Chapter 14

Disclaimer:

If Paramount owns it, then I don't. If Paramount doesn't own it then I do. Does this cover it? If you are a Paramount lawyer please don't come after me. I am just a factory worker. If you come after me with legal papers then I can give you some tips about preserving them, but that is all that I can give you.

This story features some interaction of the female/female kind. If you don't want to read that, or are not allowed to read that, please feel free to go read something else.

Feedback: Yes please. I would like to know whether you liked it or didn't. If you didn't like it, why not? Let me know, but tell me nicely please.

Rating: By now NC-17 for f/f lovemaking. (I refuse to call it sex.)

Archive: I wish. But if you decide to make my wish come true (no, not that one. The one about the archiving) than please let me know.
PS, Voyager: Delta, Perfect Misfits and The Vinculum is a given of course.

Writer: I guess that's me. H.W. [email protected]

Pairing: B/7

Note #1: I would like to thank my betas, who are in order of appearance<g>:
My sister: She betad the first chapter for me and still reads each chapter and points out if something is unclear.
Letterx: Who checks if I have no major plot holes in my story.
Jackie: Who takes care of all of my typos, and believe me, there are an awful lot of typos to take care of.
Arydwen: who goes over everything a final time to make sure no major errors are missed.

Note #2: Because I got the idea for this story thanks to a little bit of fun certain people on a certain mailing list were having I honored that fun by putting Astrometrics on deck four. If you don't get it, don't worry it is not important. If you do get it, then you know what I'm talking about.<g>

Now, let's get started.

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Chapter 14

After more talk, explanation, and negotiation, it was agreed that Voyager would be taken in a tractor beam and would travel like that for the duration of the five-day journey to the Followers' Homeworld. Janeway had opted for the tractor beam because the idea of having Voyager stored in the belly of a giant freighter ship as if they were nothing more than cargo didn't appeal to her at all. Both sides had agreed to a relatively slow journey that would take them five days, that way they had some time to interact and get know each other before arriving at the Homeworld. Of course this 'slow' journey still meant that Voyager would be crossing a distance in five days that would take them ten years to travel on their own.

During that time, people were free to visit back and forth between ships. Nobody was surprised to find out that beaming from ship to ship during trans warp was an everyday thing for the Followers. Only a few strategic places of the Imperial ships were off-limits to the Voyager crew. Usually when the Voyager crew was given 'free range' on a ship of a different race things like engineering, sickbay, and the research labs were still kept off limits. But this was not so with the Followers. The only things that were off limits for the Voyager crew were the primary and secondary bridge, as well as the private crew quarters. Everything else was freely accessible.

So almost everybody from the Voyager crew made sure to find some time to go over to one of the Imperial ships and take a look around. For most of them, it felt as if they were permitted to look into the future. They compared the every day technology the highly advanced Followers used to what they themselves were familiar with. B'Elanna Torres, for instance, had stood almost half an hour gaping with an open mouth at the engine of Empress Shadeen's ship. To B'Elanna, what she had seen was the stuff the Federation declared impossible. A single engine for warp as well as trans warp, capable of smoothly accelerating from taking over from the thrusters at light speed and then simply going on, and on, and on, well into the high trans warp ranges.

But it was equally interesting for both sides. More than one Follower could be found roaming through Voyager to look and see how people were capable of doing such extraordinary things and survive with such basic equipment.

They were on their second day of travel when the rumors started spreading on both sides. For the Followers, there was excitement. It was said that they possibly found the new Chosen One. Things were about to change, and what would the future bring them? On board Voyager, it was slightly different. Everybody was excited that once again their journey home had become a lot shorter. But they to had heard some of the Followers talking about how one of the Voyager crew was now the Followers' Chosen. And people started to wonder just what the price was for the help in getting home. Some people were even afraid that the person they had gotten to really know and like in the last couple of months would be leaving Voyager and staying behind at the Followers' Homeworld as payment for the offered help. In a way a lot of people on board Voyager thought it strange. A couple of months ago they sure wouldn't have minded if the person, which the Followers said she was their Chosen one, would have left the ship. But now they had gotten to know her for whom she truly was. And now nobody on board Voyager wanted to see Seven of Nine leave.

Well, almost nobody.

