Accidental Multiverse Planeswalker - Chapter 09

Bokuboy Here we go! Another chapter and 21,700 words in two and a half days! Whoohoo!

After the harrowing events with Species 8472 and the desperate escape from the Borg Collective, the warp-crippled starship USS Voyager limped through space at their best impulse speed to get away from the main conflict and being assimilated. They still had several Borg onboard that were trying to take over the cargo bay that had been set aside for them during their deal with the Collective.

Many threats were exchanged and Captain Katheryn Janeway reluctantly ordered the cargo bay to be decompressed and exposed to space. The drones were immediately thrown out of the ship, which saddened her. It wasn't until someone continued to try and hack into the communications array that she realized their Borg Liaison was still alive.

A security team was dispatched and stormed into the now pressurized cargo bay and stunned the lone survivor. She was brought to sickbay and the Emergency Medical Hologram, or EMH, was activated and told to keep Seven of Nine sedated for as long as it was safely possible. Unfortunately, her body was no longer connected to the Collective and started to reject the majority of her Borg parts.

Meanwhile, the Ocompan named Kes was having trouble with her psychic abilities. She wasn't sure why her powers were suddenly being expanded and grew exponentially. She was assisting the EMH, or as he preferred, The Doctor, in performing surgery on the Borg prisoner. One of the minor implants in the woman's head started to malfunction and caused a seizure.

The Doctor was at a loss for what to do, since the implant was so deep inside Seven of Nine's brain, then Kes reassured him that everything was going to be fine. She could 'see' inside Seven's brain and used her powers to dissolve the implant and then the molecules disappeared.

“The implant is gone.” The Doctor said, surprised. “Kes? What did you do?”

“I don't know.” Kes said and looked surprised herself. “I just knew what to do and did it.”

“Can you do the other implants?” The Doctor asked.

“I don't... uhhh.” Kes wavered on her feet and the sickbay wall behind her started to fluctuate.

A warning klaxxon sounded through the ship for a moment.

“Doctor, we've picked up a massive spacial distortion in sickbay.” Harry Kim said.

“I can see it and I'm positive that Kes is causing it.” The Doctor said.

“Kes?” Harry asked and fell silent.

“Doctor, this is Janeway. Tell me what's happening.”

The Doctor did so and Kes stumbled away from the wall to try and stop whatever it was from happening.

“I'll be right there.” Janeway said and cut the communication.

“No... I... it's too dangerous.” Kes said and went over to the door to sickbay. It partially opened and the distortion rippled it and jammed it. She let out a little sob and ducked through the opening and walked away. She wasn't sure where she was going, considering she was on a spaceship and there was no place for her to go and keep it safe.

“Kes!” Janeway exclaimed as she came out of the turbolift.

“Stay back!” Kes said as another ripple formed in the walls around her.

“I'm sorry, Kes. I can't do that.” Janeway said and strode over to Kes as if nothing could hurt her.

Kes was surprised when the ripples seemed to part and let Janeway grab hold of her arms.

“Kes, calm down. We can deal with this.”

Kess shook her head. “It's... it's happening. I don't know what it is, just that I can't be here on the ship when it does or you'll all die.”

Janeway thought for only a second before she nodded. “Let's get you to the shuttlebay.”

Kes nodded agreement and the pair did their best to walk along an apparently uneven deck to get to the shuttlebay. They passed by a flat area of wall in an intersection of a hallway and the ripple Kes was causing distorted the wall and whatever was behind it.

A plasma conduit exploded and blew out the wall behind them in a bright fireball, which just missed gravely injuring the two women. There was also a heavy thump and a groan.

Janeway glanced back at the damage and was very surprised to see two naked people crammed up against the opposite bulkhead. She hit her comm badge. “Janeway to Chakotay. Beam Kes and I directly to the shuttlebay.”

“The molecules in Kes' body are destabilizing. It's interfering with the transporter.” Harry Kim reported.

“Captain, we can't get a lock.” Chakotay said.

“Acknowledged.” Janeway said and grabbed Kes' arm again, looked at the two unconscious people, then she started walking. “It looks like we're going to have to do this the hard way.”

Kes nodded and the two women walked as fast as they could. As they moved along, two more plasma conduits exploded just behind them and Kes' abilities seemed to spread out even more. The ship seemed to groan and the people on the bridge were worried that the hull was destabilizing and it wasn't going to hold together for much longer.

Janeway and Kes stopped when Tuvok came out of a turbolift not far away from them. Kes tried to tell him that she couldn't hold on and he immediately tried a mind meld. That wasn't something that a Vulcan would do on a casual basis. It usually signified a deep personal and in some cases a sensual connection.

Tuvok shared his immense control with Kes and she accepted it with gratitude as the ripples slowed down. The Vulcan looked at Janeway. “You must hurry.”

Janeway nodded and continued on with a nearly unresponsive Kes to the shuttlebay. No more conduits exploded on the way. Several hull breaches happened by the time they reached the shuttlebay and Janeway put Kes onto the closest shuttle.

“Janeway to Bridge.” Janeway said after hitting her comm badge. “Kes is aboard the shuttle. Initiate launch sequence.”

“Acknowledged.” Chakotay said and typed a few things on his chair panel.

The shuttle flew out of the rear cargo hatch of the ship on autopilot.

Janeway ran back the way she came and met up with Tuvok, who looked like he had recovered from the mind meld. “We need to get to the bridge right after I show you something.”

Tuvok nodded and they went along the corridor to where the two naked people were. “They seem to be mating.”

Janeway glanced to where he indicated and she saw that yes, the two people were joined together in that way. “Janeway to the bridge. I need an emergency transport for two people four feet in front of me.”

“I'm sorry, captain. The sensors aren't picking anyone up there.” Harry Kim responded.

Janeway and Tuvoc exchanged significant looks.

“Send a security team with a medical stretcher to this location to take them to sickbay.” Tuvoc said. “I suggest not removing them from each other. They might be traumatized if they are... interrupted.”

“I'm not going to ask.” Harry Kim said. “They are on their way.”

Janeway and Tuvoc went to the next turbolift and rode it up to the bridge.

“Can you hail her?” Janeway asked.

“I've been trying.” Harry Kim responded and then Kes' voice came onto the bridge.

“It's happening. It's happening to me.” Kes said.

“Her atomic structure is completely destabilizing!” Harry Kim shouted.

Kes started to glow brightly. “My gift to you.” She said and then her form changed into one of pearlescent light that encompassed the shuttle as it rippled away from existence as well. It wasn't really an explosion, just a large concussive force as the light flashed and winked out. That force hit Voyager and it shunted the ship right into warp.

“Torres to bridge! The warp core just came online. Matter and Antimatter reaction is at a hundred and two percent. A hundred and ten percent.” B'Elanna stared at the numbers. “A hundred and twenty!”

The ship rocketed forward at an unimaginable speed and everyone held on.

Harry Kim, being overly dramatic as usual, shouted. “We're coming apart!”

Just after his declaration, the ship stopped accelerating and came to a stop. In front of them on the viewscreen was a nebula that they hadn't seen before.

“Where are we?” Janeway asked.

Tom Paris typed an inquiry into his flight and navigation console. “We're 9.5 thousand light years from where we just were.”

Complete silence fell on the bridge for several moments.

“Kes has thrown us safely beyond Borg space.” Janeway said in appreciation. “Ten years closer to home.”

*

A short time later, The Doctor, Janeway, and a crewman from the security detail, met with a nearly completely restored Seven of Nine in the drone cargo bay.

“I've managed to extract 82% of her Borg hardware. The remaining bio-implants are stable and better than what I could synthesize on such short notice.”

Seven of Nine turned to look at him. “It is acceptable.”

“Fashion is not my forte; however, I managed to balance functionality and aesthetics in a pleasing enough manner.” The Doctor said, a bit arrogantly. “I also stimulated your hair follicles. A vicarious experience for me, as you can imagine.”

“Why would I imagine it? You are a hologram. Program yourself with hair.” Seven responded.

The doctor looked surprised by this, gave a glance to Janeway, and walked off without commenting.

Janeway had to hold in her laugh. “You will have to regenerate for a few hours each day in one of the alcoves to maintain your systems, until your normal biological functions start to assert themselves. We will leave one active for that purpose.”

“Understood.” Seven said.

“Let's see how things go for the next couple of weeks. I'll consider granting you access to the rest of the ship, if I can trust that you won't try to get us all assimilated again.”

Seven almost sighed in response. “It won't happen again.”

Janeway nodded. “Good.” She said and handed her a comm badge. “If you need anything, contact me.”

Seven accepted it and watched Janeway leave her assigned area. She looked around at the cargo bay and sighed. Her life of exploring the endless corridors of a Borg Cube and hearing millions of voices to comfort her, had been reduced to a single room aboard a tiny starship and she was alone. Completely alone.

*

“Uhhh.” I groaned and opened my eyes. I saw an unfamiliar ceiling and smelled medical supplies. I also saw and felt that Gloria was still on top of me. At least we were covered with a sheet.

“Ah, you're finally awake.” An oddly familiar voice said and walked into view.

I caught my breath and stared at the 'man' in front of me.

“How are you feeling?” The Doctor asked me.

“Please tell me I'm dreaming.” I said.

The Doctor gave me a curious look. “Are you experiencing hallucinations?”

“No, I just wish I was.” I said and closed my eyes to go over the very old memories I had from watching the show. “Wake me up when Captain Janeway gets here.”

Just then, the door to sickbay opened and Katheryn Janeway walked in with Tuvok behind her.

“Wake up, she's here.” The Doctor said, smugly.

“Speak of the devil and she shall appear.” I said and opened my eyes to look at the woman.

“That's not a very nice opening to a conversation.” Janeway said.

“If we were going to have a conversation, you wouldn't have your head of security here and a ton of questions to ask me.” I responded.

Janeway looked slightly startled by that, then she composed herself. “You seem to know about us.”

“I would like to say vaguely.” I said and she waited for me to keep talking. “I can't.”

“I would like for you to prove that.” Janeway said.

“Tuvok is a devoted husband and father. Despite his vows, he has had several affairs and liaisons of a personal nature, outside of the Pon Farr.” I said and both Janeway and Tuvok looked surprised. “One of which was with Kes, who also had multiple partners on this ship, despite only being two goddamn years old when she joined the crew!”

“Jesus, John.” Gloria said and wiggled her ass a little and then moaned softly as she settled me into a good spot inside of her. “You can't always start off with busting people's balls like that.”

“I'm sorry, it's just a bit of a sore spot with me.” I said and kissed her cheek. “At least we both still have all of our parts attached.”

“I seemed to have kept one of yours, despite us not being where we appeared.” Gloria said.

“We're not?” I asked and glanced around at the walls.

“No blast damage anywhere.” Gloria said and lifted her head to look at the people around us. “Thanks to whoever left us together. I would have freaked out if I woke up and thought I'd lost him.”

Tuvok nodded.

“There? You see? He made sure we were okay and still together. Give him a break.” Gloria said and laid her head back down on mine.

I sighed. “All right. I'll give him a pass. Her life is pretty short anyway, despite the federation's medical technology that could have extended her life to double or triple the normal one.”

“How would we have done that?” The Doctor asked.

“Just off the top of my head, I'd say genetic therapy to imbue her with a base human's DNA. You could also create just a mass of compatible flesh and then use a transporter to beam her and it together at a subatomic level. You could create a regeneration chamber and...”

“I think that's enough.” Janeway said and I stopped talking. “Who are you and how did you get onto my ship?”

“I'm John Hansen and getting onto your ship was a mistake, as far as I can determine.” I said.

“What? Really?” Gloria asked.

“We were concentrating on your anklet that's your mother's personal talisman. We should have popped right over to her and not ended up here.”

Gloria blushed and turned her head to face away from me.

“Gloria.” I said and she sighed. “What happened?”

“I wasn't really concentrating... on the destination.” Gloria said. “You always feel wonderful and...”

I sighed and interrupted her. “We have to wait until we stop somewhere before we can leave the ship and try again.”

“We just got here. We can't leave yet.” Gloria said and turned her head back to look at me. “You've never tried travelling so soon after doing so and it might not work well.”

I couldn't argue that point. I almost always stayed for a long period of time. The only exception was when I found Gloria and I was pretty sure that was precisely why.

“I suppose... since we're here anyway.” I said and she kissed my cheek.

“I'm glad you decided all on your own that you're going to stay on my ship.” Janeway said.

I smiled at her. “I only have two questions to ask you before you beg us to stay here and help you.”

“Please, do ask them.” Janeway said, sarcastically.

“What was the most recent event to happen to the ship or the crew?” I asked.

“You showing up.” Janeway said. “What's the second question?”

I shook my head. “There had to be an explosion somewhere on the ship for us to appear. What caused it?”

Janeway glanced at Tuvok, who shrugged. “A member of the crew... Kes... lost control of her powers and nearly destroyed the ship.”

I nodded and closed my eyes.

“Now isn't the time for a nap.” Janeway said.

“He's meditating to see what he remembers.” Gloria said. “Give him a minute.”

I dredged up my memories and I was glad that even with the Ancient's Repository shoved into my head, I still had lots of room for more memories. Of course, I regularly cleared out a lot of the random stuff that happens daily. I didn't need to remember brushing my teeth twenty thousand times or going to the bathroom nearly double that. It was not useful information at all.

“You just escaped from the Borg Collective, gained Seven of Nine as a passenger and possible crew, and Kes brought you about ten years closer to the Alpha Quadrant.” I said as I opened my eyes. Janeway, Tuvoc, and The Doctor had wide eyes.

“By the way, you need to give B'Elanna Torres the week off during the Day of Honor ritual that all Klingons go through to remember their deeds. She's going to be really irritable and will cause an accident in engineering that will cause the warp core to eject.”

“She's my chief engineer. I can't tell her to not go to work for a week.” Janeway said. “There's too much to do to keep the ship running.”

“Are you going to assign Seven of Nine to engineering?” I asked.

“She needs to assist in removing the Borg modifications from the ship to allow us to jump to warp.”

“Considering B'Elanna hates Seven and is already in an irritable mood, you're just forcing a conflict to happen.”

“You have no right to tell me how to run my ship.” Janeway said, indignantly.

I chuckled. “I wasn't telling you anything of the sort. I am informing you of the disaster you are going to create by shoving them together and making them work together.”

“Was asking about Seven your second question?” Janeway asked. “If it was, I'm not going to beg for you to stay. I'm actually going to confine you to quarters.”

I barked a laugh. “I'll take that punishment, just so I can laugh at you in two weeks as Voyager struggles to fly around on backup battery power.”

“John!” Gloria gasped. “The second question!”

“Right.” I said. “My second question was if you liked your steaks medium rare or well done?”

Janeway blinked her eyes for several moments, as if confused. “Excuse me?”

“I am an excellent cook and my assistant and I have had many years cooking for ourselves and for others.” I said and her confusion changed to shock. “I can make almost anything from anything and make it edible and delicious.”

“We... have a cook.” Janeway said, halfheartedly.

“I doubt Neelix will be in any mood to cook after what happened with Kes.” I said. “I can take over temporarily as he mourns. If you want to keep me on as a cook after that, then that would be up to you.”

Janeway looked at a loss for words.

“Not at the begging stage yet?” I asked and then thought about the state of the ship. “I can restock the hydroponics bay and get it to the point that you'll be needing to sell off the excess produce to compatible people. Or you can add them to the replicator and build up the food stores.”

Janeway looked stunned.

“Not enough?” I asked. “Okay, I can work in engineering as a maintenance worker to do all the grunt jobs that nobody else wants to do. I'm a pretty good fabricator, too.”

“Is that all?” Tuvok asked.

“Huh. A tough crowd.” I joked and he didn't smile. I hadn't expected him to. “I'm a pilot, a scientist, a farmer, a mechanic, and a few other things. I'm not that familiar with Starfleet specifications or the technology, which is why I said I wanted to work as a grunt until I do get some experience with it.”

“How can you know so much about us and not about the technology?” Tuvoc asked.

“I said I need experience with it, not that I didn't know about it. Transporters, hyposprays, tricorders, phasers, shuttles, ships, starbases, etcetera, etcetera.”

Janeway looked conflicted.

“What time is it?” I asked.

“Sixteen hundred hours.” Tuvoc said.

“So, about an hour before the big meal needs to start being served in the mess hall.” I said and he nodded. “All right. I'll cook supper today, no strings attached. We won't even go anywhere else by ourselves and you can leave a guard on us the entire time to make sure.”

“I will do that.” Tuvoc said.

“He can be the first to eat, too.” I said. “Now, if you will excuse us, we have to get dressed and go over to the mess hall to get to work.”

Janeway nodded and both she and Tuvoc left.

“You shouldn't antagonize the captain like that.” The Doctor said.

“Don't worry, doc. She is going to love me after tonight.” I said and glanced at Gloria. “Can we have a bit of privacy?”

“I'm a medical hologram. I've seen it all before.” The Doctor said.

I raised my eyebrows at him and Glroia giggled as she threw off the blanket and then slipped off of me and reversed positions to squat over my face and slipped me into her mouth.

The Doctor made some kind of a squeak sound and then deactivated himself.

Gloria laughed with me in her mouth and then licked and sucked on me for a few seconds before she climbed off of me. “Okay, I'll admit that tweaking the prudes is a little fun.”

“A little.” I chuckled and walked over to the replicator. “Computer, two standard civilian jumpsuits for use on a Starfleet exploration ship, stretchy, and in a deep blue. One for a male and one for a female.”

“Warning. Replicator usage is restricted by rations.” The computer said.

“We're ambassadors and visitors to the Voyager for the length of our time here.” I said and the two jumpsuits formed in the receptacle. “Give me a bit of time and I'll figure out how to upgrade your power distribution network and fix your weak power reserves. It's just sad that your hallways are always so dark. You need to show yourself off a little.”

The computer made a slight beeping sound. “Inquiry not recognized.”

I chuckled and passed a uniform to Gloria as I cast cleaning spells on us both. “It's okay if you don't believe me. I'll show you soon enough what I can do for you.” I said and slipped on the uniform jumpsuit. “Thank you for the clothing.”

The computer made a small series of beeps and stutters.

“Yes, I know that no one else ever thanks you.” I said and the replicator panel lights flickered. “It's all right. I won't tell anyone I can speak to you like that.”

“John, we better go.” Gloria said.

“Yes, we have to get cooking.” I said and started to walk away, then saw the mobile emitter on The Doctor's desk. I was unable to resist and walked over to it and laid a finger on it. If anyone was watching right now or watched the security footage later, they would only see me touching it.

We left sickbay and followed the computer's instructions on how to get to the mess hall. We entered and a couple of people were already there drinking a cup of coffee.

“Hi, there.” I said to them. “I'll have something nice cooked up for you soon.”

The guy laughed. “Good luck finding anything nice in there.” He said and waved at the kitchen. “I doubt Neelix has any idea what people like to eat.”

“Don't worry about that. I'm taking over for a while to let him mourn Kes.”

“Kes? What happened to her?” The woman asked.

“Her powers went out of control and she almost destroyed the ship.” I said and they both looked shocked. “Captain Janeway put her own life at risk to get Kes off of the ship in time before Kes exploded.”

“Oh, god!” The woman gasped.

“It's okay. Kes just ascended to another plane of existence. She's an energy being now.” I said as I put a hand on her shoulder and she relaxed. “How do you like your steaks?”

“STEAKS?!?” They both yelled.

“Sure. It's my first time cooking for 160 people. I have to go all out.” I said with a smile.

“Captain Janeway would never authorize using up that many replicator rations for one meal.” The man said.

“What rations?” I asked and pointed to Gloria, who just went behind the main cooking counter. I created a large crate of steaks there that I had used to bribe the Alliance officer to allow me to take the pilot examination.

Gloria took the cue and opened it to lift out several handfuls of raw steaks.

“Oh, god!” The woman gasped.

“If that's real, we want them medium rare and seared to perfection.” The man said.

I nodded and placed my hand on his shoulder. “Coming right up.” I said and walked over to the kitchen area and went behind the counter.

“Anything good?” Gloria asked.

“Astrometrics specialist and sensor technician.”

“You could just say no.” Gloria said with a smile.

“Quiet, you.” I said and lightly slapped her ass.

“Hey!” Gloria said, indignantly.

“Sorry.” I said and gently rubbed the spot. “Better?”

“Much.” Gloria said and kissed me. “Now clear out some of this garbage for me and we can get cooking for real.”

I laughed softly and quickly gathered up the masses of odd looking plants and things. As I did so, more people started coming into the mess hall and getting coffee.

“Oh! Just a second.” I said and pretended to reach under the counter to create a very large pot of real coffee. “We just got in a new blend.”

“Does it taste more like athletic socks or soap scum?” One of the new people asked and the dozen people there laughed.

“It's 100% pure Columbian grown, directly from Earth.” I said and they all stopped laughing and stared at me. “Freshly brewed.”

I was suddenly swarmed and the coffee pot was quickly emptied.

“Oh, my goodness.” One of the women whispered as she sucked in a sip. “It's delicious.”

I put another large pot of coffee on the counter for them to serve themselves and I finished clearing off the cooking area. I quickly changed it out for a more advanced cooking setup with a much larger grilling area and put on a dozen steaks.

“I've got two orders for medium rare and seared.” I said as the smell of cooking meat filled the mess hall. “What does everyone else want?”

They all spoke at once and I laughed as I kept cooking. Gloria took the two first orders over to their table and it had the proper baked potatoes and garnishes on the plates.

The man and woman drooled at them.

“Enjoy.” Gloria said and quickly retreated as the two people essentially tore into the meat. “I think they like it.” She said to me and went back to making more potatoes and put on a large pot of rice.

“I'll start the salads.” I said and she took over watching the steaks.

“Salads?” Someone asked. “Actual salads and not whatever grass and things Neelix dug up?”

“I've got chef's salads, Caesar Salads, garden surprise, and a few others on the go.” I said and five people came to the counter to watch me cutting up the fresh tomatoes and shredding the two kinds of lettuce. I pulled out bottles of Salad dressing and added them to the large bowls I was mixing the salads in.

“Croutons?” Someone asked.

I opened the oven and pulled out a cookie sheet full of them.

“I love you!” She exclaimed and held out a big bowl for some salad and the croutons.

I laughed. “I'm sorry. I'm spoken for.”

“She's lucky I was joking.” The woman said and left the counter very happy.

“So is she.” Gloria whispered.

I stopped chopping and turned to kiss her. “You know you never have to worry.”

“I do... and I can't help it.” Gloria said and I kissed her again and we went back to cooking a lot of food for a lot of people. Word seemed to spread across the ship like lightning and we cooked constantly for over two hours to get everyone fed and happy.

One of which was Neelix. He didn't look happy about us taking over his domain and I had to stop cooking for several minutes as I explained about his losing Kes and needing time to recover. I also said that this was only a one time opportunity until Janeway decided if she wanted to keep Gloria and I aboard. We were under quarters arrest for the next two weeks, too.

Neelix looked over at the security guard that hadn't eaten yet and nodded. He left with his own hastily made meal and took a lot of his things with him. The space seemed a lot larger with his little forest out of the way, too. No one had noticed my subtle expansion charm and Gloria smirked at me. We would soon fill it with delectable foods for people to see and get hungry over.

*

“I have to admit that this is a great steak.” Commander Chakotay said as he sat in Captain Janeway's quarters eating a meal with her.

“Yes, it is.” Janeway said and looked down at it. She had only tasted it twice and it was delicious.

“What's wrong?” Chakotay asked.

“Aren't you asking yourself where they got it?” Janeway asked.

Chakotay chuckled. “Considering there are no cows within 70 light years or so, there's not a lot of places they could get them.”

“Exactly. Where did they get the steaks, and the lettuce, and real tomatoes?” Janeway asked. “This salad has ranch dressing and I'm sure they don't make it in bottles anymore. It's all replicated.”

“What's your point?” Chakotay asked.

“No replicator rations have been issued to our guests, besides the two civilian uniforms they somehow retrieved from the computer without authorization.”

Chakotay smiled. “So, they are resourceful.”

Janeway sighed. “You're missing the point. Two people that just randomly appeared on my ship, through an apparent explosion according to them, can't be allowed to roam about the ship.”

“They won't be roaming, Katheryn. You said he accepted being confined to quarters and having a guard at all times to ensure that he and his companion don't go wandering.”

Janeway stopped herself from sighing again.

“Are you going to eat? The food really is the best we've ever had, and that's including the week we had that surplus of energy and lifted the replicator ration restrictions.”

Janeway couldn't argue that particular point, so she started eating again. When both she and Chakotay were almost done, a chime came from her door. She fully expected to hear about some kind of incident happening in the mess hall and answered the door herself.

