Alternate Conclusions
By H.W.
Overall rating.
NC-17 or Adult or whatever the rating is where you live where you have to also be old enough to buy alcohol and cigarettes.
No, there aren’t any sex scenes in this story, but there will probably be a few flashes of a hand touching something that can't be shown on primetime TV.
The high rating is simply to simply have it over with an have all covered. Probably some hot touching, probably someone also losing a head or so... literally... in the violence department. Stuff like that.
Disclaimer.
Don't own them, but I wish I did. Oh, the fun I could have with having them act out my stories.
This story is a continuation of the stories 'Alternate Choices' and 'Alternate Consequences.' This story will make absolutely no sense unless you have read those two stories first. Best places to find them are: athenaeum author's pages/hw and www.ralst.com
Naomi Wildman disclaimer.
Let me remind again that if Naomi Wildman is mentioned in any of my stories, as she is in the AU, she grows up 2x as fast as a normal human. At the end of Alternate Consequences, Naomi was eight years old. This story plays in the time after that. So she is at least eight, if not closer to nine. Which means that Naomi has the body and mental maturity that compares to a 16-18 year old. So at some point in this story, I will deal with her liking someone and starting a (at that point non-sexual) relationship. If you have a problem with that I would honestly just suggest skipping that part of the story since it's really just a small part.
However, if you are thinking about complaining about how I dare to write about a child being in a relationship and that I just made up that thing about her aging twice as fast, let me first point you to the OFFICIAL Star Trek page at: https://intl.startrek.com/database_article/naomiwildman
Where it clearly states:
The Ktarian half of Naomi's physiology caused her to grow very quickly; by the age of two, she resembled a four-year-old human child.
All I did was simply extend that to the age she was at the end of the TV series, at which point this story after all plays.
Don't be disappointed Disclaimer.
When I started to write this series I had a clear story line in my mind. That story line ended with 'the end' at the end of 'Alternate Consequences'. However, while writing those two first stories, scenes came to my mind. How would this be done, how would that be possible? This is what this third story is going to be about. So, don't expect any clever plots, unexpected twists, tip of the seat suspense; there won't be any. This story will simply be about Intendant Phoenix building the Phoenix Alliance, nothing more, nothing less. So basically, this whole story is nothing more than me having fun with a fictional society.
Lot of people you know Disclaimer.
In the first two stories I made sure to incorporate some people of Star Trek, but keep them at a number that's believable. In this story I'm turning that around. I actually made an effort to hop online and find characters I can use in this story. So, say hi to characters like Leeta, Commander Donatra, Ezri, and others.
Not exactly the right age Disclaimer.
I also took some liberties with time. I have characters in here from TNG, DS9, and Voyager. So, there is actually ten years of age between Deanna Troi and B'Elanna Torres, to name just two. I took the liberty of simply ignoring that slight age difference. After all, this story is also about the fun of having all these people in a story. Since I don't actually say how old the characters are in the story, with the exception of something like three people, simply picture them like you like to picture them. If you think Deanna is twenty years old, then she is, if you think she is forty, then she is. Simple as that.
Inconsistency Disclaimer.
In the first two stories I made a lot of stuff up as I went along. This was fine since I was only giving a global explanation anyway. Now that I'm going to dive into detail about stuff, you may find that I will contradict or bend some of the things in this story compared to what I said in the first two stories. Don't worry, I will try to keep in line with things I did in the first two stories, so a dead person (like Janeway) won't suddenly be alive again.
It's more about small things, like me saying that slaves were used equally for all tasks. Well, I found out that the Gorn are described as immensely strong and close to immune to physical attacks. It makes sense that such a species would be used more for mining. So something like that might change. As I said, little stuff, but nothing major. I like to work with the things I already established and use that as fact... just change a few things where it's better for this story.
Distance Disclaimer.
While I was able to gloss over it in my first two stories, you might, or already might have, notice that the distances I use don't really make sense. Meaning, journeys seem to last days, weeks, months at most. Yet at other times I'll talk about how long a journey would be.
