Disclaimer: I don't own these characters or the ship or the nifty little gadgets they use but if the nice people at Paramount or wherever don't want them I will be more than happy to take most although not all off their hands. All the odd bits of technical stuff are my fault and yeah I know they don't make much sense but I got the computer switched on and thats good enough for me.
Code: T/7.
Rating: PG13
Archiving: Please ask first.
Constructive feedback welcome.
Any feedback or other comments should be sent to ralst31@yahoo.com
Description: Very funny story but not for Paris lovers (Tom Paris that is). B'Elanna and Seven begin to see each other. Tom sees nothing past his ego.
| Part 1 20 Sep 2001 | Part 2 20 September 2000 | Part 3 20 September 2000 | Part 4 28 September 2000 | Part 5 17 October 2000 |
| Part 6 17 October 2000 | Part 7 24 November 2000 | Part 8 19 December 2000 | Part 9 19 December 2000 | Part 10 25 February 2001 |
| Part 11 25 February 2001 | Part 12 21 March 2001 | Part 13 13 April 2001 | Part 14 21 Dec 2001 |
Part 1
20 Sep 2001
Hi all This is my first attempt at writing fan fiction, so any feedback on how to improve will be greatly appreciated. This just goes to show what happens when the good writers keep you in suspense with these cliff hangers for too long, you're forced to try it yourself.
The start of a new day and B'Elanna Torres was already less than happy, the chief engineer of the star ship Voyager had been woken from the first sound sleep she'd had in days by the whining of her less than thoughtful lover, Tom Paris. The ensign had let himself into her quarters with the specific intention, she saw it, of moaning about the lack of respect he was receiving from everyone aboard Voyager, from the Captain down to little Naomi Wildman, who it seemed did not find it all that amusing when he ruffled her hair and called her princess.
"I mean she just looked at me with this arrogant stare and stated 'I am not a princess' and flounced out of the mess hall. Oh course everyone else just laughed, I'm telling you that kid spends far too much time hanging around with Seven, before you know it she'll start sprouting implants and trying to assimilate us."
B'Elanna made an inarticulate coughing noise at that one, her feeble attempt to mask her amusement proving sufficient as Tom seemed almost totally unaware of her presence. He continued his tirade pacing up and down the length of her living area, only marginally aware that after the first ten minute he was in fact talking to himself as B'Elanna had retreated to the quiet of the sonic shower. Once showered and properly adorned in her Starfleet uniform B'Elanna exited the bathroom, taking a deep breath as if preparing for battle she entered the living area. As she caught sight of Tom, still pacing and moaning, the proud engineer realised that it was not a battle with Tom she was anticipating, even though they happened frequently, but a battle with herself. It seemed that for months now she had been waging an inner war over her temper where the ensign was concerned. Her Klingon half in direct opposition to her human, one side demanding that she silence the annoying little man who treated her without honour, while the other constantly reminded her that she was in a stable and loving relationship and must make exceptions for her loved one.
"I tried to tell Harry that he was making a mistake running after that ensign in security, I could tell just by looking that she wouldn't be interested, but no Harry had to go and make a fool of himself over yet another woman. I tell you the guy has about as much insight into matters of the heart as the Ferengi have into charity."
B'Elanna's human side suddenly gave up the fight and admitted that it was as fed up with the helmsman as the Klingon, and with her warring natures for once in agreement Mr Paris didn't stand a chance.. "Shut up Tom!" This was a bellow that even Kahless himself would have been proud of, Paris stopped dead in his tracks and stared at his girlfriend, she had that look in her eyes that promised trouble if he so much as breathed wrong. Tom Paris, despite evidence to the contrary, was no fool and quickly ceased his monologue and settled his face into the naughty little schoolboy pose that he knew had gotten him out of trouble on many occasions. B'Elanna just stared at him, she had finally had enough and for once she would not hold back on telling him exactly how she felt.
"Do you think that..." B'Elanna began heatedly, her voice taking on a predatory growl.
"Engineering to lieutenant Torres"
B'Elanna hissed in frustration and tried to control the rising temper in her voice before answering.
"Torres here."
"Lieutenant you wished to be informed when the new relay system would be ready for phase one testing." Came Vorik's calm voice. "Instillation is now complete and awaiting your orders to begin the testing phase."
"I'll be right there, inform the bridge that phase one will commence in ten minutes, Torres out." The helmsman and her growing fury were now forgotten as she picked up an armful of data pads and hurried towards the real object of her affection, the engine room.
"See you tonight." Paris called to her rapidly disappearing form. 'Typical, I'm trying to open up and share with her and she runs off to play with the warp core. What is it with the people on this ship, they never seem to appreciate me, and if I so much as mention it in passing I get yelled at?' He grumbled to himself as he headed towards the nearest turbolift and to the one place where he showed potential, Voyagers helm.