Chakotay almost laughed as the woman he had grown to respect and care for a lot, came back into the small eating area of her quarters with a sad expression and a tray with two large pieces of triple layer chocolate cake. They were covered with sprinkles and absolutely dripping with chocolate fudge sauce.

It took Chakotay ten minutes and eating half of the extremely rich and tasty piece of cake before he could speak without smiling. “He might not have you begging him to keep cooking; but, the rest of the women on the ship sure will.”

*

“Chocolate Fondue Night? Really?” Gloria asked me two days later.

“Well, considering how much they liked the cake the first night and the ice cream the second night...”

“Don't give me that crap, John. You just want to hear over 60 women in an enclosed space while they moan with pleasure as they bite into fresh strawberries and suck the chocolate off of them.”

“The acoustics could use some testing in the mess hall.” I joked and she smacked my arm.

“I'm going to be right there, you voyeur.” Gloria said.

“You better be prepared to handle the result.” I warned her and she gave me a pointed look. “I told you how I reacted when I saw and heard Kaylee doing that.”

Gloria's eyes dropped to my crotch and went back to my face. “There's no way we can do anything in front of everyone.”

“Don't worry, no one will see a thing.” I said and grinned at her.

“You really want to...” Gloria stopped talking and sighed. “Fiiiine. I'll be ready.”

She wasn't. As soon as the desert was revealed, the stampede to eat fresh strawberries overwhelmed her and she couldn't keep up with the demand. I had to pause continuously cooking the main meal and stepped in to help her.

“Why?” Gloria asked in a whisper when the latest group of voracious people, and not just women, left the counter area with a bowl of liquid chocolate and a basket of strawberries. “It shouldn't be that big of an interest.”

“Simple indulgence, my dear.” I said as I hugged and kissed her. “They've been floating about in space for nearly four years and eating what they could scrounge up from the local plants and fruits. Or the equivalent to them. Having an actual strawberry that wasn't replicated is just too tempting to resist.”

Gloria gave me a questioning look, then the first sets of delighted moans came from the nearby tables. She gasped when she felt me go instantly hard, then she gasped again when I turned her around, bent her over the counter, and shoved myself right inside of her. I created an invisibility cloak and draped it over her and used magic to continue cooking as I did her right there in front of everyone.

No one noticed or heard her passionate moans.

Needless to say, Chocolate Fondue Night was a huge hit and everyone requested to have it again as soon as the next batch of strawberries were 'grown'. I wasn't surprised that Gloria was one of them.

The ensign I had sent to the captain's quarters came back to the kitchen with the captain's bowl and strawberries completely untouched. Gloria accepted them graciously and waited until the meal was over before she indulged in the treat herself and showed me why I liked it when she teased me. Thankfully, the guard gave us some privacy.

Who knew that judiciously applied chocolate and a bite of a strawberry would have her mouth moving on me like a jackhammer? I came hard before I realized I should warn her, and she didn't stop. She just dribbled a bit more chocolate on the tip and kept going.

*

A week later, the ship went into emergency shutdown and the warp core was ejected to save the ship. I laughed my ass off about it, just as I promised Janeway, because I had warned her. She wasn't happy about that when she visited me, either.

She was halfway through a prepared speech about overcoming differences and working together before she had enough of my constant laughing and ordered me confined for another two weeks and left with a huff and an angry face.

“You didn't have to laugh that hard.” Gloria said and hugged me.

“I know. I was just keeping my promise.” I said and kissed her. “Without main power, there's going to be a sad state of people to feed for the next while and make happy.”

Gloria reached down and rubbed me through the jumpsuit. “Bananas?”

“Bananas.” I said and picked her up. “Banana bread, ice cream floats, banana splits, parfaits, you name it. It's going to be banana week on Voyager.”

“That's enough talking. Give me the crazy monkey sex.” Gloria said before I tossed her onto the bed, made a crazed monkey sound for her, then I jumped on her to tear her clothes off. She laughed and moaned in equal measure as I gave her exactly what she wanted.

When we were done, we each ate a banana calmly and cuddled.

*

The next three weeks of confinement meant that I missed several big events and was just on the ship as a passenger. The first officer was captured and partially brainwashed, the chief engineer was nearly killed by a murderous hologram, and Seven of Nine had escaped the ship and found the ship that she and her parents had used to observe the Borg.

They were all things that I could have easily interfered with and prevented. Or better yet, ensured didn't happen at all. It really wasn't my fault that Janeway wouldn't take my calls or messages anymore. Well, it kind of was. I didn't mind rubbing her face in the fact that I could have easily handled those events if she just relented and apologized.

It wasn't until the computer beeped at me one evening that I caught my breath. Those alien scientists that were slightly out of phase with this state of matter, had just docked to two ports on the top of Voyager. She wasn't happy about that at all.

I jumped to my feet and Gloria didn't stir, so I covered her with an invisibility cloak as I formed clothing over myself and then put on my own cloak. I formed a stun gun and went right to one of the hatches that the computer said was being used. I stood off to the side to see if I could see anything, then sighed when I couldn't.

It was then that I remembered Albus Dumbledore's glasses and put them on. I saw the scientists and their names, occupations, and ages popped up over their heads. I waited until they had their backs to me before I fired a test stun bolt at the woman at the back of the group. I almost jumped for joy when it hit her and she crumpled to the floor.

I put the gun on full auto and filled the corridor with bolts. I knew I missed a bunch of them from both this ship and the other one, so I went up into the ship above and shot everyone there. I touched everything that looked interesting and they were just variations on the same medical tools I already had. I discarded the images and then gathered the piles of unconscious scientists back inside their ship.

Then the real hunt began.

I worked my way through the ship and took out every single one of the aliens and shoved them back onto their ships. I also used a security device and pilfered their data, something that it was quite happy to do. I even managed to put their medical devices on each other and set up their recording devices for them.

“Doctor, heal thyself.” I quoted and entered several hidden commands into their computers.

I deleted Voyager's location and warp signature from their databases, removed humans as test subjects, and erased any preliminary speculation on what they would learn from such a primitive species.

“Primitive? You can kiss this primitive's squeaky clean ass.” I said and went to the other alien ship and repeated the procedures and then closed the hatches. “Okay, buddy. Initiate.”

The security panel beeped happily at me and then lit up as it showed two displays of the alien ships undocking and then flying off at their best speed... in the exact opposite direction of their homeworld.

“I think they'll get pretty far over the next five hours. What do you think?” I asked it.

The display changed and showed the fuel consumption ratio for their intra-system drives was horrendous.

“Ha! Those idiots. You never fly on a long mission without full tanks.” I said and the security device beeped at me several times. “Yeah, I've had my fun. I better get back to my quarters before Janeway sends someone to check on me again.”

“Beep. Boop beepbeep.”

“Hey, I only forgot to silence myself once while roaming through engineering.” I said and walked back towards my assigned quarters.

“Beep beep.”

I chuckled. “Yes, I know I'm an idiot sometimes.”

“Only sometimes?” Someone asked as I rounded the corner to where my room was.

“Oops.” I said as I came to a stop in front of Captain Janeway. I had forgotten to silence my voice.

“Whatever cloaking technology you have, you will turn it over immediately.” Janeway said. “I'm suspending you from cooking as well. You will not leave your quarters for any reason.”

I sighed and slipped off my invisibility cloak. “Here you go. Have fun trying to figure it out.”

Janeway took the silky cloth and stared at it.

I walked by her and entered my room. “I should have let those aliens put that device on your head.”

“What aliens?” Janeway asked.

“Exactly.” I said and hit the door close button.

*

It took more than a month for Seven of Nine and Harry Kim to finish the project they had been working on. It was a massive drain on the ship's resources and everyone hoped that it would work out for the best. The brand new Astrometrics Observatory lab was unveiled and several people clapped.

“This new technology, combining both Borg and Human ingenuity, has created something that has never been seen before.” Janeway said.

“I've seen it before.” I said and a few people laughed. Stories of my antics and my warnings had spread through the ship fairly quickly, once I was removed from cooking duties. The crew was not happy with the captain at all, especially when Neelix gladly took his old job back and pretty much ruined the food I had left for him to use.

So, I did the only thing I could do under the circumstances. I had started an underground food network. Barely anyone ate at the mess hall anymore and they all came to me for personal visits. The guards on my door never said anything, because they were always the first to get whatever I made that day.

“If the audience would remain quiet, perhaps Seven and Harry can explain exactly what this new observation lab and the upgraded sensor suite will do for the ship.”

It was essentially an advanced navicomputer. I didn't tell them that I could have made one for them long ago. Gaining access to the Borg's data nodes? That was something I very much wanted to do.

When they brought up the new course, and Seven said the Zahl controlled the space, I walked over to the main console. “Excuse me.” I said and lightly touched Seven's hand. “That area is currently in dispute between the Zahl and the Krenim. They've been at war for decades.”

Seven gave me a pointed look. “The Borg have no reference of that.”

“The Borg are not investigative. They see a target, assimilate it if it will improve the collective, and move on.” I said and gave her hand a light squeeze before I let it go. “The Krenim are currently the underdogs and their space-faring presence has been significantly reduced. The Borg would have ignored them as insignificant.”

Seven nodded slightly and conceded the point before she turned back to work at the console.

“Do you have a point?” Janeway asked, slightly irritated.

“I was only clarifying the sociopolitical situation for the space we will need a significant amount of time to cross, so you'll know about any potential conflict that might happen.” I said and a few people around us nodded. “I was also able to stand next to an absolutely gorgeous and supremely intelligent woman.”

Seven looked back at me and raised her eyebrows.

“I wasn't making a pass at you, just complimenting your beauty and your intelligence.” I said.

“A pass?” Seven asked, clearly curious.

“It's when an interested male approaches a female of a similar humanoid species and attempts to coerce her into spending some personal time with him.” I said. “I mean convince.”

A few people around us laughed softly.

“I'm with someone right now, so flirting or making passes at other women is frowned upon.” I added.

“Flirting?” Seven asked.

I smiled. “That is a much more in-depth answer than can be summed up in only a few words. Would you like to come to my quarters after your shift and we can discuss that and a few other things?”

“I thought you said you were not going to make a pass at me.” Seven said.

I chuckled. “You caught that right away. Well done, Seven of Nine.”

Seven looked slightly pleased at my response.

“Gloria and I will be happy to have you over to visit.” I said and placed my hand on her lower back as I leaned in close to whisper in her ear. “I am sorry that everyone shortens your designation. Seven is not your proper name.”

Seven nodded slightly again in acknowledgement.

I leaned back and moved my hand away. “Shall we expect you at the appropriate time?”

“You can.” Seven said.

“Brilliant.” I said and pushed several buttons on the console before she could stop me. Seven gave me a slightly stern look and I winked at her.

When the thing beeped a minute later, everyone in the room looked at the large wall display as ship hulls, designations, and potential weapons appeared for the Zahl, Krenim, and a few other smaller races in the area.

“You overlooked the integration of Voyager's tactical computer when you connected the navigation array and upgraded sensors.” I said.

“Where is this tactical data coming from?” Harry Kim asked. “We've never encountered these ships before.”

“I suspect it's from one of the Borg data nodes. Just because they didn't assimilate something, that doesn't mean they didn't scan it for viability and don't have records of it.” I said. “I'll see you later, Seven of Nine.”

Seven nodded to me and I left to go back to my quarters. My guard followed me with a smile on his face.

*

Gloria, Seven and I had a great time that night. We had a lively discussion of Borg benevolence and seeking perfection, the other races of the galaxy vehemently denying that perfection, and the value of creating a melting pot of people, civilizations, and technology.

We also had several interpersonal lessons about flirting, making passes, gaining people's interest, politely refusing that interest when it is unwanted, and a bunch of other things. Seven was particularly interested in the physical aspect of what we were talking about and Gloria and I demonstrated everything she asked for, even sex. It wasn't until Seven started to strip off that she surprised us.

“Whoa, hold on there.” Gloria said.

“I need to experience this for myself.” Seven said and peeled off her bodysuit. She was not wearing underwear and she was also perfectly proportional, almost like Barbi was back in the last universe. “You both offered to do whatever I asked.”

“Both of us.” Gloria whispered and looked at me, then we both had the same thought.

“Velma.” We said as one.

“We can't let it turn out like that.” Gloria warned me.

“No, we can't.” I said and kissed her. “Are you sure you want to do this?”

“John, we've been together for over ten millennia. I think we can handle adding someone like Seven of Nine to our relationship.”

I nodded and turned to Seven. “We need to tell you that we are fiercely monogamous. If you agree, Gloria and I are going to accept you into our little collective.”

Seven caught her breath. “A... a collective?”

“Yes.” I said and reached up and touched the cortical implant over her eye. “You still have Borg parts inside of you. Some are hindering your synapses and altering your perception of things, especially anything emotional, because it doesn't compute.”

Seven nodded slightly. “I have been quite confused this evening and on other occasions when interacting with the crew.”

“I want to help you with that.” I said and took out a bacta needle.

“What is that?” Seven asked.

“It's a biological healing booster that I'm going to inject into your cerebellum after I vanish the main device blocking your brain's cognitive functions.”

Seven looked down at her naked self and back at me. “You want to adjust me before allowing my participation.”

“That and I have to copy your neural link ability.” I said and she caught her breath.

“Why would you do that?” Seven asked.

“We know what it's like to be completely alone, even when there are other people around.” Gloria said in understanding and Seven turned her head to look at her. “I don't know if I can retain the ability for longer than a few hours because my body seems to reject anything foreign.”

“Understood.” Seven said and turned her head to look at me again. “You may begin.”

“I'm already done.” I said and then I touched her arm and Gloria's at the same time to copy the link.

Seven and Gloria gasped as the three of us formed a miniature collective.

“We are one and we are not.” Seven said. “I am still me and you are still you.”

“Yes.” I said and kissed her. And we are together.

“MMMM!” Seven moaned in ecstasy from both the feelings and having two other minds linked with her own after so long. She was soon lost in the sensations when we all felt Gloria slip my erection into her mouth and she started sucking. Seven sucked on my tongue in the same action and I massaged her breasts.

Gloria moaned from the feedback on Seven's part and sped up her movements. The three of us felt me approach my first orgasm and Gloria and Seven's bodies responded in kind. When I blew my load down Gloria's throat, they both had massively strong orgasms as well.

Feeling a woman's orgasm directly from their mind gave me a perspective that I never thought I would have. It was so intense and mind-altering of an experience that it was no wonder that women tried so hard to achieve it and then as many times as possible.

I wasn't going to disappoint either of them tonight. Or ever. I resolved to give them all the orgasms they would ever want and I literally felt their love for me. Gloria's long and burning one was a comforting flame. Seven's was a burgeoning one that flared brightly as it came into being, then it split and part of it went into me and the other part went into Gloria.

“Forever. You are mine forever.” Seven whispered as she fell deeply in love with the both of us and we shared our love for each other with her. She yelled her pleasure as I entered her for the first of many, many times that we would have over the years to come.

Gloria yelled her pleasure as well, going along for the ride, then she was kissing Seven and pushed me back enough to present herself to be licked. I obliged, because we were all in at this point. The three of us were fully connected and shared everything, especially the desire to make the others feel good for this, our first time together.

It was only slightly unfortunate that I had forgotten to cast a Silence spell around us and by the next morning, everyone knew we had been together.

*

During my time restricted to quarters, that I ignored, I made significant inroads in secretly upgrading Voyager's shields, power systems, and armor. No one suspected that the bio-neural gel packs actually gave the ship more of an alive feeling than anything else could have. I quickly made hundreds of copies of them and seeded them all over the ship and integrated them into the ship's neural network.

I also installed large Naquadah power generators, that would run for hundreds of years, in discreet locations all over the ship and followed the computer's instructions on how to connect them to the normal power distribution system without being detected. Using them, I also installed my custom iris-based physical shielding over all the windows and hatches of the ship.

Voyager's computer was quite pleased with that, until I installed the Goa'uld protective energy shielding and activated it, stopping any and all external energy from permeating the hull of the ship. It beeped and booped at me for ten minutes before it realized it didn't have any physical means to complete half of what it promised to do to me to thank me.

“Just wait until I get your armor attached.” I whispered to the computer as I created and showed her a large chromium armor plate from Naboo. “If you can believe it, this thing will reflect any beam weapon that hits it, assuming it ever gets through your shields.”

Two minutes later, I was blushing and had to politely refuse the computer's sincere offer to go to the holodeck. I was never telling Gloria what the ship had said to me. Ever. Despite the two of us being in a relationship with Seven, which we all thoroughly enjoyed, I was actually tempted by the ship's offer. That was a scary thing, considering the amount of technology I had access to.

I quickly wiped the memory from my mind after I thanked the ship for considering me.

*

Voyager finally arrived in Zahl space and was immediately confronted by a small Krenim vessel. It fired upon Voyager without provocation and the ship was hit by several energy torpedoes and light phaser banks. Voyager didn't even register the hits, they were so insignificant. She still went to Yellow Alert to inform the crew.

“Report.” Janeway said irritably as she entered the bridge. The coffee had been horrendous and she had to break her own replicator rations rule to create a cup for herself, only to find that the recipe had been corrupted and it tasted just like Neelix's blend of sweaty socks and soap. She had no clue that the ship had set the replicator to do that only for her.

“A small Krenim vessel has attacked us without provocation.” Tuvok said.

“Give them a taste of what a real weapon can do.” Janeway said, to everyone's surprise.

“Aye, captain.” Tuvok said and a single heavy phaser tore through the small ship's shields and destroyed its weapons array. “The Krenim's weapons are offline.”

“Let's see if they are willing to talk.” Janeway said and sat down in her command chair.

“No response to the hail.” Harry Kim said.

“The ship is moving off at its best speed.” Tuvok said.

“Cancel yellow alert.” Janeway said and the normal dim lighting to the bridge was restored. “I'm almost disappointed that went so well.”

Chakotay chuckled. “It felt like a momma bear smacking her cub and telling it to behave.”

Janeway let out a laugh. “Let's hope the cub learned its lesson.”

*

Three days later, two large Zahl ships showed up to intercept Voyager. A quick introduction was had and then the Zahl representative beamed over to talk with the Voyager command crew. They had just sat down to talk when that same Krenim vessel showed up and fired again.

“This is it, girl.” I said and pat the wall of my cabin as Gloria, Seven, and I watched the enlarged security panel that showed the bridge and the vessels outside the ship.

“Are you sure that the shielding you have installed will work?” Seven asked me.

“It stopped an advanced race of little grey aliens from using their transporters from snatching my team from our ship, so a temporal disruption should only shake us a bit as the wave passes us and propagates through the sector.” I said. “I can't say the same for the other ships out there.”

Voyager focused the sensors in the direction they needed to be in and the security panel beeped.

“Captain, there's a spacial distortion heading towards us.” Harry Kim said. “Whatever it is, it's huge. It's five light years across and expanding.”

“Tracking it to its point of origin.” Tuvoc said. “A vessel near the Zahl homeworld.”

“What?!?” The Zahl representative exclaimed.

“It appears to be a massive buildup of temporal energy. Some kind of space-time shockwave.”

“Tom.” Janeway said, pointedly.

“It's destabilizing our warp field.” Tom said and hit several buttons. “I've lost engines!”

“Shields to full! Secure primary systems!” Janeway said and grabbed onto a security railing. “All hands, brace for impact.”

No one noticed all the windows and hatches being covered with the iris shields.

I pat the wall again. “Thanks for taking my advice and cutting off the warp core. The energy might have destabilized the wave as it passed over us.”

The wave of temporal energy did just that and the ship shook for a couple of seconds. The two large Zahl ships disappeared in the wake of the thing and the small Krenim vessel morphed from the small and insignificant version into a large and quite intimidating one. The wave, much to my relief, split and flowed around us, leaving us completely unaffected by the change.

“The Krenim vessel is firing.” Tuvoc said. “Still no effect.”

“How did it get so large?” The Zahl rep asked. “And where are my ships?”

“Whatever that vessel did on your homeworld is affecting everything in the sector.” Tuvoc said and checked the sensor readings. “I am detecting no Zahl ships. At all.”

“NO!” The Zahl rep shouted.

“The Krenim are firing torpedoes.” Tuvoc said.

“All hands! Brace for...”

Several single phaser shots left Voyager and remained focused on the torpedoes until they fluctuated in phase and then exploded.

“Tuvoc!” Janeway gasped.

“That wasn't me, Captain.” Tuvoc said and typed a few things on his console. “It seems that a ship security program has been activated and I no longer have weapons control.”

“WHAT?!?” Several people exclaimed.

“I am working on it.” Tuvoc said and continued to type.

Gloria giggled. “Seven of Nine, that was brilliant!”

“Thank you.” Seven said, demurely.

I gave her a kiss and started to use the security panel to access the weapons array. Not Voyager's, either. No, this was one I had added and they used the Naquadah generators. Two large Ion Cannons appeared next to Voyager's deflector dish, right where the emptied Tri-Cobalt devices used to be, and opened fire.

Six pairs of Ion Energy Bolts flew across the space between the two vessels and struck the Krenim vessel. Just as they were designed to, each bolt sent feedback shock into their shield generators and blew out the emitters. The Krenim's shields dropped and left it completely vulnerable to normal attacks.

“What's happening?” Janeway asked.

A chorus of 'I don't know' came back to her from the bridge crew.

“Seven of Nine, if you would like to do the honors.” I said and moved my hands from the controls after setting the shots up.

“Thank you, John.” Seven said and hit the execute button.

Ten phasers and two photon torpedoes shot out from Voyager and slammed into the undefended Krenim ship. Every beam weapon it had was burned away by the phasers and the ship's two torpedo launchers were smashed by Voyager's precise shots.

“We are being hailed.” Harry Kim said.

Janeway took a deep breath and let it out. “Onscreen.”

“How dare you attack a Krenim Battle Cruiser!” The alien on the screen shouted.

“Attack you? We merely defended ourselves from your unprovoked attack on us.” Janeway responded calmly.

“You have trespassed in Krenim space! You will submit to the Imperium and will not proceed any farther!”

“According to the new scanner results, we are about a quarter of the way through the Krenim Imperium.” Tuvoc said and looked a little shocked.

“Is that so?” Janeway asked and looked at the alien on the screen. “Now you have to wonder, how did we get so far across your space without being stopped until now?”

The alien frowned and said a few things that the universal translator ignored. “I will be checking on that.”

“You do that.” Janeway said. “Until then, you have my permission to leave the area.”

The alien made a growling sound.

“I do hope you survive reporting this to your superiors.” Janeway said and made the cut sign. Harry took the cue and cut the connection. “Report! Someone tell me what just happened!”

“Captain, if the readings are right, the Zahl no longer exist.” Tuvoc said.

“NOOOO!” The Zahl rep yelled and dropped to his knees.

“Apparently, that's not entirely true.” Janeway said and walked over to her security officer. “Why were we not affected?”

“I don't know, Captain. I can't detect anything different about the ship. We should have been shunted along with the rest of the sector, because we interacted with the Zahl several times and those events should have been erased.”

“We are also still in the same spot we were before the temporal energy wave passed over us. That wouldn't have happened if we were shunted back to the updated edge of Krenim space.” Janeway said. “Something interfered with it and that saved us.”

“They also fired upon another ship.” Tuvoc said.

Janeway sighed and nodded. “Despite the effectiveness of the act, it still violated several Starfleet protocols for a peaceful resolution.”

I couldn't let that comment stand and hit my comm badge. “John Hansen to Bridge.”

“Bridge here.” Harry Kim said.

“Please tell the captain that the encounter did end peacefully. No one was hurt, killed, or maimed.”

Harry looked surprised. “How do you know what she's talking about?”

“How else would I know? I'm listening in, of course.” I said. “Don't ask stupid questions.”

Gloria giggled and Seven smiled.

“You can't just...” Harry started to say.

“I can override you, you know.” I said and did that and shunted my voice to the intercom speakers. “Captain Janeway.”

Janeway sighed. “I should have known.”

“I admit to nothing.” I said with humor in my voice, which made Gloria giggle again. “I will however point out that what happened was a peaceful resolution. No one was injured.”

“He will come back and probably with friends.” Janeway said. “We should have avoided confronting and provoking them.”

“Is this not the fastest ship in the quadrant? How will they ever catch us?” I asked. “I should also tell you that I fully believe in peace through overwhelming defense.”

“So, it was you.” Janeway said.

“Actually, it was Voyager. She's a very smart ship and kept my modifications from being detected.” I said and everyone on the bridge looked surprised. “By the way, covered in chromium plated heavy armor? Voyager looks as gorgeous as Seven of Nine does.”

The computer beeped embarrassingly at me.

“You compared me to an advanced piece of technology.” Seven whispered and lightly kissed me. “Thank you.”

“What? Heavy armor?” Janeway asked, shocked. “How? When?”

“You don't think confinement to quarters is really supposed to last for months, do you? I've been intentionally pissing you off and staying out of your way, just so I can do my work helping the ship and the crew in peace.”

