Disclaimers:
1) I don't own them, just borrowing. Paramount is god. I'm just the lowly worker bee fantasising
2) This story involves women in love with other women, you are forewarned.
Code: T/7.
Rating: PG13
Archiving: Please ask first
Constructive feedback welcome.
Any feedback or other comments should be sent to letterx@webtv.net
Notes: This story started off as a scene in my head that wouldn't leave me alone until I found a way to make it work. Now as it started off as a scene it has somehow turned into a full blown story that my muse would not let me just write as a scene. \\sigh\\ Well, I hope you enjoy anyway.
Parts 1 to 2
31 May 2001
Part 1
"How is she Doctor?"
"It looks like she'll pull through."
"Doctor. If you are being vague about a medical prognosis I know it must be bad. I want the truth. Again I ask, how is she?"
"If you insist, Captain. I was able to heal all of Seven's external injuries as well as most of her internal injuries; broken bones, dislocated shoulder and hip, internal bleeding, lacerations on the face and neck, various burn marks, as well as repaired a scarred trachea. Seven may have a raspy voice for a few days but will nonetheless be able to speak. It really wasn't as bad as I had first thought. Thanks to her borg enhanced skeletal system as well as a padded spacesuit, the space debris field she got knocked around in didn't do as much damage as it had seemed."
"But.....?"
"But the radiation did. Thanks to the delayed explosion of the other ship's warp core, Seven was exposed to severe gamma radiation as well as high levels of unstable anti-matter core mixture particles. The former of which caused severe radiation burns all over her body. Unfortunately the spacesuit wasn't able or equipped to protect her from such levels of radiation. I was able to repair all of the damage the gamma radiation caused thanks to some help from her nanoprobes but....."
"Again with the but. Doctor, please, just tell me what's wrong with Seven."
"But the anti-matter poisoning was a little more problematic. There's a component in the mixture which can adversely affect ocular functions. Due to Seven's exposure to such high levels of this material her cornea's were seared."
"So what you're saying is that Seven's blind."
"Unfortunately, yes. At least for the time being. There are a few surgeries in which I could perform to try and repair the damage done but I can not predict if they will be successful or not. In fact there is a very low probability of them being successful but I am willing to try. There's very little risk involved as Seven is already blind so I don't see any reason not to go through with the procedures. I just don't want to get anyone's hopes up. There is a very good chance that Seven will never regain her sight again."
"But what about her left eye? Isn't that a borg implant? Shouldn't she still be able to see out of that eye?"
"In this case no. Seven's left eyeball although attached to an implant still inside the socket which allows for the borg enhancements is still made out of organic material. When first assimilated Seven's left eye was removed in order to add the implant that covered that eye but once she came aboard Voyager and I removed that eye piece I had to create a new eyeball for that socket. I replicated the eye using organic tissues attaching it to the socket and then in turn with the inner implant. The eye therefore still has the added enhancements caused by the implants but nonetheless is still a human eye. And in this case, regardless of the implant, Seven's corneas were scorched creating a sort of black covering over the visual lens of the eye. Technically speaking Seven should still be able to see but can't due to this cover causing total blindness."
"Does Seven know?" Whispered a very subdued captain.
"No, as soon as Seven was stabilized I had to enclose her in a bio-regeneration unit so as to assist her nanoprobes of clearing out the rest of the radiation from her body. By tomorrow it should all be gone and I'll be waking her up. I suppose I'll give her the news then."
"No, I'll do it Doctor. Just call me before you wake her and I'll be here."
The Doctor nodded solemnly and headed back into his office to finish updating his medical files. Janeway now left alone with Seven, slowly made her way to the biobed in which she laid encased in the bio-unit. Reaching out, Kathryn pressed her hand firmly against the glass paneling of the unit. It's cold starkness a reminder of all that was almost lost. She wished with all her might that she could just hold Seven at this very moment. Comfort her and make everything all better. But she couldn't could she?
"I'm so sorry Seven. I shouldn't have let you board that other ship. I knew I had a bad feeling about this but I listened to your pleas. You wanted to beam over there and rescue those people, those erratic, faint life signs the computer somehow picked up. You knew you could save them and I knew you could have so I let you go. I let you go alone cause you were the only one with all that borg ingenuity built right in but it was a mistake. Those escape pods you found operational, you thought you had found those faint life signs. You risked your life to get to them through that wall of fire that was so close to destroying them just to manually eject those pods into space cause the computer had failed to do so. Then the warp core explodes and causes a chain reaction which sends you hurling out into space through an opening in the ship. Thank god you were wearing your spacesuit. I almost lost you then. Ha, I almost lost you a second time when I couldn't get a lock on you to beam you out. The radiation had come up so quickly and interfered with all of our systems. The only thing I could do was watch helplessly as your body got tossed around in the debris field as wave after shock wave pummelled your body. I had to wait until you cleared the radiation but we finally got to you. We got you out. But how do I tell you it was all for nothing? How do I tell you that you may be blinded for life for trying to save already dead bodies in those escape pods? Those bio-signatures we picked up were false Seven. You risked your life and possibly gave up your sight for people who were already dead. I'm so sorry."