As she walked into main engineering B'Elanna Torres took a quick survey of her own private little domain, the one place on the ship where she had total control. Well technically the captain still retained ultimate control, of this area as well as all the others, but everyone on the ship knew that engineering was hers. Everyone that is except the tall shapely blonde she was now staring at, from the moment she first came aboard Seven of Nine, former borg drone, had taken every opportunity open to her and many that weren't to question or circumvent B'Elanna's authority. She realised that she and her department were not alone in this, Seven at one time or another had probably interfered with every department on the ship. Her early run-ins with Captain Janeway had become legendary, taking second place only to the arguments still to be heard between the borg and Klingon-human hybrid, the prospect that one day one of their arguments would turn from vocal to physical adding that something extra to the crews voyeuristic pleasure. Still on this particular morning B'Elanna found herself happy that the ex-drone was in attendance, over the last ten days they had worked virtually side by side for over eighteen hours a day. The new system they were installing was a combination of borg acquired knowledge and Federation technology, or to be more accurate the combination of Seven and B'Elanna's ingenuity and hard work. It had been far from an argument or tension free time for the duo, and many of the engineering staff had reconsidered their assignments and thought about transfers to less hazardous duty, such as food taster for Mr Neelix, but over time they had found a way to work productively with one another and reluctantly to appreciate the others skills.
B'Elanna nodded to Seven, who returned the gesture with a slight dip of her head, and proceeded if possible to straighten her posture even further in preparation for the task ahead.
"Right people," B'Elanna began, clapping her hands twice to make sure she had everyone's undivided attention, "We begin phase one testing in five minutes, take your designated places and don't forget if any of you see signs of stress fractural misalignments or overt power fluctuations call for immediate shut down. This is no time to worry about the chain of command, by the time you've double checked with me the deflector dish could have suffered a melt down."
Seven looked over at the chief engineer with a slightly raised ocular implant but remained silent, they both knew that the chances of the deflector suffering anything more serious than a few burnt out relays was near zero but it didn't hurt to have the team extra vigilant.
"Torres to the bridge"
"Yes B'Elanna." Came the Captains reply, her usually throaty voice carrying with it a touch of excitement. The prospect of a new engineering breakthrough appealed to the scientist who was still a large part of Kathryn Janeway, even though she had not participated in the hands on aspects of this latest experiment she couldn't help but feel involved, after all this was her ship and the two people most responsible were two of her finest, if most difficult, officers.
"Ready to begin test sequence."
"On your mark Lieutenant." The captain replied, giving over the control of the testing to the chief engineer. B'Elanna was elated by what would seem to most a small gesture, but what signalled to her both the Captains faith in her abilities and her acceptance that this was B'Elanna's project. Looking around in preparation for giving the order to proceed B'Elanna caught the look of anticipation and possibly even excitement that was in Seven's eyes. For the barest of seconds she stopped to wonder when it was that she had begun to notice the emotions so cleverly hidden in Seven's facade before deciding to learn from the example of her captain, even if the meaning behind it was lost on the recipient.
"Are we ready Seven?"
"Yes Lieutenant, awaiting your mark." Seven, although somewhat confused about why she was suddenly consulted, set to her task of monitoring the astrometrics sensor readings.
"On my mark then, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, Mark." With the sound of Torres's last word still in the air every monitor and tricorder in the room bleeped into life. Crew members hunched over their equipment trying to detect any signs of trouble while others were forced to try and cope with the mountains of information they were now receiving. Like many of the improvements to Voyager over the years this latest came about as the result of necessity. Three weeks previously two unidentified vessels had opened fire on Voyager for no apparent reason, and although both ships were smaller than the Federation craft they managed to combine to create a formidable foe. Eventually Captain Janeway had managed to out manoeuvre them and escape using warp drive, but not before a volley of phaser fire had crippled the long range sensors and a large percentage of the deflector relays. Showing what made her such a great engineer B'Elanna changed what would have been a mere patch up job to a major improvement. For months Seven had been sending in requests to both the chief engineer and the Captain for a major restructuring of the astrometric sensors. While carrying out Seven's original proposal was impossible without leaving themselves virtually blind for the duration of the retrofit, the current situation meant that whatever they did sensors would be off-line for days so it was the perfect opportunity to put the new theories into practice. Not only were they going to significantly upgrade the sensors but another pet project that had found a home with both B'Elanna and Seven separately, that of providing Voyager with a temporary cloaking device designed specifically to trick borg sensors, could now be tried and tested.
After twenty three minutes of intense activity and silent prayers and curses from the engineering crew phase one of the test was completed satisfactorily. A general releasing of tension and held breath was heard in main engineering as the crew realised that all their hard work had so far been successful. B'Elanna knew that this was only the first step in perfecting the new system but did allow herself a silent cheer as she went about congratulating the crew on a job well done. She finished her round of congratulations with Seven, the tall blonde was showing none of the pleasure that resided on the faces of the others, the emotions B'Elanna had thought she'd detected before testing were no longer present and her face had gone back to what B'Elanna thought of as 'pure borg'.