"Wait, wait, wait," Chakotay said while he was trying to make sure nothing spilled out of the mugs he was carrying back from the replicator to the table. Chakotay knew he was drunk. But his time in the Maquis had taught him several things, one of them being that information was often easier to gather over a strong drink. He settled the mugs full of strong blood wine on the table before sitting down. After that, he pushed one of the mugs to his companion and swallowed some of his own blood wine before continuing. "So let me see if I understand this correctly. Once in every several thousand years, one of the beings your race worships..."

"Not just one of them, The Traveler himself. Ruler of over all the lesser Divine Ones," Carizon interrupted and explained.

"... right, So once every several thousand years, this Divine One decides that is time for your Empire to change and he goes out to find a person that will bring forth that change..."

"Right." Carizon agreed after emptying his mug in one gulp.

Chakotay once again got up to get more blood wine from the replicator. But this time he only replicated one mug for Carizon. He knew that the drink on his side of the table would be the last for him. Even he couldn't hold four mugs of blood wine. And then to think that Carizon had just drained his eighth mug as if it was nothing. Chakotay handed the mug to Carizon and he was glad to see that the Follower simply put it down on the table instead of emptying it once more. *Time to get my information,* Chakotay thought before speaking up. "However, this Traveler doesn't simply say 'Here, this is your new Chosen'. You people must actually go out and find this Chosen..."

"Which we always do within a few months of a new Chosen being... well, chosen," Carizon said proudly before his face turned into a frown. "And look at what we found. If we weren't talking about the Traveler himself, I would be sure that this was a joke of one of the lesser Divine Ones."

Chakotay nodded his head in sympathy for the man sitting across from him. "But maybe you have the wrong person. Maybe you need somebody else instead of Seven. After all, what do we have that really proves that Seven of Nine is supposedly your Chosen? Just because she and B'Elanna needed to spend time together while getting rid of those viruses? That could mean that B'Elanna should be your Chosen because she has just as much advantage of that as Seven. Or what about Tom Paris? After he was almost sucked into space thanks to one of those viruses Jennifer Delaney realized that she couldn't wait forever. The man she wanted could die before we reach the Alpha Quadrant. Last thing I heard was that Tom and Jennifer are talking about moving in together. So he definitely had a positive thing happen to him thanks to the dealings of your Divine One." Chakotay deliberately forgot to mention that before that accident Tom was already married to somebody else. He was desperately looking for signs that somebody else could be the Chosen, Anyone else but Seven.

"No, no, no," Carizon disagreed. "Look, all of that is just extra. To make sure we find the person we are looking for. There is one thing however that proves that she is the one we are looking for. The Traveler showed himself to her in his true form. Only members of our race, and the Chosen Ones, are permitted to see the Traveler in his true form. It has always been that way ever since the first Follower was born. Well, except of course on the Traveler's home planet. There everybody can see him in his true form. But then again, anybody who is on the planet without being protected by the Traveler will be dead long before they ever get a chance to see The Divine One."

"Whata ye mean?" Hearing how he was slurring his words, Chakotay realized it was time to get his information while he at least could still think a little bit clear. And he mentally kicked himself for also drinking the strong blood wine instead of opting for something a little less strong.

Carizon was a little surprised by this change of direction in the conversation. And it showed in his answer. "Huh?" But then he realized what Chakotay meant. "Oh, nothing of importance really. You see our Homeworld is not same planet on which the first Follower was born. It is in the same star system, it is even a neighboring planet, but is not the same. At some point in our history we decided that we didn't want to expose such a beautiful planet as the Traveler's Homeworld to a continuously expanding society. Even if we kept the beauty of the planet in mind, the simple fact is that for houses you need space. Even if that space was once a beautiful forest or beach. So we settled on the neighboring planet leaving the Traveler's Homeworld to him solely. Over time, without us being on top of the food chain on the planet, other animals took that place. And now the Traveler's Homeworld is one of the most beautiful planets we know of, and also one of the most deadly."

"Ah," Chakotay only said, once again mentally kicking himself, this time for letting the conversation slip off target like that. "Well... so the fact that your Divine One showed himself to Seven in his true form proves that she is this Chosen One. So tell me, what does that actually mean?"

"But I told you already. The Chosen brings change for the Empire. We don't know upfront what that change is going to be, we just know that things ARE going to change."

Chakotay sipped a little bit more of his blood wine and then nodded his head in agreement. "Yes, I know. I know. But what I mean is how do things change? What do you want from Seven? For instance, does she get command over a part of your army? Can we see her being in command of a hundred of those battle cruisers out there?"

