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The Ice
Queen
A J/7 Advent
Calendar Story 2008 by Gun Brooke
Disclaimer
6
“I’m
sorry, Seven of Nine. We have to go on without you. You were
never part of our crew anyway, more like a stray we picked
up along the way out of necessity.” Captain Janeway smiled
wryly, her narrow lips mocking her. Seven wanted to cry, to
rant and rave toward the woman who’d made her almost believe
she belonged with her and the Voyager crew, but she couldn’t
move, merely stand there with tears running down her cheeks.
Janeway’s face shifted, one moment the captain looked at her
with devotion only to switch to dismay and contempt in a
second. Seven knew she wouldn’t be able to hold it together
much longer. She would have to leave, as much as it would
pain her to be away from Janeway.
“Regeneration cycle complete.” The familiar voice of
Voyager’s mainframe computer scattered the odd dream
sequences from Seven’s mind. She rarely dreamed during her
regeneration cycles hooked up to the portable regen-device,
and if she did, the images were flighty and bypassed her
eidetic memory. Now she shuddered at the cruel dream and
refused any attempt to figure out why her mind would torture
her like that.
Seven
donned her down jacket after making sure her biosuit was not
visible underneath the coverall she used while working. She
wished she could have spared a moment to work on the Delta
Flyer’s communication and sensor arrays, but knew it would
have to wait until she could sneak out next time, most
likely in the middle of the night.
Outside,
Seven shuddered at the freezing cold wind that seemed to
penetrate her triple layered clothes. She gazed up at he
starry sky, this far up north the sun set early in the
afternoon. She saw the now familiar constellations and
thought of Janeway and how adamant she was to bring her crew
home to Alpha Quadrant. Not long ago the captain had invited
Seven to dinner in the captain’s quarters, and Seven was
still trying to decipher what the captain could have meant
by the words that Seven knew by heart at this point. Janeway
had never spoken to her like that before, and now Seven
wished she’d been brave enough to analyze and ask questions.
Now Janeway was lost to her forever.
Now she
would never know.
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