*Dark Hearts*
*Disclaimer:* I don't own ST: Voyager or anything associated with it,
someone much more famous than me does.
*AU ST: Voyager with major episode rewrites and an EVIL Janeway.*
*Summary: */DARKFIC—Captain Janeway sets out to punish Seven of Nine for
her actions against the arms dealer Kovin, only to find a twisted
pleasure in the power she wields. Feeling Alienated from the crew Seven
feels she must deal with the Captain's actions on her own until someone
unexpected comes to her rescue. /
*Authors Notes: *Welcome to the rewrite of .:Dark Hearts:. Chapter 2!
I've been doing some serious rewriting of the story as I go, and this
chapter is no different. Several scenes have been moved or reworked to
alter the flow of the story, and hopefully make it that much better.
Quick Warning: This Chapter sees the evolution of Janeway's Dark
feelings for Seven and thus means that it is not as kid friendly as the
last. From this point on the story will begin to earn its M rating.
*.:Dark Hearts:.*
It had already been eight days since Seven had started her punishment,
and she was getting desperate to avoid another night of torture. Running
to her friend's mother for comfort afterwards each night was /not/
something she wanted to continue doing, and she had decided it was time
to do something to help herself. Granted it would be nothing direct, and
most definitely she would tell no one else, but she felt she had to try
and would pray to Omega that the Captain didn't find out.
Trying to convince the person that hated her most on Voyager to take her
on an away mission was probably not the best idea to start with however.
"GOD DAMN IT SEVEN! What in the HELL is wrong with you?" B'Elanna
Torres, Chief Engineer of Voyager was pissed. This of course was not
anything unusual in and of itself, especially considering who she was
angry at. No, what was unusual was /why/ the half-Klingon was angry.
"There is nothing /wrong/ with me lieutenant. I merely wish to run some
close range scans of an anomaly located near the planet you are assigned
to mine." Seven raised her ocular implant in amusement as the Klingon
hybrid growled with rage, an event that never ceased to entertain her.
"Why? Why in Grethor would /you/, want to accompany /me/, on a three day
mission to gather Dilithium, and don't give me that research crap you've
been spewing! We both know the sensors in Astrometrics are much better
equipped for that kind of thing, and besides… we can't stand each
other!" B'Elanna wondered faintly if insanity was contagious, and if so
who had managed to infect the logical minded ex-drone.
"That is of no real concern at this time. I assure you that I will
endeavor to 'stay away' from you except when it is necessary." Seven
calmly watched the smaller woman stalk about and briefly wondered if she
had made a mistake coming to the Lieutenant first. She nearly paled at
the thought that the Captain might just add on to her punishment even if
the engineer did agree to her request.
She /really/ hoped that wouldn't be the case.
B'Elanna stopped and stared at Seven, debating the small set of pros
versus her arm long list of cons that came with having the ex-drone so
close for so long, when suddenly a thought hit her. "Does the Captain
know you want to come along on this mission?"
Seven shifted nervously, wishing for perhaps the first time that she was
more capable of deception, and hoped that simply avoiding the topic
would work. Of course such atypical behavior stood out like a beacon to
B'Elanna's enhanced senses. "She doesn't know does she? Why not? You
have to get her permission in the end anyways."
Seven blinked in mild surprise, she had actually forgotten about that
rather important detail in her quest to get the engineer to agree. This
was looking more and more to have been a bad idea. "I knew that if I
have your support that the Captain would be far more likely to agree as
well." This of course was the truth, just not the reason she had come to
the shorter woman first.
B'Elanna wasn't convinced but let that slide for now. "This has
something to do with the punishment Janeway gave you for hitting that
guy, doesn't it?" She nearly purred in satisfaction as she watched
Seven's eyes flit away in discomfort, even as the tall blonde nodded a
silent yes.
"Well sorry, but unless the Captain says okay, or your punishment ends,
I can't help you." She was grinning at this point, enjoying the
discomfort of the ex-drone even as she turned to walk away. "If I did
I'd be right there with you for the next month at least."
"That would be acceptable." The shorter woman nearly choked in surprise;
surely she hadn't heard that correctly. 'What in Grethor has got her so
spooked she'd be willing to bunk with /me/ for a month?'
"Look, if you want to go you have to ask Janeway. I can't do anything
except bring it up at the staff meeting tonight, and she'll instantly
know it wasn't my idea." Seven felt a chill roll down her spine as her
attempt to escape punishment neatly exploded in her face.
Thanking the engineer for her help she left to continue her duty shift
with a sense of dread. She had a feeling this was going to be a very bad
night.
'There are only six more days left in my punishment. If I am /very/
lucky the Captain will not find a need to lengthen that time.'
*.:Dark Hearts:.*
As it turned out Seven wasn't very lucky at all.
The Captain had been angry once she realized what the ex-drone had been
trying to do, so much so that Seven had been told to report to the
holodeck an hour earlier than usual before the meeting had even
finished. It had been embarrassing, and Lieutenant Torres had not made
it any better by snickering at her from across the table. Things were
not 'looking up' as Naomi would say.