"Oh, no. No, not at all. Nothing like that." Carizon emptied his mug with a last big swallow. "No, if that was the case I would be a happy person now. No, the point is that we change nothing for the Chosen. We don't give the chosen any powers of that kind. We don't give her a position of power within our military. It's much worse than that. You see we act on what ever the Chosen does. We are going to protect her, whether she wants it or not. So... well it is like this. This Seven of Nine will still be working here on Voyager, but there will always, at the very least, be one battle cruiser following your ship around. And even though you and others you might meet on your journeys might never know that we are around since the battle cruiser would stay cloaked, we will interfere to protect Seven of Nine. For instance, some time ago the Borg Queen took her drone off of this ship. We would never allow that. We would attack the Borg and destroy them."

"Sounds pretty good for us." Chakotay was glad to hear that maybe there was a positive side to it after all.

Carizon shook his head slightly after hearing that. "Ah, but here comes the 'but' that you will not like. We would not allow the Borg to take Seven of Nine. But we would also not stop Seven of Nine going to the Borg if she wanted to. And there in lies the power of the Chosen. We react to what she does. What if she decides to go back to the Borg and stay there? I tell you what. There is a strong chance that soon a Borg/Follower alliance would be made. After all, if Seven of Nine wants to go back to the Borg, surely that must mean that the Traveler wanted us to work together with the Borg. Who knows what that alliance might lead to? At the very least the Borg would finally get some of our technology. But where would it stop? Followers becoming Borg drones? The Borg Queen becoming the new Empress of our Empire? Can you imagine that combination? The Borg always wanting to have, and our technology enabling them to take. The Borg would rule the galaxy."

Hearing that made Chakotay drain his own mug. Unlike the others he was not fooled by Seven's so-called integration into the Voyager community. He knew that the ex-drone was only waiting for the right time to put Voyager in a situation where the Borg could assimilate them all. After all, the fact that Seven was on board had already been the reason for several encounters with the Borg. Chakotay knew that when they would get closer to the Alpha Quadrant, a place where the former Borg drone would be imprisoned, at the very least. Seven would realize that being once again a member of the Borg collective was better for her. And he knew that when that time came Seven would take all of them with her. But after hearing what Carizon had said that vision paled in comparison with what he just heard. He knew that something had to be done or else, soon everybody in the Federation and beyond would be going by Borg designations. "But surely there must be a way to prevent this from happening."

Carizon sighed and slowly shook his head. "I don't see how. The Empress has already decided that as far as she is concerned, Seven of Nine is the Chosen. And we have to follow what ever the Empress says." Suddenly Carizon smiled a little bit, obviously trying to put himself in a better mood. "But, who knows. Maybe I'm wrong here. Maybe Seven of Nine will turn out to be an excellent Chosen. Maybe her dislike for what the Borg have done to her will even cause the opposite. Maybe we will finally be allowed to rid ourselves of the nuisance that is the Borg Empire."

*That is a big maybe.* Chakotay thought. *Too big, we cannot simply hope for that. Something has to be done. But what? But what?* Then, having the information he needed, he smiled at Carizon before saying; "Well, either way, I had way too much to drink. I'm going to sleep that off. Thanks for the company. See you around."

"The same to you." Carizon looked at how Chakotay slowly stood up and walked out of the mess hall. Then seeing Neelix walking by the brooding expression he had on his face during his conversation with the commander disappeared and he lifted his hands to get the Talaxian's attention. "Could I have another one of these? This blood wine tastes really good. I think I will download the replicator pattern later on."

"Um, sure," Neelix said hesitantly while slowly taking away the empty mug. But he saw it as his duty to inform Carizon of the dangers of blood wine. "Um, you do realize that this is quite potent stuff? And you already had quite a bit. Wouldn't you prefer something different? Something... less strong?" Neelix was surprised when the Follower started laughing and sat up a little straighter. This little shift in position, combined with a slightly different body language, changed the man's whole demeanor from a slumping and obviously intoxicated person to a person obviously aware of his surroundings and very in control of his body.

"Don't worry, Talaxian. This might be strong stuff for you and a lot of other races, like these humans here for instance. But we are not affected by alcohol. Do you want to know why I am going to download the replicator pattern? Because my two-year-old son is just leaving the donsing-sap stage and I'm pretty sure that he will love this stuff."

During this small conversation, Neelix had replicated the drink and giving it to Carizon. "But I thought... the way you were drinking here with the Commander... well, I, um, assumed that you were sharing some kind of drinking contest."

