head told another story and confirmed what I really knew deep down: that things were definitely worsening.
“Captain, her Borg implants are fully nonfunctional now. If we don’t get The Doc back soon we’re going to lose her.”
Losing her wasn’t an option. I refused to let it happen. “Seven, You have to hang on,” I pleaded. “The Doctor will be online soon so please hang on.”
I don’t think I had ever felt so helpless before. I was going out of my mind sitting there, waiting for death to call. It’s the worst feeling in the world, watching someone you love so much dying and there’s not a damn thing you can do about it.
Unable to do anything more, Tom began attending to the other patients in the room, leaving me this private time with Seven. A couple of plasma burns and a sprained wrist were easily repaired, all in silence, and the tension in the room mounted as the minutes ticked on with no sign of The Doctor’s return. He knew what the outcome was going to be. It was only a matter of time. Occasionally, I sensed him glance over his shoulder at us but he never said a word. It’s always that way in a crisis. The senses are sharpened and every look becomes a stare. Every noise it amplified. I guess that’s why the hum of the ship was so loud.
I brushed a few wisps of loosened hair away from Seven’s face and looked deeply past her expression. She looked so innocent lying there, so peaceful, so helpless. I go through this with every injured member of my crew, believing that somehow I’m responsible even if it’s not always true. But in this case it was. If I hadn’t been so terrified of my feelings she would have still been with me when we were attacked, eating cake or just talking, nowhere near that damn console in Astrometrics, and this wouldn’t have happened.
For several minutes my mind wandered as I recalled key moments in our relationship. Little events like the first time I saw Seven laugh and the embarrassment she felt when I would give her a compliment. Little things that made me smile. I did that a lot when I thought about Seven. And then there was her absolute devotion. Sure, she challenged me on occasion and never failed to speak up when she disagreed with my decisions, but she always remained loyal to me. She was so much more than my Astrometrics officer. To say that Seven relied on me for guidance was an understatement, because in a way I depended on her just as much. I always considered myself a mentor for Seven, but lately that role took on new meaning when I found myself falling in love with her.
I was so lost in thought at that moment that I didn’t even notice Icheb approach until he was standing next to me.
“Do you think she will make it, Captain?”
“I hope so, Icheb,” I managed to say without a cracked voice. As usual, I stuffed my feelings deep down and put on my brave face so that no one would guess I was so profoundly troubled by Seven’s injury. Stuffing emotions at times like this was something I learned a long time ago after my father and Justin were killed on that icy planet. Luckily, I have Tuvok on the ship with me now. I’ve known and trusted him enough over the years to depend on his guidance when I needed it, but I don’t think even Tuvok could offer the right thing to say now. “We’re still trying to get The Doctor back online.”
Icheb nodded then left. I was warmed by the wonderful job Seven had done in ushering the young man back to individuality. When he arrived with the other children a year ago he was shy and withdrawn, much like the others. In the short time since his arrival, he had acquired quite an interest in Astrometrics, had applied to take the Starfleet Academy Entrance Exam, made many friendships, and was quickly becoming a responsible adult with a passion to return to Earth as if it was his home too. I never noticed little things like that about Seven and hesitated to think it might be too late to commend her on it if B’Elanna didn’t fix The Doctor in time. She’s such a wonderful person and I was only beginning to truly know her. I was starting to see a side of her no one else did, that part of herself she only showed me.
I thought I felt her hand twitch and returned my full attention to her, noticing the first time since being there the fluttering of her closed eyes. I wondered if she could hear me if I spoke to her so I leaned closer, close enough to feel the heat radiating from her body. “Seven, you mean a great deal to me. You’ve got to hang on. There’s still so much I need to tell you…so much I need for you to know. Please...Don’t do this to me. I need you.”
