Chapter 8

  Janeway was steady as Seven came through the door. She hadn't bothered changing her clothes. Such things were 'irrelevant' when dealing with the half Borg beauty anyway. Her posture was straight, her lips tensed. She didn't know what to expect. Was Seven in a rage, or was she confused again? She decided long ago to never try and out guess a young woman struggling with her emotions. She knew first hand!

  "Captain?" Seven asked. Her posture was also straight, but her hands were writhing together. Something that Seven just simply didn't do unless stressed out.

  "Where are your men?" Janeway asked realizing the taller blonde had forgotten the "order." She gulped.

  "They are... safe in my alcove storage room." She tried to say confidently.

  "And what about your orders to watch them. There is a Forlocci on board you know."

  "I had to get away..." Seven began.

  "I don't give orders unless I expect people to follow them." That was the brunt of Janeway's ass chewing. She wouldn't even have to take it further for her 'point' to be taken to heart. Good leadership sometimes meant not punishing for every mistake.

  "Will they be taken away now?" Seven asked with hope in her voice. Janeway knew better. She sighed and let herself relax into her usual cool posture.

  "Coffee?" She asked.

  Seven looked at her puzzled. She wanted to know what the punishment would be.

  "No." Seven never drank the stuff. After her bout with alcohol during one of the celebrations, she'd decided body altering chemicals were strictly NOT for her.

  "Well. Why did you leave them?" Janeway sat and realized that her evening wear WAS a bit more revealing than she'd remembered. She'd seen Seven's eyes wandering a bit. Perhaps she was curious because she herself had never worn lingerie.

  Janeway crossed her legs and hoped no one else showed up unannounced. At least she knew it WOULDN'T be Chakotay.

  "I had to, I had to think." Seven looked at the floor. It was shame again. Janeway had seen it a hundred times now. She felt the same compassion as always. She'd had the luxury of growing up around humans. Annica Hansen didn't. She had Seven be seated beside her so they could hold hands. Such a trivial gesture. It meant ALOT when talking to the tall curvaceous blonde who seemed to struggle with anything resembling human emotions.

  "What happened?"

  "The men... some of them. They became difficult to understand." She began. She was looking at her shoes. Janeway noticed that her shoes looked brand new. Not an odd thing, but with Seven notable. She supposed she'd been wearing the same footwear since she'd received her fist Starfleet uniform. She was the type that considered anything "working" as efficient.

  "What were they saying? More human slang?" Janeway wondered.

  "They cleaned my alcove during my sleep cycle... And they cleaned my shoes." She now pulled her foot up to show the Captain better.

  "Well. Remind them if they get too bored they can come and shine my shoes anytime." It was a relief. At least they weren't trying to beam into her uniform or anything. It made Seven more puzzled.

  "Cleaning footwear is a useless gesture. A waste of time. They should NOT have done it."

  "C'mon, Seven. They were trying to be nice. They don't have duties any longer. They were just trying to look after you. Maybe they felt like they weren't getting anything accomplished, so it was their way of thanking you." Janeway could already guess their real motive. She'd been cooped up in star ships long enough and been an explorer at heart to know a few things.

  "Nice? Nice is also irrelevant. I am the reason they are reduced in size. They could have stayed at their new shelters. They could have..." Seven didn't know what was wrong.

  She was lying to the Captain.

  That was something she vowed not to do. She tried again. "It was wrong because I enjoyed it." She said flatly.

  "Enjoyed it? I'd enjoy it too. What's wrong with that?"

  "Captain?!" Seven could NOT believe her ears. The Captain, the one who TAUGHT her human compassion was now saying that she would relish having the crew beneath her foot. It made her the most confused Borg in the sector.

  If the Borg Queen ever got wind of this, she'd be using nano probes on every enemy ship to shrink the whole crew and crush them beneath her own Borg foot. Seven shuddered at the mental image of several humans looking up at the Borg queen's foot and screaming as it came down to crush them into paste.

  Janeway could see the pain Seven was in. She quickly put her hand to Seven's face. "Why is it wrong? They were trying to be nice. I'd clean your alcove too if I had the time." She offered.

  "Then I must get back at once and repair this problem." Seven said trying to stand.