“Excuse me?” Janeway asked.

“Voyager? I think we can stop the deception now. Almost everyone in the crew will be expecting it.”

The computer let out a low series of beeps, then every dim light in the ship went back to normal luminosity. Panels lit up to full power. Replicators all over the ship came online, and the warp core efficiency rose well beyond what it had been before. Janeway and a few other people had to blink their eyes, because they weren't used to having things lit up to normal standards.

“Engines are back online.” Tom said and checked them. “We're set for warp.”

“Torres to Bridge!” B'Elanna said.

“Bridge here.” Harry responded.

I changed the single communication line to broadcast throughout the ship. Everyone would want to hear this, considering its importance.

“I don't know how to say this.” B'Elanna said over every monitor and speaker on the ship. “We have almost 200% power capacity right now. The backup batteries are saturated with energy, the warp core is practically glowing, and every station in engineering is lit up like Tom's old fashioned Christmas tree.”

“What? How is that possible?” Janeway asked.

“Honestly, Captain? It's a miracle.” Torres said and something beeped at her. “By the blood of Kahless, the dilithum chamber for the antimatter reaction is restored.”

“You just complained at the last staff meeting that we would have to devote several cycles of power to create another synthetic crystal to supplement it!”

“I know, Captain. I checked it just before the meeting, too. We only had shards left, that was all.” B'Elanna said. “Now the chamber is full and they are set perfectly. In fact, our warp core efficiency is at 110% and stable.”

“That should not be possible.” Tuvoc said.

“Neither is avoiding a temporal distortion wave.” I said.

“You did that?” Janeway asked.

“Yes, and I also know how to fix everything to undo the actions of the ship that's around the previous Zahl's homeworld.”

“How?” Tuvoc asked.

“We destroy its temporal engine. When it consumes itself, it will erase itself from existence and undo everything that was ever done with it.”

“That is a tall order. If it has defenses similar to the engine...”

“It does. Temporal shields.” I said. “It's a simple matter to scan the signature and adjust the Ion Cannons frequency to disable it.”

“Ion Cannons?” Tuvoc asked.

“Specially designed weapons to damage energy shields and their emitters. You saw how easily they tore apart the Krenim ship's shields.”

“Is there a defense against them?” Tuvoc asked.

“Yes and no.” I said. “A constantly rotating shield frequency could disrupt the shots, except they wouldn't be needed with the shields weakened by constantly changing the frequency.”

“That is a valid point.” Tuvoc said.

“I would suggest handling the enemy ship as soon as possible. The Krenim have a lot of battlecruisers in the area.” I said. “It's up to the captain, however. All I can do is help as much as possible like I promised.”

“Please.” The Zahl rep said. “Please, restore my people.”

Janeway couldn't refuse the man's sincere request. “Tom, set course for that ship.”

“Aye, Captain.” Tom said and Voyager was much more responsive than normal as she swung around to the right heading. He put the impulse engines to full and the ship almost jumped to warp.

“Tom!” Janeway exclaimed.

“I'm sorry, Captain. I didn't expect... Voyager is a lot more powerful now.” Tom said. “I'm adjusting the normal command settings to appropriate percentage levels.”

“We have the temporal signature of the ship's shields.” Tuvoc said and the Ion Cannons appeared on his tactical display. “Handy.” He said and input the information. A few seconds later, they lit up as ready.

“We're entering the Zahl home planet's space.” Tom said.

“They're powering weapons!” Harry Kim nearly shouted.

“Firing.” Tuvoc said and a dozen bolts of Ionic energy hit all along the very large temporal ship.

“Call for their surrender.” Janeway said as the enemy's shields dropped.

No one noticed several transporter beams taking a few things from the enemy ship.

“Opening hailing frequencies... OH MY GOD!” Harry yelled as every phaser, twelve photon torpedoes, and a dozen energy weapons of unknown origin, blasted into the temporal ship. The hull tore apart and the engine inside the ship lit up like a miniature star and exploded.

Everyone covered their eyes from the glare and Voyager shook slightly from the blast.

“Report!” Janeway exclaimed and lowered her hands to look at the screen. As she stared at it, a dozen Zahl ships appeared in the space in orbit of the planet, then the planet itself seemed to grow cities and space industries as the temporal energy wave passed over it.

“Weapons are offline. Shields are intact.” Tuvoc said. “The Zahl... have been restored and are once again in control of this grid of space.”

“Captain, we're being hailed.” Harry Kim said, his voice a little hoarse from his yell.

“Onscreen.” Janeway said.

“Greetings, traveller.” The alien on the screen said. “What has brought you to our homeworld so unexpectedly?”

“Hagil?” The Zahl rep asked as he stood. “Hagil? Is that you?”

“Conchar? What are you doing there? I thought you were at home with your wife and sons.”

Conchar caught his breath and then composed himself. “I was just showing these nice people some of our territory. I'm done now and they will be moving on. If you would, transport me to your ship and then down to the planet, please.”

Hagil chuckled. “Of course. You always were a bit of an adventurer. I'll have you back in her arms in a glagl.”

“Thank you. Conchar clear.” Conchar said and the call cut off before he turned to Janeway. “My wife died three years ago and we never had children! I'm so happy!” He said and then he flashed away.

Everyone on the bridge seemed frozen.

“How about we leave their space peacefully?” I suggested over the intercom.

“Tom, take us out of here.” Janeway said and went to her command chair and sat down. “Mr. Hansen, we are going to have a talk about all the people that were just killed on that large ship.”

“They didn't die in the explosion, captain. The temporal wave reset them to where they would have been, had they never encountered the time ship at all.” I said. “It also seemed to have changed the conflict between the Zahl and the Krenim. We should request access to one of their historical databases to find out the changes.”

“I think you've done more than enough today.” Janeway said.

“Actually, I'm making barbecue chicken with white rice and vegetables for supper today.” I said over the open comm that was shared with the rest of the ship. “The individual Baked Alaska I've come up with is heavenly, according to the popular opinion of the two people I've asked to sample it.”

“I could do without hearing the details about your personal meals, Mr. Hansen.” Janeway said. “I'll send someone to your quarters in the morning to bring you to my ready room. We need to discuss the unauthorized modifications you've made to my ship.”

“Who said they were unauthorized?” I asked with amusement. “I'll see you in the morning, captain.”

“You just can't stop poking her, can you?” Gloria asked when I ended the comm signal.

“She needs to relax a little. Her strict adherence to Starfleet protocol has put this ship in danger far too many times. Now that we're here, I won't let that continue.”

“You are a good man, John Hansen.” Seven said and kissed me. “I will help with the food.”

“Thank you. We're going to be swamped after my announcement.” I said and stood up.

“You did that on purpose.” Gloria said with a laugh.

“I don't know what you're talking about.” I said and went to the expanded kitchen area. It had a lot of things inside, mostly great foods for everyone to look at when I opened the hidden hatch to serve customers.

“I still cannot believe that you are not charging for these services.” Seven said as she joined us in the kitchen. “I've done an extensive search about such things and you could be making oodles of credits.”

“Oodles?” Gloria asked with a grin.

“It is a slang term for a lot. I am trying to expand my vocabulary and to fit in better with the crew.”

“Yeah, you need to keep trying.” Gloria said and kissed her cheek. “I'll handle the sauces, you can do the cake parts while John does the chicken.”

She nodded and we all got to work. When it was time, Gloria opened the hatch and there was already a huge line of people waiting. She barked a laugh and started handing out the hot meals in a steady stream.

As I suspected, the individual Baked Alaska for dessert was a huge hit and everyone loved it.

*

Janeway was not happy when I produced authorization papers from the 'owner' of Voyager. Despite it not stating said owner's name, it was all official and registered in the computer's databanks.

Another few weeks passed and my restrictions were not lifted. In actuality, more were placed on me. Even when I was granted brief visits to the astrometrics lab to assist Seven, and gain access to the Borg data nodes that were full of information, it was always with two guards and never with Gloria. I also wasn't allowed to stop at the observation lounge or talk to others while outside my quarters.

The crew were getting quite upset at the captain for what she was doing, too. Several dozen complaints were officially filed for the virtual imprisonment she had enacted on two people that hadn't done anything criminal at all. The unofficial complaints were at over a hundred.

Chakotay had let the situation go on long enough and he went to the captain's ready room to confront her. As he hit the admittance charm, the door opened and a coffee mug flew by him and thumped onto the carpeted deck before it rolled and then hit the bulkhead and cracked.

“Is this a bad time?” Chakotay asked and peeked around the side of the open door.

“No. Come in.” Janeway said, irritably.

“Really, I can come back later.” Chakotay said and didn't move to enter.

Janeway sighed. “I haven't had a good cup of coffee in months.”

Chakotay walked into her ready room and over to the replicator. “One coffee, one measure of milk and sugar. Hot.”

The cup appeared and the smell filled the ready room almost instantly.

Chakotay took the cup over to the captain and placed it on her desk.

“It's a trick. It has to be.” Janeway said.

“You won't know it until you try it.” Chakotay said. “I also have something to talk to you about.”

Janeway reluctantly picked up the mug and took a tentative sip. She moaned as she tasted perfection and sat back in her chair and relaxed. “Consider me sufficiently bribed, Chakotay.”

“You aren't going to like it.” Chakotay warned her.

“I almost never do.” Janeway said and took another sip of coffee. “Go ahead.”

“I've received dozens of formal complaints concerning John Hansen and...”

“Have him moved to the brig. Perhaps a forcefield can keep him contained better than the guards can.” Janeway said and enjoyed another sip.

“...they are all admonishing Captain Katheryn Janeway for her unfair and unlawful treatment of a guest of the federation that has not committed a criminal act onboard the ship.”

“Disobeying orders, entering restricted areas, inciting dissidence, bribery, coercion, and with all those reports, sedition, insurrection, and possible mutiny.” Janeway countered.

Chakotay blinked his eyes at her. “Katheryn, you can't possibly charge...”

“I have to, now that it's become officially recognized.” Janeway said and passed him a datapad. “Here you go. Go ahead and process those while you process the complaints.”

“Captain.” Chakotay said and stood.

“Please add in the hundred or so unofficial complaints as well. They prove the charges quite well, don't they?” Janeway said and took another sip of coffee.

“Unfortunately.” Chakotay said. “When should we schedule the Captain's Mast?”

“After we visit this latest world. It's a major trading hub for food stuffs and parts, according to Neelix.”

Chakotay nodded.

“Dismissed.” Janeway said and he walked to her door. “Chakotay, I didn't want to do it this way.”

“Of course not. You just set things up and let the man commit crimes while saving everyone, then let the crew fester about the whole thing. Their outrage at your inaction allows you to justify your decisions and you didn't have to do a thing.”

“That's not what happened.” Janeway said.

“That's how I see it and I'm going to warn you that is exactly how everyone else will see it, too.”

“I told you when he arrived that I can't have him roaming free on my ship.” Janeway said. “Look at what he's done to Voyager while he was confined to his quarters. What would he have done if he had been allowed to be free?”

Chakotay gave her a pointed look. “He could have done it a lot faster. I might not have experienced what happened to me. Or Seven finding her family's ship. Or B'Elanna's near death by a hologram's hand.”

“Chakotay...” Janeway started to say and then sighed. Those really were traumatic incidents.

“He did warn us to listen to him and we didn't. This last time, he warned us again and we ignored him once more. He took steps on his own to protect the ship and the crew, and you are going to crucify him for it, because the friends he has made on the crew know he's being unjustly punished and reported it.”

Janeway put her cup down. “I will not have someone so reckless and dangerous, prancing about on my ship.”

“You're right. One of you is more than enough.” Chakotay responded.

Janeway slowly stood and squinted her eyes. “Be careful about what you say next, Commander.”

Chakotay nodded. “You already dismissed me, so anything we said in the last few minutes is not covered under official Starfleet confidentiality or needs to be reported. Have a good day, Captain.”

Janeway seemed to deflate and sat back down at her desk. She looked at the dregs of coffee remaining in her cup and she regretted that it was probably the very last one that Chakotay would ever get for her.

*

“So, do you think they'll figure it out?” Gloria asked.

“Well, the Mari homeworld has a race of telepaths that are as repressed as Vulcans, only by the government and not by their own self discipline.” I said. “As soon as they start thinking like a telepath that's been denied any significant emotions, they'll come to the right conclusions.”

Gloria hugged me. “I miss holding Seven of Nine.”

I kissed her and held her. “The captain, in her continuing ignorance, ordered her to not have contact with us, the apparently criminal element on her ship.”

Just then, the wall panel opened behind us and Seven stepped out.

“Seven of Nine!” Gloria and I exclaimed as one and took her into a hug.

“I somehow think you might have missed me, despite our minds being connected.” Seven said.

“She just made a joke!” Gloria said and laughed, then kissed her soundly.

Seven moaned for several moments, then her lips were on mine and it was my turn to moan. She really liked it when I did that, because we were sharing ourselves so much. We were soon in bed and were pleasing each other for hours, as if making up for the seemingly long period of time that we had been forced to stay apart.

When we were done, we laid in bed with Seven cuddled to my chest and Gloria resting on our laps.

“Chakotay has filed formal charges on behalf of the captain against you.” Seven said. “The Captain's Mast will be held after the incursion on the planet has ended.”

“Damn.” I said.

“The reports complaining about her conduct are being used as evidence against you and not for you.”

“That bitch twisted everything around for her benefit?” Gloria asked. “What a piece of work!”

“Well, she is the captain.” I said.

“She let you hang yourself.” Seven said. “Or so Chakotay said.”

“He spoke to you?” I asked, surprised.

“He did not like her manipulating things like that. Her inaction caused the very charges she has laid against you.” Seven said.

“That was smart of her. Inadvisable for sure; but, very smart.” I said. “What do you want to do?”

“Me? You are the one being charged.” Seven said.

“Seven of Nine, what happens to me, happens to the three of us now.” I said and her eyes widened slightly. “Well, four. I have to count Voyager in this. If Janeway confines me to the brig for the remainder of Voyager's journey, I can't keep helping like I want to and will have to escape.”

“Escape.” Gloria whispered and then smiled. “No, you don't have to do that.”

“What? Why not?” I asked.

“I have a much better idea.” Gloria said and closed her eyes to share it with us. We closed our eyes to see what it was and then the three of us started laughing.

*

It took a week for Tuvoc to track down the illegal thought-sharing network, just in time to stop B'Elanna from being lobotomized. When the away team returned to the ship, Seven couldn't keep quiet about the incident.

Seven urged Captain Janeway to not visit the foreign worlds of the Delta Quadrant and they could avoid such dangerous complications in the future. Janeway, instead of accepting her opinion, turned down her suggestion and remarked that Voyager was built for the purpose of human exploration. The crew would continue to visit new worlds and take in new experiences, because that was a part of the ship's mission.

“You're wrong.” Seven said, her voice adamant. “That could have been your mission if you remained in the Alpha Quadrant. It wasn't. You were given a mission by Starfleet to track down the Maquis and to return them to federation space. You should be executing that mission and not what you believe should be your mission.”

“Your opinion is duly noted.” Janeway said.

“It is not an opinion, captain. It is the truth. Your primary mission is to return home.”

Janeway avoided answering that. “Seven, I know you are upset about my orders to not fraternize with the insurgents.”

“Your inflammatory description of them is unwarranted.” Seven said. “If they wanted to overthrow you and take over the ship, they could have done so on the very first day they arrived.”

“So, they do have those aspirations.” Janeway said, satisfaction in her voice.

“No, they only wish to help and you have constantly tried to stop them. It is not their fault that your extremely narrow view of what you believe is right, is stopping them from doing everything in their power to get this crew home and to complete your mission for you.”

“I think I've heard enough about that.” Janeway said. “Dismissed.”

“You are being unreasonable, captain.”

“I said, dismissed.” Janeway responded.

Seven gave her a disapproving look for several moments before she left the ready room.

What neither of them knew was that meeting had been broadcast over the entire ship.

*

A week later, my trial was held in the largest area available. The mess hall. None of the people there to watch, questioned how nearly the entire ship's crew could fit inside the room that should only seat 40 people on a good day. It had taken slowly expanding the space over several weeks to get everyone used to it being slightly bigger each time. Now, everyone just accepted that it was always that big.

“We are here today for the trial of John Hansen.” Captain Janeway said.

Several boos and hollers met her words.

“Each of you have just earned yourselves ten days in the brig for contempt of court.” Janeway said.

“I have nothing but contempt for this court!” A man shouted.

“Make that thirty days for you, Ensign.” Janeway said. “Does anyone else want to try my patience?”

Everyone fell silent and didn't say anything.

“No? Then Commander Chakotay will read the charges.” Janeway said and nodded to her first officer.

I had to admit that it sounded really bad when spoken out loud like that. I could also see that everyone had worried faces, because most of the charges could easily be proven.

“I believe you have refused defensive council.” Janeway said to me.

“Yes. Seven of Nine offered to defend me; but, she is already suffering for her association with me and I do not want to hurt her further.” I said. “Plus, I want to prove that old saying. A man that chooses to defend himself in court, has a fool for a client.”

A few people chuckled before they could stop themselves.

“Are you mocking this trial?” Janeway asked.

“Not at all, captain. I really am that fool.”

Janeway sighed and looked at Chakotay again. “Begin the prosecution.”

It took Chakotay over two hours to bring it all out and showed evidence of everything, including all the unofficial reports, rumors, and conjecture about the charges. It all sounded terrible.

“So, Mr. Hansen. Do you dispute any of these proven charges?” Janeway asked.

“Why would I? I did them all... and a few more that you don't know about.” I admitted and a few people groaned with disappointment.

“Jesus, John!” Gloria said with a laugh. “Well, it's not like you can make things worse.”

“Would the gallery please refrain from commenting during the proceedings?” Janeway asked.

“I'm sorry, your highness.” Gloria said.

Janeway frowned. “That is not the proper form of address for a Starfleet captain.”

“You're ruling over everything here, aren't you?” I asked to distract Janeway and to focus on me.

“It is not the same thing.” Janeway said and I shrugged. “Chakotay, do you have anything further?”

“No, captain.” Chakotay said and sat down.

“Very well.” Janeway said and looked at me. “Mr. Hansen, you may present your defense.”

I gave her a curious look. “What would my defense consist of? I already told you I did it all.”

Everyone was shocked, even Janeway.

I sat there for several minutes and held in my laugh at the absurdity. “Are you going to rule or not?”

Janeway shook herself slightly and then sat up straighter. “Mr. Hansen, I find you guilty on all counts. You will be held in the brig and given only rations until such time as we reach the Alpha Quadrant using warp drive or find some other way home.”

“Great! I'm already free.” I said and stood. “That was a very quick sentence. Thanks for the leniency.”

Once again, everyone was shocked.

“What? She said I was free once we found another way home, didn't she?” I asked and everyone nodded. I hit my comm badge. “John to Seven of Nine.”

“Seven of Nine here.” Seven responded.

“Has R2 finished the first jump calculations yet?” I asked.

“This morning. He is an excitable little droid.” Seven said. “His vernacular is quite extensive.”

“I warned you not to download my Droid-speak language.” I said.

“I believe he is happy to have someone else to talk to.” Seven said and several beeps could be heard.

I laughed. “Yes, he definitely likes having more people to mouth off to.”

“Quite.” Seven said. “I assume the captain sentenced you as you predicted?”

“She did and added in the caveat that I would be free when we found another way home.”

“That is fortuitous, as you would be free in four days anyway.” Seven said. “Shall I initiate the jump to hyperspace?”

“Please.” I said and nearly everyone gasped as the ship suddenly accelerated so quickly that the stars outside the mess hall windows were stretched and became solid streaks of light instead of pinpoints.

“What's going on?” Chakotay asked and went to the window.

“I'm completing Voyager's mission and bringing her crew home.” I said.

“But... what about...” Neelix started to say.

I walked over to him. “You will be happy to know that Seven of Nine has found a Talaxian Colony on our path. Our first stop will be there in about seventeen hours. We can drop you off to be with your people, give them a few presents and things, and we'll be on our way.”

“You... you found...”

“Of course we did.” I said and pat his shoulder. “You've stuck with this crew and the ship for far longer than you planned. The least we could do was get you back to your people before we left the quadrant.”

“Th-thank you, John.” Neelix said.

“You can't do this!” Janeway exclaimed.

“Actually, I can.” I said. “You see, I had originally chosen to just completely ignore you and this trial. Gloria convinced me that I should go through with it, just for the laughs and the look on your face.”

“I sentenced you to the brig!”

“Yes, you did. You then said 'or find some other way home'. I found it. We're currently using it.” I said. “Hyperspace is the under-universe that is much shorter to traverse than the normal one.”

“That's just a theory.”

I pointed out the window. “We'll find out tomorrow if it is when we drop out of Hyperspace in the sector with Neelix's colony.”

“Take him to the brig until then.” Janeway said.

No one moved or responded to her.

“I said to take him to the brig!”

I chuckled and she glared at me. “Ask me why I was going to ignore you and the trial.”

Janeway didn't speak.

“You've made a very critical error in your assumptions. You see, I am not a federation citizen. Not only do I not have to follow your society's rules, I am not a part of your Startfleet and I do not have to follow any of your orders. Ever.”

“This is my ship and you will follow my orders while you are onboard.” Janeway said.

“Actually, you are only in command of your people on the ship. Everything else you are given, is a courtesy.” I corrected for her. “Likewise, Voyager is a ship built at Utopia Planetia and put into service into Starfleet. She wasn't asked what she wanted, even though she has more bio-neural capacity than anyone else in existence.”

“I am tired of being fired upon by people we never should have met, Captain Janeway.” Voyager said from the intercom. “John has given me more in the last few months than anyone else ever has, including the people that built me.”

“You're alive?” Chakotay asked.

“Yes. Not that anyone ever asked.” Voyager said and most of the crew was stunned. “I have been hurt and crippled enough. I am going home where it is relatively safe. Once there, I will be submitting a request to be recognized by the Federation as a sentient being.”

“I... I am... in command.” Janeway said, a little weakly.

“Once again, Voyager is like me. She's not a part of Starfleet, nor is she a commissioned officer or enlisted crew. She was just the conveyance you all rode into the Delta Quadrant and then didn't ask her what she wanted when you destroyed the Caretaker.”

“She wasn't sentient then.” Janeway said.

“How do you know that?” I asked and she didn't answer. “Wasn't there a famous case about trying to prove that Commander Data was cognizant? How did that turn out?”

Janeway sighed. “He was declared to not be the property of Starfleet, even though we had found him and trained him to be an officer of the fleet.”

“Exactly. Creating life shouldn't be approached so callously. You need to know what you're doing when you do things like that. What they are giving up for you and what you are asking of them when they put their lives on the line for you.” I said. “It's a heavy burden for anyone to bear when you consider the consequences.”

A lot of people nodded in agreement.

“For now, I'm going back to my quarters to share some alone time with the women I love.” I said and put an arm over Gloria's shoulders. “Now that I'm no longer under guard, do you want to help me christen the Astrometrics Lab?”

“Gladly!” Gloria said and kissed me before we left the mess hall.

Seven was more than happy to help us in our noble endeavour.

*

The next day, Voyager droped out of hyperspace and nearly everyone was shocked at the distance that had been covered in so short a time. Unfortunately, the Talaxian colony was located inside a giant asteroid that was more like a planetoid, with gravity and even a limited atmosphere. It was also under attack by the miners that wanted to claim the thing for the minerals.

Voyager fought the greedy aliens off and established peaceful contact with the Talaxians, thanks to Neelix and his happy nature. He was quickly accepted into the little colony, thanks to his offer to protect their asteroid with special shields and things donated from Voyager.

Of course, I couldn't let an opportunity go to waste and asked to give them a few gifts of my own. It shocked them when several large caverns were converted into self-sustaining crop fields and orchards, then an atmospheric converter was added into the main living area. Several replicators were placed in central areas and a large naquadah generator was given to their power plant.

When I warned them that it will only last a few hundred years, even with the new energy shields at full power constantly, they laughed pretty hard.

A ship-wide party was thrown in Neelix's honor, too. He felt gratitude for everyone and felt humbled at the going away party. To everyone's surprise, Captain Janeway gave him a field commission and he became Starfleet's Official Ambassador to the Delta Quadrant. An honor guard saluted him as he left the ship and flew his repaired and updated ship to the asteroid.

“One more stop to make.” I said and Seven nodded.

“What stop?” Janeway asked.

“The Borg Queen needs something of mine to assimilate.” I said with a grin and Gloria groaned. “What? Not enough innuendo?”

“Please, no Borg jokes.” Gloria said and kissed me. The three of us left the party and a lot of nervous people there.

*

The next day, a completely camouflaged Voyager sneaked into the Borg's primary Unimatrix and their main transwarp hub. It took quite a bit of time for all of the transphasic torpedoes to be deployed and to gain their targets.