My thoughts were a scattered mess, jumping from one memory to the next without reason, and the soft light in the room that glistened off Seven’s implants brought me back to the time she had fled the ship, fearful of a conspiracy against her. That moment in the Flyer, being face to face with Seven, looking into her eyes and watching the soft light reflect off her implants was indistinguishable from the way the light bounced off them now. Something happened that night. Our entire relationship began transforming into something much larger. Or maybe that was when I first noticed the change. I’m not sure. Like a fool, I pushed aside the opportunity for us to be something more. It was then that I shed my first tear as I relished the memory. It was only a tiny trickle but may as well have been a full-fledged flood for all the pain it symbolized.
“Seven,” I whispered again. I was painfully aware that time was running out and had no intention of letting her slip away without telling her the truth. “I want you to know that you’ve made me very proud. You’ve exceeded any expectation I might have had, and I’m honored to call you my friend.” My voice began to crack again and I found myself fighting back the tears. “All I wanted for you was the best. I shouldn’t have kept this from you, but I’m your captain, and that means that I can’t let my personal feelings interfere with my decisions. I owe you the truth now, and I hope you’ll understand why I hid my feelings. ” Then, as if a wave of acceptance washed me and freed me from myself, I wasn’t afraid anymore. I didn’t care who saw me. I wanted her to know. “Seven, I bottled up all my emotions, even when you gave me no reason to. I’ve been in love with you for a long time now. And my stubborn ideals have kept me from telling you how I feel. I’m so sorry. Please don’t leave me.”
A loud warning signal from the console at the top of the bio bed had Tom running over to check Seven’s status. “We’re losing her!”
“Please, Seven. Hang on.” I was choking on the words now. Here I was watching the only person in my life I couldn’t live without slip right through my hands. “Don’t go, Seven. Not yet…Not now...I need you...I love you.” I wanted to do something, anything, to save her but couldn’t. Tears started running down my cheeks and I couldn’t stop them as the mechanized beeping became slower and slower until there was a constant solid resonance announcing her stopped heartbeat.
How this was even possible I’m not sure, but the silence in the room was more deafening than before. No one moved. No one made a sound. Everyone stood still…watching…waiting for someone else to speak the first words. Tom locked eyes with me and I guess he could see a part of what I was feeling because he suddenly turned away. Maybe he was embarrassed to see the mighty Captain Janeway a weeping mess. Or maybe he saw more pain in my eyes than any person should have to endure because that’s exactly how I felt in that moment. I had always considered myself a strong person, a force to be reckoned with, but in that moment I had become the antithesis of everything I once was.
And then, as if fate had played a cruel joke, a soft fizzing sound broke through.
“Please state the nature of the…” The Doctor’s voice cut off when he realized the situation at hand as he simultaneously saw me hunched over Seven’s body and remembered the fragment of the battle before his matrix failed.
“Doctor!” I called out in desperate hope. I knew that technically a person could be revived within a certain time frame of death if damage wasn’t too severe. It wasn’t too late to save her. He could bring her back and everything would be good again.
The Doctor ran over and began scanning her immediately as Tom explained the circumstances of her death. Tom stood with me as I watched and waited for his prognosis, but it only took a few seconds of scanning before he closed his tricorder and frowned.
“Her cortical node has deactivated. There’s no way to revive her.” The man who considered himself the healer of healers had failed us…failed me, and he lowered his head and joined us in grieving. I knew he felt bad but I wasn’t sure if it was more about letting me down or losing someone he loved.
“There’s nothing you can do?” I pleaded.
“I’m sorry.”
“Alright, we’ll get her another one. Tom, go to the bridge and start scanning for transwarp signatures—”
The Doctor grabbed my arm in anger, knowing I was about to go on another of my crusades. “Captain. She’s dead.”
Now here I am two days later and I feel more lost than ever. The Doctor had to sedate me the first night. To say I was a wreck was an understatement. I couldn’t even leave her side at first. Chakotay lay dead on the other side of the room, Tuvok had control of the Bridge and was overseeing ship repairs from there, but my foremost thought was Seven.
