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Kathryn was tired, more tired than she had been in a very long time. This past week had been one of those weeks that never seemed to end and only got crazier by the hour.
Their journey back home through the Delta Quadrant usually contained a lot of boring days during which they just flew through empty space and kept themselves busy by doing research and writing reports.
But the days like the ones they had experienced this week, they were so full of danger and shock that it was almost hard to believe that time passed in the same way as it always did.
The Captain stepped into the darkness of Cargo Bay Two, following the Doctor to speak to Seven of Nine. Only a few days ago, Kathryn had been very shaken up by her last conversation with the former Borg Drone. Seven of Nine’s emotion and clear despair had rocked the Captain and she had wondered if she had not made a huge mistake in ordering the Doctor to bring Seven of Nine back to humanity.
But she had not ordered him to stop. Instead, he had continued his work and today he had told Kathryn that he was done for now, that the surgeries were over, and that Seven of Nine’s body was as close to human as was possible at the moment.
Kathryn had then asked the Doctor to bring her to Seven of Nine. She wanted to see with her own eyes what his diagnosis meant. She also wanted to see how upset the former Borg Drone was. Would she threaten Kathryn again like she had done before? Would she scream at her, cry out in despair like she had done in the Brig?
The Captain’s own emotions were still a bit frayed because of Kes’ goodbye and the danger Voyager had been in. Granted, Kes had seemed to have gotten the sendoff that she wanted, and Voyager was now closer to home and safely out of Borg space. It all seemed to have been worth it. However, that did not make the sting of the pain of losing Kes hurt any less.
Kathryn did not want to lose anyone else ever again. She also did not want to force anyone into doing something they did not want to do. Kes had taught her that, that sometimes, even though it seemed like an impossible and hard decision, you had to let people go and let them find their own way.
She was just a bit worried about the way Seven of Nine would choose to walk and what consequences that would have for Voyager, even though they were now far enough away from the Borg.
The Doctor turned around to look at the Captain before nodding his head towards the deeper darkness of the Cargo Bay. Kathryn tried to see ahead and thought that she saw a figure standing there, in between the rows of regeneration alcoves. It looked familiar and of course it could only be one person: Seven of Nine.
The Captain took in a deep breath and then slowly and carefully moved forward. She was very aware of the Security officer who had her back. A comforting feeling, considering that the last time she had seen Seven of Nine, she had taken a swing at her. But she also did not want the young woman to feel threatened. Which is why she had only brought one officer with her instead of the team that both Tuvok and Chakotay had advised.
Thoughts about security risks fled her mind though as she got closer to Seven of Nine and her eyes took in the changes to her physiology.
Kathryn didn’t particularly care about the percentage of Borg implants that the Doctor had managed to remove from Seven of Nine’s body because when the former Borg Drone slowly turned around, Kathryn felt like she was being struck by lightning.
Her ears registered that Seven of Nine had answered the Doctor in some way, but all Kathryn could do was look at her stunning blue eyes. She remembered the Doctor showing her the ocular implant that he had devised and how she had teased him about his attention to detail for imitating the blue color of Seven of Nine’s human eye. But now that both those eyes were looking at them, she could not tell the difference and she could not look away. All Kathryn could do was stare back at her as a strange warm rush of affection coursed through her.
She sincerely hoped that the darkness of the Cargo Bay hid her blush as the Doctor continued his explanation. When he started talking about how fashion wasn’t his strong suit, Kathryn could only agree with him.
Her eyes travelled down Seven of Nine’s body, taking in the skintight suit and she wondered what the Doctor had been thinking. Especially when her eyes landed on the heels that the former Borg Drone was wearing. She would have to have a stern talk with the Doctor about all of that but surely there was some medical explanation for it all.
As he mentioned Seven of Nine’s hair, Kathryn’s eyes moved up to glide over the beautiful golden locks that were tied carefully behind her head in an elegant knot. It looked so smooth and soft that Kathryn’s fingers twitched at her side, eager to reach out and touch it but holding back all the same.
She quickly took a firmer hold on the item that she was holding in her other hand and then looked at the Doctor because a silence had followed his last words. She could tell from the gleeful expression on his face that he had made a joke, but she had missed it. Nevertheless, she quickly smiled at him and then nodded, giving him permission to move away and take a look at the regeneration alcove that Seven of Nine was using.
As a result, Seven of Nine now focused her attention completely on Kathryn and the Captain had to swallow hard before she was able to start talking.
