Forget Me Not
Part 3
By: Sparx
Seven didn’t bother to turn when B’Elanna stopped just behind her. "She will defer to me, Captain."
"I’d like to believe that Seven, but how can you be sure." Janeway asked with a frown.
With that Seven abruptly turned to B’Elanna and held out her hand.
Neelix was the only one who stood at the proper angle so that he could see what was in the smaller womans hand. Only his faith that Seven knew what she was doing kept him from firing his weapon. Even with that faith, he let his finger rest heavily on the trigger. His position gave him the best shot at the wild woman. If B’Elanna chose to attack he’d have less than a second to decide what to do.
"Give me the machete." Seven stated calmly.
A gasp went around the group as everyone suddenly noticed that B’Elanna was holding one of the lethally sharp machetes. As they watched the engineers grip tighten, they all realized that Seven had not just faced a feral Klingon but an armed feral Klingon. Their respect for the ex-Borg rose tenfold.
"C.c.c.aptain," Neelix stuttered, unsure of himself.
B’Elanna spun at the new voice and instinctively raised the hand holding the machete. Neelix in reflex took a step back as his finger tightened on the trigger. Everyone else froze. Though there were over a dozen people in the clearing Neelix was the only one standing at the proper angle to safely take a shot at B’Elanna.
"B’Elanna!" Seven’s voice was sharp and intense as she tried to bring the hybrids attention back to herself. B’Elanna ignored Seven. Her nostrils flared as she picked up the scent of fear pouring off the small man. With a snarl she took a step toward the Talaxian. Before she could complete that step, Neelix fired.
It was a stunned group that watched B’Elanna totally ignore the sedative coursing through her system. With a casual flick she pulled the needle like dart from her shoulder and continued to advance on the now terrified man.
Seven quickly grabbed the smaller woman from behind, wrapping one arm round her waist while she took B’Elanna’s wrist in a Borg enhanced grip. Janeway motioned for the rest to stand back and let Seven handle the feral engineer.
"Drop it!" Seven ordered harshly.
With a snarl, B’Elanna let go of the machete. Harry quickly rushed over and kicked it out of reach where one of the crewmen quickly picked it up.
"Why do you protect that coward?" she questioned roughly as she strained against Seven’s grip.
"He is not a coward." Seven replied reasonably as she ignored B’Elanna’s struggling and easily held the smaller woman back.
"You lie! I can smell his fear." B’Elanna sneered. Neelix once again took a reflexive step back as the hybrids struggles seemed to renew.
"He may fear you, but he is no coward. A coward would have tried to run from you. Mr. Neelix did not run." Seven answered.
B’Elanna abruptly stopped struggling. With Seven holding her immobile and this new information to process all the fight suddenly left her. After a long moment to be sure that B’Elanna had truly calmed down, Seven let her go. Seven then walked calmly towards the path back to their camp. Without so much as a glace for the rest of the crew B’Elanna followed Seven to the edge of the clearing.
"Ok everyone, show’s over. Let’s get back to camp and get to work on the probe. Tom you take the lead." Janeway ordered.
As the group began to move back into the forest, Janeway motioned Harry and Tom aside.
"That dart didn’t even slow her down." Harry said as soon as the rest were out of earshot.
"I noticed." Katherine answered, pushing her thick hair back out of her eyes. "I also noticed that she was about to attack Mr. Neelix."
"She said she could smell his fear. Whatever that means." Tom added. "At least Seven got her to stop."
Katherine took a breath and laid out her observations. She desperately hoped that she was wrong.
"What it means is that she’s immune to the sedative. Klingons have very acute senses so she’s probably picking up on our increased heart rates and respiration and such. Hell, she can probably detect our pheremones. She can, literally, smell our fear. She is half Klingon. Sensing fear in others makes them more aggressive. The only one here who can match her strength is Seven. The sedative we’ve been relying on as some kind of trump card is useless. She can and will attack any of us if she feels sufficiently provoked. Judging by what happened just now, simply startling her is all the provocation she needs at the moment."
"Captain, this just got a whole lot more dangerous didn’t it?" Harry whispered.
"Yes it did." Janeway answered softly. "We’re going to have to keep a very close eye on B’Elanna. I’m hoping that once she gets used to us she’ll calm down some, but until then Seven is going to have her hands full."