"Good work Seven" B'Elanna began reaching out unconsciously to grasp Seven's arm, "we did a good job."
"It is too soon to begin congratulations Lieutenant, there are still two more phases of testing to be completed before we know if the modifications have been successful."
"Come on Seven lighten up for once, we did good." B'Elanna reiterated starting to get exasperated with the former Borg's emotionless response.
"We," Seven pauses momentarily in her reply as she registered a new sensation on her arm, a rhythmic pressure resulting from the Klingon's thumb stroking her upper arm. On realising what was causing this the former borg experienced a series of odd physiological reactions, her respiration increased and blood rushed to the surface of her cheeks, "did good." The reply was not the one she had been preparing, but it was the one that would allow the most speedy yet polite exit from the Klingons presence, and at that moment distance between herself and B'Elanna seemed a highly desirable thing. With a slight smile and a nod the engineer left the bewildered borg to contemplate what had just caused her bodies minor malfunction, and to decide whether or not a visit to the doctor was in order.
In the mess hall three hours later the mood was still one of jubilation, not so much due to the successful testing of a new system, but the knowledge that once again they had working sensors and could for a little while feel safe. Harry Kim and Tom Paris were trying to enjoy a quick meal before returning to duty, but unfortunately Mr Neelix had been experimenting again with native spices so although a speedy meal was guaranteed enjoyment of it was highly unlikely.
"What is that?" Harry whispered pointing to an odd shaped black object on his plate.
"Its best not to ask," replied Paris hiding a similar object behind his napkin "you'd think after all these years he'd have figured out that no one likes this stuff."
"That's not fair Tom, the food has improved a lot to how it was at first, its just that some of the experiments take getting used to." Harry defended the chef while secretly trying to hide the black object under his fork.
"Whatever, so Harry you joining me tonight to work on the holodeck, I've got this idea for a new program that will make the others look like kids toys." Tom's whole body was suddenly animated as he prepared to tell his friend of his latest hobby, "I came up with the idea this morning, its"
"Sorry Tom," Harry interrupted "I've got a date tonight"
"A date? With who?"
"Ensign Mortimer." Try as he might the younger ensign couldn't keep the soppy grin off his face, he'd been fighting the crush he'd formed on the security officer for months, fearing it would just end up as disastrous as his previous ones. Then four days ago after being given a push by B'Elanna he'd worked up the courage to ask the other ensign out to dinner. At that time she had turned him down stating she had a prior engagement, when he'd told this to Tom his friend had commiserated with him on his bad luck with women and offered to give him tips on how to handle them. Then this morning on his way to the bridge Ensign Mortimer had approached him rather timidly and asked him out to dinner. Harry eagerly accepted although he was still a little nervous, his confidence over the years had increased but when it came to women the young man often wished he had Tom's self assurance, after all anyone who could capture the heart of B'Elanna Torres had to know what they were doing, even though lately he had begun to suspect that his friend was not such a fountain of wisdom about the ladies as her proclaimed.
"Mortimer, I thought she turned you down?"
"Well yeah, but that was just because she was busy."
"I dunno Harry she seems a bit flighty for you, changing her mind all the time, you'd be better off with."
"I like her," Harry interrupted again "and she's no flighty, I even once heard Tuvok say how efficient she was, and coming from him you know she'd deserve the compliment."
"Oh so taking romance advice from a Vulcan now are you?" Tom chuckled to himself, poor Harry the guy didn't know what he was doing, it was just lucky for him that he had a friend who was willing and able to offer assistance thought the helmsman.
"No, I just meant"
"Harry trust me this girl isn't for you, she'd break your heart, yet again, let me fix you up with someone." Tom gave his friend his number two endearing smile then lowered his voice, "and trust me she won't disappoint you."
"Thanks, but no thanks Tom" said Harry getting up to leave, "see you on the bridge."
"What..." Tom found himself alone at his table before he could finish his sentence, 'great just walk out on me why don't you?' Tom started to fume silently, 'What is with these people lately, you try to offer some friendly advise and they go all moody on you. Its as if no one takes anything I say seriously any more.' Tom just continued to sit there staring at the crew seated around him and replaying over and over all the instances of late when he felt in someway under appreciated, it was quite a long list. Then out the corner of his eye he spotted Lt. Carrey enter the room, the engineer walked over towards a table of young ensigns who immediately straightened in their seats and gave the man their full attention. 'That's it' thought Paris, 'there is only one way a man like Joe Carrey would get that kind of respect, and thats through his rank. Its so obvious, ever since the Captain demoted me people have acted differently, now I'm just an ensign they feel my opinion doesn't matter.' A smile spread over the sandy haired mans face as a plan began to form, 'if having a rank will get them to appreciate me then I'll just have to make sure I get one.'
With a slight whistle and bounce in his step Tom Paris left the mess hall, all the while imagining the scene when the Captain finally reinstates his rank and personally places the pips back on his collar.
To be continued