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“Dismissed.” The Captain joked as she chuckled in her cup of coffee.
Of course, Seven had not asked her permission to leave. Why would she? Considering that she hadn’t asked permission to come in either.
She had simply barged into the Captain’s Ready Room without probably even contemplating pressing the door chime. Something no other crew member had ever done.
It was annoying and yet… Kathryn couldn’t help but feel a nice warm feeling spreading through her chest. And it had nothing to do with the coffee.
She rather liked Seven’s brazen curiosity. The way she disagreed with her but still wanted to understand her reasoning. Kathryn had done her best to explain to Seven why Voyager was still going to stop at every interesting point on their way back to the Alpha Quadrant, but clearly, she had not been able to make Seven understand it.
It was hard to explain and yet… Kathryn couldn’t see their journey home go any other way. Perhaps the next time she had this discussion with Seven, she could point out that any of the alien civilizations they encountered could have some sort of technology that would allow them to cut some time from their long journey home. Perhaps they would even find a wormhole or some other phenomenon that would get them there even faster.
This often happened to the Captain. Whenever she had had a conversation with Seven, she would continue it in her head even though the other woman was no longer in the room. She couldn’t help it. Maybe it was because their encounters had often happened unexpectedly, like today. Or maybe… she just didn’t want to stop talking to Seven.
Her doors whooshed open again and this time the Captain glanced up with a smile as Seven once again entered her Ready Room without invitation. “Seven! Let me guess… you have another question.”
“Yes, I do. Why else would I be here?”
The insolent answer didn’t spoil the Captain’s mood at all. “Why else indeed… What can I do for you?”
“I have been given to understand that you were one of the crewmembers who were interrogated by the Mari.”
That made Kathryn frown. She wondered where Seven was going with this. “I was…”
“I would like to know more about that experience.”
Seven was standing close to the Captain’s desk while Kathryn still stood on the slightly raised platform which held her couch. This meant that their usual height difference was reversed, and Kathryn couldn’t help but be pleased as she watched Seven’s blue eyes look up at her. “I’m not sure I can give you the details on how their technology works-”
“I understand that.” Seven cut her off. “Still, I would be very interested to read your report on the experience.”
That caused a blush to spread over Kathryn cheeks. “I haven’t written an official report about it.”
Seven’s head tilted slightly to the side, but her piercing gaze did not waver. “What about a personal log?”
“I can’t let you read my personal logs, Seven!” Kathryn blustered.
“Not all of them.” Seven frowned this time. “Just the one about this experience.”
“I’m sorry, Seven. But… It was very… personal.” Kathryn knew her face was about as red as her uniform jacket.
“Because they probed your thoughts?” Seven pressed on, nonetheless.
“Yes!”
“Your thoughts about the incident in the marketplace… They were personal to you?”
“No! Not those thoughts.” Kathryn finally had to look away and she raked her fingers through her short hair. “But they… They extracted more thoughts from me.”
A silence followed and finally Kathryn had to look back at the other woman. A sparkle had appeared in those blue eyes and one corner of her mouth was slightly raised in almost a smile. “Thoughts you were unwilling to share with them… and with me?”
“Yes!” Kathryn let out a big sigh of relief as she finally admitted what this was really about.
“I understand.” Seven said but before Kathryn could thank her, she had once again turned around and briskly marched out of the Captain’s Ready Room.
Kathryn stared at the closed door for several seconds in pure confusion before she shook herself awake again. “Computer, lock the door to my Ready Room. No one enters without my permission.”
The beep that followed allowed the Captain to relax somewhat. At least this time she would have a little warning if Seven wanted to come back in.
With another sigh, Kathryn walked back to the couch and the forgotten cup of coffee which was now cold. She sat down and picked up the padd that she had been reading. She closed the report on the screen and instead went to her personal logs to read the section that Seven had wanted to see.
After Chief Examiner Nimira had asked all of her questions about the incident with B’Elanna Torres in the market, I was more than ready to get out of that weird chair. However, something about the expression on her face, stopped me. She smiled in a very strange way and then asked me a question that would stay with me for quite some time. “I’m sorry, Captain but I am curious. Who is Seven?”
Of course, I blushed and asked her why she wanted to know that and then she said. “Your mind wanders to her quite often. Even as we were talking about the incident with Lieutenant Torres, you kept thinking about this Seven. As if you can’t get her out of your head. You seem quite… fond of her. She must be a remarkable person.”
I tried to play it cool, but I don’t think I was very convincing. At least she let me go after I told her that Seven had not been in the marketplace (thank all my lucky stars for that!) and that she was merely a member of my crew. Nothing more.
Of course, I now know for certain that that is not true anymore…