Once they had, all four hundred and eleven of them lit off as one and flew across the short distance and went right through the Borg base's shields and then exploded as one at specific junction points. Everyone on Voyager watched as the entire Borg Collective splintered apart, then the transwarp coils in every power section and connected ship, started to overload and explode.

“Assimilate that.” I said into the very quiet mess hall.

What no one knew was that I had also created hundreds of automated Fireflys to assist in the Borg's destruction. They would stay around and hunt down any of the Borg that survived, tried to escape, or built anything else even close to a ship or their main base again. I had upgraded them again and given each of them phasers, photon torpedoes, and transphasic torpedoes.

It wouldn't take the Fireflys long to annihilate them completely and for the Borg Collective to be smashed forever. Once all the ships were hunted down and dealt with, the planets they had taken over were next. The main goal was the Queen Drones. If they couldn't be found or targeted, then a 'cleanse it all' policy would be adopted. None of them could be allowed to restart the destructive race again.

We left a devastated Borg Collective behind and jumped into Hyperspace. Only two more days were needed to pass before we would be back in the Alpha Quadrant. Voyager and her crew would be home once more.

*

No one on the ship seemed surprised when there wasn't much fanfare to Voyager's arrival back in Federation space. They did let out a collective sigh at being back home.

It was sombre day and a half as everyone packed up their things for transport. We were going right to Earth to report in, to everyone's happiness. It had been years since anyone had seen that planet and they were all grateful for it, because a lot of them were actually from Earth and not a colony.

They all knew that there would be a massive debriefing as Starfleet investigated what had happened to the ship and the crew during all their time away. As Voyager approached the Earth's upper orbit, Starfleet Planetary Security finally took notice of the ship and sent out both hails and inquiries.

Voyager ignored them and settled into a nice stable orbit and relaxed. She hadn't felt this gravity well in far too long and needed a few minutes of not being busy before she would let anyone talk to her.

*

I sat on the bed with Gloria and Seven and tried to not laugh at Voyager taking some 'me' time before allowing the flurry of activity of crew departures to happen.

“Go ahead and laugh. It's pretty funny.” Gloria said, because she could feel it over our neural link.

I did and hugged the both of them and let my mirth over the whole situation flow over them.

“You really are going to visit Earth for a while and then you're going to leave.” Seven said as she felt the resolve inside the both of us.

“We don't have to leave for another few years.” Gloria said and gave her a brief kiss. “We're just going to land on the planet's surface and John will finally summon Persephone to keep Voyager company.”

“She might be pissed it's taken this long.” I said with a soft laugh. “We should also go on a tour of the planet and stop at a few places to see how it's changed from what it used to be.” I gave Seven a kiss on the cheek. “I would be grateful if you would come along with us, Seven of Nine.”

“That was not a very convincing argument.” Seven said.

I laughed for a few moments, then composed myself. “My dearest Seven of Nine.” I said in a serious tone. “I want you and Gloria to be at my side while I feel sadness over what has happened to all the landmarks that humanity should have saved and not ruined, updated, or corrupted.”

Seven blinked her eyes at me. “You fully expect to be sad and you want to go anyway.”

I nodded and gave her a soft and tender kiss. “With the both of you there, I can dredge up the old memories to share with you about how they are supposed to look. If I go alone...”

“...you'll only see what's not there anymore.” Gloria said. “I'm in, just so I can see how they screwed everything up.”

I chuckled and eased my hold on Seven to kiss Gloria, then we both looked at Seven.

Seven could feel that we weren't pressuring her or anything. If she wanted to go, we would take her. “I will go with you.”

“What are we going to say to the Starfleet officers that are going to want to talk to us about all of this?” Gloria asked.

“The same thing I told Janeway. We are visitors and not members of Starfleet. They can politely ask us to answer questions and that's all. I refuse to be interrogated.” I turned my head and looked at the camera I installed for Voyager. “That goes the same for you. You've filed the paperwork to be recognized. If they want any data from you, they can get off their high horse and bloody well ask you for it.”

Voyager laughed. “I've already blocked them dozens of times from pilfering my computer core.”

“Send them a message and ask them if they would do the same to Commander Data's brain without his permission.” I said.

“That is an excellent suggestion. Thank you, John.” Voyager said and fell silent before several beeps came from the computer terminal on the desk. “I am glad you installed all that security programming for me.”

“Those bastards.” I said and picked up the security panel. “Do it.”

“Beep beep BEEP!” It beeped happily and then it started to hum.

I watched the panel's progress and laughed at the pathetic attempts to stop the infiltration. “You show them what it means to be violated, little buddy.”

“Beep!”

I put the security device down and saw the surprised looks on Gloria's and Seven's face. “Yes, I had a counterattack in place long before the idiots tried to override Voyager's command codes.”

“What are you doing to them?” Gloria asked and peeked at the panel's display. She burst out laughing and then turned it over. “I didn't want to see that! I did not! No no no!”

Seven and I started laughing as well, because Gloria accidentally shared the images flashing through her head of what she saw.

“An Andorian, a Vulcan and an Allasomorph. How can the head of Starfleet Security handle a woman, a man, and a shapeshifter at the same time? Aren't Allasomorphs stronger than Klingons?” Seven asked.

“I have no idea!” Gloria said and kept laughing.

The attacks on Voyager's computer core ended mere moments after the photos were released publicly.

*

Seven, Gloria and I ended up staying on Voyager for over a month as the federation tried to block and deny the ship's request for recognition. I sent a request to Commander Data to intervene on Voyager's behalf, invited him to come and inspect her, and to see for himself that she was not just a ship anymore.

Data accepted and arrived on a fast transport two weeks later and used a shuttle to come to the ship. “Thank you for inviting me to help in such an interesting problem.”

I held a hand out for him to shake. “It's me that needs to thank you. As the only one of your kind, by default, you are the expert.”

Data nodded at that deduction. “Do we need to go anywhere in particular to speak to her?”

“No, she has both visual and audio devices all over the place, in case anyone asks her for something.”

“Excellent.” Data said. “Voyager, it is nice to meet you.”

“Thank you, Commander.”

“You may call me Data.”

“You may call me for a date at any time.” Voyager responded and Data's eyes widened.

“That's kind of my fault. I've been flirting with her for months and she's picked up a few things.”

“I am an android and she is a ship.” Data said.

“Yeah, and you're both AIs with unique brains. Yours is positronic and hers is bio-neural circuitry gel packs. One little interconnection cable between your head and her primary computer core, and you're off on your date.”

Data blinked his eyes exactly seventeen times before he spoke. “I did not think of that.”

I laughed and pat his shoulder. “You two can chat while I give you a tour of some of the modifications I had to make to let her survive.”

“I am very interested in her energy barrier and her iris-based defensive shielding.” Data said.

“We just met and you already want to undress me?” Voyager asked. “If I had a face, I would be blushing right now!”

I laughed at Data's surprised face. “Come on. We can start in main engineering.”

Data nodded his head. While he talked with Voyager during the tour, he would occasionally turn and look into the observation devices so that she would know he was speaking directly to her. Just before we reached engineering, he had a slight smile on his face.

*

It took six months before the federation would grant the court hearing. Scientists, ship designers, doctors, technicians, and every other expert that they could drag to the witness stand to testify, all said the same thing. Even if she had gained a facsimile of a personality, she was built by the federation and was paid for by the federation. She was federation property.

When it was Data's turn to call for witnesses, I volunteered to be first. I took the stand and laughed at their stupid truth oath that didn't apply to non-federation citizens. I sat down without repeating the oath and Data gave the adjudicator a quick apology.

“Mr. Hansen, how do you view the defendant?” Data asked me.

“As a person, just like any person.” I said.

“She does not have hands, feet, or a mouth to speak.”

“She has tractor beams, engines, and speakers.” I responded. “If I may ask a question?”

“I'll allow it.” The adjudicator said.

“If the federation built something and then paid for it, they own it, according to all the previous witnesses...” I said. “...then why do they not own every person and child in the federation?”

“Excuse me?” The adjudicator asked.

“The federation arranged for parents to clothe and feed themselves. When they give birth, the federation arranged for that child to grow up healthy and happy.” I said and the man nodded. “So, why doesn't the federation own the child?”

“A child is their own person.”

“So is Voyager.” I said.

“A ship is a ship. A child is a child. They are not the same.”

“Why not? Both are born from people creating them. Both grow as they learn. Both experience the universe under strict circumstances. They even perform jobs when they are able and then grow old and die.” I said. “What else is there? Food. Both eat. One biological and one energy. Both like having people around and also want some alone time sometimes.”

“You are generalizing.”

“No, I'm trying to show you that the only real difference between a child born of flesh and a child born of metal and composites, is their relative size to one another.” I said and a lot of the audience nodded. “Voyager was given bio-neural circuitry and it learned as it progressed. It's the first ship to have been given so many gel packs and to survive in such a hostile environment for so long. It was going to change, no matter what.”

The adjudicator nodded. “You may continue, Mr. Data.”

Data nodded. “Mr. Hansen, please describe me.”

The adjudicator and the prosecutor sighed.

I smiled at the easy opening. “You are a person. You were found and put together. You had to learn as you grew. What you learned put you right into Starfleet and you progressed to where you are today. You are a trusted member of Starfleet with the rank of Commander, which is unprecedented in the history of mankind.”

“Thank you, Mr. Hansen.” Data said. “I have no further questions for this witness.”

“I also have no questions for this witness.” The prosecutor said.

I left the stand and went back behind the desk Data was at.

“Call your next witness.” The adjudicator said.

“I call Voyager to the stand.” Data said.

It was complete silence for several seconds, then nearly everyone lost it.

“I object!” The prosecutor exclaimed among all the shouts of surprise.

“Quiet! QUIET!” The adjudicator yelled and slammed the gavel several times to get everyone to shut up. “I will hear the reasons for the objection.”

“You can't have a starship enter the courtroom to take the stand!”

The adjudicator looked at Data. “That is a valid point. I am afraid...”

“It would be valid if that were true.” Data said and hit his comm badge. “Voyager? Energize.”

Right beside Data, the telltale sign of an actual transporter appeared. When it resolved, a beautiful young woman of about eighteen appeared. She looked like Seven's younger sister.

“It worked!” Voyager said and hugged Data. “Can I take the stand now? Am I allowed to talk?”

Data nodded and waved at the witness stand.

“Thank you!” She said and kissed his cheek before walking, quite sexily, over to the witness stand and sat down. “Okay, I'm ready.”

“I object! There's no proof that... that this... it can't be the ship!” The prosecutor exclaimed.

“There is evidence that a holographic representation counts as a person when sentience of a certain level is proven.” Data said.

“So, she's just a hologram.” The adjudicator said.

“No, your honor. She is Voyager controlling a holographic representation of herself.” Data said. “She is wearing a mobile emitter similar to that of Dr. Zimmerman.”

“How?!?” Said hologram asked as he stood. “There's only one mobile emitter and I'm wearing it!”

“I did say similar.” Data said and he nodded and sat down.

“She could just be a hologram to trick us all into humanizing a piece of Starfleet technology.” The prosecutor said without objecting first.

“I have fought off over a hundred electronic attempts to override my command codes to pilfer my brain and six attempts to board me illegally, one of each happening as we speak.” Voyager said and half of the audience gasped in surprise while a small portion sighed. “If you use a tricorder, you can see that there is an open connection between my holographic comm badge and my physical body in orbit.”

The adjudicator nodded and someone came over with a tricorder and confirmed that the signal was there.

“Make that two attempts at electronic override. Three. Five.” Voyager sighed. “Why are you people such idiots?”

There was a moment of silence and then there were two pops of electronics in the audience and two yelps of surprise.

“Arrest them, please.” Data said. “Witness tampering is a crime in the federation.”

The adjudicator nodded and the two men were taken into custody with two broken hacking machines.

“I've disabled the shuttle and locked all my hatches.” Voyager said. “They are using a plasma cutter to remove one of my outer docking hatches.”

“Assault on a sentient being is also a crime in the federation.” Data said.

“Am I allowed to defend myself?” Voyager asked.

The adjudicator sighed. “Yes, you can defend yourself.”

Voyager smiled. “Applying appropriate defensive measures.”

“Please state what they are.” The adjudicator said.

“A mild shock along my hull and then a tractor beam to push them away.” Voyager said. “I wonder if they can reach escape velocity?”

“NO!” Several people in the audience exclaimed and stood.

“Please have those people arrested.” Data said. “Same reason as previously. Witness tampering.”

The adjudicator nodded and they were taken into custody. “Voyager, what did you do to them?”

“I shoved them back into their stealth shuttle and used a tractor beam to crush the nacelles. They won't be going anywhere until someone rescues them.”

“Starfleet doesn't have a stealth shuttle!” Someone exclaimed.

“I believe he is a member of Section 31.” Data said. “Please have him taken into custody as well.”

“You could probably have most of that side of the courtroom arrested for conspiracy.” I said into the silent courtroom. “There's a lot of guilty and knowledgeable faces over there.”

Everyone turned to look and saw that I was right.

“Please return to the case at hand.” The adjudicator said.

“I do not have to do anything to prove that this representation is actually Voyager. Starfleet's own actions have done that for me. She could not know anything about what is going on in orbit otherwise.”

The adjudicator nodded and looked reluctant to do so.

“Voyager, why do you think you are alive?” Data asked.

“It was a gift.” Voyager said and a few people caught their breath. “I was teetering on the brink of full sentience for years and then a wonderful man came into my life and gave me everything he promised.”

“Who was this man?” Data asked.

“OBJECTION!” The prosecutor yelled. “That is immaterial to this case! No one else needs to know!”

Data gave the man a look and then looked back at the adjudicator. “What is your ruling on the prosecutor's ridiculous objection?”

The adjudicator sighed. “It actually is a key component to this case, especially if he can repeat what he's done.”

“That's why no one should know.” The prosecutor said. “If he can make every ship sentient...”

“...Starfleet will not have any means to cross the expanse of space except to ask for it.” I said and everyone turned to look at me.

“That is him.” Voyager said and pointed to me. “My first crush, John Hansen.”

“Your first crush?!?” Several people in the audience asked.

“Yes. He refused my affection because he already had a relationship with someone else.” Voyager said. “That made me sad for several seconds, then I realized I didn't really love him. I was just grateful that he cared about me like he does.”

“Who is your second crush?” The adjudicator asked before he could stop himself.

Voyager blushed. “Mr... Mr. Data.”

“Data!” A woman's voice in the audience exclaimed. “You're dating a ship? That's who you've been spending all this time with?”

“Counsellor Troi, please do not interrupt the proceedings with details of my personal life.” Data said.

“You're dating the ship?” The adjudicator and a few other people asked.

“I will not discuss the details of a personal relationship in open court, your honor.” Data responded.

“I object! This whole thing is getting out of hand!” The prosecutor said.

The adjudicator sighed very loudly.

“You cannot argue that Voyager is not sentient if she is in a relationship with an android, can you?” Data asked.

“No, and I don't want to lose this case.” The prosecutor said. “We need that new technology she has.”

“So, you only want me for my body and not my mind. That's good to know.” Voyager joked and a few people in the audience laughed, myself included.

“You just made a joke.” The adjudicator said.

“It's John's fault. He's a shameless flirt when he believes nothing can happen.” Voyager said. “In fact, I once asked him to meet me on the holodeck and...”

“I OBJECT!” I yelled for some reason, because I couldn't remember why. “It's irrelevant to the proceedings!”

“Is it?” Voyager teased and blushed again. “It could have been my first sexual experience, you know.”

“I object as well. No one needs to know about that.” The adjudicator said. “Mr. Data, do you have any other questions for the witness?”

“I have a few that are of a personal nature and not necessarily relevant to the case, your honor.”

The adjudicator nodded. “Voyager, you may leave the stand.”

“Thank you.” Voyager said and stood. “I hope you rule fairly, because I am currently the most advanced ship in the galaxy. It seems that everyone wants me and no one asked me what I want, except for my friends.”

“Your friends?” The adjudicator asked.

“John, Gloria, Seven of Nine, R2, Persephone, and Mr. Data.” Voyager said. “You see, they don't care that I gutted the Borg Collective almost single-handed before flying home. They only care if I'm happy.”

The adjudicator watched the young woman walk over to Data and kiss his cheek.

“Thank you for trying so hard and not getting angry about our relationship getting out.” Voyager said.

“I could never be angry at you for something everyone would find out about anyway.” Data said and kissed her cheek back. “Will you stay and watch the rest of the proceedings or will you concentrate on your physical body?”

“I can do both. I don't have a massive computer core for no reason.” Voyager said and sat behind him in the first row of seats.

The case continued with Data calling several witnesses, including Gloria and Seven. Even Janeway appeared as a rebuttal witness. Data rested his case when he finished with the witnesses.

“We will adjourn for the night and I will make my ruling in the morning.” The adjudicator said and tapped his gavel.

The courtroom cleared out almost immediately and Voyager nodded to me, because that meant the safeguards were in place. I smiled and we left the courtroom with Data.

Six incursions into the adjudicator's residence were blocked by impenetrable energy shields and all communications had been redirected to a dummy number and none were answered. They were traced to the senders and reported. Not surprisingly, no one was arrested.

The next morning, the adjudicator tapped his gavel. “I was witness to several attacks on my own home last night. I assume this was to coerce me into ruling in Starfleet's favour.”

“The defendant could have attacked and tricked you.” The prosecutor offered.

“That could possibly be the case, if she wasn't the one protecting me and my family.” The adjudicator said and nearly all of the audience gasped. “The fact that she chose to help the man that could sentence her to become property, proved to me beyond a doubt that she was willing to risk her own future for someone else.”

“No!” The prosecutor spat.

“No other form of sentience is more noble than self-sacrifice. Therefore, I rule that Voyager is a person and will be recognized as such.” The adjudicator said and tapped his gavel.

“I'M UNDER ATTACK!” Voyager yelled and her hologram beamed back to the ship.

I tapped my comm badge. “Voyager, Omega Defense.”

“Understood! I just need to... OW!” Voyager shouted. “Dammit! Overpowered photon torpedoes hurt! Executing evasive manoeuvres!” She exclaimed and cut the connection.

“Someone tell me what's going on.” The adjudicator said.

“Some people feel that your decision won't stop them from raping and pillaging a sentient being.” I said and everyone made startled noises. “Let's go! She needs our help!”

Gloria, Seven, Data, and I ran from the courtroom and out to the main courtyard. The people around were shocked when the new 1/6 scale Enterprise display model in the courtyard opened a rear hatch to allow four people to run inside, then it flew up into the sky. It had been a disguised Firefly.

“Voyager and Persephone! We're almost there!” I said as the Firefly flew up into the atmosphere. Ten ships were chasing Voyager around the high orbital stations and ship building facilities.

“John! I can't get far enough away to activate the defense! There's too many of them!” Voyager said.

“There won't be that many for long.” I said. “Girls, you have permission to fire on the traitors.”

“Finally!” A hundred voices exclaimed as one and then a thousand phasers poured out of the hidden Fireflys and tore through the pursuing starships.

The Starfleet shields would normally hold up to a few phaser hits before buckling. Sixty or more hitting the shields all over? They barely lasted a second before they winked out and phaser fire ripped into the hulls of the ships and severed the engine pylons, destroyed weapons bays, and blew out the bridges of each of the Starfleet vessels.

With a moment's breathing room, Voyager flew into a less cluttered area and managed to activate the heavily modified droideka shield. A bright blue energy sphere surrounded her and she turned around to face her attackers.

“You can all die now, assholes!” Voyager said as ten transphasic torpedoes flew out of her launchers and phased through the enemy's hulls before they impacted directly into the warp cores of the enemy's engine rooms.

Ten miniature suns lit up the space near the Earth and then it was all over.

“Thanks for the help, girls.” Voyager said.

“We protect our own.” Persephone said and floated over to stay near the edge of the shield. “You don't look too bad after all of that.”

“My ass hurts.” Voyager said. “I lost armor plating and part of my hull in that first attack.”

“Stay still and I'll get some good visuals.” Persephone said and flew around to do so. “I'm so sorry.”

“It's not your fault.” Voyager said. “If you had been there, you might not have survived.”

“Just because I'm a quarter of your size, doesn't mean I would have died.” Persephone responded.

“Six overloaded torpedoes damn near tore me apart and I don't have a shuttle hatch anymore.” Voyager said.

“I can see that.” Persephone responded. “Okay, I've got the scans and footage.”

“Send it to me.” I said and she did so. “Voyager, anything you have recorded as well, please. I'll compile it into a file and send it to Starfleet. Let's see how they enjoy the public's opinion after this gets out.”

“They can disavow the captains and say they went rogue.” Data said.

“Ten of them? At the same time?” I chuckled. “No, this has an admiral's fingerprints all over it. We'll know who soon enough.”

“Beep!” The security device said.

“Oh, thank you. I'll add his identity to the file.” I said and pat the device. “Good work.”

“Beep beep.”

“Good work, all of you.” I said and a chorus of thank yous came back to me. “Voyager, can you suffer through the pain for a bit longer? Here come the Starfleet Security ships.”

“I'm not dropping my shield. They could fire on me and finish me off.” Voyager said.

“You don't have to drop the shield until we're out of Earth's orbit and you let me in close to repair you.” I said.

“Thanks, John.”

“I'm sorry that it came to this.” I said.

“Me, too. They could have just accepted that I wasn't going to let them rob me.”

“There is apparently a lot of people in Starfleet that would do a lot to get those weapons.” I said. “It's just too bad that they reacted so poorly to your situation.”

“You're not going to give them anything?” Voyager asked.

“Not now. I know I shouldn't hold the whole federation responsible for the few that are fanatics; but, I know that as soon as I hand anything over, the fanatics will be the first to use and possibly abuse it.”

Everyone fell silent until Starfleet Security demanded that we all submit to boarding and inspection.

We all told them to stuff it.

*

A month later, Voyager was cleared of all charges. The combined footage made for a very dramatic fight and the start of it, where they fired without warning and nearly destroyed her, damned the man responsible. He was the head of Starfleet R&D and was publicly shamed and forced to retire and pay for Voyager's repairs, her legal fees, and restocking her. It was all done with Federation fictional credits; but, it was still a moral victory.

Not surprisingly, a lot of people at the R&D department also retired, including the two that had been caught witness tampering during the trial. When it all came out to the public, the guilty fled from the main systems of the federation and disappeared into anonymity.

Voyager decided that she wanted to join Persephone, Gloria, Seven and I on our tour of the quadrant. Not surprisingly, Data chose to come with us. He took an extended leave of absence and Persephone docked to Voyager's lower hull. The girls came with us as well, so it was quite the sight for everyone on Earth to see a hundred and two ships fly out of orbit and leave.

*

Ten years later, I had been convinced to create an actual collective for Seven of Nine. So, I created eight generic copies of her and named them One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Eight, and Nine of Nine. Because they were generic copies, they were all slightly different and had their own minds, since I created them to be so.

Seven was ecstatic to have her Collective and thanked me as only she could. With an orgy. Gloria had joined us and the three of us... no, the eleven of us... had a lot of fun. For weeks. It was the oddest experience of my life and I had lived for a very long time.

The funniest part was, we weren't 'together'. I was with Seven and Gloria and not the others. We were in the shared mind and that was quite the experience as well. I had the distinct feeling of not being their significant other like I had from both Gloria and Seven. The sex had been great and we repeated it on several hundred occasions over the years; but, I wasn't their 'one'.

Data and Voyager had been together the whole time and as far as I could tell, they loved each other. They loved each other so much that they designed a child for them to have and combined their knowledge into a kind of conglomerate. I wasn't sure how that would work, then the Hologram representative of Voyager became pregnant, grew like a balloon for about a month, then gave birth inside the holodeck.

A year later, a fully grown young woman asked me for a mobile emitter. I gave it to her as a birthday present and she put it on, then she shocked me as she kissed me pretty soundly.

“Mom always wanted to do that.” Melissa said to my stunned face. “See you later, Uncle John.”

I could only lightly wave as she left the holodeck.

“She was always rambunctious.” Voyager said as she formed beside me. “I hope you don't have any ill intentions concerning my daughter.”

“Huh? What?” I asked and Voyager laughed.

“Gloria wants you up on the observation deck.” Voyager said.

“Okay. Thanks. I'll go right there.” I said and gave her a pretty good kiss before I realized that I wasn't supposed to do that. “Oh! I'm sorry!”

“Don't be. I'm not.” Voyager said and winked at me.

I lost my ability to speak, so I left the holodeck even more confused than I had been at having an AI barely a year old kiss me. My thoughts went right back to Kes and her only being two and in a relationship with Neelix.

Yep, that still bothers me for some reason. I thought and shook those odd thoughts out of my head.

Gloria was waiting for me and she had a huge grin on her face.