"Captain?"
"Tom. What is it?"
"Chakotay wants to see you in the ready room. He really didn't want to disturb you by hailing you but since I was heading down here anyway I told him I'd deliver the message. I thought I'd come and check up on Seven and see if there was anything I could do."
"I don't think there's much anyone can do right now Tom but check with the Doctor anyway. And thanks for the message." Janeway cast a glance at the sleeping form of Seven of Nine. The only thing really left to do now was to pray.
""You know, Seven's been through so much already and yet she still seems to be forced to deal with more trying times. It's just not right. Even if I can't help with any of the medical stuff you can bet that I will find a way to help her through this even if it is just to be a friend who listens to her woes. I owe her my life and this would only be the beginning of my repayment for saving me. And I'm not the only one who feels this way either. After Seven had somehow managed to talk me down from my, um, suicide attempt she earned a lot of respect, admiration, and even friendship from a lot of the crew. I was so distraught over Lanna leaving me and our divorce that I probably would have gone through with it if Seven didn't step in and talk with me. And now that the roles might be reversed there's going to be a line of people just waiting to help her out but they'll all have to get behind me."
"Thank you Tom. I'm sure Seven's going to need all of the help that she can get after she wakes up and hears what she's going to hear. She may be able to get through the disappointment of not being able to save those people but I have no idea how she'll handle the fact that she may be blind because of it."
"What?! Blind?!"
"I think that you should go talk with the Doctor now. He'll fill you in on the rest. In the mean time I should see what Chakotay needs."
And with that the unbeatable Captain Kathryn Janeway of the mighty starship Voyager left sickbay feeling like someone had just beaten the life right out of her.
FOUR DAYS LATER
"Hey Doc. How is she?"
"Tom. She's.... the same. She refuses to 'function' and continuously asks to be deactivated as she is now a 'defective drone'.
"Well, it's a good thing I came along when I did. I'd like to give Seven a little present that I made and I think, or at least I hope, that this'll do the trick."
"Be my guest. She should be occupying the last bio-bed as it seems that's her new home."
Tom nodded and smirked at the Doctor's frustration which was plainly seen through his sarcastic remarks. And so as Tom exited the office he noticed Seven right where the Doc said she'd be. She was sitting up on the bio-bed with her legs dangling off the edge 'looking' down at the floor. Seven looked the way a child would look if she had lost her favorite stuffed animal but Paris knew this was more serious then that.
"Hey Seven. How's it hanging." Tom said in his most jovial manner.
"Hanging?" Seven quirked her eyebrow.
"Just thought I'd teach you a new slang word or phrase a day. Today's word - hanging. Translation - going on or happening depending on how you use it in a sentence. For example, how's it hanging. Translation -what's going on or what's happening. Now Seven, you have to use this word at least once today in your conversations."
"Indeed." This time along with the raised eyebrow also came an slightly amused smirk. Somehow Tom Paris always seemed to amuse Seven.
"There you go. I knew you had it in you to turn that frown upside down." At Seven's confused glance, Tom elaborated. "Oops sorry that's tomorrow's new word." And that earned an even bigger smile from Seven. "Now the Doc told me that lately you have been a real party pooper so I thought I'd just give you this little present to play with." Tom reached for Seven left hand and places a small crystal in her open hand. Then her closed the hand into a fist making sure that Seven did not drop what it was that he had handed her.
"What is it?"
"Hmph. Now wouldn't that just ruin the surprise. You'll just have to figure it out for yourself. Later Seven." Tom threw over his shoulder as he walked out of sickbay. He knew that thanks to some major borg curiosity Seven wouldn't be able to resist finding out what it was that he'd given her and that's what he was hoping for. 'Even if Seven gives me hell for this later, it'll be worth it just to have her get up and do something constructive and hopefully then in turn realize that being blind was not an all debilitating fact of life.'