"I'm sure that he thought the same." Carizon looked at Neelix for a couple seconds before softly hitting the table with his open hand a couple of times, indicating that Neelix should sit down. "Join me for a few minutes. Let's talk about the crew. About what kind of people they are."

"Well, I don't know." Neelix stated while he was already slowly beginning to sit down. "I'm usually not want to gossip about the crew. They are my friends."

Carizon reached over and padded Neelix his shoulder. "Of course they are. Don't worry, I'm not looking for dirt here. I just want you to tell me about them, and what you think. That is all. Tell you what, I will make you a deal. I tell you something, you tell me something. How's that?"

Neelix liked this man, he was so different than how he seemed when the commander had been there. The way Carizon was acting now reminded Neelix a lot of the way he has seen Klingons act on the holodeck, when they were sitting around the table having fun. Looking around the mess hall, the Talaxian decided that he could spend a couple of minutes talking to this Follower. "Okay, you have a deal. But you begin."

"Good." Then Carizon made a show of inconspicuously looking around the mess hall before indicating that the Neelix should lean closer. "Well, since you are the keeper of this place, how about I tell you how to get a Follower drunk? If you want to get one of us drunk you just have to give us liquids with caffeine mixed with sugar. The combination of caffeine and sugar has the same effect on us as alcohol has on you."

Neelix couldn't believe his ears. "Wait. Are you trying to tell me that you get drunk from coffee?!"

"No, we get drunk from coffee with sugar. That's why I never touch the stuff."

"Coffee you mean?"

"Caffeine I mean."

"Ah. Soda?"

"Oeh, one of the strongest things around. Just the smell of it would make me pass out."

"Hmm, I never would have guessed."

"Well. Now it's your turn, Talaxian. I told you something about us. Tell me something about the crew of this ship."

"Okay, I did agreed to that. Let's see, where should I start?"

"Well, why don't you tell me why your commander doesn't like Seven of Nine," Carizon said and it was clear that he was a lot more serious now. He wasn't trying to fool Neelix, he wasn't hiding that he was truly interested in the answer. Neelix liked that, and so he started to explain.

"Well, you see..."


******

Meanwhile Carizon was not the only Follower onboard Voyager. Several decks below, Zerisan had just entered engineering and was about to ask where she could find B'Elanna when she heard the Chief Engineer shout.

"Get the fuck out of here before I throw you out!"

So instead of asking she only nodded to Carey and pointed to the office. Indicating why she was there.

"Good luck," The engineer mumbled before turning back to his work and pretending that he didn't hear the Klingon blowing a fuse.

"I am leaving, but only because I see that trying to communicate with you is an inefficient waste of time. Grasping a context as simple as advanced communication is beyond your narrow-minded capabilities. The only communication you are capable of is a useless show of basic emotions."

"OUT!"

"Since reasoning is obviously beyond you, I will give my own recommendations to the Captain in the morning." The Borg said while leaving B'Elanna's office. When she came out, Zerisan saw a small smile playing on the ex-drone's lips and Zerisan assumed that it was because Seven had managed to get the last word in.

"Did I come at a bad time?" Zerisan asked the pacing Klingon while she entered the office.

"No, I'll be all right in a few moments," B'Elanna growled out through her teeth while she continued pacing. "It's just that that stupid Borg sometimes has the cunning ability to GET ON MY NERVES!" The Klingon shouted the last words, knowing that Seven would still be in main engineering downloading the information she needed and that the Borg would hear her.

"Ah, so this is standard behavior? Interesting. From our previous encounters, I had thought you two to be actually quite close to one another." Zerisan sat down without asking permission to, knowing that most none-Followers actually preferred it when she was sitting instead of standing and towering over them.

B'Elanna stopped her pacing at that observation and set down behind her desk. "We ARE very close. We are engaged to be married as a matter-of-fact, and I love that woman to death. But that doesn't mean that we agree on everything. Nowadays we usually talk about our differences of opinion and come out with a workable compromise. But I don't know what's wrong with her today, she's even more stubborn than she usually was before we got involved."

Zerisan's sensitive hearing registered the unique sound of Seven of Nine's walk leaving engineering. "I assume that you two usually fought a lot?"

The usually private Klingon's knee-jerk reaction was to tell Zerisan to mind her own business. But for some reason B'Elanna felt comfortable in the presence of the tall woman. *Maybe it is because she is also a warrior.* B'Elanna reasoned with herself. *Somehow I don't see us sharing a barrel of blood wine and telling ourselves strong stories, but I feel as if I can talk to her.* "Yeah," She finally said out loud. Before we got involved we always fought like cats and dogs... if you know what that means."