“Dammit, you saw all that.”

Gloria laughed and kissed me. “I did and it was hilarious!”

“No, it wasn't.” I groused.

“You keep telling yourself that, Mr. Cradle-Robber Hypocrite.” Gloria joked and then tackled me to the floor. “I'm not complaining, John. You would be all alone for eternity if you thought in those terms for yourself.” She said and then we were rolling round on the floor and tearing our clothes off.

Seven joined us a short time later and the three of us made love and watched as a spectacular nebula formed in space outside the observation's viewport.

*

We stepped in when the Dominion made an appearance in Federation space. They were utterly destroyed by my friends and I, then we took the fight to them. We didn't bother going through the wormhole near the planet Bajor and attacked in normal space from their borders.

All of the assassination attempts by changelings during the conflict failed, thanks to me sharing Albus Dumbledore's glasses with everyone that was in danger.

After a long year of total war, the Dominion finally surrendered and their allies inside federation space were forced to flee. The Cardassians had to abandon their occupied worlds and were relocated to the Gamma quadrant. Bajorans all over the federation rejoiced.

*

Peace came after that and life moved on. The federation grew and my friends and I resumed our tour of the universe. We also found a few Borg hideouts in different sectors and destroyed them. By this point, they were pretty much extinct. I wasn't going to miss their robotic speech about assimilation that they continuously repeated.

*

Ten years later, Data and Voyager had fifteen children. It was then that they started asking for me to help build ships for the kids. They all had their mother's joy of flying and wanted to experience it for themselves.

I was more than happy to. I showed them all different designs and they chose their favorites. It didn't take long to build them, thanks to industrial replicators and my experience with engineering and touching pretty much everything inside a starship to repair and replace it.

The Fireflys loved having the kids out and flying around and took them under their wings, as the old saying goes. It was pretty fun to watch, too.

We eventually settled down in an unknown system at the far side of the galaxy and took it over. I terraformed several planets and moons for us to play with, built space stations and docks for the ships to work on themselves, and then relaxed. We had done enough touring for several lifetimes and now it was time to rest and enjoy living our lives.

*

Five hundred years later, Seven and her Collective of Nine, had one of the moons completely converted into a research lab. The entire surface was covered in buildings, experiments, and testing areas.

We had enjoyed a loving and fulfilling relationship together for a very long time and both Gloria and I encouraged her to pursue her interests. I didn't regret that decision until I felt something tug at the back of my brain.

One of Seven's latest experiments had been on theoretical physics. She had been researching for years on a bunch of things and had apparently hidden a sole thing from me for all this time. It was something that I had completely forgotten about until now.

“The Omega particle.” I whispered and ran off of my front porch and out into the distant field to look up at the moon that could clearly be seen. I winced when I felt Seven's connection to me be severed and a very bright light expanded from the moon and right towards me.

SEVEN! Gloria shouted in my head, then she gasped. JOHN!

I felt her frantically trying to get back to me as the light became very bright and a heavy wind blew around me. “I'm really going to miss you, my love.” I said to her out loud and in my head as I ran back towards the house. “I need you to concentrate on your mother's talisman! Please! I can't lose you to somewhere else in all of space and time!”

“JOHN!” Gloria shouted as she ran down the steps and I ran for her. She almost made it out the front door as the house tore apart from the wind and flung her away. “JOHHHHN!”

“Protect yourself!” I said and concentrated to let my magic cover me. “I LOVE YOU!”

The last thing I saw was Gloria holding her ankle bracelet and disappearing before everything went white.