Part 2
TWO DAYS LATER
It was late into the Gamma shift when a scream was wrenched from Seven's throat. She jumped down off of the bed onto shaking legs and looked around frantically. She looked and looked but all she saw was darkness. Her heart felt like it was going to burst right out of her chest and tears streamed down her face. As time went on and nothing happened, Seven began to realize that what had frightened her so much was just a dream, a nightmare. One which she could never remember but always felt the dread, the fear, the panic, and pain those images must have caused. Her second realization was that the darkness was caused by her blindness. Yes, she was still blind. The surgery she had had a day ago did nothing to relieve the all out blackness that surrounded her and kept her constant company. It was a failure, just like she was now.
Seven knew from experience that with these nightmares she wasn't going to be able to fall back asleep. Usually she would play some music from the computer to listen to or just sit and review old calculations in her head. But tonight, tonight she was determined to do something different. But what? She wasn't going to wake the Doctor nor was she going to call anyone else to keep her company. She was too scared to step outside of sickbay so taking a walk was out of the question. So what in the world was she suppose to do? 'The gift'. The present that Tom had given her. She had yet to try and figure out what it was. Seven had tried asking others to just tell her what it was but everyone she asked refused. It seemed that Tom had warned them that any assistance would just defeat the purpose of the gift. Nor would they even assist her in examining the gift so she just gave up. She did not need to know what the gift was. That is until now.
From the first day Tom had given her the gift, Seven knew it was some sort of crystal just by the feeling and shaping of it. But the only problem was finding out what kind of crystal it was.
"Since no persons were willing to assist me then perhaps the computer will." But one problem, Seven had to see the computer consoles in order to be able to work them. Or did she?
As soon as Seven thought of using the computer for help a mental picture popped into, what the Doctor referred to as, her mind's eye. She could 'see' what the console looked like and thanks to her eidetic memory Seven was able to remember where ever button was located. 'Perhaps this will not be as difficult as I had imagined it would be.'
After about an hours work and a half hour spent fumbling around, Seven had finally been able to discover that it was a data crystal, a holographic data crystal to be precise. Now she was even more curious as to what Tom's present entailed so she some how managed to load the data crystal into the holo-emitters for sickbay and began the program.
For a few long minute Seven heard nothing, felt nothing, smelt nothing. 'Perhaps the program is damaged,' Seven thought right before she heard a rustle of sheets coming from one of the beds behind her.
"Who is there?" Seven spun around to face whoever was there.
"Ah so she speaks." Obviously a man, but was that an ancient Japanese accent he was speaking with? Seven suddenly felt enraged. A hologram that she was not able to see. What usefulness does this program have then?
"Who are you? State your intentions." An angry glare issued forth from Seven's usually calm features.
"I believe that a more pertinent question would be who are you?"
"My designation is Seven of Nine. I now wish to know your designation."
"Ack. That is not a befitting name for such a young vibrant woman as yourself. So again I ask who are you?"
"My original designation was Annika Hansen but what shall I refer to you as?" Seven was beginning to become very frustrated with this little man (yes she knew he was short because of the way his voice floated up towards her). All she wanted to know was who he was and what his intentions were.
"Ah, Anni. That is a name that suits you. But yet you have failed to answer my question. Once you have done so I will be glad to answer your's. Who are you?"
"I do not understand what you are asking of me. I have given you my name already."
"Is that all you are made up of? Is that all that describes who you are? I see the is much work to be done." This little Japanese man circled the now perfectly still Seven of Nine. She was standing in her normal stance with her head held high, shoulders straight, and hands clasped behind her. For some reason, even though she could not see this man, she knew he was surveying her, sizing her up.
"Do you know of the five aspects in which define a person?" Seven could only raise her ocular implant as she was now lost as all hell as to where this conversation was headed. "Then perhaps I shall teach you now, my young grasshopper. Please have a seat." Okay now, Seven had gone from extremely angry to extremely frustrated to extremely confused and now she was just extremely amused. So she humored him. She sat down on the floor sitting 'indian style' awaiting the next thing this odd little man had to say.
"The five ways in which a person uses to describe himself would be through species, education, profession, family, and faith. You are human. I am a hologram. It is who we are. You are an intelligent woman as I am a master of the arts. You are an astrometrics officer. I am a teacher. You are a Hansen. I am a Yokuma. We are both believers. You are of the faith of the Omega. I am of the faith of Buddha. This is who we are. These are what make us individual. But is that all that we are? Is that all that define us as individuals? Do you have family, Anni?"
"No, they were assimilated over 18 years ago. I no longer have a family."
"Does that lessen who you are? Are you no longer a person because you are missing one of the aspects of defining who you are?"