Now she stood silently before the force ten glare leveled at her in an
empty holodeck. The vague image of the Borg Queen cowering from a
glaring Janeway briefly entered her head as she waited for the Captain
to speak. 'I wonder if Naomi would find that image entertaining.'
"You tried to run away from your punishment." It was a statement of
fact, one that would not be denied. Seven felt herself actually
flinching at the tone Captain Janeway was using. Instinctively she knew
that things had just gotten much worse, and she had no one to blame but
herself. A feeling similar to, but much stronger than, embarrassment
made her look down and away not wanting to see the disappointment in her
mentors eyes. The cold press of a hypo-spray at her neck quickly
startled her into looking back up.
"Why?" It was a simple question, but one that left her confused
nonetheless. Was the Captain actually asking her to explain herself?
This never happened; usually it was just 'What you did was wrong. You
should have done this instead. This is your punishment. You are
dismissed.' And that would be it, no questions asked.
"Answer me when I ask you a question, Seven." A growl that could put a
Klingon to shame left the older woman's throat. "Why did you attempt to
run from your punishment when you knew very well what would happen once
I caught you?"
It took her a moment to find the right words to explain herself to an
angry Captain. "I…" She paused a moment gathering the strength to admit
her weakness. "There is no light, no sound, nothing but myself and my
memories. Even vibrations from the warp core are gone, and it frightens
me… I hate it."
"So you ran away like a frightened child? Disobeyed my orders? Went
/behind/ my back? To what end, a chance to escape for a few days?"
Janeway glared hard at the ex-drone, noticing vaguely that she was
actually growing aroused by the confrontation. As Seven turned away once
more the Captain felt a primal need to make the younger woman submit to her.
Grabbing the ex-drones chin roughly and forcing her eyes back, she let
out another, lower pitched growl. "You will look at me when I am
speaking to you. Now, answer my question. Why did you try to run from
your punishment when you /knew/ I would find out about it?"
Seven's eyes closed briefly before she was forced to open them once more
by a surprisingly painful squeeze of the Captain's hand on her lower
jaw. "I would… I do not enjoy the feelings I get by reliving my
memories, they are… disturbing. I would… do anything, take /any/ other
punishment. /Please/, do not leave me in that room."
Janeway's eyes narrowed as she contemplated this, her thoughts leaning
closer towards the forbidden the longer she let this go on. "I find it
strangely difficult to believe that you would stoop to /begging,/ merely
to avoid being alone in the dark."
"I give you my word Captain, /anything/ else just /please/ do not make
me go back in there." She /would/ beg if it came to that. Seven didn't
think she could stand to watch the entire crew of Voyager be assimilated
because of her once again, even if it was only in her imagination. Just
the /thought/ of having to see it again caused an ache in her chest that
even her nano-probes couldn't fix.
"I may just take you up on that, but certainly not tonight. Tonight, you
will continue your punishment with some altered parameters. Instead of
being released at 0200 hours, you will remain here until 0400 hours. The
same shall go for the remaining length of your original punishment, and
/then/ we will see what to do about your insubordination."
Seven's heart sank as she realized that not only had her original
punishment been made worse, but that she now had to worry about a
secondary punishment as well. As the empty grid changed in to the now
familiar room, she could feel the hypo-spray contents begin working and
was grateful the Captain had taken her arm to lead her into the cell.
Looking up from her brief wave of dizziness, a /very/ important change
in the program made itself apparent.
The cell she had come to expect was half the size of one in the ship's
real brig, but was still to be considered fairly spacious. What Seven
saw before her now though, was nothing short of being a closet, a closet
that wasn't even large enough to fit her alcove. Even the ceiling had
been lowered so that she would be forced to duck slightly once inside!
She began to panic at the sight and tried to pull herself free of the
Captain's grip, but was unable to as the hypo-spray had begun to work in
earnest leaving her no stronger than a child would be until it had run
its course.
"No! I do not wish to go in there!"
"Well then, it's unfortunate that you disobeyed me…" And with that
Captain Kathryn Janeway threw Seven into the modified cell before
quickly activating the force field. "… isn't it."
*.:Dark Hearts:.*
Here she was again, sitting on the couch she had created as she listened
to her Astrometrics officer crying in the dark. It had become a sort of
ritual to do so over the last few days, a morbid and perverse ritual,
but one she felt was necessary. After all, the reason she had made sure
to install a one way com-unit was to make sure that things could not get
out of hand. That she found herself more often than not fantasizing
about the younger woman, even as that same disturbing litany continued
to play in the background, was beside the point.
She tried not to be aroused by the cries and pleas the ex-drone would
release, but it was steadily getting harder and harder for her to resist
thinking of just how easy it would be to do the things she imagined.
Once those thoughts began to make themselves known it was all she could
do to just leave the program instead of remain there and allow herself
to think perverse thoughts.
