The BLTS Archive - And Then... 
by Ralst (ralst31@yahoo.co.uk)

---

Disclaimer: Voyager and its characters are the property of
Paramount etc. Note: Just a tiny bit of fluff to restore my
sanity after a trying day.

---

Ensign Perez sneered at the data padd he was holding, the
grim facial expression marring an otherwise angelic visage;
he had managed to evade more than his fare share of
demeaning duties thanks to his boyish good looks but, with
his rotation in engineering, his luck had come to an end.
"Slave driver," he mumbled. "Thinks I'm some kind of pet
targ," he complained to the uninterested world around him.
"It's inhuman."

Crewman Chen, who had been trying to finish his meal in
peace, made the mistake of asking just who Perez was
complaining about.

"The Klingon, who else." Perez shoved the data padd in the
other man's face. "Thinks she can work me into the ground."

Chen had only a sparse knowledge of engineering but, despite
her renowned temper and workaholic tendencies, he had never
heard any complaints about the chief working her people to
death. Sure, if there was an emergency, she expected
everyone to put in triple the effort, on half the sleep, but
when the lives of everyone aboard depended on you being able
to run for the hills, it was expected.

"I'm sure she's not asking any more from you than she is
from the others," he tried to placate, but Perez was hearing
none of it.

"She thinks she can get away with anything, just because the
captain's too soft to put her in the brig where her kind
belong." Perez's voice rose and soon half the mess hall was
listening in to his ravings. "A proper Starfleet officer
would never have tried anything like this."

An unhealthy murmuring started in the background and more
than one person present had to restrain themselves from
approaching the irate man and making him eat his words;
Seven of Nine, however, appeared less inclined to deny the
impulse and smoothly inserted herself between Perez and an
embarrassed looked Chen.

"Ensign," Seven interrupted. "I believe a proper Starfleet
officer would know better than to cast aspersions on his
superiors in such a manner." She wrenched the data padd from
his hand and quickly scanned it. "This is a standard duty
rotation," she intoned. "I can therefore only assume that
your grievance arises from, what I believe is termed,
laziness."

"Now listen here . . ."

"No. You listen." Seven's voice took on a cold tone
reminiscent of her earliest days aboard Voyager. "You will
not disparage Lieutenant Torres in this fashion ever again.
Do you understand me?"

Perez looked towards Chen for assistance but the other man
was nodding his head in agreement with Seven's command.

"No ma'am," Perez replied grudgingly.

With undue care Seven placed the data padd on the table in
front of Perez and walked, serenely, out of the mess hall.

---

"Then," said Crewman Doran, "Seven slammed the data padd
into his chest and stormed from the room." She smiled
conspiratorially at the group gathered around her. "I even
heard her swearing under her breath in Klingon as she did
it."

---

"She threw the data padd at him with such force that he
ended up flat on his back in the middle of the mess hall,
Seven standing over him like some wild woman, demanding that
he apologise to the chief or else she'd assimilate him where
he stood."

---

"Her tubules were at his throat and if it hadn't been for a
team from security she would have assimilated him there and
then," Ensign Craig lowered her voice, more than aware that
the chief was nearby, and not wanting to find herself on
report and facing her boss's wrath. "That's when she started
shouting at him in Klingon and threatening to tear him limb
from limb if he so much as looked at the chief the wrong
way."

---

"Perez ended up in sickbay," Harry informed the others on
the bridge. "The Doc doesn't know if he'll make it."

---

"She killed him where he stood." Jennifer Delaney told her
sister. "Blood and guts everywhere, and Seven cursing like a
Klingon sailor on shore leave." Her voice dropped to a
whisper. "I heard it's all part of some weird Klingon mating
ritual and, according to Jefferson in security, we're lucky
Seven didn't take out the entire mess hall while she was at
it."

---

"Blood was dripping down her face and people were running
screaming in every direction, but Seven just walked in, as
calm as you like, and backed the chief up against the
barrier to the warp core, before she laid the mother of all
kisses on her."

---

"They were tearing each others clothes off, and swearing
oaths in Klingon," Tal Celes confided, her cheeks rosy red
as the images danced before her eyes. "I'm not sure, but I
think they took 'The Oath' right there, on the floor of
engineering, with half of the alpha shift looking on." Her
eyes misted over. "Isn't it romantic?"

---

B'Elanna walked into Astrometrics, an amused and mildly
confused smile on her face; ship's scuttlebutt would have it
that she'd just spent the last two hours in the throes of
passion, and although amused at the thought, she was curious
to know exactly how she'd ended up married to a bloodthirsty
former Borg and putting on a show for all the voyeurs who
obviously lived on the ship.

"Hey, Seven, can I have a word?"

Seven refrained from mentioning that the lieutenant had
already had a number of them, although the thought was
written clearly on her face. "Yes, Lieutenant, how can I
assist you?"

"You can start by not killing every idiot who talks about me
behind my back." B'Elanna's smile rose at the sight of
confusion covering Seven's face. "And the public displays of
affection have to stop." She rethought that. "At least all
those involving nudity and copulating on the floor of
engineering."

"Indeed."

"And don't, under any circumstances, force me to take 'The
Oath' while in the company of others. It is a . . ."

"Sacred ceremony only to be witnessed by those to whom
Kahless has given the blood urge to mate," Seven finished.
"I am well aware of the intricacies of Klingon mating
rituals."

"Good." B'Elanna looked about the room, determining that
they were, indeed, alone. "Now come over here and give me a
kiss, before I'm forced to break one of my own rules and
make a naked spectacle of us both."

With the barest hint of a smile, Seven obeyed the demand,
her confusion replaced by the familiar and more than welcome
feel of her lover's arms encircling her body.

Unseen by the two, otherwise occupied, women, Tal Celes
crept from the room.

---

"And then B'Elanna ripped the bio-suit straight down the
middle and . . ."

---

The End