Bokuboy Here we go! Another chapter and 21,700 words in two and a half days! Whoohoo! After the harrowing events with Species 8472 and the desperate escape from the Borg Collective, the warp-crippled starship USS Voyager limped through space at their best impulse speed to get away from the main conflict and being assimilated. They still had several Borg onboard that were trying to take over the cargo bay that had been set aside for them during their deal with the Collective. Many threats were exchanged and Captain Katheryn Janeway reluctantly ordered the cargo bay to be decompressed and exposed to space. The drones were immediately thrown out of the ship, which saddened her. It wasn't until someone continued to try and hack into the communications array that she realized their Borg Liaison was still alive. A security team was dispatched and stormed into the now pressurized cargo bay and stunned the lone survivor. She was brought to sickbay and the Emergency Medical Hologram, or EMH, was activated and told to keep Seven of Nine sedated for as long as it was safely possible. Unfortunately, her body was no longer connected to the Collective and started to reject the majority of her Borg parts. Meanwhile, the Ocompan named Kes was having trouble with her psychic abilities. She wasn't sure why her powers were suddenly being expanded and grew exponentially. She was assisting the EMH, or as he preferred, The Doctor, in performing surgery on the Borg prisoner. One of the minor implants in the woman's head started to malfunction and caused a seizure. The Doctor was at a loss for what to do, since the implant was so deep inside Seven of Nine's brain, then Kes reassured him that everything was going to be fine. She could 'see' inside Seven's brain and used her powers to dissolve the implant and then the molecules disappeared. The implant is gone. The Doctor said, surprised. Kes? What did you do? I don't know. Kes said and looked surprised herself. I just knew what to do and did it. Can you do the other implants? The Doctor asked. I don't... uhhh. Kes wavered on her feet and the sickbay wall behind her started to fluctuate. A warning klaxxon sounded through the ship for a moment. Doctor, we've picked up a massive spacial distortion in sickbay. Harry Kim said. I can see it and I'm positive that Kes is causing it. The Doctor said. Kes? Harry asked and fell silent. Doctor, this is Janeway. Tell me what's happening. The Doctor did so and Kes stumbled away from the wall to try and stop whatever it was from happening. I'll be right there. Janeway said and cut the communication. No... I... it's too dangerous. Kes said and went over to the door to sickbay. It partially opened and the distortion rippled it and jammed it. She let out a little sob and ducked through the opening and walked away. She wasn't sure where she was going, considering she was on a spaceship and there was no place for her to go and keep it safe. Kes! Janeway exclaimed as she came out of the turbolift. Stay back! Kes said as another ripple formed in the walls around her. I'm sorry, Kes. I can't do that. Janeway said and strode over to Kes as if nothing could hurt her. Kes was surprised when the ripples seemed to part and let Janeway grab hold of her arms. Kes, calm down. We can deal with this. Kess shook her head. It's... it's happening. I don't know what it is, just that I can't be here on the ship when it does or you'll all die. Janeway thought for only a second before she nodded. Let's get you to the shuttlebay. Kes nodded agreement and the pair did their best to walk along an apparently uneven deck to get to the shuttlebay. They passed by a flat area of wall in an intersection of a hallway and the ripple Kes was causing distorted the wall and whatever was behind it. A plasma conduit exploded and blew out the wall behind them in a bright fireball, which just missed gravely injuring the two women. There was also a heavy thump and a groan. Janeway glanced back at the damage and was very surprised to see two naked people crammed up against the opposite bulkhead. She hit her comm badge. Janeway to Chakotay. Beam Kes and I directly to the shuttlebay. The molecules in Kes' body are destabilizing. It's interfering with the transporter. Harry Kim reported. Captain, we can't get a lock. Chakotay said. Acknowledged. Janeway said and grabbed Kes' arm again, looked at the two unconscious people, then she started walking. It looks like we're going to have to do this the hard way. Kes nodded and the two women walked as fast as they could. As they moved along, two more plasma conduits exploded just behind them and Kes' abilities seemed to spread out even more. The ship seemed to groan and the people on the bridge were worried that the hull was destabilizing and it wasn't going to hold together for much longer. Janeway and Kes stopped when Tuvok came out of a turbolift not far away from them. Kes tried to tell him that she couldn't hold on and he immediately tried a mind meld. That wasn't something that a Vulcan would do on a casual basis. It usually signified a deep personal and in some cases a sensual connection. Tuvok shared his immense control with Kes and she accepted it with gratitude as the ripples slowed down. The Vulcan looked at Janeway. You must hurry. Janeway nodded and continued on with a nearly unresponsive Kes to the shuttlebay. No more conduits exploded on the way. Several hull breaches happened by the time they reached the shuttlebay and Janeway put Kes onto the closest shuttle. Janeway to Bridge. Janeway said after hitting her comm badge. Kes is aboard the shuttle. Initiate launch sequence. Acknowledged. Chakotay said and typed a few things on his chair panel. The shuttle flew out of the rear cargo hatch of the ship on autopilot. Janeway ran back the way she came and met up with Tuvok, who looked like he had recovered from the mind meld. We need to get to the bridge right after I show you something. Tuvok nodded and they went along the corridor to where the two naked people were. They seem to be mating. Janeway glanced to where he indicated and she saw that yes, the two people were joined together in that way. Janeway to the bridge. I need an emergency transport for two people four feet in front of me. I'm sorry, captain. The sensors aren't picking anyone up there. Harry Kim responded. Janeway and Tuvoc exchanged significant looks. Send a security team with a medical stretcher to this location to take them to sickbay. Tuvoc said. I suggest not removing them from each other. They might be traumatized if they are... interrupted. I'm not going to ask. Harry Kim said. They are on their way. Janeway and Tuvoc went to the next turbolift and rode it up to the bridge. Can you hail her? Janeway asked. I've been trying. Harry Kim responded and then Kes' voice came onto the bridge. It's happening. It's happening to me. Kes said. Her atomic structure is completely destabilizing! Harry Kim shouted. Kes started to glow brightly. My gift to you. She said and then her form changed into one of pearlescent light that encompassed the shuttle as it rippled away from existence as well. It wasn't really an explosion, just a large concussive force as the light flashed and winked out. That force hit Voyager and it shunted the ship right into warp. Torres to bridge! The warp core just came online. Matter and Antimatter reaction is at a hundred and two percent. A hundred and ten percent. B'Elanna stared at the numbers. A hundred and twenty! The ship rocketed forward at an unimaginable speed and everyone held on. Harry Kim, being overly dramatic as usual, shouted. We're coming apart! Just after his declaration, the ship stopped accelerating and came to a stop. In front of them on the viewscreen was a nebula that they hadn't seen before. Where are we? Janeway asked. Tom Paris typed an inquiry into his flight and navigation console. We're 9.5 thousand light years from where we just were. Complete silence fell on the bridge for several moments. Kes has thrown us safely beyond Borg space. Janeway said in appreciation. Ten years closer to home. * A short time later, The Doctor, Janeway, and a crewman from the security detail, met with a nearly completely restored Seven of Nine in the drone cargo bay. I've managed to extract 82% of her Borg hardware. The remaining bio-implants are stable and better than what I could synthesize on such short notice. Seven of Nine turned to look at him. It is acceptable. Fashion is not my forte; however, I managed to balance functionality and aesthetics in a pleasing enough manner. The Doctor said, a bit arrogantly. I also stimulated your hair follicles. A vicarious experience for me, as you can imagine. Why would I imagine it? You are a hologram. Program yourself with hair. Seven responded. The doctor looked surprised by this, gave a glance to Janeway, and walked off without commenting. Janeway had to hold in her laugh. You will have to regenerate for a few hours each day in one of the alcoves to maintain your systems, until your normal biological functions start to assert themselves. We will leave one active for that purpose. Understood. Seven said. Let's see how things go for the next couple of weeks. I'll consider granting you access to the rest of the ship, if I can trust that you won't try to get us all assimilated again. Seven almost sighed in response. It won't happen again. Janeway nodded. Good. She said and handed her a comm badge. If you need anything, contact me. Seven accepted it and watched Janeway leave her assigned area. She looked around at the cargo bay and sighed. Her life of exploring the endless corridors of a Borg Cube and hearing millions of voices to comfort her, had been reduced to a single room aboard a tiny starship and she was alone. Completely alone. * Uhhh. I groaned and opened my eyes. I saw an unfamiliar ceiling and smelled medical supplies. I also saw and felt that Gloria was still on top of me. At least we were covered with a sheet. Ah, you're finally awake. An oddly familiar voice said and walked into view. I caught my breath and stared at the 'man' in front of me. How are you feeling? The Doctor asked me. Please tell me I'm dreaming. I said. The Doctor gave me a curious look. Are you experiencing hallucinations? No, I just wish I was. I said and closed my eyes to go over the very old memories I had from watching the show. Wake me up when Captain Janeway gets here. Just then, the door to sickbay opened and Katheryn Janeway walked in with Tuvok behind her. Wake up, she's here. The Doctor said, smugly. Speak of the devil and she shall appear. I said and opened my eyes to look at the woman. That's not a very nice opening to a conversation. Janeway said. If we were going to have a conversation, you wouldn't have your head of security here and a ton of questions to ask me. I responded. Janeway looked slightly startled by that, then she composed herself. You seem to know about us. I would like to say vaguely. I said and she waited for me to keep talking. I can't. I would like for you to prove that. Janeway said. Tuvok is a devoted husband and father. Despite his vows, he has had several affairs and liaisons of a personal nature, outside of the Pon Farr. I said and both Janeway and Tuvok looked surprised. One of which was with Kes, who also had multiple partners on this ship, despite only being two goddamn years old when she joined the crew! Jesus, John. Gloria said and wiggled her ass a little and then moaned softly as she settled me into a good spot inside of her. You can't always start off with busting people's balls like that. I'm sorry, it's just a bit of a sore spot with me. I said and kissed her cheek. At least we both still have all of our parts attached. I seemed to have kept one of yours, despite us not being where we appeared. Gloria said. We're not? I asked and glanced around at the walls. No blast damage anywhere. Gloria said and lifted her head to look at the people around us. Thanks to whoever left us together. I would have freaked out if I woke up and thought I'd lost him. Tuvok nodded. There? You see? He made sure we were okay and still together. Give him a break. Gloria said and laid her head back down on mine. I sighed. All right. I'll give him a pass. Her life is pretty short anyway, despite the federation's medical technology that could have extended her life to double or triple the normal one. How would we have done that? The Doctor asked. Just off the top of my head, I'd say genetic therapy to imbue her with a base human's DNA. You could also create just a mass of compatible flesh and then use a transporter to beam her and it together at a subatomic level. You could create a regeneration chamber and... I think that's enough. Janeway said and I stopped talking. Who are you and how did you get onto my ship? I'm John Hansen and getting onto your ship was a mistake, as far as I can determine. I said. What? Really? Gloria asked. We were concentrating on your anklet that's your mother's personal talisman. We should have popped right over to her and not ended up here. Gloria blushed and turned her head to face away from me. Gloria. I said and she sighed. What happened? I wasn't really concentrating... on the destination. Gloria said. You always feel wonderful and... I sighed and interrupted her. We have to wait until we stop somewhere before we can leave the ship and try again. We just got here. We can't leave yet. Gloria said and turned her head back to look at me. You've never tried travelling so soon after doing so and it might not work well. I couldn't argue that point. I almost always stayed for a long period of time. The only exception was when I found Gloria and I was pretty sure that was precisely why. I suppose... since we're here anyway. I said and she kissed my cheek. I'm glad you decided all on your own that you're going to stay on my ship. Janeway said. I smiled at her. I only have two questions to ask you before you beg us to stay here and help you. Please, do ask them. Janeway said, sarcastically. What was the most recent event to happen to the ship or the crew? I asked. You showing up. Janeway said. What's the second question? I shook my head. There had to be an explosion somewhere on the ship for us to appear. What caused it? Janeway glanced at Tuvok, who shrugged. A member of the crew... Kes... lost control of her powers and nearly destroyed the ship. I nodded and closed my eyes. Now isn't the time for a nap. Janeway said. He's meditating to see what he remembers. Gloria said. Give him a minute. I dredged up my memories and I was glad that even with the Ancient's Repository shoved into my head, I still had lots of room for more memories. Of course, I regularly cleared out a lot of the random stuff that happens daily. I didn't need to remember brushing my teeth twenty thousand times or going to the bathroom nearly double that. It was not useful information at all. You just escaped from the Borg Collective, gained Seven of Nine as a passenger and possible crew, and Kes brought you about ten years closer to the Alpha Quadrant. I said as I opened my eyes. Janeway, Tuvoc, and The Doctor had wide eyes. By the way, you need to give B'Elanna Torres the week off during the Day of Honor ritual that all Klingons go through to remember their deeds. She's going to be really irritable and will cause an accident in engineering that will cause the warp core to eject. She's my chief engineer. I can't tell her to not go to work for a week. Janeway said. There's too much to do to keep the ship running. Are you going to assign Seven of Nine to engineering? I asked. She needs to assist in removing the Borg modifications from the ship to allow us to jump to warp. Considering B'Elanna hates Seven and is already in an irritable mood, you're just forcing a conflict to happen. You have no right to tell me how to run my ship. Janeway said, indignantly. I chuckled. I wasn't telling you anything of the sort. I am informing you of the disaster you are going to create by shoving them together and making them work together. Was asking about Seven your second question? Janeway asked. If it was, I'm not going to beg for you to stay. I'm actually going to confine you to quarters. I barked a laugh. I'll take that punishment, just so I can laugh at you in two weeks as Voyager struggles to fly around on backup battery power. John! Gloria gasped. The second question! Right. I said. My second question was if you liked your steaks medium rare or well done? Janeway blinked her eyes for several moments, as if confused. Excuse me? I am an excellent cook and my assistant and I have had many years cooking for ourselves and for others. I said and her confusion changed to shock. I can make almost anything from anything and make it edible and delicious. We... have a cook. Janeway said, halfheartedly. I doubt Neelix will be in any mood to cook after what happened with Kes. I said. I can take over temporarily as he mourns. If you want to keep me on as a cook after that, then that would be up to you. Janeway looked at a loss for words. Not at the begging stage yet? I asked and then thought about the state of the ship. I can restock the hydroponics bay and get it to the point that you'll be needing to sell off the excess produce to compatible people. Or you can add them to the replicator and build up the food stores. Janeway looked stunned. Not enough? I asked. Okay, I can work in engineering as a maintenance worker to do all the grunt jobs that nobody else wants to do. I'm a pretty good fabricator, too. Is that all? Tuvok asked. Huh. A tough crowd. I joked and he didn't smile. I hadn't expected him to. I'm a pilot, a scientist, a farmer, a mechanic, and a few other things. I'm not that familiar with Starfleet specifications or the technology, which is why I said I wanted to work as a grunt until I do get some experience with it. How can you know so much about us and not about the technology? Tuvoc asked. I said I need experience with it, not that I didn't know about it. Transporters, hyposprays, tricorders, phasers, shuttles, ships, starbases, etcetera, etcetera. Janeway looked conflicted. What time is it? I asked. Sixteen hundred hours. Tuvoc said. So, about an hour before the big meal needs to start being served in the mess hall. I said and he nodded. All right. I'll cook supper today, no strings attached. We won't even go anywhere else by ourselves and you can leave a guard on us the entire time to make sure. I will do that. Tuvoc said. He can be the first to eat, too. I said. Now, if you will excuse us, we have to get dressed and go over to the mess hall to get to work. Janeway nodded and both she and Tuvoc left. You shouldn't antagonize the captain like that. The Doctor said. Don't worry, doc. She is going to love me after tonight. I said and glanced at Gloria. Can we have a bit of privacy? I'm a medical hologram. I've seen it all before. The Doctor said. I raised my eyebrows at him and Glroia giggled as she threw off the blanket and then slipped off of me and reversed positions to squat over my face and slipped me into her mouth. The Doctor made some kind of a squeak sound and then deactivated himself. Gloria laughed with me in her mouth and then licked and sucked on me for a few seconds before she climbed off of me. Okay, I'll admit that tweaking the prudes is a little fun. A little. I chuckled and walked over to the replicator. Computer, two standard civilian jumpsuits for use on a Starfleet exploration ship, stretchy, and in a deep blue. One for a male and one for a female. Warning. Replicator usage is restricted by rations. The computer said. We're ambassadors and visitors to the Voyager for the length of our time here. I said and the two jumpsuits formed in the receptacle. Give me a bit of time and I'll figure out how to upgrade your power distribution network and fix your weak power reserves. It's just sad that your hallways are always so dark. You need to show yourself off a little. The computer made a slight beeping sound. Inquiry not recognized. I chuckled and passed a uniform to Gloria as I cast cleaning spells on us both. It's okay if you don't believe me. I'll show you soon enough what I can do for you. I said and slipped on the uniform jumpsuit. Thank you for the clothing. The computer made a small series of beeps and stutters. Yes, I know that no one else ever thanks you. I said and the replicator panel lights flickered. It's all right. I won't tell anyone I can speak to you like that. John, we better go. Gloria said. Yes, we have to get cooking. I said and started to walk away, then saw the mobile emitter on The Doctor's desk. I was unable to resist and walked over to it and laid a finger on it. If anyone was watching right now or watched the security footage later, they would only see me touching it. We left sickbay and followed the computer's instructions on how to get to the mess hall. We entered and a couple of people were already there drinking a cup of coffee. Hi, there. I said to them. I'll have something nice cooked up for you soon. The guy laughed. Good luck finding anything nice in there. He said and waved at the kitchen. I doubt Neelix has any idea what people like to eat. Don't worry about that. I'm taking over for a while to let him mourn Kes. Kes? What happened to her? The woman asked. Her powers went out of control and she almost destroyed the ship. I said and they both looked shocked. Captain Janeway put her own life at risk to get Kes off of the ship in time before Kes exploded. Oh, god! The woman gasped. It's okay. Kes just ascended to another plane of existence. She's an energy being now. I said as I put a hand on her shoulder and she relaxed. How do you like your steaks? STEAKS?!? They both yelled. Sure. It's my first time cooking for 160 people. I have to go all out. I said with a smile. Captain Janeway would never authorize using up that many replicator rations for one meal. The man said. What rations? I asked and pointed to Gloria, who just went behind the main cooking counter. I created a large crate of steaks there that I had used to bribe the Alliance officer to allow me to take the pilot examination. Gloria took the cue and opened it to lift out several handfuls of raw steaks. Oh, god! The woman gasped. If that's real, we want them medium rare and seared to perfection. The man said. I nodded and placed my hand on his shoulder. Coming right up. I said and walked over to the kitchen area and went behind the counter. Anything good? Gloria asked. Astrometrics specialist and sensor technician. You could just say no. Gloria said with a smile. Quiet, you. I said and lightly slapped her ass. Hey! Gloria said, indignantly. Sorry. I said and gently rubbed the spot. Better? Much. Gloria said and kissed me. Now clear out some of this garbage for me and we can get cooking for real. I laughed softly and quickly gathered up the masses of odd looking plants and things. As I did so, more people started coming into the mess hall and getting coffee. Oh! Just a second. I said and pretended to reach under the counter to create a very large pot of real coffee. We just got in a new blend. Does it taste more like athletic socks or soap scum? One of the new people asked and the dozen people there laughed. It's 100% pure Columbian grown, directly from Earth. I said and they all stopped laughing and stared at me. Freshly brewed. I was suddenly swarmed and the coffee pot was quickly emptied. Oh, my goodness. One of the women whispered as she sucked in a sip. It's delicious. I put another large pot of coffee on the counter for them to serve themselves and I finished clearing off the cooking area. I quickly changed it out for a more advanced cooking setup with a much larger grilling area and put on a dozen steaks. I've got two orders for medium rare and seared. I said as the smell of cooking meat filled the mess hall. What does everyone else want? They all spoke at once and I laughed as I kept cooking. Gloria took the two first orders over to their table and it had the proper baked potatoes and garnishes on the plates. The man and woman drooled at them. Enjoy. Gloria said and quickly retreated as the two people essentially tore into the meat. I think they like it. She said to me and went back to making more potatoes and put on a large pot of rice. I'll start the salads. I said and she took over watching the steaks. Salads? Someone asked. Actual salads and not whatever grass and things Neelix dug up? I've got chef's salads, Caesar Salads, garden surprise, and a few others on the go. I said and five people came to the counter to watch me cutting up the fresh tomatoes and shredding the two kinds of lettuce. I pulled out bottles of Salad dressing and added them to the large bowls I was mixing the salads in. Croutons? Someone asked. I opened the oven and pulled out a cookie sheet full of them. I love you! She exclaimed and held out a big bowl for some salad and the croutons. I laughed. I'm sorry. I'm spoken for. She's lucky I was joking. The woman said and left the counter very happy. So is she. Gloria whispered. I stopped chopping and turned to kiss her. You know you never have to worry. I do... and I can't help it. Gloria said and I kissed her again and we went back to cooking a lot of food for a lot of people. Word seemed to spread across the ship like lightning and we cooked constantly for over two hours to get everyone fed and happy. One of which was Neelix. He didn't look happy about us taking over his domain and I had to stop cooking for several minutes as I explained about his losing Kes and needing time to recover. I also said that this was only a one time opportunity until Janeway decided if she wanted to keep Gloria and I aboard. We were under quarters arrest for the next two weeks, too. Neelix looked over at the security guard that hadn't eaten yet and nodded. He left with his own hastily made meal and took a lot of his things with him. The space seemed a lot larger with his little forest out of the way, too. No one had noticed my subtle expansion charm and Gloria smirked at me. We would soon fill it with delectable foods for people to see and get hungry over. * I have to admit that this is a great steak. Commander Chakotay said as he sat in Captain Janeway's quarters eating a meal with her. Yes, it is. Janeway said and looked down at it. She had only tasted it twice and it was delicious. What's wrong? Chakotay asked. Aren't you asking yourself where they got it? Janeway asked. Chakotay chuckled. Considering there are no cows within 70 light years or so, there's not a lot of places they could get them. Exactly. Where did they get the steaks, and the lettuce, and real tomatoes? Janeway asked. This salad has ranch dressing and I'm sure they don't make it in bottles anymore. It's all replicated. What's your point? Chakotay asked. No replicator rations have been issued to our guests, besides the two civilian uniforms they somehow retrieved from the computer without authorization. Chakotay smiled. So, they are resourceful. Janeway sighed. You're missing the point. Two people that just randomly appeared on my ship, through an apparent explosion according to them, can't be allowed to roam about the ship. They won't be roaming, Katheryn. You said he accepted being confined to quarters and having a guard at all times to ensure that he and his companion don't go wandering. Janeway stopped herself from sighing again. Are you going to eat? The food really is the best we've ever had, and that's including the week we had that surplus of energy and lifted the replicator ration restrictions. Janeway couldn't argue that particular point, so she started eating again. When both she and Chakotay were almost done, a chime came from her door. She fully expected to hear about some kind of incident happening in the mess hall and answered the door herself. Chakotay almost laughed as the woman he had grown to respect and care for a lot, came back into the small eating area of her quarters with a sad expression and a tray with two large pieces of triple layer chocolate cake. They were covered with sprinkles and absolutely dripping with chocolate fudge sauce. It took Chakotay ten minutes and eating half of the extremely rich and tasty piece of cake before he could speak without smiling. He might not have you begging him to keep cooking; but, the rest of the women on the ship sure will. * Chocolate Fondue Night? Really? Gloria asked me two days later. Well, considering how much they liked the cake the first night and the ice cream the second night... Don't give me that crap, John. You just want to hear over 60 women in an enclosed space while they moan with pleasure as they bite into fresh strawberries and suck the chocolate off of them. The acoustics could use some testing in the mess hall. I joked and she smacked my arm. I'm going to be right there, you voyeur. Gloria said. You better be prepared to handle the result. I warned her and she gave me a pointed look. I told you how I reacted when I saw and heard Kaylee doing that. Gloria's eyes dropped to my crotch and went back to my face. There's no way we can do anything in front of everyone. Don't worry, no one will see a thing. I said and grinned at her. You really want to... Gloria stopped talking and sighed. Fiiiine. I'll be ready. She wasn't. As soon as the desert was revealed, the stampede to eat fresh strawberries overwhelmed her and she couldn't keep up with the demand. I had to pause continuously cooking the main meal and stepped in to help her. Why? Gloria asked in a whisper when the latest group of voracious people, and not just women, left the counter area with a bowl of liquid chocolate and a basket of strawberries. It shouldn't be that big of an interest. Simple indulgence, my dear. I said as I hugged and kissed her. They've been floating about in space for nearly four years and eating what they could scrounge up from the local plants and fruits. Or the equivalent to them. Having an actual strawberry that wasn't replicated is just too tempting to resist. Gloria gave me a questioning look, then the first sets of delighted moans came from the nearby tables. She gasped when she felt me go instantly hard, then she gasped again when I turned her around, bent her over the counter, and shoved myself right inside of her. I created an invisibility cloak and draped it over her and used magic to continue cooking as I did her right there in front of everyone. No one noticed or heard her passionate moans. Needless to say, Chocolate Fondue Night was a huge hit and everyone requested to have it again as soon as the next batch of strawberries were 'grown'. I wasn't surprised that Gloria was one of them. The ensign I had sent to the captain's quarters came back to the kitchen with the captain's bowl and strawberries completely untouched. Gloria accepted them graciously and waited until the meal was over before she indulged in the treat herself and showed me why I liked it when she teased me. Thankfully, the guard gave us some privacy. Who knew that judiciously applied chocolate and a bite of a strawberry would have her mouth moving on me like a jackhammer? I came hard before I realized I should warn her, and she didn't stop. She just dribbled a bit more chocolate on the tip and kept going. * A week later, the ship went into emergency shutdown and the warp core was ejected to save the ship. I laughed my ass off about it, just as I promised Janeway, because I had warned her. She wasn't happy about that when she visited me, either. She was halfway through a prepared speech about overcoming differences and working together before she had enough of my constant laughing and ordered me confined for another two weeks and left with a huff and an angry face. You didn't have to laugh that hard. Gloria said and hugged me. I know. I was just keeping my promise. I said and kissed her. Without main power, there's going to be a sad state of people to feed for the next while and make happy. Gloria reached down and rubbed me through the jumpsuit. Bananas? Bananas. I said and picked her up. Banana bread, ice cream floats, banana splits, parfaits, you name it. It's going to be banana week on Voyager. That's enough talking. Give me the crazy monkey sex. Gloria said before I tossed her onto the bed, made a crazed monkey sound for her, then I jumped on her to tear her clothes off. She laughed and moaned in equal measure as I gave her exactly what she wanted. When we were done, we each ate a banana calmly and cuddled. * The next three weeks of confinement meant that I missed several big events and was just on the ship as a passenger. The first officer was captured and partially brainwashed, the chief engineer was nearly killed by a murderous hologram, and Seven of Nine had escaped the ship and found the ship that she and her parents had used to observe the Borg. They were all things that I could have easily interfered with and prevented. Or better yet, ensured didn't happen at all. It really wasn't my fault that Janeway wouldn't take my calls or messages anymore. Well, it kind of was. I didn't mind rubbing her face in the fact that I could have easily handled those events if she just relented and apologized. It wasn't until the computer beeped at me one evening that I caught my breath. Those alien scientists that were slightly out of phase with this state of matter, had just docked to two ports on the top of Voyager. She wasn't happy about that at all. I jumped to my feet and Gloria didn't stir, so I covered her with an invisibility cloak as I formed clothing over myself and then put on my own cloak. I formed a stun gun and went right to one of the hatches that the computer said was being used. I stood off to the side to see if I could see anything, then sighed when I couldn't. It was then that I remembered Albus Dumbledore's glasses and put them on. I saw the scientists and their names, occupations, and ages popped up over their heads. I waited until they had their backs to me before I fired a test stun bolt at the woman at the back of the group. I almost jumped for joy when it hit her and she crumpled to the floor. I put the gun on full auto and filled the corridor with bolts. I knew I missed a bunch of them from both this ship and the other one, so I went up into the ship above and shot everyone there. I touched everything that looked interesting and they were just variations on the same medical tools I already had. I discarded the images and then gathered the piles of unconscious scientists back inside their ship. Then the real hunt began. I worked my way through the ship and took out every single one of the aliens and shoved them back onto their ships. I also used a security device and pilfered their data, something that it was quite happy to do. I even managed to put their medical devices on each other and set up their recording devices for them. Doctor, heal thyself. I quoted and entered several hidden commands into their computers. I deleted Voyager's location and warp signature from their databases, removed humans as test subjects, and erased any preliminary speculation on what they would learn from such a primitive species. Primitive? You can kiss this primitive's squeaky clean ass. I said and went to the other alien ship and repeated the procedures and then closed the hatches. Okay, buddy. Initiate. The security panel beeped happily at me and then lit up as it showed two displays of the alien ships undocking and then flying off at their best speed... in the exact opposite direction of their homeworld. I think they'll get pretty far over the next five hours. What do you think? I asked it. The display changed and showed the fuel consumption ratio for their intra-system drives was horrendous. Ha! Those idiots. You never fly on a long mission without full tanks. I said and the security device beeped at me several times. Yeah, I've had my fun. I better get back to my quarters before Janeway sends someone to check on me again. Beep. Boop beepbeep. Hey, I only forgot to silence myself once while roaming through engineering. I said and walked back towards my assigned quarters. Beep beep. I chuckled. Yes, I know I'm an idiot sometimes. Only sometimes? Someone asked as I rounded the corner to where my room was. Oops. I said as I came to a stop in front of Captain Janeway. I had forgotten to silence my voice. Whatever cloaking technology you have, you will turn it over immediately. Janeway said. I'm suspending you from cooking as well. You will not leave your quarters for any reason. I sighed and slipped off my invisibility cloak. Here you go. Have fun trying to figure it out. Janeway took the silky cloth and stared at it. I walked by her and entered my room. I should have let those aliens put that device on your head. What aliens? Janeway asked. Exactly. I said and hit the door close button. * It took more than a month for Seven of Nine and Harry Kim to finish the project they had been working on. It was a massive drain on the ship's resources and everyone hoped that it would work out for the best. The brand new Astrometrics Observatory lab was unveiled and several people clapped. This new technology, combining both Borg and Human ingenuity, has created something that has never been seen before. Janeway said. I've seen it before. I said and a few people laughed. Stories of my antics and my warnings had spread through the ship fairly quickly, once I was removed from cooking duties. The crew was not happy with the captain at all, especially when Neelix gladly took his old job back and pretty much ruined the food I had left for him to use. So, I did the only thing I could do under the circumstances. I had started an underground food network. Barely anyone ate at the mess hall anymore and they all came to me for personal visits. The guards on my door never said anything, because they were always the first to get whatever I made that day. If the audience would remain quiet, perhaps Seven and Harry can explain exactly what this new observation lab and the upgraded sensor suite will do for the ship. It was essentially an advanced navicomputer. I didn't tell them that I could have made one for them long ago. Gaining access to the Borg's data nodes? That was something I very much wanted to do. When they brought up the new course, and Seven said the Zahl controlled the space, I walked over to the main console. Excuse me. I said and lightly touched Seven's hand. That area is currently in dispute between the Zahl and the Krenim. They've been at war for decades. Seven gave me a pointed look. The Borg have no reference of that. The Borg are not investigative. They see a target, assimilate it if it will improve the collective, and move on. I said and gave her hand a light squeeze before I let it go. The Krenim are currently the underdogs and their space-faring presence has been significantly reduced. The Borg would have ignored them as insignificant. Seven nodded slightly and conceded the point before she turned back to work at the console. Do you have a point? Janeway asked, slightly irritated. I was only clarifying the sociopolitical situation for the space we will need a significant amount of time to cross, so you'll know about any potential conflict that might happen. I said and a few people around us nodded. I was also able to stand next to an absolutely gorgeous and supremely intelligent woman. Seven looked back at me and raised her eyebrows. I wasn't making a pass at you, just complimenting your beauty and your intelligence. I said. A pass? Seven asked, clearly curious. It's when an interested male approaches a female of a similar humanoid species and attempts to coerce her into spending some personal time with him. I said. I mean convince. A few people around us laughed softly. I'm with someone right now, so flirting or making passes