I stayed with her for several hours after The Doctor proclaimed her dead. I don’t remember much of how the time passed, only that I held her hand and talked to her…told her stories about Earth, my childhood, things I should have told her when I had the chance. I told myself it was all for her, so she could finally know me, but I have to admit that telling her these private things about my life only made me feel closer to her and miss her more. It was around 2300 hours that The Doctor told me he had to put her body in stasis and suggested I retire to my quarters. Retire. What a joke. What I really wanted to do was expire. I was so angry with him. Here was a man programmed with a medical knowledge base greater than that of any living being and he couldn’t even revive her. A part of me wanted to decompile his program so he had some inkling of what death really was, the finality of it, but eventually I returned to my senses and let him take her body away.
When he saw the difficulty I had in parting with her he insisted I remain in sickbay so he could keep a watchful eye on me, but I returned to my quarters and slept the next twelve hours. This morning I woke up and hoped to God it was all some terrible nightmare, that Seven would meet me in the mess hall for breakfast and we would begin our duty shifts like we always did. Instead, Tuvok hailed me and requested a meeting to discuss funeral preparations.
Soon after meeting with Tuvok I went to clear my head. Walking usually did that. I intended to tour the ship but where I eventually found myself was Cargo Bay Two. How I got there I don’t know. I have no conscious memory of going there, only the aching need to be with her. All I had to do was look around and there she was. Her tools, her pads, her workstation, even her alcove. It was all here…she was here.
One by one I touched her things, imagining her handling these same items only yesterday. I wanted to take them all back to my quarters with me. Reminders. That’s what they would be. But I couldn’t do that to her. Seven deserved more than being my trophy. Respectfully, I put them back where she left them and moved to the alcove. It was an amazing piece of technology- cold metal and green electrical currents that signified the restoration of life. Her life. Leave it to the Borg to create something so sterile that was used for something so beautiful. I have only stood in this alcove once before, when she had returned to the Collective to save us.
Before Voyager became her home. Before I became…
This alcove is a part of her, and I wanted to make it a part of me too. I didn’t hesitate to step inside, and when I did I felt more than electrical tingles. I felt her. Her body may be gone but her spirit was still here. I closed my eyes at the warmth I felt and started crying. It was a gentle release. It was as if her arms were around me now, holding me, telling me to let her go.
“Seven, can you hear me?”
There was no answer, not that I expected one. Truth be told, I don’t know what I expected. I kept my eyes closed and posed my body like she did during regeneration. How did she stand like this all night long? A bed would have been better. I should have assigned her quarters.
I messed up. I’m a horrible Captain. I don’t even assign her quarters…
I felt myself becoming angry with myself again and left for my ready room. At least in here I could distract myself and not be reminded of her. However, when I arrived I had a surprise waiting for me. The birthday cake she gave me was still sitting on my table. She may be gone, but she’s everywhere. She’s in the cargo bay, she’s in Astrometrics, when I go to the bridge her phantom self will be working the science station behind my chair. It was then that I realized that I couldn’t escape her. She was in my heart.
“Oh God!” I yelled. I moved to my desk and sunk into the chair, burying my face in my hands. “How am I going to get through this?” I started crying again and this time I didn’t hold back. No one would see me in here, not that I cared anymore.
Where did it all go wrong? One minute Seven and I were planning dinner and now I’m faced with planning her funeral. I can’t do it. I can’t let her go. Not like this. It’s not right. Not her. Not her!
I must have been crying nonstop for a good ten minutes. Heavy sobbing and my body was shuddering…I was a mess. Eventually my arm slipped off the edge of the desk and I opened my eyes to see the data padd Q had given me. If that wasn’t a slap in the face I didn’t know what was. Here was the chance to get closer to home and I already had that with Seven. If only I hadn’t been so terrified of facing it.
I picked up the padd and hurled it across the room, hard, breaking a vase in the process. “I don’t care if I spend the rest of my life out here!” That wasn’t entirely true. I really didn’t want to be out here in no man’s land any longer than I had to be, but getting home didn’t hold the same desire that it did two days ago. “I just want her back.”
“I knew it!”
Startled, I turned around and found myself face to face with Q again, who had been grinning from ear to ear. This day couldn’t possibly get any worse, could it?
