Day of Honor - Michael Jan Friedman [61]
"Right," she replied.
She wrapped one arm around Tom's shoulder to keep him from drifting away as she worked. Then, since that didn't feel secure enough, she hooked her right leg around his left one.
Suddenly, B'Elanna was overwhelmed by the ludicrousness of their situation. Despite the circumstances, she laughed out loud. "I hope no one has us on a viewscreen," she chuckled.
Tom's voice softened. "Tell me, Lieutenant. Why is it we have to get beamed into space, dressed in thick environmental suits ... before I can initiate first contact procedures?"
The engineer shot him a discouraging look. "Why is it if we're alone for more than thirty seconds, you start thinking about 'contact'?"
He wagged a finger at her. "Not fair, B'Elanna. Not fair at all. The other day in engineering, I must have gone four or five minutes before I started thinking about it."
She scowled at him. Then, with dogged determination, she completed her work. "Okay," she said at last. "I think I've got our comm systems interplexed. I'm going to initiate the carrier wave."
B'Elanna tapped the appropriate controls. Suddenly, there was an earsplitting whine. She could see Tom react in openmouthed shock as the sound filled his helmet.
"Sorry!" she said.
She fiddled with the controls some more. Finally, the whine subsided.
"Better?" she asked.
"Yeah. Was that what your shower sounded like?"
"No," B'Elanna told him. "The shower was worse."
He shook his head. "Let's hope the signal is still that strong by the time it gets to Voyager."
B'Elanna looked around them. "Let's hope," she echoed.
THE CAPTAIN WAS SITTING AT THE DESK IN HER READY room, reviewing a long list of damage reports. After all, the ejection of the ship's warp core had had any number of cascade effects-a disturbing percentage of them critical to Voyager's operation.
Hearing a chime, Captain Janeway looked up from her monitor. She had no doubt as to who was on the other side of the door.
"Come in," she said.
The door slid aside and Seven of Nine walked in. As before, the Borg didn't say anything. She just stood there.
The captain got to her feet. "Would you like a cup of coffee?" she asked. "Perhaps some tea?"
"I have no need to ingest liquids," the Borg informed her. "I still receive energy from the Borg alcove."
Janeway nodded. Yes, she thought. Of course you do.
"But my understanding is that you're almost ready to begin eating food like everyone else."
Seven of Nine's expression didn't change one iota. Her only response was, "That is what the Doctor says."
"Well, he should know," said Janeway.
Seven of Nine blinked. "Why have you asked me here?"
The captain indicated the informal seating area off to her right, by the observation port. "Please," she said.
The Borg seemed to understand what she meant. As she sat down, Janeway crossed the room and took a seat beside Seven of Nine. Then the captain gathered her thoughts, wanting to be as precise and inoffensive as possible.
"Whenever there's an accident on the ship," she began, "even a minor one, we investigate it. Rather thoroughly, sometimes. That way, we minimize the chances of its happening again."
"A prudent course of action," the Borg remarked.
"I didn't have a chance to talk to Lieutenant Torres before she left the ship," the captain continued. "So I wanted to ask you some questions about what happened in engineering."
Seven of Nine looked unflinchingly at Janeway. "Go right ahead."
The captain didn't hurry. "Sensor logs indicate that tachyons were leaking into the warp core. Do you have any idea how it started?"
"No," said the Borg. "We had reconfigured the deflector shield to emit tachyon bursts, in order to open the transwarp conduits. The procedure must have triggered the leak."
"I see," Janeway said. "And who was controlling the tachyon bursts?"
Seven of Nine didn't hesitate. "Ensign Vorik."
"What were you doing?"
"Monitoring the transwarp frequencies."
"And did you at any time access deflector control?"
"No," said