“You’ll have to spend a few hours each day regenerating in a Borg alcove until your human metabolism can function on its own. We’ll leave one operational.” Kathryn told Seven of Nine what she and the Doctor had agreed upon. All the while those blue eyes kept themselves trained on Kathryn’s face and it made her feel a little weak in the knees for some reason.
Then Seven of Nine spoke, just one word but still quite powerful. “Understood.”
Feeling slightly pleased, Kathryn nodded and then continued, hoping to keep their conversation going. “Let’s see how things go over the next few weeks. I’ll consider granting you access to the rest of the ship, once I can trust that you won’t try to get us all assimilated again.”
Thankfully, her Starfleet training had allowed her to lace a subtle threatening tone to that last sentence. Because her eyes kept looking away from Seven of Nine’s piercing gaze and kept flickering down to the bodysuit she was wearing.
A few heartbeats of silence followed, during which Seven of Nine blinked a couple of times as if she were thinking about what Kathryn had just said. Then she spoke again. “It will not happen again.”
Now it was Kathryn’s turn to blink and be silent for a while as she was surprised by the calm that was radiating from the other woman. She almost seemed docile, so different from the angry Borg Drone that she had been before. Kathryn wondered if they had put out her fire all together…
That seemed a rather scary thought. A waste somehow.
Before she could think on it further, Kathryn quickly continued their conversation, suddenly quite eager to get back to her quarters to get some rest. She looked down at her hands which were holding the combadge. “If you need anything…”
She hesitated. What was she supposed to say? Who should Seven of Nine contact when she needed something? The Doctor? The Bridge? That did not feel right. “Contact me.”
If Seven of Nine was surprised by that privilege, she did not show it. Nor did Kathryn give her much time to react. Instead, she quickly looked down and reached out to place the combadge into Seven of Nine’s hand. It was her left one, the one that was still covered with Borg mesh. However, it still looked very elegant as her long fingers reached out to take the badge from her.
A shock of electricity went through Kathryn’s hand and arm as their skin touched. It was a rather pleasant feeling, and she knew it was not caused by the remaining Borg implants.
This was something else.
Before she could blush or let her hand linger, she briskly turned away. More eager than ever now to leave the Cargo Bay. She avoided looking at her Security officer as she headed towards the door.
But before she could reach it, Seven of Nine’s clear voice echoed through the space. “Red.”
For a moment Kathryn thought that she was calling out a red alert, that she was in some sort of panic or distress. But then she thought that Seven of Nine might have called her ‘Red’ which wouldn’t have been the first time someone had given her that nickname, but it would have been rather weird.
“What?” Kathryn called out, quickly turning back around.
But Seven of Nine was no longer looking in her direction. She had turned around too and seemed to be staring off into nothing as she started to explain. “The child you spoke off…” She hesitated as if she wanted to say her human name.
Annika Kathryn thought. Your name was Annika.
“The girl.” Seven of Nine continued. “Her favorite color was red.”
Kathryn blinked and then her brain understood what Seven of Nine was telling her.
That she remembered their conversation in the Brig. That she remembered her favorite color from when she had been a child. That she had wanted to tell Kathryn, to share that bit of personal information with her.
A wave of emotion washed over the Captain, so strong it almost made her stagger. She swallowed hard to try to get rid of the closing she felt in her throat while she was also trying to blink away the moisture that was creeping into her eyes.
However, before she could come up with something to say in response, Seven of Nine moved away. She walked into the darkness of the Cargo Bay, maybe to find the Doctor or maybe she was going to regenerate as she was told to do.
Either way, she was lost from Kathryn’s sight, and it gave the Captain some time to gain back control over her own emotions.
She quickly turned back around and almost ran to the door. The bright corridors of Voyager were a welcome change as the light cleared her head of the ghosts that lay behind her. She quickly nodded at her Security officer, bidding him goodnight, and then started walking towards the turbolift that would take her to her quarters and her bed.
Once inside the lift, she held out her hands in front of her. They were shaking and she quickly grasped them together, forcing herself to calm down.
She did not know what was happening to her. Maybe she just needed a good night’s sleep. Or maybe this past week had simply been too much for her. Or maybe…
Maybe Seven of Nine was causing a change in her life that she had not anticipated. A change that she had thought would never come again.
Kathryn quickly shook herself as she got out of the lift and walked through yet another brightly lit corridor to her quarters.
She was being ridiculous, nothing had happened.
But as she walked into her living room, she caught her reflection in the mirror that hung next to her door. Her eyes moved to her uniform jacket and a shiver went through her, energizing her and warming her up at the same time.
“Red. Her favorite color was red.”