'I need to control myself, control. Letting my hormones lead will not
help me get this ship home any faster…' She was pulled from her thoughts
as a change in the usual litany caught her attention.
"…good, I promise. Please let me out. I will be good, I..."
'I need to leave.' She quickly snapped the com off and stood, a burst of
arousal traveling down her spine as naughty thoughts danced in her head.
'Right now.' And with that thought Captain Janeway practically ran from
the holo-deck even as images of a helpless Seven flashed before her eyes.
*.:Dark Hearts:.*
Samantha Wildman may have only been a lowly Ensign on this ship, but she
was also a mother, and as a mother she had some /very/ choice words she
wished to share with her Captain. Unfortunately she had promised not to
reveal her knowledge of certain events to anyone, and oh how she wished
that wasn't so, but Seven took her promises /very/ seriously.
For the last few nights Seven of Nine had been coming by the Wildman
quarters once her, she put as much venom as possible into even thinking
about it, once her /punishment/ was over. That first night had been
unsettling, and seeing the ex-drone so vulnerable had forced her to
re-examine the way she had been acting since Naomi had come home and
told her that Seven had agreed to be her friend. She had known,
intellectually, that someone her daughter enjoyed spending so much time
with couldn't be nearly as cold or dangerous as many of the crewmen
tended to say, especially when they thought they couldn't be heard.
It had taken having the woman break down in her quarters for her to
understand exactly /why/ it was that her daughter adored an ex-drone.
Seven was as close to a sister figure as Naomi would ever have on this
ship full of adults, and Sam was finally ok with that.
Currently she was waiting up for the younger woman to stop by; she knew
it would happen even if Seven said differently, the younger woman needed
the comfort provided too much not to. Glancing at the chronometer on the
wall Sam frowned, it was almost 0400 hours and the other woman hadn't
come by yet. Quietly she asked the computer for the location of the
Astrometrics officer.
*Seven of Nine is located in holodeck three*
"Computer, is there an active program running in holodeck three?" She
was getting a little bit worried; Seven should have left from her
punishment by now.
*Affirmative*
"Computer, how much time remains until the program in holodeck three
finishes?" A scowl was slowly making its way onto her features, if the
Captain had done what she thought it would take a miracle for her not to
explode next time they crossed paths.
*There are 3 minutes remaining*
'Eight hours! Seven can barely handle being by herself for /six/ hours
at a time!' Sam bit her lip as she tried to think of what the ex-drone
would be like after an extended time in that room. Whatever her
reaction, it would not be good. Glancing at the chronometer once more
she made a quick decision, nearly leaping off the couch in her hurry.
"Computer, alert me if Seven of Nine leaves holodeck three before I get
there."
*Affirmative*
As she rushed silently to the nearest turbo lift Sam hoped desperately
that she was simply overreacting and would not find a broken ex-drone
waiting for her.
*.:Dark Hearts:.*
Seven had never before in her existence felt as she did when she had
been locked into that modified cell. The added knowledge that she was in
so small a space had made it feel as if the darkness was trying to crush
her, and unable to even stand properly she was helpless to prevent it.
Numerous new and increasingly horrible memories had played before her
eyes, quickly reducing her to a sobbing fetal mess.
For the first time since she had understood what it was to be an
individual, Seven wished she had never been severed from the collective.
She had begged endlessly to be let out; hoping that someone, /anyone/
would hear and make it so; even the Borg Queen would have been a welcome
savior. After a while it had become a mantra, promising to do whatever
was asked of her if only someone would let her/out /of that horrible place.
"…me out. I promise I'll be good, please let me out. I promise…"
At some point Seven had begun rocking herself back and forth in time
with her words, and was lost so far into herself that when the program
ended she did not notice. It took a gentle hand on her shoulder and a
familiar voice calling her name to break her trance.
"Seven? Please look at me Seven, you're scaring me."
Looking up and into the light for the first time in over eight hours,
Seven let out a relieved sob as she saw the face of Samantha Wildman and
quickly lunged into the older woman's arms. "Thank you. Thank you. Thank
you…" Over and over again she thanked the woman who had come to help
her, and relished in how /safe/ she felt now that she was out of that room.
"Shh, it's alright Seven. You're safe now, just let it all out. Shh,
it's ok now…"
They didn't leave until they had to.
*.:Dark Hearts:.*
/Ok, first off let me say how VERY SORRY I am for taking so long to
update. Writer's block can be a total bitch, plus with all of my real
life plans intruding I haven't had much time nor motivation to work on
this. To be honest I had planned for at least two more scenes for this
chapter but felt that ending it here would be fine as well. /
/Real life has of course been the main reason I hadn't updated in so
long, and at this point It is going to start taking a while to get the
next chapters out as more and more new material starts to thread its way
into the Dark Hearts universe I have created./
/I hope you aren't completely disappointed by my lack of updates, and I
humbly thank all of you who continue to review and urge me to update soon. /
/Until next time…/
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