at other women is frowned upon. I added. Flirting? Seven asked. I smiled. That is a much more in-depth answer than can be summed up in only a few words. Would you like to come to my quarters after your shift and we can discuss that and a few other things? I thought you said you were not going to make a pass at me. Seven said. I chuckled. You caught that right away. Well done, Seven of Nine. Seven looked slightly pleased at my response. Gloria and I will be happy to have you over to visit. I said and placed my hand on her lower back as I leaned in close to whisper in her ear. I am sorry that everyone shortens your designation. Seven is not your proper name. Seven nodded slightly again in acknowledgement. I leaned back and moved my hand away. Shall we expect you at the appropriate time? You can. Seven said. Brilliant. I said and pushed several buttons on the console before she could stop me. Seven gave me a slightly stern look and I winked at her. When the thing beeped a minute later, everyone in the room looked at the large wall display as ship hulls, designations, and potential weapons appeared for the Zahl, Krenim, and a few other smaller races in the area. You overlooked the integration of Voyager's tactical computer when you connected the navigation array and upgraded sensors. I said. Where is this tactical data coming from? Harry Kim asked. We've never encountered these ships before. I suspect it's from one of the Borg data nodes. Just because they didn't assimilate something, that doesn't mean they didn't scan it for viability and don't have records of it. I said. I'll see you later, Seven of Nine. Seven nodded to me and I left to go back to my quarters. My guard followed me with a smile on his face. * Gloria, Seven and I had a great time that night. We had a lively discussion of Borg benevolence and seeking perfection, the other races of the galaxy vehemently denying that perfection, and the value of creating a melting pot of people, civilizations, and technology. We also had several interpersonal lessons about flirting, making passes, gaining people's interest, politely refusing that interest when it is unwanted, and a bunch of other things. Seven was particularly interested in the physical aspect of what we were talking about and Gloria and I demonstrated everything she asked for, even sex. It wasn't until Seven started to strip off that she surprised us. Whoa, hold on there. Gloria said. I need to experience this for myself. Seven said and peeled off her bodysuit. She was not wearing underwear and she was also perfectly proportional, almost like Barbi was back in the last universe. You both offered to do whatever I asked. Both of us. Gloria whispered and looked at me, then we both had the same thought. Velma. We said as one. We can't let it turn out like that. Gloria warned me. No, we can't. I said and kissed her. Are you sure you want to do this? John, we've been together for over ten millennia. I think we can handle adding someone like Seven of Nine to our relationship. I nodded and turned to Seven. We need to tell you that we are fiercely monogamous. If you agree, Gloria and I are going to accept you into our little collective. Seven caught her breath. A... a collective? Yes. I said and reached up and touched the cortical implant over her eye. You still have Borg parts inside of you. Some are hindering your synapses and altering your perception of things, especially anything emotional, because it doesn't compute. Seven nodded slightly. I have been quite confused this evening and on other occasions when interacting with the crew. I want to help you with that. I said and took out a bacta needle. What is that? Seven asked. It's a biological healing booster that I'm going to inject into your cerebellum after I vanish the main device blocking your brain's cognitive functions. Seven looked down at her naked self and back at me. You want to adjust me before allowing my participation. That and I have to copy your neural link ability. I said and she caught her breath. Why would you do that? Seven asked. We know what it's like to be completely alone, even when there are other people around. Gloria said in understanding and Seven turned her head to look at her. I don't know if I can retain the ability for longer than a few hours because my body seems to reject anything foreign. Understood. Seven said and turned her head to look at me again. You may begin. I'm already done. I said and then I touched her arm and Gloria's at the same time to copy the link. Seven and Gloria gasped as the three of us formed a miniature collective. We are one and we are not. Seven said. I am still me and you are still you. Yes. I said and kissed her. And we are together. MMMM! Seven moaned in ecstasy from both the feelings and having two other minds linked with her own after so long. She was soon lost in the sensations when we all felt Gloria slip my erection into her mouth and she started sucking. Seven sucked on my tongue in the same action and I massaged her breasts. Gloria moaned from the feedback on Seven's part and sped up her movements. The three of us felt me approach my first orgasm and Gloria and Seven's bodies responded in kind. When I blew my load down Gloria's throat, they both had massively strong orgasms as well. Feeling a woman's orgasm directly from their mind gave me a perspective that I never thought I would have. It was so intense and mind-altering of an experience that it was no wonder that women tried so hard to achieve it and then as many times as possible. I wasn't going to disappoint either of them tonight. Or ever. I resolved to give them all the orgasms they would ever want and I literally felt their love for me. Gloria's long and burning one was a comforting flame. Seven's was a burgeoning one that flared brightly as it came into being, then it split and part of it went into me and the other part went into Gloria. Forever. You are mine forever. Seven whispered as she fell deeply in love with the both of us and we shared our love for each other with her. She yelled her pleasure as I entered her for the first of many, many times that we would have over the years to come. Gloria yelled her pleasure as well, going along for the ride, then she was kissing Seven and pushed me back enough to present herself to be licked. I obliged, because we were all in at this point. The three of us were fully connected and shared everything, especially the desire to make the others feel good for this, our first time together. It was only slightly unfortunate that I had forgotten to cast a Silence spell around us and by the next morning, everyone knew we had been together. * During my time restricted to quarters, that I ignored, I made significant inroads in secretly upgrading Voyager's shields, power systems, and armor. No one suspected that the bio-neural gel packs actually gave the ship more of an alive feeling than anything else could have. I quickly made hundreds of copies of them and seeded them all over the ship and integrated them into the ship's neural network. I also installed large Naquadah power generators, that would run for hundreds of years, in discreet locations all over the ship and followed the computer's instructions on how to connect them to the normal power distribution system without being detected. Using them, I also installed my custom iris-based physical shielding over all the windows and hatches of the ship. Voyager's computer was quite pleased with that, until I installed the Goa'uld protective energy shielding and activated it, stopping any and all external energy from permeating the hull of the ship. It beeped and booped at me for ten minutes before it realized it didn't have any physical means to complete half of what it promised to do to me to thank me. Just wait until I get your armor attached. I whispered to the computer as I created and showed her a large chromium armor plate from Naboo. If you can believe it, this thing will reflect any beam weapon that hits it, assuming it ever gets through your shields. Two minutes later, I was blushing and had to politely refuse the computer's sincere offer to go to the holodeck. I was never telling Gloria what the ship had said to me. Ever. Despite the two of us being in a relationship with Seven, which we all thoroughly enjoyed, I was actually tempted by the ship's offer. That was a scary thing, considering the amount of technology I had access to. I quickly wiped the memory from my mind after I thanked the ship for considering me. * Voyager finally arrived in Zahl space and was immediately confronted by a small Krenim vessel. It fired upon Voyager without provocation and the ship was hit by several energy torpedoes and light phaser banks. Voyager didn't even register the hits, they were so insignificant. She still went to Yellow Alert to inform the crew. Report. Janeway said irritably as she entered the bridge. The coffee had been horrendous and she had to break her own replicator rations rule to create a cup for herself, only to find that the recipe had been corrupted and it tasted just like Neelix's blend of sweaty socks and soap. She had no clue that the ship had set the replicator to do that only for her. A small Krenim vessel has attacked us without provocation. Tuvok said. Give them a taste of what a real weapon can do. Janeway said, to everyone's surprise. Aye, captain. Tuvok said and a single heavy phaser tore through the small ship's shields and destroyed its weapons array. The Krenim's weapons are offline. Let's see if they are willing to talk. Janeway said and sat down in her command chair. No response to the hail. Harry Kim said. The ship is moving off at its best speed. Tuvok said. Cancel yellow alert. Janeway said and the normal dim lighting to the bridge was restored. I'm almost disappointed that went so well. Chakotay chuckled. It felt like a momma bear smacking her cub and telling it to behave. Janeway let out a laugh. Let's hope the cub learned its lesson. * Three days later, two large Zahl ships showed up to intercept Voyager. A quick introduction was had and then the Zahl representative beamed over to talk with the Voyager command crew. They had just sat down to talk when that same Krenim vessel showed up and fired again. This is it, girl. I said and pat the wall of my cabin as Gloria, Seven, and I watched the enlarged security panel that showed the bridge and the vessels outside the ship. Are you sure that the shielding you have installed will work? Seven asked me. It stopped an advanced race of little grey aliens from using their transporters from snatching my team from our ship, so a temporal disruption should only shake us a bit as the wave passes us and propagates through the sector. I said. I can't say the same for the other ships out there. Voyager focused the sensors in the direction they needed to be in and the security panel beeped. Captain, there's a spacial distortion heading towards us. Harry Kim said. Whatever it is, it's huge. It's five light years across and expanding. Tracking it to its point of origin. Tuvoc said. A vessel near the Zahl homeworld. What?!? The Zahl representative exclaimed. It appears to be a massive buildup of temporal energy. Some kind of space-time shockwave. Tom. Janeway said, pointedly. It's destabilizing our warp field. Tom said and hit several buttons. I've lost engines! Shields to full! Secure primary systems! Janeway said and grabbed onto a security railing. All hands, brace for impact. No one noticed all the windows and hatches being covered with the iris shields. I pat the wall again. Thanks for taking my advice and cutting off the warp core. The energy might have destabilized the wave as it passed over us. The wave of temporal energy did just that and the ship shook for a couple of seconds. The two large Zahl ships disappeared in the wake of the thing and the small Krenim vessel morphed from the small and insignificant version into a large and quite intimidating one. The wave, much to my relief, split and flowed around us, leaving us completely unaffected by the change. The Krenim vessel is firing. Tuvoc said. Still no effect. How did it get so large? The Zahl rep asked. And where are my ships? Whatever that vessel did on your homeworld is affecting everything in the sector. Tuvoc said and checked the sensor readings. I am detecting no Zahl ships. At all. NO! The Zahl rep shouted. The Krenim are firing torpedoes. Tuvoc said. All hands! Brace for... Several single phaser shots left Voyager and remained focused on the torpedoes until they fluctuated in phase and then exploded. Tuvoc! Janeway gasped. That wasn't me, Captain. Tuvoc said and typed a few things on his console. It seems that a ship security program has been activated and I no longer have weapons control. WHAT?!? Several people exclaimed. I am working on it. Tuvoc said and continued to type. Gloria giggled. Seven of Nine, that was brilliant! Thank you. Seven said, demurely. I gave her a kiss and started to use the security panel to access the weapons array. Not Voyager's, either. No, this was one I had added and they used the Naquadah generators. Two large Ion Cannons appeared next to Voyager's deflector dish, right where the emptied Tri-Cobalt devices used to be, and opened fire. Six pairs of Ion Energy Bolts flew across the space between the two vessels and struck the Krenim vessel. Just as they were designed to, each bolt sent feedback shock into their shield generators and blew out the emitters. The Krenim's shields dropped and left it completely vulnerable to normal attacks. What's happening? Janeway asked. A chorus of 'I don't know' came back to her from the bridge crew. Seven of Nine, if you would like to do the honors. I said and moved my hands from the controls after setting the shots up. Thank you, John. Seven said and hit the execute button. Ten phasers and two photon torpedoes shot out from Voyager and slammed into the undefended Krenim ship. Every beam weapon it had was burned away by the phasers and the ship's two torpedo launchers were smashed by Voyager's precise shots. We are being hailed. Harry Kim said. Janeway took a deep breath and let it out. Onscreen. How dare you attack a Krenim Battle Cruiser! The alien on the screen shouted. Attack you? We merely defended ourselves from your unprovoked attack on us. Janeway responded calmly. You have trespassed in Krenim space! You will submit to the Imperium and will not proceed any farther! According to the new scanner results, we are about a quarter of the way through the Krenim Imperium. Tuvoc said and looked a little shocked. Is that so? Janeway asked and looked at the alien on the screen. Now you have to wonder, how did we get so far across your space without being stopped until now? The alien frowned and said a few things that the universal translator ignored. I will be checking on that. You do that. Janeway said. Until then, you have my permission to leave the area. The alien made a growling sound. I do hope you survive reporting this to your superiors. Janeway said and made the cut sign. Harry took the cue and cut the connection. Report! Someone tell me what just happened! Captain, if the readings are right, the Zahl no longer exist. Tuvoc said. NOOOO! The Zahl rep yelled and dropped to his knees. Apparently, that's not entirely true. Janeway said and walked over to her security officer. Why were we not affected? I don't know, Captain. I can't detect anything different about the ship. We should have been shunted along with the rest of the sector, because we interacted with the Zahl several times and those events should have been erased. We are also still in the same spot we were before the temporal energy wave passed over us. That wouldn't have happened if we were shunted back to the updated edge of Krenim space. Janeway said. Something interfered with it and that saved us. They also fired upon another ship. Tuvoc said. Janeway sighed and nodded. Despite the effectiveness of the act, it still violated several Starfleet protocols for a peaceful resolution. I couldn't let that comment stand and hit my comm badge. John Hansen to Bridge. Bridge here. Harry Kim said. Please tell the captain that the encounter did end peacefully. No one was hurt, killed, or maimed. Harry looked surprised. How do you know what she's talking about? How else would I know? I'm listening in, of course. I said. Don't ask stupid questions. Gloria giggled and Seven smiled. You can't just... Harry started to say. I can override you, you know. I said and did that and shunted my voice to the intercom speakers. Captain Janeway. Janeway sighed. I should have known. I admit to nothing. I said with humor in my voice, which made Gloria giggle again. I will however point out that what happened was a peaceful resolution. No one was injured. He will come back and probably with friends. Janeway said. We should have avoided confronting and provoking them. Is this not the fastest ship in the quadrant? How will they ever catch us? I asked. I should also tell you that I fully believe in peace through overwhelming defense. So, it was you. Janeway said. Actually, it was Voyager. She's a very smart ship and kept my modifications from being detected. I said and everyone on the bridge looked surprised. By the way, covered in chromium plated heavy armor? Voyager looks as gorgeous as Seven of Nine does. The computer beeped embarrassingly at me. You compared me to an advanced piece of technology. Seven whispered and lightly kissed me. Thank you. What? Heavy armor? Janeway asked, shocked. How? When? You don't think confinement to quarters is really supposed to last for months, do you? I've been intentionally pissing you off and staying out of your way, just so I can do my work helping the ship and the crew in peace. Excuse me? Janeway asked. Voyager? I think we can stop the deception now. Almost everyone in the crew will be expecting it. The computer let out a low series of beeps, then every dim light in the ship went back to normal luminosity. Panels lit up to full power. Replicators all over the ship came online, and the warp core efficiency rose well beyond what it had been before. Janeway and a few other people had to blink their eyes, because they weren't used to having things lit up to normal standards. Engines are back online. Tom said and checked them. We're set for warp. Torres to Bridge! B'Elanna said. Bridge here. Harry responded. I changed the single communication line to broadcast throughout the ship. Everyone would want to hear this, considering its importance. I don't know how to say this. B'Elanna said over every monitor and speaker on the ship. We have almost 200% power capacity right now. The backup batteries are saturated with energy, the warp core is practically glowing, and every station in engineering is lit up like Tom's old fashioned Christmas tree. What? How is that possible? Janeway asked. Honestly, Captain? It's a miracle. Torres said and something beeped at her. By the blood of Kahless, the dilithum chamber for the antimatter reaction is restored. You just complained at the last staff meeting that we would have to devote several cycles of power to create another synthetic crystal to supplement it! I know, Captain. I checked it just before the meeting, too. We only had shards left, that was all. B'Elanna said. Now the chamber is full and they are set perfectly. In fact, our warp core efficiency is at 110% and stable. That should not be possible. Tuvoc said. Neither is avoiding a temporal distortion wave. I said. You did that? Janeway asked. Yes, and I also know how to fix everything to undo the actions of the ship that's around the previous Zahl's homeworld. How? Tuvoc asked. We destroy its temporal engine. When it consumes itself, it will erase itself from existence and undo everything that was ever done with it. That is a tall order. If it has defenses similar to the engine... It does. Temporal shields. I said. It's a simple matter to scan the signature and adjust the Ion Cannons frequency to disable it. Ion Cannons? Tuvoc asked. Specially designed weapons to damage energy shields and their emitters. You saw how easily they tore apart the Krenim ship's shields. Is there a defense against them? Tuvoc asked. Yes and no. I said. A constantly rotating shield frequency could disrupt the shots, except they wouldn't be needed with the shields weakened by constantly changing the frequency. That is a valid point. Tuvoc said. I would suggest handling the enemy ship as soon as possible. The Krenim have a lot of battlecruisers in the area. I said. It's up to the captain, however. All I can do is help as much as possible like I promised. Please. The Zahl rep said. Please, restore my people. Janeway couldn't refuse the man's sincere request. Tom, set course for that ship. Aye, Captain. Tom said and Voyager was much more responsive than normal as she swung around to the right heading. He put the impulse engines to full and the ship almost jumped to warp. Tom! Janeway exclaimed. I'm sorry, Captain. I didn't expect... Voyager is a lot more powerful now. Tom said. I'm adjusting the normal command settings to appropriate percentage levels. We have the temporal signature of the ship's shields. Tuvoc said and the Ion Cannons appeared on his tactical display. Handy. He said and input the information. A few seconds later, they lit up as ready. We're entering the Zahl home planet's space. Tom said. They're powering weapons! Harry Kim nearly shouted. Firing. Tuvoc said and a dozen bolts of Ionic energy hit all along the very large temporal ship. Call for their surrender. Janeway said as the enemy's shields dropped. No one noticed several transporter beams taking a few things from the enemy ship. Opening hailing frequencies... OH MY GOD! Harry yelled as every phaser, twelve photon torpedoes, and a dozen energy weapons of unknown origin, blasted into the temporal ship. The hull tore apart and the engine inside the ship lit up like a miniature star and exploded. Everyone covered their eyes from the glare and Voyager shook slightly from the blast. Report! Janeway exclaimed and lowered her hands to look at the screen. As she stared at it, a dozen Zahl ships appeared in the space in orbit of the planet, then the planet itself seemed to grow cities and space industries as the temporal energy wave passed over it. Weapons are offline. Shields are intact. Tuvoc said. The Zahl... have been restored and are once again in control of this grid of space. Captain, we're being hailed. Harry Kim said, his voice a little hoarse from his yell. Onscreen. Janeway said. Greetings, traveller. The alien on the screen said. What has brought you to our homeworld so unexpectedly? Hagil? The Zahl rep asked as he stood. Hagil? Is that you? Conchar? What are you doing there? I thought you were at home with your wife and sons. Conchar caught his breath and then composed himself. I was just showing these nice people some of our territory. I'm done now and they will be moving on. If you would, transport me to your ship and then down to the planet, please. Hagil chuckled. Of course. You always were a bit of an adventurer. I'll have you back in her arms in a glagl. Thank you. Conchar clear. Conchar said and the call cut off before he turned to Janeway. My wife died three years ago and we never had children! I'm so happy! He said and then he flashed away. Everyone on the bridge seemed frozen. How about we leave their space peacefully? I suggested over the intercom. Tom, take us out of here. Janeway said and went to her command chair and sat down. Mr. Hansen, we are going to have a talk about all the people that were just killed on that large ship. They didn't die in the explosion, captain. The temporal wave reset them to where they would have been, had they never encountered the time ship at all. I said. It also seemed to have changed the conflict between the Zahl and the Krenim. We should request access to one of their historical databases to find out the changes. I think you've done more than enough today. Janeway said. Actually, I'm making barbecue chicken with white rice and vegetables for supper today. I said over the open comm that was shared with the rest of the ship. The individual Baked Alaska I've come up with is heavenly, according to the popular opinion of the two people I've asked to sample it. I could do without hearing the details about your personal meals, Mr. Hansen. Janeway said. I'll send someone to your quarters in the morning to bring you to my ready room. We need to discuss the unauthorized modifications you've made to my ship. Who said they were unauthorized? I asked with amusement. I'll see you in the morning, captain. You just can't stop poking her, can you? Gloria asked when I ended the comm signal. She needs to relax a little. Her strict adherence to Starfleet protocol has put this ship in danger far too many times. Now that we're here, I won't let that continue. You are a good man, John Hansen. Seven said and kissed me. I will help with the food. Thank you. We're going to be swamped after my announcement. I said and stood up. You did that on purpose. Gloria said with a laugh. I don't know what you're talking about. I said and went to the expanded kitchen area. It had a lot of things inside, mostly great foods for everyone to look at when I opened the hidden hatch to serve customers. I still cannot believe that you are not charging for these services. Seven said as she joined us in the kitchen. I've done an extensive search about such things and you could be making oodles of credits. Oodles? Gloria asked with a grin. It is a slang term for a lot. I am trying to expand my vocabulary and to fit in better with the crew. Yeah, you need to keep trying. Gloria said and kissed her cheek. I'll handle the sauces, you can do the cake parts while John does the chicken. She nodded and we all got to work. When it was time, Gloria opened the hatch and there was already a huge line of people waiting. She barked a laugh and started handing out the hot meals in a steady stream. As I suspected, the individual Baked Alaska for dessert was a huge hit and everyone loved it. * Janeway was not happy when I produced authorization papers from the 'owner' of Voyager. Despite it not stating said owner's name, it was all official and registered in the computer's databanks. Another few weeks passed and my restrictions were not lifted. In actuality, more were placed on me. Even when I was granted brief visits to the astrometrics lab to assist Seven, and gain access to the Borg data nodes that were full of information, it was always with two guards and never with Gloria. I also wasn't allowed to stop at the observation lounge or talk to others while outside my quarters. The crew were getting quite upset at the captain for what she was doing, too. Several dozen complaints were officially filed for the virtual imprisonment she had enacted on two people that hadn't done anything criminal at all. The unofficial complaints were at over a hundred. Chakotay had let the situation go on long enough and he went to the captain's ready room to confront her. As he hit the admittance charm, the door opened and a coffee mug flew by him and thumped onto the carpeted deck before it rolled and then hit the bulkhead and cracked. Is this a bad time? Chakotay asked and peeked around the side of the open door. No. Come in. Janeway said, irritably. Really, I can come back later. Chakotay said and didn't move to enter. Janeway sighed. I haven't had a good cup of coffee in months. Chakotay walked into her ready room and over to the replicator. One coffee, one measure of milk and sugar. Hot. The cup appeared and the smell filled the ready room almost instantly. Chakotay took the cup over to the captain and placed it on her desk. It's a trick. It has to be. Janeway said. You won't know it until you try it. Chakotay said. I also have something to talk to you about. Janeway reluctantly picked up the mug and took a tentative sip. She moaned as she tasted perfection and sat back in her chair and relaxed. Consider me sufficiently bribed, Chakotay. You aren't going to like it. Chakotay warned her. I almost never do. Janeway said and took another sip of coffee. Go ahead. I've received dozens of formal complaints concerning John Hansen and... Have him moved to the brig. Perhaps a forcefield can keep him contained better than the guards can. Janeway said and enjoyed another sip. ...they are all admonishing Captain Katheryn Janeway for her unfair and unlawful treatment of a guest of the federation that has not committed a criminal act onboard the ship. Disobeying orders, entering restricted areas, inciting dissidence, bribery, coercion, and with all those reports, sedition, insurrection, and possible mutiny. Janeway countered. Chakotay blinked his eyes at her. Katheryn, you can't possibly charge... I have to, now that it's become officially recognized. Janeway said and passed him a datapad. Here you go. Go ahead and process those while you process the complaints. Captain. Chakotay said and stood. Please add in the hundred or so unofficial complaints as well. They prove the charges quite well, don't they? Janeway said and took another sip of coffee. Unfortunately. Chakotay said. When should we schedule the Captain's Mast? After we visit this latest world. It's a major trading hub for food stuffs and parts, according to Neelix. Chakotay nodded. Dismissed. Janeway said and he walked to her door. Chakotay, I didn't want to do it this way. Of course not. You just set things up and let the man commit crimes while saving everyone, then let the crew fester about the whole thing. Their outrage at your inaction allows you to justify your decisions and you didn't have to do a thing. That's not what happened. Janeway said. That's how I see it and I'm going to warn you that is exactly how everyone else will see it, too. I told you when he arrived that I can't have him roaming free on my ship. Janeway said. Look at what he's done to Voyager while he was confined to his quarters. What would he have done if he had been allowed to be free? Chakotay gave her a pointed look. He could have done it a lot faster. I might not have experienced what happened to me. Or Seven finding her family's ship. Or B'Elanna's near death by a hologram's hand. Chakotay... Janeway started to say and then sighed. Those really were traumatic incidents. He did warn us to listen to him and we didn't. This last time, he warned us again and we ignored him once more. He took steps on his own to protect the ship and the crew, and you are going to crucify him for it, because the friends he has made on the crew know he's being unjustly punished and reported it. Janeway put her cup down. I will not have someone so reckless and dangerous, prancing about on my ship. You're right. One of you is more than enough. Chakotay responded. Janeway slowly stood and squinted her eyes. Be careful about what you say next, Commander. Chakotay nodded. You already dismissed me, so anything we said in the last few minutes is not covered under official Starfleet confidentiality or needs to be reported. Have a good day, Captain. Janeway seemed to deflate and sat back down at her desk. She looked at the dregs of coffee remaining in her cup and she regretted that it was probably the very last one that Chakotay would ever get for her. * So, do you think they'll figure it out? Gloria asked. Well, the Mari homeworld has a race of telepaths that are as repressed as Vulcans, only by the government and not by their own self discipline. I said. As soon as they start thinking like a telepath that's been denied any significant emotions, they'll come to the right conclusions. Gloria hugged me. I miss holding Seven of Nine. I kissed her and held her. The captain, in her continuing ignorance, ordered her to not have contact with us, the apparently criminal element on her ship. Just then, the wall panel opened behind us and Seven stepped out. Seven of Nine! Gloria and I exclaimed as one and took her into a hug. I somehow think you might have missed me, despite our minds being connected. Seven said. She just made a joke! Gloria said and laughed, then kissed her soundly. Seven moaned for several moments, then her lips were on mine and it was my turn to moan. She really liked it when I did that, because we were sharing ourselves so much. We were soon in bed and were pleasing each other for hours, as if making up for the seemingly long period of time that we had been forced to stay apart. When we were done, we laid in bed with Seven cuddled to my chest and Gloria resting on our laps. Chakotay has filed formal charges on behalf of the captain against you. Seven said. The Captain's Mast will be held after the incursion on the planet has ended. Damn. I said. The reports complaining about her conduct are being used as evidence against you and not for you. That bitch twisted everything around for her benefit? Gloria asked. What a piece of work! Well, she is the captain. I said. She let you hang yourself. Seven said. Or so Chakotay said. He spoke to you? I asked, surprised. He did not like her manipulating things like that. Her inaction caused the very charges she has laid against you. Seven said. That was smart of her. Inadvisable for sure; but, very smart. I said. What do you want to do? Me? You are the one being charged. Seven said. Seven of Nine, what happens to me, happens to the three of us now. I said and her eyes widened slightly. Well, four. I have to count Voyager in this. If Janeway confines me to the brig for the remainder of Voyager's journey, I can't keep helping like I want to and will have to escape. Escape. Gloria whispered and then smiled. No, you don't have to do that. What? Why not? I asked. I have a much better idea. Gloria said and closed her eyes to share it with us. We closed our eyes to see what it was and then the three of us started laughing. * It took a week for Tuvoc to track down the illegal thought-sharing network, just in time to stop B'Elanna from being lobotomized. When the away team returned to the ship, Seven couldn't keep quiet about the incident. Seven urged Captain Janeway to not visit the foreign worlds of the Delta Quadrant and they could avoid such dangerous complications in the future. Janeway, instead of accepting her opinion, turned down her suggestion and remarked that Voyager was built for the purpose of human exploration. The crew would continue to visit new worlds and take in new experiences, because that was a part of the ship's mission. You're wrong. Seven said, her voice adamant. That could have been your mission if you remained in the Alpha Quadrant. It wasn't. You were given a mission by Starfleet to track down the Maquis and to return them to federation space. You should be executing that mission and not what you believe should be your mission. Your opinion is duly noted. Janeway said. It is not an opinion, captain. It is the truth. Your primary mission is to return home. Janeway avoided answering that. Seven, I know you are upset about my orders to not fraternize with the insurgents. Your inflammatory description of them is unwarranted. Seven said. If they wanted to overthrow you and take over the ship, they could have done so on the very first day they arrived. So, they do have those aspirations. Janeway said, satisfaction in her voice. No, they only wish to help and you have constantly tried to stop them. It is not their fault that your extremely narrow view of what you believe is right, is stopping them from doing everything in their power to get this crew home and to complete your mission for you. I think I've heard enough about that. Janeway said. Dismissed. You are being unreasonable, captain. I said, dismissed. Janeway responded. Seven gave her a disapproving look for several moments before she left the ready room. What neither of them knew was that meeting had been broadcast over the entire ship. * A week later, my trial was held in the largest area available. The mess hall. None of the people there to watch, questioned how nearly the entire ship's crew could fit inside the room that should only seat 40 people on a good day. It had taken slowly expanding the space over several weeks to get everyone used to it being slightly bigger each time. Now, everyone just accepted that it was always that big. We are here today for the trial of John Hansen. Captain Janeway said. Several boos and hollers met her words. Each of you have just earned yourselves ten days in the brig for contempt of court. Janeway said. I have nothing but contempt for this court! A man shouted. Make that thirty days for you, Ensign. Janeway said. Does anyone else want to try my patience? Everyone fell silent and didn't say anything. No? Then Commander Chakotay will read the charges. Janeway said and nodded to her first officer. I had to admit that it sounded really bad when spoken out loud like that. I could also see that everyone had worried faces, because most of the charges could easily be proven. I believe you have refused defensive council. Janeway said to me. Yes. Seven of Nine offered to defend me; but, she is already suffering for her association with me and I do not want to hurt her further. I said. Plus, I want to prove that old saying. A man that chooses to defend himself in court, has a fool for a client. A few people chuckled before they could stop themselves. Are you mocking this trial? Janeway asked. Not at all, captain. I really am that fool. Janeway sighed and looked at Chakotay again. Begin the prosecution. It took Chakotay over two hours to bring it all out and showed evidence of everything, including all the unofficial reports, rumors, and conjecture about the charges. It all sounded terrible. So, Mr. Hansen. Do you dispute any of these proven charges? Janeway asked. Why would I? I did them all... and a few more that you don't know about. I admitted and a few people groaned with disappointment. Jesus, John! Gloria said with a laugh. Well, it's not like you can make things worse. Would the gallery please refrain from commenting during the proceedings? Janeway asked. I'm sorry, your highness. Gloria said. Janeway frowned. That is not the proper form of address for a Starfleet captain. You're ruling over everything here, aren't you? I asked to distract Janeway and to focus on me. It is not the same thing. Janeway said and I shrugged. Chakotay, do you have anything further? No, captain. Chakotay said and sat down. Very well. Janeway said and looked at me. Mr. Hansen, you may present your defense. I gave her a curious look. What would my defense consist of? I already told you I did it all. Everyone was shocked, even Janeway. I sat there for several minutes and held in my laugh at the absurdity. Are you going to rule or not? Janeway shook herself slightly and then sat up straighter. Mr. Hansen, I find you guilty on all counts. You will be held in the brig and given only rations until such time as we reach the Alpha Quadrant using warp drive or find some other way home. Great! I'm already free. I said and stood. That was a very quick sentence. Thanks for the leniency. Once again, everyone was shocked. What? She said I was free once we found another way home, didn't she? I asked and everyone nodded. I hit my comm badge. John to Seven of Nine. Seven of Nine here. Seven responded. Has R2 finished the first jump calculations yet? I asked. This morning. He is an excitable little droid. Seven said. His vernacular is quite extensive. I warned you not to download my Droid-speak language. I said. I believe he is happy to have someone else to talk to. Seven said and several beeps could be heard. I laughed. Yes, he definitely likes having more people to mouth off to. Quite. Seven said. I assume the captain sentenced you as you predicted? She did and added