"We say 'like Broka and Deniri' but I understand what you mean. But now that you are involved, you don't fight anymore? Why not?"

"Because we are engaged to be married of course. We are supposed to get along."

"And who is talking about not getting along?" Zerisan asked, pulling the chair a bit closer to the desk. "My wife and I fight at least once every week, quite often more than that. But that doesn't mean that we don't get along. If there is a problem, or even a beginning of a problem, we talk about it. The fighting we only do over unimportant things."

"Then why fight at all?" B'Elanna wondered out loud.

"Because we enjoy the fights. We love to fight." Then Zerisan smiled a very satisfied smile. "And we also love to make up after the fights. Tell me," She then asked, getting serious again. "When you fought, before you got involved, did you enjoy the fights?"

"No, yes, sometimes." B'Elanna sighed deeply, trying to find the words that she wanted to say. "Look, I admit that I enjoyed fighting with her. But it didn't last, if you know what I mean. One of us would without a doubt say something that hurt the other and the other would then reply in kind."

"Then you are now in a perfect position to fight and enjoy it, are you not?"

"What do you mean?" The Klingon asked confused.

"If you truly love each other to death, as you say, then you are in the unique opportunity to have fights with each other and know deep down that the other person doesn't really mean what she says, and that the other person knows that you don't really mean your words. Yet after the fight, you still have a perfect reason to make up."

"I doubt that Seven would go along with that. After all, fighting is 'inefficient'."

"Fun usually is inefficient. Doesn't mean that an ex-drone can't have fun. I think she might just enjoy the fighting as much as you do. At least that would explain the smile on her face when she left your office."

"She was smiling?" B'Elanna asked surprised.

"Most definitely."

"Damn, I forgot. A couple of months ago, she actually told me she liked it when we fought." Suddenly B'Elanna thought about a conversation that she and Seven had a couple of days back.

'I agree that there are certain things about you that annoyed and irritated me,' Seven had said. 'but, B'Elanna, I do not want you to change on account of me. If you want to change then only do so if you would also have done the same if we were not involved.'

'Yeah but surely you could do without things like my short temper.'

'No I could not. I fell in love with the mix that is B'Elanna Torres. You are my perfection. Your short temper is a part of that perfection. Please, do not change my perfection unless it is on the simple bases of you being yourself.'

"You know what my biggest problem is?" B'Elanna suddenly asked, and Zerisan realized that the Klingon was really speaking more out loud to herself than to Zerisan. "I spend so much of my time trying to fit in that I simply can't believe that somebody would want me for what I am. The good with the bad. Every time Seven and I face something that other people usually couldn't accept, I don't simply believe that Seven CAN accept it. She always has to prove that to me. I mean, how often has she already told me that she accepts my Klingon side? Yet the day before yesterday she was the one who dragged me to the holodeck and initiated the training program that got me so worked up that I finally let go completely when she suddenly started to have her way with me."

"You mean having sex?" Zerisan deliberately interrupted, not because she didn't want to hear what B'Elanna had to say, but because she wanted to respect B'Elanna's privacy.

"What?" B'Elanna asked and looked at the tall woman. She then realized what she was talking about. "Yes, no, I'm talking about making love. Major difference. Kahless," B'Elanna said while she stood up and started pacing behind her desk. "I don't even know why I'm telling you this. I don't even know you."

Zerisan stood up and went to the door to close it. After she had done this and sat down again, she finally answered. "Maybe that's why you're telling me this. You don't really know me, I'm just a guest on this ship. After this conversation I will go back to my own ship, and soon we will part ways again. Then I will be taking whatever you told me with me and nobody on your ship will know about it. Furthermore, I'm a warrior like you. Talk to me, or don't, that is up to you. But I will give you my word that whatever you say will stay between you and I."

B'Elanna looked at Zerisan for a moment and then sat down with a sigh. "I hurt her, you know. We had to use the dermal regenerator for our bruises and I'm sure that the only reason why nothing was broken is because the Borg strengthened her skeleton and my bones are simply stronger than humans."

"Ah, you are talking about that 'famous' Klingon sex I read about."

"I prefer the word lovemaking and yes, that is what I'm talking about. Even though those stories are usually exaggerated."

"So you hurt her. So what? It isn't something my wife and I do very often, but on occasion we do enjoy playing a little bit rough. And on those occasions we don't mind a little pain. Because it's part of the game and then pain can feel surprisingly good. The important part is whether she enjoys it? Did she play along willingly or did she ask you to stop?"

