Title: The Helping Hand of VJB 7/7
Author: quew
#
Watching the tide turn toward the enemy, RalSt lifted her chin, and a never-say-die glint came into her eye.'It's time to pull out the big guns!' She cried, fumbling in her Robin Hood type jerkin.
'You want us to run around topless?' quew asked, perplexed.
'Not exactly,' Nicole said, making her way over. 'She's going to call in�you know�/Them/.'
'Not�/Them/�' quew gasped.
'/Them/,' Nicole confirmed.
'/Them/�really?'
'Yes, really /Them/,' RalSt said.
'She really is.'
'Really.'
And with that, RalSt pulled out what looked like a remote control from somewhere about her person and pressed the big red button in the center.
From somewhere above, smoke started to roil, providing the necessary dramatic backdrop for the moving platform that started to descend. Slowly, all the fighting stopped and all eyes turned skyward. Even the troopers were stunned into immobility for a few seconds, unable to capitalize on the opportunity to gain the upper hand.
Suddenly spotlights started to follow the platform, lighting the figures that were descending strongly and giving them great profiles. One was jogging on the spot, the others were still and silent.
'/Them�/' quew breathed.
Slowly the VJBers retreated from battle, filing out of the doors and into the near-by corridors.
'Why are we leaving?? I want to hear them!' quew said, trying to pull back into engineering.
'Are ya nuts?' Wyrdy said, grabbing her arm. 'It's one thing reading their stories through yer screen�it's another to hear 'em without no protective barrier between you an' the emotion. You'd either never stop laughin' or never stop cryin'.'
'You're right, you're right,' quew conceded. 'So that's it, we win?'
Wyrdy didn't answer, instead waiting a few minutes and then pointing to the opening doors. They joined the ranks of curious, getting there just in time to see the platform disappear back into the shadows of the ceiling.
Before them stood all the Troopers, chatting happily amongst themselves.
'Why aren't they all laughing or crying?' quew asked, a tad reproachfully.
'Because they were so dull ta begin with,' Wyrdy explained. 'The extreme emotions evened 'em out.'
They went in further, hearing snatches of conversation as they passed through the room.
'�Oh my god! Could you believe that scene in the lift?!'
'No! What about the one in the temple??'
'Oo, oo, what about when she nearly got killed in that fight?'
'No, the best bit was when they went to�'
'Excuse me, Miss,' one of the men said, grabbing her arm lightly as she passed. 'Can you tell us where to find more fiction? We have to read the next chapters!'
'Uh�yeah�uh,' quew managed, feeling the three thousand eager gazes keenly. 'T-t-try Perfect Misfits�or RalSt's site�'
'Thank you!' The man trilled, and all of TPTB's Troopers disappear back to their own ship, talking frantically about the stories they wanted to see finished. Soon after that, VJB's membership leapt from five hundred to three thousand five hundred, and the list became famous as the busiest list on the 'net.
'Well, that's our job done,' RalSt said triumphantly to the captain as she appeared in the packed corridor. Slowly the VJBers started to disperse and head back to their ship. 'The power of Fan-Fiction has triumphed once again!'
'What about Earth?' Janeway asked carefully.
'Checked your sensors recently?' RalSt asked innocently. 'Didn't you feel that jolt during the fighting? Do you think we can't multi-task? Some of us have can write two stories at a time, you know!' She said, grinning.
Puzzled, Janeway went and tapped the controls on the nearest wall-mounted panel. A few moments later, she was sitting on the floor with her head between her knees, hyperventilating whilst trying to laugh joyfully.
'Guess we should head back then, hey?' Nicole said, smiling as she watched the Captain rolling around on the floor, hooting with laughter.
'Not quite yet�' quew said. 'There's one more thing we have to do�'
#
'Seven,' B'Elanna said, nodding politely in greeting as she entered the turbo-lift.
'Lieutenant,' Seven returned, inclining her head.
They rode in silence until, with a screech, the turbo-lift ground to a halt.
'What the hell?' B'Elanna grimaced, tapping at the control panel with next to the door. There didn't appear to be anything wrong�until the panel sparked, and the electro-readings went off the scale.
'It looks like we will be stuck here for a while, Lieutenant,' Seven said calmly, putting her hands behind her back.
Before B'Elanna could retort, someone starting banging a simple rhythm on the roof, while someone else pretended they were a trumpet playing a romantic tune�and a few moments after that, a rather off-key voice began�
'You are so beautiful�to me,' the voice sang, and B'Elanna and Seven winced slightly.
'You are so�beautiful, to me,' it repeated, and then the emergency hatch in the roof popped open and a shower of rose petals fell through. B'Elanna couldn't help but smile even as she motioned for Seven to give her a hand up.
'You are so beautif- Urk!'
'What are you doing?' B'Elanna asked, shaking the woman by the shoulders.
'I couldn't remember the rest of the words,' quew said as Tori and Wyrd stopped drumming and Nicole stopped playing the hand trumpet. The four of them were sat around the hatch on the top of the turbo-lift, and quew had another handful of replicated rose petals ready to toss into the turbo-lift.
'No, I mean: /what are you doing/? Here? Now?'
'We're�trying to set up a romantic mood,' quew admitted, gasping as B'Elanna jerked her jacket again.
'In a turbo-lift??' B'Elanna snapped.
'You'd be surprised,' Nicole said, 'at what can happen in a turbo-lift.'
'So I guess you don't want the champagne?' quew asked.
'We're just going to beam out,' B'Elanna said, ignoring the question and looking bemusedly at the woman she had a hold on.
'Actually�' Nicole said. 'We disabled the transporters. Engineering was informed when the lift went offline, but it's going be a while before they get here.'
'Great!' B'Elanna rolled her eyes. 'Just great.'
'Oh, will you look at the time?' quew said, glancing at her empty wrist and sharing a look with the others. 'We'll leave you to it, shall we?'
And with that, the four of them beamed out in a shower of unfamiliar, purple sparkles. B'Elanna sighed and climbed back into the turbo-lift, Seven helping her by guiding her feet, then supporting her waist. She dropped the last foot or so and shook her head, before realizing that instinctively she'd put her hands on Seven's shoulders. She stared into those blue eyes for what seemed like an eternity before a noise to her right made her look away.
In the middle of the floor, there had appeared an ice bucket, complete with a bottle of champagne.
She and Seven smiled.