  "Nevermind them. Computer. Check on the men at Seven of Nine's alcove." She waved away the order in lieu of Seven's discomfort. "We'll have the computer do the baby sitting..."

  "All accounted for except one." The automated voice said emotionlessly. Janeway's spine began to tingle.

  "Report the location of the missing man..." She ordered.

  "Lieutenant Smitherman is with the Forlocci diplomat in her quarters." The computer barely had time to finish the sentence when Janeway sprung into action.

  "Computer, my clothes!" She ordered. She usually didn't use such resources for changing clothes. It was indeed a waist of energy, but she couldn't go around the ship in her underwear.

  She took her phaser and Seven toward the Forlocci's room. The tingling in her spine had grown to a full case of the willies. She imagined somehow Smitherman getting caught by the nightmarish creature, and knowing that the Forlocci ate their food live!? She walked faster than ever before. She'd seen the holographic Klingon eating... horrible! Seven had trouble keeping up with her.

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  Marla was still glad to have duties again. She was familiarized with a console not unlike the many consoles she'd seen aboard the Equinox. She pondered the functions for a moment and remembered James. She reached behind her head and dug her fingers into her hair. "James, come out. I've got a question." She felt him cling onto her finger and took him out. He was tired from taking naps on and off all day.

  "Are you okay?" She asked noting his grogginess.

  "I'm okay. Could I get you to carry a purse or something though? Sleeping in your hair is killing me." He tried to keep his spirits up. Marla was incapable of being a tyrant bitch, he knew it wasn't her fault he was sore all over. She thought a moment.

  "Okay. I could tote an away bag and you could have the replicator make anything you wish to go in it."

  "Yeah! That's wonderful!" He knew she'd tote the bag. He just asked so he wouldn't seem as cranky as he felt.

  "This console has the upperfunctions locked out, I don't have full access yet. I forgot how to get to the lower level diagnostics..." She began. The console was still unfamiliar. It was a dedicated unit that was integrated into the power grid for the defenses.

  Within a few moments she and her tiny charge had it figured out. He just sat straddling one of her fingers and rode it like a horse pointing out keys for her to press. "Thank you." She kissed him like a lucky charm, and then realized what she'd done. "I mean, sorry." She was embarrassed having kissed him like that.

  He was startled too. "Uh, you just surprised me is all. You, uh, kiss nice Marla." He didn't feel 'wet' at all. She'd popped her lips though and it left his ears ringing.

  "I wasn't trying to, you know?" She was trying to think of a way to change the subject.

  "Uh, I liked it. I was hoping we'd get closer aboard Voyager here, I just didn't know it would be THIS close."

  "I'm sorry." Marla said looking around to make sure no one saw her exposing her man to anyone.

  "Don't be sorry! I'm just lucky you're so nice! Did you see what happened to Tom?"

  "Yeah, poor guy." Marla didn't mean to speak against B'elana. But it was hard to imagine being only a few inches tall before the hot tempered engineer. For the thousandth time she was glad she wasn't one of the people shrunk.

  "Someone's coming..." James could also hear better at his current size. The footsteps sounded like a lumbering heard of elephants to him. Marla closed her hand on him and tucked him in to her heart hoping she wasn't spotted and reported. The slightest reprimand would be devastating after only being reinstated for a few hours.

  It was the duty watch engineer. And she was headed STRAIGHT for Marla.

  "Here's the next list of functions to be checked. And we're running a containment field FULL diagnostic before we go to warp again." The part Asian engineer was handing over a full roster of chores. She felt James slip down the front of her uniform.

  "Great. I'll start right away." Marla put her hands out to take the orders and begin now that they'd figured out the console. Marla was biting her lip as she worked.

  The Asian engineer would NOT leave.

  James was stuck in her top for a while. All Marla could think was, "it's a good thing I took a shower at the beginning of the watch."

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  All James could think was "How wonderful" as he slid against soft nice smelling flesh and tight Starfleet issue fabric. He noticed Marla had freckles all around her cleavage. He didn't dare move for fear that the movement would be noticed. He gulped each time Marla moved her arms above her head to access another panel. He slid down further each time she did this. He was trying to stay as still as possible, but her body was extremely hot and he was sweating making it even easier for him to slide. Would he be detected?

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