"No, I do not believe so. I am still an individual and have been welcomed into a new family aboard Voyager. Perhaps those aspects you spoke of may be outlining points in which help determine who we are but they do not create who we are. That I believe is left up to the individual to decide."
"Very good, my grasshopper. You are learning quickly. But yet still have much more to learn. We have discovered you are missing one of the aspects of definition but it does not mean that you are not an individual. So let us compare these five aspects to that of the five senses. A human has all five senses which allows them to function properly as a human but now I ask if it is like the aspects of definition then if you are missing a sense, for instance your lack of sight, does that cause you to be anything but a human?
"If we are to follow your line of reasoning then no, it does not. I am still human but rather just...... different. But am I not also deficient in the fact that I lack all of the faculties needed to function properly?"
"No, not deficient. That is wrong word to use. You are different. You have an added challenge that other humans do not. You will have to adapt to the lack of sight. But as you are so fond of saying, you are borg and will adapt because to do anything less would not be in your character."
"And exactly how will I adapt?" Seven stated a little dismayed that this little man was able to convince her to adapt to the blindness when no one else could. Not to mention that she was a little angered that she was just out-logicked by a hologram.
"I shall teach you."
And so the real teaching process began. This hologram who had finally told Seven that his name was Akimo, showed her how to walk with a walking stick to prevent from bumping into walls. He pointed out that if she counted her steps she would be able to navigate the ship without any help. He taught her how to describe the location of items by using the old earth descriptions of the face of a clock, ie 1 o'clock, 5 o'clock. She also learned how to identify certain person's by the feel of their face. Janeway had at one point allowed Seven to learn the shape of her face not only as a means of identification but also as a way to get closer with the ever so distant woman. For weeks this teaching went on. Gradually, Seven learned to operate in complete darkness. She was able to step out of sickbay for sometime though only with the company of her 'master'. She finally began to allow visitors such as Naomi, Tom, Icheb, Kathryn, and even Sam. And soon Seven began to come out of her self-imposed shell.
As the weeks did pass Seven underwent two other surgeries but neither cured her blindness but they did cause some improvement. Seven's eyes had suddenly become very sensitive to bright light and contact lens had to be put into her eyes to prevent further damage done to them. But this did give the Doctor hope that something could still be done to rescue Seven's sight. Either way, Seven chose not to get her hopes up as she could not handle yet another disappointment so she continued to work with her master further improving her adaptability with blindness. One way she did this was to learn Akido, a martial arts skill. This was what Akimo was referring to when he called himself the master of the arts. With Akido, sight was the last thing a person would rely on in a confrontation. You would learn to use your other senses such as hearing your opponent move or breath. Or feeling the air shift as your opponent moved in closer. Or smelling the air for a distinct odor that belongs to your opponent. It was more then she ever wanted to learn about fighting, not even when her life depended on it in the tsunkatse matches did she want to learn. But here, it's helping her in other ways. Learning to fight is a side effect of her training not the focus.
It was now five weeks later since Seven had first been in that fateful mission. As of a week ago the program of Akimo Yukoma had shut itself down as the program had reached it's limits of function but it had left Seven with enough knowledge of the arts to continue her training on her own.
It was such a night that Seven found herself with the need to train. It was a very frustrating day as today was her first day back to any real work. Due to her blindness, Seven could not return to her job of astrometrics officer so she was given a position in engineering. But nothing seemed to go right for her. She made a total fool of herself and in front of Lt. Torres at that. Dropping tools, bumping into things, connecting the wrong wires. Seven was a mess of frustration all day and now that things were quiet she was going to let it all out. Seven had returned to sickbay so as to activate her training partner Akimo and just began to fight. Each punch, each kick, each block serving to let out her frustration, her anger at the world, serving to help her to focus her energy. Seven had become so apt at her newly acquired skill that she was able to match anything and everything thrown at her. Roundhouse kick, block, jab, block, block, sidestep, axe, hit to the jaw, bloody mouth, right hook, left hook, bruised cheek bone, back flip, flying kick, block, cartwheel over biobed, silence, sudden rush of air, sidestep, flipped body over left shoulder, kneeling down, jab to the throat, broken airway, death. Breathing heavily Seven stood feeling move centered and alert and that's when she heard it. Someone else was in the room. She could hear them breath. She could smell an out of place musk only a few feet away.
"Who is there?" Seven hissed through clenched teeth. Not only was her privacy disturbed but this person had been watching her for a while now without her knowledge. That ticked off the ex-borg more then the invasion of privacy. How could she not hear the doors swish open.
