Disclaimer: Star Trek Voyager and all who sail in her belong to Paramount/Viacom and no infringement of copyright/trade marks is intended. This story includes same sex relationships between women. If you are offended by this or it is illegal where you live or you are underage then please read no further.
Code: T/7.
Rating: PG13
Archiving: Perfect Misfits and VJB only
Yes please. Constructive feedback welcome.
Any feedback or other comments should be sent to googooplex100@yahoo.co.uk
Description: Short and dark, with a smidgen of gore.
Chapter 1
27 May 2001
"I always thought that it would be fast and violent, you know a shuttle craft accident or something. Or maybe in some battle with an alien race. Either that or the warp core goes and blows up on me."
They both smiled at that.
"For a long time I used to have this dream," the Klingon turned her head slightly and glanced at her companion in the gloom.
"I'm running through this forest, it's night time and there's a beautiful ice-white full moon shining down. The trees are tall and grow closely together and there are lots of small bushes and fallen logs and stuff on the forest floor. It's a warm, still night and I know that something is wrong." She leans her head back against the rock and closes her eyes, remembering.
Seven listens silently, her eyes fixed on the engineer.
"This beautiful, beautiful white moon and utter silence, no birds, no night creatures, nothing. Just complete silence. I know that I'm afraid, I can feel my heart pounding and when I look at my hands, I'm holding a vicious-looking hunting knife, smaller than a Met'leth and even though I am scared, I know that I am hunting something, someone."
B'Elanna takes a deep breath, remembering her dream.
"I start to run, stalking my prey. Even though the moon is bright, the trees hide and shelter this thing, this person I'm searching for. But I know where to look and as I run, I can feel my hearts beating faster and faster because I know that the hunt will soon be over.
I capture this person, my prey and force them to their knees, my hand clenching their hair. Without stopping or even thinking, I use the dagger to slash across the throat, the blood spraying up into my face, thick, warm and sticky as it gushes out over my hands. I can actually feel the lifeblood drain out of this person, my prey, my victim. I turned the face up to catch the moonlight, to look into the face of my enemy and it was me. She or I, whatever stares at me and tries to speak but all I can hear is the air rushing out of her severed larynx. I always wake up at that point." B'Elanna opens her eyes again and looks at the shocked drone.
"That is a most disturbing dream."
"Mmmmm. I never did get to find out what it meant."
She raised her eyebrows at Seven, questioningly.
"What about you, did you ever give it any thought?"
"Frequently." Came the calm reply. But B'Elanna was shocked.
"Really? When?"
"When the Captain first severed me from the Collective."
"Didn't you think that it was, you know, irrelevant?
"I had lost all that I ever had ever known. Everything that was familiar to me had been replaced. I was frightened, unwanted and alone." Seven kept a close eye on B'Elanna as she spoke.
"Janeway wanted you." B'Elanna protested.
"No, at the time, the Captain was proving a point, scoring one against the might and power of the Collective. At that time she had no real interest in me. " They look at each other silently for a moment.
"It was the loneliness, the realisation that I would always and forever be alone, be a single entity, with nothing but only myself and only my thoughts to guide me, to counsel me that made me consider taking my life."
"You actually considered suicide?" B'Elanna was finding it hard to believe.
Seven nodded without speaking.
"So what changed your mind?" the Klingon asked, curious.
"You did." Seven turned her piercing blue gaze at B'Elanna.
"Me?"
Seven smiled faintly.
"You were so adamant that I had no place on Voyager and certainly no place anywhere near your precious engines, that I decided that that life may be worth living, if only to prove you wrong." Her smile widened. "Making your life difficult was just an added bonus."
B'Elanna stared at her nonplussed for a second and then burst into startled laughter.
The laughter soon turned into racking coughs as she struggled to catch her breath. Seven crawled over to her, dragging her legs as she made her way across the short space that separated them. She administered the hypospray and held the Klingon's broken body close as she continued to spasm.
"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to make you laugh." Seven was contrite as she cleaned away the blood that B'Elanna had coughed up.
She helped her lean back against the cave wall that had become their prison after the cave in, stroking the hair away from the distinctive ridges, allowing her fingers to linger.
B'Elanna gulped air back into her lungs, even though each and every breath that she took felt like a thousand burning coals in her chest.
"Hey, going to meet your maker with a smile on your face can only be a good thing, right," she joked.
Their smiles died as they once again reviewed their situation. They had been exploring caves for a rich vein dilithium that Harry had discovered, when the cave in occurred. Voyager would not be expecting them for another 6 hours but they had less than an hour of breathable oxygen left in the sealed cave. If that wasn't bad enough, B'Elanna had sustained severe internal injuries and had broken her back. Seven wasn't in much better shape, both her legs had been broken and she also had internal bleeding.
Seven shuffled closer and pulled B'Elanna close, cradling her like a child.
"Are you afraid?" Seven's voice sounded quiet and far away.
"I thought that I would be, but I'm not." She twisted painfully to look into the
sad blue eyes. "I'm glad that I'm not alone but…"
"But what?" Seven prompted
"It's so wrong that you are here. You don't deserve this. You have barely lived." B'Elanna burst out. She was close to tears, not for herself, but for the beautiful, calm and quiet drone.
"I was always alive, when I was with you. Working, arguing, eating with you was always a wonderful adventure. You, more than anyone on Voyager made me feel alive, feel human. You made me feel complete. It has been the greatest honour of my life to work with you." Seven said the words steadily, even as the tears ran down her face.
B'Elanna reached up and wiped the tears away.
"There are so many things I wish I could have told you…"
"B'Elanna Torres, there is nothing that you could have told me that I don't already know." Seven put her hand up to her face clasped the smaller one in her grasp. She placed a gentle kiss on the palm and folded the fingers over it.
B'Elanna closed her eyes in regret.
"I though we had more time, I thought that I could think about it, I …"
"Shhh, it no longer matters." She pulled herself even closer and clasped B'Elanna in her arms, holding her tight.
"I was always afraid of dying alone, B'Elanna, and even now, as you always have done, you are here with me, to take away my fears and give me strength." She buried her face in the dark brown hair.
"Because of you I will never be afraid again." She placed a soft kiss on those beloved ridges.
"I will love you with every last breath that I possess."
And she did.
The End.
Darkness, steal softly into the night
And take my lover away
Keep her from harm
And dry shed tears
Until the new dawn
Until, safe sleeping
Against my heart again