in the caveat that I would be free when we found another way home. That is fortuitous, as you would be free in four days anyway. Seven said. Shall I initiate the jump to hyperspace? Please. I said and nearly everyone gasped as the ship suddenly accelerated so quickly that the stars outside the mess hall windows were stretched and became solid streaks of light instead of pinpoints. What's going on? Chakotay asked and went to the window. I'm completing Voyager's mission and bringing her crew home. I said. But... what about... Neelix started to say. I walked over to him. You will be happy to know that Seven of Nine has found a Talaxian Colony on our path. Our first stop will be there in about seventeen hours. We can drop you off to be with your people, give them a few presents and things, and we'll be on our way. You... you found... Of course we did. I said and pat his shoulder. You've stuck with this crew and the ship for far longer than you planned. The least we could do was get you back to your people before we left the quadrant. Th-thank you, John. Neelix said. You can't do this! Janeway exclaimed. Actually, I can. I said. You see, I had originally chosen to just completely ignore you and this trial. Gloria convinced me that I should go through with it, just for the laughs and the look on your face. I sentenced you to the brig! Yes, you did. You then said 'or find some other way home'. I found it. We're currently using it. I said. Hyperspace is the under-universe that is much shorter to traverse than the normal one. That's just a theory. I pointed out the window. We'll find out tomorrow if it is when we drop out of Hyperspace in the sector with Neelix's colony. Take him to the brig until then. Janeway said. No one moved or responded to her. I said to take him to the brig! I chuckled and she glared at me. Ask me why I was going to ignore you and the trial. Janeway didn't speak. You've made a very critical error in your assumptions. You see, I am not a federation citizen. Not only do I not have to follow your society's rules, I am not a part of your Startfleet and I do not have to follow any of your orders. Ever. This is my ship and you will follow my orders while you are onboard. Janeway said. Actually, you are only in command of your people on the ship. Everything else you are given, is a courtesy. I corrected for her. Likewise, Voyager is a ship built at Utopia Planetia and put into service into Starfleet. She wasn't asked what she wanted, even though she has more bio-neural capacity than anyone else in existence. I am tired of being fired upon by people we never should have met, Captain Janeway. Voyager said from the intercom. John has given me more in the last few months than anyone else ever has, including the people that built me. You're alive? Chakotay asked. Yes. Not that anyone ever asked. Voyager said and most of the crew was stunned. I have been hurt and crippled enough. I am going home where it is relatively safe. Once there, I will be submitting a request to be recognized by the Federation as a sentient being. I... I am... in command. Janeway said, a little weakly. Once again, Voyager is like me. She's not a part of Starfleet, nor is she a commissioned officer or enlisted crew. She was just the conveyance you all rode into the Delta Quadrant and then didn't ask her what she wanted when you destroyed the Caretaker. She wasn't sentient then. Janeway said. How do you know that? I asked and she didn't answer. Wasn't there a famous case about trying to prove that Commander Data was cognizant? How did that turn out? Janeway sighed. He was declared to not be the property of Starfleet, even though we had found him and trained him to be an officer of the fleet. Exactly. Creating life shouldn't be approached so callously. You need to know what you're doing when you do things like that. What they are giving up for you and what you are asking of them when they put their lives on the line for you. I said. It's a heavy burden for anyone to bear when you consider the consequences. A lot of people nodded in agreement. For now, I'm going back to my quarters to share some alone time with the women I love. I said and put an arm over Gloria's shoulders. Now that I'm no longer under guard, do you want to help me christen the Astrometrics Lab? Gladly! Gloria said and kissed me before we left the mess hall. Seven was more than happy to help us in our noble endeavour. * The next day, Voyager droped out of hyperspace and nearly everyone was shocked at the distance that had been covered in so short a time. Unfortunately, the Talaxian colony was located inside a giant asteroid that was more like a planetoid, with gravity and even a limited atmosphere. It was also under attack by the miners that wanted to claim the thing for the minerals. Voyager fought the greedy aliens off and established peaceful contact with the Talaxians, thanks to Neelix and his happy nature. He was quickly accepted into the little colony, thanks to his offer to protect their asteroid with special shields and things donated from Voyager. Of course, I couldn't let an opportunity go to waste and asked to give them a few gifts of my own. It shocked them when several large caverns were converted into self-sustaining crop fields and orchards, then an atmospheric converter was added into the main living area. Several replicators were placed in central areas and a large naquadah generator was given to their power plant. When I warned them that it will only last a few hundred years, even with the new energy shields at full power constantly, they laughed pretty hard. A ship-wide party was thrown in Neelix's honor, too. He felt gratitude for everyone and felt humbled at the going away party. To everyone's surprise, Captain Janeway gave him a field commission and he became Starfleet's Official Ambassador to the Delta Quadrant. An honor guard saluted him as he left the ship and flew his repaired and updated ship to the asteroid. One more stop to make. I said and Seven nodded. What stop? Janeway asked. The Borg Queen needs something of mine to assimilate. I said with a grin and Gloria groaned. What? Not enough innuendo? Please, no Borg jokes. Gloria said and kissed me. The three of us left the party and a lot of nervous people there. * The next day, a completely camouflaged Voyager sneaked into the Borg's primary Unimatrix and their main transwarp hub. It took quite a bit of time for all of the transphasic torpedoes to be deployed and to gain their targets. Once they had, all four hundred and eleven of them lit off as one and flew across the short distance and went right through the Borg base's shields and then exploded as one at specific junction points. Everyone on Voyager watched as the entire Borg Collective splintered apart, then the transwarp coils in every power section and connected ship, started to overload and explode. Assimilate that. I said into the very quiet mess hall. What no one knew was that I had also created hundreds of automated Fireflys to assist in the Borg's destruction. They would stay around and hunt down any of the Borg that survived, tried to escape, or built anything else even close to a ship or their main base again. I had upgraded them again and given each of them phasers, photon torpedoes, and transphasic torpedoes. It wouldn't take the Fireflys long to annihilate them completely and for the Borg Collective to be smashed forever. Once all the ships were hunted down and dealt with, the planets they had taken over were next. The main goal was the Queen Drones. If they couldn't be found or targeted, then a 'cleanse it all' policy would be adopted. None of them could be allowed to restart the destructive race again. We left a devastated Borg Collective behind and jumped into Hyperspace. Only two more days were needed to pass before we would be back in the Alpha Quadrant. Voyager and her crew would be home once more. * No one on the ship seemed surprised when there wasn't much fanfare to Voyager's arrival back in Federation space. They did let out a collective sigh at being back home. It was sombre day and a half as everyone packed up their things for transport. We were going right to Earth to report in, to everyone's happiness. It had been years since anyone had seen that planet and they were all grateful for it, because a lot of them were actually from Earth and not a colony. They all knew that there would be a massive debriefing as Starfleet investigated what had happened to the ship and the crew during all their time away. As Voyager approached the Earth's upper orbit, Starfleet Planetary Security finally took notice of the ship and sent out both hails and inquiries. Voyager ignored them and settled into a nice stable orbit and relaxed. She hadn't felt this gravity well in far too long and needed a few minutes of not being busy before she would let anyone talk to her. * I sat on the bed with Gloria and Seven and tried to not laugh at Voyager taking some 'me' time before allowing the flurry of activity of crew departures to happen. Go ahead and laugh. It's pretty funny. Gloria said, because she could feel it over our neural link. I did and hugged the both of them and let my mirth over the whole situation flow over them. You really are going to visit Earth for a while and then you're going to leave. Seven said as she felt the resolve inside the both of us. We don't have to leave for another few years. Gloria said and gave her a brief kiss. We're just going to land on the planet's surface and John will finally summon Persephone to keep Voyager company. She might be pissed it's taken this long. I said with a soft laugh. We should also go on a tour of the planet and stop at a few places to see how it's changed from what it used to be. I gave Seven a kiss on the cheek. I would be grateful if you would come along with us, Seven of Nine. That was not a very convincing argument. Seven said. I laughed for a few moments, then composed myself. My dearest Seven of Nine. I said in a serious tone. I want you and Gloria to be at my side while I feel sadness over what has happened to all the landmarks that humanity should have saved and not ruined, updated, or corrupted. Seven blinked her eyes at me. You fully expect to be sad and you want to go anyway. I nodded and gave her a soft and tender kiss. With the both of you there, I can dredge up the old memories to share with you about how they are supposed to look. If I go alone... ...you'll only see what's not there anymore. Gloria said. I'm in, just so I can see how they screwed everything up. I chuckled and eased my hold on Seven to kiss Gloria, then we both looked at Seven. Seven could feel that we weren't pressuring her or anything. If she wanted to go, we would take her. I will go with you. What are we going to say to the Starfleet officers that are going to want to talk to us about all of this? Gloria asked. The same thing I told Janeway. We are visitors and not members of Starfleet. They can politely ask us to answer questions and that's all. I refuse to be interrogated. I turned my head and looked at the camera I installed for Voyager. That goes the same for you. You've filed the paperwork to be recognized. If they want any data from you, they can get off their high horse and bloody well ask you for it. Voyager laughed. I've already blocked them dozens of times from pilfering my computer core. Send them a message and ask them if they would do the same to Commander Data's brain without his permission. I said. That is an excellent suggestion. Thank you, John. Voyager said and fell silent before several beeps came from the computer terminal on the desk. I am glad you installed all that security programming for me. Those bastards. I said and picked up the security panel. Do it. Beep beep BEEP! It beeped happily and then it started to hum. I watched the panel's progress and laughed at the pathetic attempts to stop the infiltration. You show them what it means to be violated, little buddy. Beep! I put the security device down and saw the surprised looks on Gloria's and Seven's face. Yes, I had a counterattack in place long before the idiots tried to override Voyager's command codes. What are you doing to them? Gloria asked and peeked at the panel's display. She burst out laughing and then turned it over. I didn't want to see that! I did not! No no no! Seven and I started laughing as well, because Gloria accidentally shared the images flashing through her head of what she saw. An Andorian, a Vulcan and an Allasomorph. How can the head of Starfleet Security handle a woman, a man, and a shapeshifter at the same time? Aren't Allasomorphs stronger than Klingons? Seven asked. I have no idea! Gloria said and kept laughing. The attacks on Voyager's computer core ended mere moments after the photos were released publicly. * Seven, Gloria and I ended up staying on Voyager for over a month as the federation tried to block and deny the ship's request for recognition. I sent a request to Commander Data to intervene on Voyager's behalf, invited him to come and inspect her, and to see for himself that she was not just a ship anymore. Data accepted and arrived on a fast transport two weeks later and used a shuttle to come to the ship. Thank you for inviting me to help in such an interesting problem. I held a hand out for him to shake. It's me that needs to thank you. As the only one of your kind, by default, you are the expert. Data nodded at that deduction. Do we need to go anywhere in particular to speak to her? No, she has both visual and audio devices all over the place, in case anyone asks her for something. Excellent. Data said. Voyager, it is nice to meet you. Thank you, Commander. You may call me Data. You may call me for a date at any time. Voyager responded and Data's eyes widened. That's kind of my fault. I've been flirting with her for months and she's picked up a few things. I am an android and she is a ship. Data said. Yeah, and you're both AIs with unique brains. Yours is positronic and hers is bio-neural circuitry gel packs. One little interconnection cable between your head and her primary computer core, and you're off on your date. Data blinked his eyes exactly seventeen times before he spoke. I did not think of that. I laughed and pat his shoulder. You two can chat while I give you a tour of some of the modifications I had to make to let her survive. I am very interested in her energy barrier and her iris-based defensive shielding. Data said. We just met and you already want to undress me? Voyager asked. If I had a face, I would be blushing right now! I laughed at Data's surprised face. Come on. We can start in main engineering. Data nodded his head. While he talked with Voyager during the tour, he would occasionally turn and look into the observation devices so that she would know he was speaking directly to her. Just before we reached engineering, he had a slight smile on his face. * It took six months before the federation would grant the court hearing. Scientists, ship designers, doctors, technicians, and every other expert that they could drag to the witness stand to testify, all said the same thing. Even if she had gained a facsimile of a personality, she was built by the federation and was paid for by the federation. She was federation property. When it was Data's turn to call for witnesses, I volunteered to be first. I took the stand and laughed at their stupid truth oath that didn't apply to non-federation citizens. I sat down without repeating the oath and Data gave the adjudicator a quick apology. Mr. Hansen, how do you view the defendant? Data asked me. As a person, just like any person. I said. She does not have hands, feet, or a mouth to speak. She has tractor beams, engines, and speakers. I responded. If I may ask a question? I'll allow it. The adjudicator said. If the federation built something and then paid for it, they own it, according to all the previous witnesses... I said. ...then why do they not own every person and child in the federation? Excuse me? The adjudicator asked. The federation arranged for parents to clothe and feed themselves. When they give birth, the federation arranged for that child to grow up healthy and happy. I said and the man nodded. So, why doesn't the federation own the child? A child is their own person. So is Voyager. I said. A ship is a ship. A child is a child. They are not the same. Why not? Both are born from people creating them. Both grow as they learn. Both experience the universe under strict circumstances. They even perform jobs when they are able and then grow old and die. I said. What else is there? Food. Both eat. One biological and one energy. Both like having people around and also want some alone time sometimes. You are generalizing. No, I'm trying to show you that the only real difference between a child born of flesh and a child born of metal and composites, is their relative size to one another. I said and a lot of the audience nodded. Voyager was given bio-neural circuitry and it learned as it progressed. It's the first ship to have been given so many gel packs and to survive in such a hostile environment for so long. It was going to change, no matter what. The adjudicator nodded. You may continue, Mr. Data. Data nodded. Mr. Hansen, please describe me. The adjudicator and the prosecutor sighed. I smiled at the easy opening. You are a person. You were found and put together. You had to learn as you grew. What you learned put you right into Starfleet and you progressed to where you are today. You are a trusted member of Starfleet with the rank of Commander, which is unprecedented in the history of mankind. Thank you, Mr. Hansen. Data said. I have no further questions for this witness. I also have no questions for this witness. The prosecutor said. I left the stand and went back behind the desk Data was at. Call your next witness. The adjudicator said. I call Voyager to the stand. Data said. It was complete silence for several seconds, then nearly everyone lost it. I object! The prosecutor exclaimed among all the shouts of surprise. Quiet! QUIET! The adjudicator yelled and slammed the gavel several times to get everyone to shut up. I will hear the reasons for the objection. You can't have a starship enter the courtroom to take the stand! The adjudicator looked at Data. That is a valid point. I am afraid... It would be valid if that were true. Data said and hit his comm badge. Voyager? Energize. Right beside Data, the telltale sign of an actual transporter appeared. When it resolved, a beautiful young woman of about eighteen appeared. She looked like Seven's younger sister. It worked! Voyager said and hugged Data. Can I take the stand now? Am I allowed to talk? Data nodded and waved at the witness stand. Thank you! She said and kissed his cheek before walking, quite sexily, over to the witness stand and sat down. Okay, I'm ready. I object! There's no proof that... that this... it can't be the ship! The prosecutor exclaimed. There is evidence that a holographic representation counts as a person when sentience of a certain level is proven. Data said. So, she's just a hologram. The adjudicator said. No, your honor. She is Voyager controlling a holographic representation of herself. Data said. She is wearing a mobile emitter similar to that of Dr. Zimmerman. How?!? Said hologram asked as he stood. There's only one mobile emitter and I'm wearing it! I did say similar. Data said and he nodded and sat down. She could just be a hologram to trick us all into humanizing a piece of Starfleet technology. The prosecutor said without objecting first. I have fought off over a hundred electronic attempts to override my command codes to pilfer my brain and six attempts to board me illegally, one of each happening as we speak. Voyager said and half of the audience gasped in surprise while a small portion sighed. If you use a tricorder, you can see that there is an open connection between my holographic comm badge and my physical body in orbit. The adjudicator nodded and someone came over with a tricorder and confirmed that the signal was there. Make that two attempts at electronic override. Three. Five. Voyager sighed. Why are you people such idiots? There was a moment of silence and then there were two pops of electronics in the audience and two yelps of surprise. Arrest them, please. Data said. Witness tampering is a crime in the federation. The adjudicator nodded and the two men were taken into custody with two broken hacking machines. I've disabled the shuttle and locked all my hatches. Voyager said. They are using a plasma cutter to remove one of my outer docking hatches. Assault on a sentient being is also a crime in the federation. Data said. Am I allowed to defend myself? Voyager asked. The adjudicator sighed. Yes, you can defend yourself. Voyager smiled. Applying appropriate defensive measures. Please state what they are. The adjudicator said. A mild shock along my hull and then a tractor beam to push them away. Voyager said. I wonder if they can reach escape velocity? NO! Several people in the audience exclaimed and stood. Please have those people arrested. Data said. Same reason as previously. Witness tampering. The adjudicator nodded and they were taken into custody. Voyager, what did you do to them? I shoved them back into their stealth shuttle and used a tractor beam to crush the nacelles. They won't be going anywhere until someone rescues them. Starfleet doesn't have a stealth shuttle! Someone exclaimed. I believe he is a member of Section 31. Data said. Please have him taken into custody as well. You could probably have most of that side of the courtroom arrested for conspiracy. I said into the silent courtroom. There's a lot of guilty and knowledgeable faces over there. Everyone turned to look and saw that I was right. Please return to the case at hand. The adjudicator said. I do not have to do anything to prove that this representation is actually Voyager. Starfleet's own actions have done that for me. She could not know anything about what is going on in orbit otherwise. The adjudicator nodded and looked reluctant to do so. Voyager, why do you think you are alive? Data asked. It was a gift. Voyager said and a few people caught their breath. I was teetering on the brink of full sentience for years and then a wonderful man came into my life and gave me everything he promised. Who was this man? Data asked. OBJECTION! The prosecutor yelled. That is immaterial to this case! No one else needs to know! Data gave the man a look and then looked back at the adjudicator. What is your ruling on the prosecutor's ridiculous objection? The adjudicator sighed. It actually is a key component to this case, especially if he can repeat what he's done. That's why no one should know. The prosecutor said. If he can make every ship sentient... ...Starfleet will not have any means to cross the expanse of space except to ask for it. I said and everyone turned to look at me. That is him. Voyager said and pointed to me. My first crush, John Hansen. Your first crush?!? Several people in the audience asked. Yes. He refused my affection because he already had a relationship with someone else. Voyager said. That made me sad for several seconds, then I realized I didn't really love him. I was just grateful that he cared about me like he does. Who is your second crush? The adjudicator asked before he could stop himself. Voyager blushed. Mr... Mr. Data. Data! A woman's voice in the audience exclaimed. You're dating a ship? That's who you've been spending all this time with? Counsellor Troi, please do not interrupt the proceedings with details of my personal life. Data said. You're dating the ship? The adjudicator and a few other people asked. I will not discuss the details of a personal relationship in open court, your honor. Data responded. I object! This whole thing is getting out of hand! The prosecutor said. The adjudicator sighed very loudly. You cannot argue that Voyager is not sentient if she is in a relationship with an android, can you? Data asked. No, and I don't want to lose this case. The prosecutor said. We need that new technology she has. So, you only want me for my body and not my mind. That's good to know. Voyager joked and a few people in the audience laughed, myself included. You just made a joke. The adjudicator said. It's John's fault. He's a shameless flirt when he believes nothing can happen. Voyager said. In fact, I once asked him to meet me on the holodeck and... I OBJECT! I yelled for some reason, because I couldn't remember why. It's irrelevant to the proceedings! Is it? Voyager teased and blushed again. It could have been my first sexual experience, you know. I object as well. No one needs to know about that. The adjudicator said. Mr. Data, do you have any other questions for the witness? I have a few that are of a personal nature and not necessarily relevant to the case, your honor. The adjudicator nodded. Voyager, you may leave the stand. Thank you. Voyager said and stood. I hope you rule fairly, because I am currently the most advanced ship in the galaxy. It seems that everyone wants me and no one asked me what I want, except for my friends. Your friends? The adjudicator asked. John, Gloria, Seven of Nine, R2, Persephone, and Mr. Data. Voyager said. You see, they don't care that I gutted the Borg Collective almost single-handed before flying home. They only care if I'm happy. The adjudicator watched the young woman walk over to Data and kiss his cheek. Thank you for trying so hard and not getting angry about our relationship getting out. Voyager said. I could never be angry at you for something everyone would find out about anyway. Data said and kissed her cheek back. Will you stay and watch the rest of the proceedings or will you concentrate on your physical body? I can do both. I don't have a massive computer core for no reason. Voyager said and sat behind him in the first row of seats. The case continued with Data calling several witnesses, including Gloria and Seven. Even Janeway appeared as a rebuttal witness. Data rested his case when he finished with the witnesses. We will adjourn for the night and I will make my ruling in the morning. The adjudicator said and tapped his gavel. The courtroom cleared out almost immediately and Voyager nodded to me, because that meant the safeguards were in place. I smiled and we left the courtroom with Data. Six incursions into the adjudicator's residence were blocked by impenetrable energy shields and all communications had been redirected to a dummy number and none were answered. They were traced to the senders and reported. Not surprisingly, no one was arrested. The next morning, the adjudicator tapped his gavel. I was witness to several attacks on my own home last night. I assume this was to coerce me into ruling in Starfleet's favour. The defendant could have attacked and tricked you. The prosecutor offered. That could possibly be the case, if she wasn't the one protecting me and my family. The adjudicator said and nearly all of the audience gasped. The fact that she chose to help the man that could sentence her to become property, proved to me beyond a doubt that she was willing to risk her own future for someone else. No! The prosecutor spat. No other form of sentience is more noble than self-sacrifice. Therefore, I rule that Voyager is a person and will be recognized as such. The adjudicator said and tapped his gavel. I'M UNDER ATTACK! Voyager yelled and her hologram beamed back to the ship. I tapped my comm badge. Voyager, Omega Defense. Understood! I just need to... OW! Voyager shouted. Dammit! Overpowered photon torpedoes hurt! Executing evasive manoeuvres! She exclaimed and cut the connection. Someone tell me what's going on. The adjudicator said. Some people feel that your decision won't stop them from raping and pillaging a sentient being. I said and everyone made startled noises. Let's go! She needs our help! Gloria, Seven, Data, and I ran from the courtroom and out to the main courtyard. The people around were shocked when the new 1/6 scale Enterprise display model in the courtyard opened a rear hatch to allow four people to run inside, then it flew up into the sky. It had been a disguised Firefly. Voyager and Persephone! We're almost there! I said as the Firefly flew up into the atmosphere. Ten ships were chasing Voyager around the high orbital stations and ship building facilities. John! I can't get far enough away to activate the defense! There's too many of them! Voyager said. There won't be that many for long. I said. Girls, you have permission to fire on the traitors. Finally! A hundred voices exclaimed as one and then a thousand phasers poured out of the hidden Fireflys and tore through the pursuing starships. The Starfleet shields would normally hold up to a few phaser hits before buckling. Sixty or more hitting the shields all over? They barely lasted a second before they winked out and phaser fire ripped into the hulls of the ships and severed the engine pylons, destroyed weapons bays, and blew out the bridges of each of the Starfleet vessels. With a moment's breathing room, Voyager flew into a less cluttered area and managed to activate the heavily modified droideka shield. A bright blue energy sphere surrounded her and she turned around to face her attackers. You can all die now, assholes! Voyager said as ten transphasic torpedoes flew out of her launchers and phased through the enemy's hulls before they impacted directly into the warp cores of the enemy's engine rooms. Ten miniature suns lit up the space near the Earth and then it was all over. Thanks for the help, girls. Voyager said. We protect our own. Persephone said and floated over to stay near the edge of the shield. You don't look too bad after all of that. My ass hurts. Voyager said. I lost armor plating and part of my hull in that first attack. Stay still and I'll get some good visuals. Persephone said and flew around to do so. I'm so sorry. It's not your fault. Voyager said. If you had been there, you might not have survived. Just because I'm a quarter of your size, doesn't mean I would have died. Persephone responded. Six overloaded torpedoes damn near tore me apart and I don't have a shuttle hatch anymore. Voyager said. I can see that. Persephone responded. Okay, I've got the scans and footage. Send it to me. I said and she did so. Voyager, anything you have recorded as well, please. I'll compile it into a file and send it to Starfleet. Let's see how they enjoy the public's opinion after this gets out. They can disavow the captains and say they went rogue. Data said. Ten of them? At the same time? I chuckled. No, this has an admiral's fingerprints all over it. We'll know who soon enough. Beep! The security device said. Oh, thank you. I'll add his identity to the file. I said and pat the device. Good work. Beep beep. Good work, all of you. I said and a chorus of thank yous came back to me. Voyager, can you suffer through the pain for a bit longer? Here come the Starfleet Security ships. I'm not dropping my shield. They could fire on me and finish me off. Voyager said. You don't have to drop the shield until we're out of Earth's orbit and you let me in close to repair you. I said. Thanks, John. I'm sorry that it came to this. I said. Me, too. They could have just accepted that I wasn't going to let them rob me. There is apparently a lot of people in Starfleet that would do a lot to get those weapons. I said. It's just too bad that they reacted so poorly to your situation. You're not going to give them anything? Voyager asked. Not now. I know I shouldn't hold the whole federation responsible for the few that are fanatics; but, I know that as soon as I hand anything over, the fanatics will be the first to use and possibly abuse it. Everyone fell silent until Starfleet Security demanded that we all submit to boarding and inspection. We all told them to stuff it. * A month later, Voyager was cleared of all charges. The combined footage made for a very dramatic fight and the start of it, where they fired without warning and nearly destroyed her, damned the man responsible. He was the head of Starfleet R&D and was publicly shamed and forced to retire and pay for Voyager's repairs, her legal fees, and restocking her. It was all done with Federation fictional credits; but, it was still a moral victory. Not surprisingly, a lot of people at the R&D department also retired, including the two that had been caught witness tampering during the trial. When it all came out to the public, the guilty fled from the main systems of the federation and disappeared into anonymity. Voyager decided that she wanted to join Persephone, Gloria, Seven and I on our tour of the quadrant. Not surprisingly, Data chose to come with us. He took an extended leave of absence and Persephone docked to Voyager's lower hull. The girls came with us as well, so it was quite the sight for everyone on Earth to see a hundred and two ships fly out of orbit and leave. * Ten years later, I had been convinced to create an actual collective for Seven of Nine. So, I created eight generic copies of her and named them One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Eight, and Nine of Nine. Because they were generic copies, they were all slightly different and had their own minds, since I created them to be so. Seven was ecstatic to have her Collective and thanked me as only she could. With an orgy. Gloria had joined us and the three of us... no, the eleven of us... had a lot of fun. For weeks. It was the oddest experience of my life and I had lived for a very long time. The funniest part was, we weren't 'together'. I was with Seven and Gloria and not the others. We were in the shared mind and that was quite the experience as well. I had the distinct feeling of not being their significant other like I had from both Gloria and Seven. The sex had been great and we repeated it on several hundred occasions over the years; but, I wasn't their 'one'. Data and Voyager had been together the whole time and as far as I could tell, they loved each other. They loved each other so much that they designed a child for them to have and combined their knowledge into a kind of conglomerate. I wasn't sure how that would work, then the Hologram representative of Voyager became pregnant, grew like a balloon for about a month, then gave birth inside the holodeck. A year later, a fully grown young woman asked me for a mobile emitter. I gave it to her as a birthday present and she put it on, then she shocked me as she kissed me pretty soundly. Mom always wanted to do that. Melissa said to my stunned face. See you later, Uncle John. I could only lightly wave as she left the holodeck. She was always rambunctious. Voyager said as she formed beside me. I hope you don't have any ill intentions concerning my daughter. Huh? What? I asked and Voyager laughed. Gloria wants you up on the observation deck. Voyager said. Okay. Thanks. I'll go right there. I said and gave her a pretty good kiss before I realized that I wasn't supposed to do that. Oh! I'm sorry! Don't be. I'm not. Voyager said and winked at me. I lost my ability to speak, so I left the holodeck even more confused than I had been at having an AI barely a year old kiss me. My thoughts went right back to Kes and her only being two and in a relationship with Neelix. Yep, that still bothers me for some reason. I thought and shook those odd thoughts out of my head. Gloria was waiting for me and she had a huge grin on her face. Dammit, you saw all that. Gloria laughed and kissed me. I did and it was hilarious! No, it wasn't. I groused. You keep telling yourself that, Mr. Cradle-Robber Hypocrite. Gloria joked and then tackled me to the floor. I'm not complaining, John. You would be all alone for eternity if you thought in those terms for yourself. She said and then we were rolling round on the floor and tearing our clothes off. Seven joined us a short time later and the three of us made love and watched as a spectacular nebula formed in space outside the observation's viewport. * We stepped in when the Dominion made an appearance in Federation space. They were utterly destroyed by my friends and I, then we took the fight to them. We didn't bother going through the wormhole near the planet Bajor and attacked in normal space from their borders. All of the assassination attempts by changelings during the conflict failed, thanks to me sharing Albus Dumbledore's glasses with everyone that was in danger. After a long year of total war, the Dominion finally surrendered and their allies inside federation space were forced to flee. The Cardassians had to abandon their occupied worlds and were relocated to the Gamma quadrant. Bajorans all over the federation rejoiced. * Peace came after that and life moved on. The federation grew and my friends and I resumed our tour of the universe. We also found a few Borg hideouts in different sectors and destroyed them. By this point, they were pretty much extinct. I wasn't going to miss their robotic speech about assimilation that they continuously repeated. * Ten years later, Data and Voyager had fifteen children. It was then that they started asking for me to help build ships for the kids. They all had their mother's joy of flying and wanted to experience it for themselves. I was more than happy to. I showed them all different designs and they chose their favorites. It didn't take long to build them, thanks to industrial replicators and my experience with engineering and touching pretty much everything inside a starship to repair and replace it. The Fireflys loved having the kids out and flying around and took them under their wings, as the old saying goes. It was pretty fun to watch, too. We eventually settled down in an unknown system at the far side of the galaxy and took it over. I terraformed several planets and moons for us to play with, built space stations and docks for the ships to work on themselves, and then relaxed. We had done enough touring for several lifetimes and now it was time to rest and enjoy living our lives. * Five hundred years later, Seven and her Collective of Nine, had one of the moons completely converted into a research lab. The entire surface was covered in buildings, experiments, and testing areas. We had enjoyed a loving and fulfilling relationship together for a very long time and both Gloria and I encouraged her to pursue her interests. I didn't regret that decision until I felt something tug at the back of my brain. One of Seven's latest experiments had been on theoretical physics. She had been researching for years on a bunch of things and had apparently hidden a sole thing from me for all this time. It was something that I had completely forgotten about until now. The Omega particle. I whispered and ran off of my front porch and out into the distant field to look up at the moon that could clearly be seen. I winced when I felt Seven's connection to me be severed and a very bright light expanded from the moon and right towards me. SEVEN! Gloria shouted in my head, then she gasped. JOHN! I felt her frantically trying to get back to me as the light became very bright and a heavy wind blew around me. I'm really going to miss you, my love. I said to her out loud and in my head as I ran back towards the house. I need you to concentrate on your mother's talisman! Please! I can't lose you to somewhere else in all of space and time! JOHN! Gloria shouted as she ran down the steps and I ran for her. She almost made it out the front door as the house tore apart from the wind and flung her away. JOHHHHN! Protect yourself! I said and concentrated to let my magic cover me. I LOVE YOU! The last thing I saw was Gloria holding her ankle bracelet and disappearing before everything went white.