“I’m not in the mood right now, Q,” I warned. I swiftly wiped my eyes and took a deep breath to poise myself for another round with the pest.
“Oh, Kathy darling, when are you ever in the mood?”
“What do you want now?”
“I’m only here to point out that I was right.”
What the hell was he talking about? “Right about what?”
“Your Borg friend. I knew if I forced the issue, sooner or later you would admit it. I just didn’t think it would be this soon.”
“You mean you killed her?” I wanted to strangle the man!
“Well, if you want to put it like that…”
“Bring her back.”
He laughed. “I’m afraid it’s not that simple.”
“What do you mean?”
“We’re talking about the laws of physics. I can’t just undo events of the last two days.”
“Why not? You caused it. You can change it.”
He thought it over a moment, never taking his eyes off me, then said, “Alright, but I want something in return.”
It was his tone that had me wary of his impending request. I had never seen the man so serious before and I wasn’t about to fall prey to another one of his tricks. “What do you want?”
“If I undo events of the last two days, you have to give me back the ten years.”
“That’s all?”
“That’s all.”
Ten years. A lot could happen in ten years. We could find ourselves in battles with any number of species in the coming regions we could have bypassed if I declined his offer, or they could be peaceful regions. I didn’t know what was in our future, but I did know who wasn’t in our future. Ten years was a small price to pay for her return. I had no idea how I was going to explain this to the crew, even though they only knew about five of the years shaved off our journey. But in the end there really was no other choice. “It’s a deal.”
He took my hand and kissed it, making a spectacle of himself in my eyes but now wasn’t the time to say so. Not before he changed things back. “It’s always a pleasure doing business with you Madame Captain.” In a brief flash he was gone again and I was left alone in my ready room.
I sat down at the desk in relief, anxious to find out when Seven would be back. Chakotay would be back too, and it’s disturbing to me now when I realize that I had lost the First Officer of my ship and hadn’t given it a second thought. I was about to pick up a padd on my desk when I noticed the cake across the room was gone a brief second before my door chimed.
“Come in.”
Seven entered, looking radiant as usual and carrying a concealed dish and smiling eyes. “Captain, I have something for you.” She uncovered the dish to reveal a miniature cake with a single candle flickering.
“Oh Seven!” I leaned over and kissed her cheek. I wanted to grab her in my arms and never let her go but that would come in time. I know what happens if I let things continue as they have been, and I have no intention of going down that road again. I am not going to pass up the greatest gift I’ve ever received.
She began to blush slightly. “It is the least I can do. Happy birthday.”
We moved to the upper level and sat on the sofa so I could blow out my candle and make a wish. Instead of making a wish this time, I offered an enormous “thank you” to whoever was listening. I’ve been given this new chance and I am hell bent on not wasting it.
“Did you make a wish?”
“I did. Thank you for sharing this day with me, Seven.”
“Thank you for the privilege of sharing it with you, Captain.”
I cut the cake so we could each have a small slice. I have to admit chocolate cake is delicious for breakfast. In fact, I’m convinced the only thing that can beat it is breakfast in bed with Seven and I grinned devilishly at that thought.
“I must return to Astrometrics now.” Seven said. “Crewman Celes is running a diagnostic and her work must be constantly monitored.” She rose from the couch and almost reached the door before turning. “Would you like to have dinner with me on the holodeck tonight?”
“How about we have dinner in my quarters instead?”
Seven pursed her lips in thought for a moment, teasing me of course. “That would be acceptable.”
I slowly walked over to her near the door and reached up to guide her head down to meet mine. When our lips brushed together for our first kiss it was everything I thought it would be and so much more. Soft and tender…tranquil, yet somehow steadfast and merciless in our mutual desire. My blood was scorching at the connection and it was one of the most intense sensations I think I’ve ever felt. “1800 hours. I’ll see you then.”
She was probably wondering what that was all about and I’m sure I’ll have plenty of explaining to do tonight. When she left I was sure she understood the intention behind dinner in the privacy of my quarters. The smiled she offered said it all.