Here is the deal. The Starfleet Federation is 8,000 light-years across. So from that I guess that the Coalition is about 14,000 light-years across, but for easier calculation, let me say it's 'only' 12,000 LY across. Now, at warp 9 that would take 6 years; just for a one way trip from border to border, making no stops and going warp 9 all the time. See my problem? If I want people to be in different places, and don't want a trip to last months or years, I have to take great liberty with distances. So yes, they will say that a trip to Qo'noS will take two weeks. No, in reality that could never happen unless they had transwarp.
Planets not at the right place Disclaimer.
If you take the time to hop online and look up some of the species I mention you will notice that it's actually impossible for them to be so close. While you could (almost) get away with it with the slave species, there are also Risa and Orion. So please, let's just assume that since it's an Alternate Universe anyway, they are all in the location where I say they are.
Really they aren't all gay Disclaimer.
There will be quite some same sex relationships in this story. So much so that it may seem that suddenly everyone has turned gay. Rest assured this is not the case. In fact, I counted and the opposite sex relationships outnumber the same sex relationships. It's just that those are basically already established and I'm concentrating more on the lesbian relationships. For instance, I may show Torres/Seven, but besides that Harry and Tom are both in a relationship with one of the Delaney sisters each. That's already two straight relationships right there. So, that's already more opposite sex relationships right there, I'm just not showing those in much detail. It simply comes down to this; the lesbian relationships are more fun to write. :)
But if you want an explanation for all the same sex relationships that I as a writer find acceptable, it's this...
Actually, not all of them are clearly gay. I would instead say that most of them are bi-sexual. They simply like in a society where you aren’t judged on who you sleep with, just on who you are. As such a lot of people simply get together with the person they like, regardless of their gender. In fact, in is clearly stated that most of these characters have also slept with people of the opposite sex. As far as I remember on the top of my head, I only stated clearly that Torres has never slept with a man. For the rest, most, or all also slept with the opposite sex. For instance, it is stated in Alternate Consequences that Deanna and Jadzia regularly share a male sex slave. Or in other words, they have a threesome with a male sex slave that really loves his job.
Same sex relationships.
This is an F/F story. So there are women in this story who love women, and I mean LOVE.
Sex rating.
Eh, the lights still go out when things become interesting, (darn) but there will be sexual innuendo and some plain talk about it as well. Paramount settled us with this 'Klingons have rough sex' nonsense. In these stories I turned this around a bit to 'Klingons have a very active sex life'. So don't be surprised if you see the subject of sex coming up on a regular basis. Because of that I'm giving this story a PG-13/R rating as far as sex is concerned.
But, there will probably be one or two minutes of NC-17 stuff in there on occasion. But let me stress this, these are NOT whole love scenes. It are merely cases of the lights going out a minute too late, or a touch between lovers being.... very adult... but still only being that one touch for that moment. So despite that I still consider it an R rated story.
If you are desperate for Adult sex scenes, may I suggest my other story, called 'Princess'. It has several sex scenes that are described in great detail and are full chapters in length.
Violence rating.
Yeah there will probably be some. But if you read the first two stories and could live with that violence, you'll be fine with this one. Just to make it easy on myself though let me give it an R rating nevertheless.
Master/Slave.
Fact is, Torres and Seven like their master/slave relationship, so even though the have the same rank now, in their private life it's still 'Mistress' and 'Pet'.
Author's note 1:
I'll be mentioning quite some names in this story.
For a who's who in the Phoenix Alliance government, go to:
(Be advised that this is a graphically heavy site, and contains a bunch of spoilers.)
Author note 2:
For a description of Starfleet medals like the ones mentioned in chapter 6, go to:
http://www.memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Decoration
Author note 3:
For a description of the space ships mentioned in this story (if they exist) Go to:
Or
Author note 4:
I for one really liked the 2009 Star Trek movie. However, according to it Romulus will be destroyed about ten years after this story plays. Just know that this is not in de foreseeable future for Romulus in my story. If you want the real reason why not... I don't like it. If you want a fictional explanation... this story plays in an Alternate Universe/reality and in this one the star that went nova and destroyed Romulus is actually very stable and will probably continue to shine for a few billion years yet.