"Oh yeah, she enjoyed it all right. She came immediately the first time I... eh, yeah she enjoyed it. And she doesn't have to ask me to stop. If she wants to stop, she can make me. You know how strong Borg drones are. She may be more human now but she still has most of her Borg enhanced strength. Look, the problem is that I promised her that I would never intentionally hurt her. Yet I did hurt her intentionally."

"No, you didn't," Zerisan stated with confidence. "I had a similar talk with my wife shortly before we got married. It is part of the marriage ritual that the day before you get married you spend talking with your future partner about any secrets or insecurities you might still have. The reason for this is so that you can enter the marriage without the problems that issues like that could eventually cause. We also talked about never intentionally hurting each other. But, B'Elanna Torres, at that moment, one is talking about hurting emotionally, not physically. Thinking about physical pain doesn't enter your mind at that moment because it is a non-issue. Why? Because physically hurting your partner would also hurt her emotionally. But that doesn't mean that you can never be rough with your partner, as long as your partner wants, condones, and enjoys that. To be absolutely honest with you, I thoroughly enjoy receiving, and giving, the occasional spanking."

"I'm talking about more than a spanking."

Zerisan rolled her eyes and sighed, starting to understand why one of the descriptions of Klingons was being very stubborn. "I know you are, my wife and I also do a lot more than that when the mood strikes us. I simply didn't think that you would want a detailed description. From what I heard you say, this wasn't a one-sided thing. You talk about your bruises, and your Klingon bones as well. So she also hurt you."

"Yeah, but I'm part Klingon. I relish a little bit of pain now and again."

"And who says that Seven of Nine doesn't?"

"Well uh..."

"B'Elanna Torres, do you want my uncensored and straightforward advice?"

"Sure... I guess."

"Get over yourself. Stop thinking about human, Klingon, or Borg. Start thinking about individuals. You are a person who has found a perfect match. Physically and emotionally. And you have the incredible luck that this perfect match also loves you and wants to be with you. What more do you want? Simply enjoy what you have and stop questioning yourself. Seven of Nine seems to me as a person who speaks her mind. If there was a problem in your relationship would she be quiet about it or tell you?"

Now it was B'Elanna who sighed, knowing that the tall woman was right. "Seven would tell me before it could even become a problem."

"Then stop worrying and enjoy what you have. B'Elanna Torres, you have found a woman who enjoys it when you let go completely, but she also likes to fight verbally with you. If she wasn't prepared for the consequences, she wouldn't do that," Now Zerisan smiled. "And I'm willing to bet that with all of this she also has a tender side we haven't even talked about."

"Oh yeah." B'Elanna agreed with a smile of her one. "You know, I'm supposed to be this tough warrior, yet when we sleep she always has her arms around me. As if she's protecting me. And you know what? It works. Since we're been sleeping together, I sleep better than ever before and she also k... she also keeps the nightmares away."

"Well then, what more do you want? You have it all, B'Elanna Torres. Enjoy it."

"As simple as that, huh?"

"As The Traveler once said; 'There is nothing wrong with having goals you want to achieve. Go and try to make them your reality. But inner peace is not found in what you do, or do not, have. Inner peace is found in having somebody accept you unconditionally'."

"A nice saying, not really fitting to either humans nor Klingons, but on this occasion it fits. Of course, I could simplify that by saying that I should be myself for that is the person Seven fell in love with."

"Also a nice saying, but that however doesn't really fit Followers."

"It doesn't?"

"No. In our race, the bond between partners starts at a very young age. Often, as in my and my wife's case, before the people involved can actually speak. Once the second stage of adulthood sets in, the love for our partner is for life. No matter what happens, the love will never lessen. Even if my wife would use the power that she has to do the terrible deeds we only know from our history, I couldn't love her any less. We have no choice in that. So you see, it doesn't matter what kind of person my wife is. I will always love her."

"Interesting. Do you have some more time? I would love to know more about that."

"Certainly. I don't like the dry negotiations your Captain is having with my wife anyhow. The padds will record all I need to know..."

"Wait a minute." B'Elanna interrupted. "The negotiations my Captain is having with your wife? Are you telling me that Empress Shadeen is your wife? Now, I would definitely like to know more about THAT."

Zerisan laughed at that. "That's right, you didn't know that. Well, you see..."

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Continued in Chapter 15


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