So when an answer was not forth coming Seven decided to act allowing her emotions free reign. With a forward roll so quick that if you would blinked you would have missed it and she now stood in front of the intruder. With a quick leg sweep she was now pinning this person to the floor.
"Identify yourself." The intruder flinched from the venom that dripped from Seven's words but still refused to acknowledge the demand.
So Seven did the only thing she could think of to identify this person. With a sure but gentle hand she reached out to feel the face she was now only mere inches from. Starting with the cheeks Seven used the pads of her fingers to paint a picture in her mind of who it was she was now with.
"You are a female judging from your body structure but are not the Captain. Her cheek bones are less prominent and perhaps slightly higher." Seven moved down to the chin. "Nor are you Samantha Wildman as her chin has a small dimple right here." Seven caressed the spot in which she was referring to. Her movements slowly became less harsh and more sensual as they continued their journey down the neckline and back up the other side. "I do not know who else you could be as there would be no one else aboard this ship stupid enough to confront me the way you just have. Perhaps misguided bravery." Seven smirked as she began to have fun with her captive. The woman still refused to give up who she was so Seven continued on. Making her way back up to the chin, Seven's thumb began a slow caress of the luscious lips she found just above. This elicited an escaped gasp from the until now silent woman and cause Seven's smirk to turn into an all out devilish grin. Leaning down, Seven whispered in the woman's ear,
"Your sounds give you away intruder. You are enjoying this." It wasn't a question or even a statement but rather a challenge. One this woman was up to taking. She was not about to let Seven get away with that. So when Seven's index finger followed the same path her thumb had just traced, she parted her lips. Taking the digit into her mouth the woman ever so slowly sensually sucked, licked, and even nipped at the trapped finger. It was now Seven's turn to gasp but her's was also followed a deep moan of pleasure.
The woman laying underneath Seven couldn't believe what was happening. Here she was with the renowned ice queen watching her sensually caress her face and enjoying it. Then returning that same pleasure to someone she thought would never be able to feel anything. Looking up into the eyes that could no longer see, she saw what it was that she was blind to. Seven did feel, she did have emotions just like the rest of us. She was just better at hiding those emotions under shielded eyes. But those eyes no longer were shielded thanks to her blindness. The woman was finally able to see for the first time all she had been blind to.
Seven's other hand made it's way up past the cheeks to lovingly caress the eye lids of this unidentified person. Effectively closing her eyes as well. The hand that had only moments ago been trapped between warm inviting lips also made it's way up passed well defined cheek bones to glide across a strong forehead. But that's when Seven pulled away as if she had been burned. Scrambling to her feet Seven backed up too quickly only to come crashing down again when she bumped into something hard and solid. With wide eyes she looked to where she assumed the woman still was.
"Lt. Torres?"
"No, it's B'Elanna."
Seven jumped at the voice being so close to her ear but this time she couldn't move as Lanna had grabbed hold of the borg's waist this time pinning her down. Now it was her turn.
Lanna's fingers slowly made there way up all the curves that made up Seven's body. Reaching the neck Lanna couldn't hold back her own moan of pleasure as Seven unwittingly arched her back into the touch. She caressed the star burst implant ever so lovingly before she moved onto the more delectable chin to fondle the crease in the middle. Her thumb was then given the same treatment as she had given Seven's index finger when she had moved up to the blood red lips just begging to be touched. Seven licked, sucked, and nipped at the thumb in which she held entrapped between her lips. The Klingon's other hand softly slide its way up and passed the cheeks up until she came to the ocular implant covering Seven's left eyebrow. But Seven flinched away, for some reason not wanting Lanna to touch that part of her but the gentle 'please' which was whispered in her ear quickly erased any and all fears regarding her borgness.
"You are so beautiful, Seven and I'm sorry it's taken me so long to see that. I came here earlier to tell you not to be embarrassed or ashamed when you make mistakes in front of me. I came to tell you that I understand and it's okay. But when I walked into the room and saw you moving so gracefully despite being blind I couldn't bring myself to say a thing. I was so impressed and blown away by all the emotional power you had put into your movements. That's when I realized just how human you really were. I'm just sorry that it took your loss of sight for me to finally gain mine. I'm sorry."
Torres leaned down the inch or two further to place a feather light kiss on the lips she had moments ago caressed. But it was Seven who had deepened the kiss wanting to now caress those lush lips with her tongue rather then fingers. She wanted to paint a new type of picture for her to see.
"Show me, B'Elanna. I want to see."
The End