And with that ?,??? words long Disclaimer being covered...
Alternate Conclusions.
By H.W.
Prologue.
A young Betazoid sat in her room looking out of the window, but not really seeing the beautiful scenery outside. Tomorrow she would become twenty-one. She would become an independent. Normally this was a great day. It was when Betazoids went from being considered children to people that could have businesses, fulfilled jobs, or made the choice to concentrate on the family for the rest of their life.
For her it wasn't a beautiful day. For she knew that she could never have a business, nor could she become an important family member. There were already too many of those. She had four older siblings and there was no way that she could ever become the family Matriarch. Besides, she would never be able to cope in that position for long. No, she would never be anything else than just a member of a famous family; someone that would get a mindless job in one of the family businesses simply to keep her busy. She sighed, wishing that her life wasn't so damn boring. Reluctantly she got up, it was time to go watch the Grand Assembly.
On Torres' planet a slave sat down and waited for the Grand Assembly to start. He sighed. He knew that he had a good life; Torres had kept her promise and now all he had to do was make sure that the technology in Torres' home continued to function properly. No, he had a great life, no worries, no pressures... it was just that nobody had ever told him that a good life could be so damn boring.
A woman that had escaped slavery sixteen years ago sat down and raked her hands through her hair in frustration. She knew that it was just so damn easy to give in, to act just like the others... but she couldn't. She had escaped looking for a better life, and now that she was the leader of one of the factions on Homestead, she wanted to provide the people she protected with that better life. But she knew that she was fighting a losing battle. The word had reached her; the others were negotiating a deal that would end in them taking over her territory.
She knew that just like the others she needed allies, but there were none to have. All the others were just interested in the fact that they were in charge and would do anything to stay in charge. Because of that they allied themselves, or fought, with each other depending on what they wanted to achieve that week. But there really wasn't anyone else like her; anyone that actually cared about the people that lived in the territory she controlled. She sighed; she knew that there really wasn't anything she could do about it now. She got up and moved to her living room. She wanted to sit comfortably while watching the Grand Assembly. She wondered what kind of crap they would come up with now.
In the Universe where Voyager came from, a Federation Captain that was assumed dead, but never the less only listed as Missing In Action, was told that his stay would end soon. Soon his presence was requested in linear time.
Four people, four completely different backgrounds. Nothing in common except for one thing.
Soon their lives would change in ways that they had never even imagined in their wildest dreams.
Chapter 1
"So Intendant Phoenix, what is your next course of action?" Torres asked amused when she and Seven had entered the Intendant's waiting hall; the place where the Intendants always gathered during the Grand Assemblies.
"Want to go over to the Bajorans and ask them for their help in getting your friends home?" She asked while pointing in the direction of the two Bajoran women. "Your friends could be home, their home, within days."
"That sounds like a good plan," Seven agreed. "They have seen several options to get home, only to see them disappear right in front of them. It will be good for them to finally have an option of getting home that does not disappear. For once the words 'a way to get home' are real. I believe they will like hearing them, and I also believe that I will like the fact that I will be the one to tell them; 'I have a way home for you'."
Seven sighed before adding, "I just hope that they will not take me up on the offer."
What?" Torres asked, floored by the admission. "Baby, for almost a year now we have been talking about getting your friends home, and now you hope they don't want to go home? What gives?"
"Mistress, for that year I was merely a slave and I wanted my friends to be able to get home. I still do wish for my friends to get home. However I am now the Intendant of the Phoenix Alliance. While I do appreciate the fact that all the other factions, especially the Klingons, give me and the new faction so much support, I find myself in a position where I am in the need for people I can trust completely. I have extremely important positions to fill; positions that could bring the end of the Phoenix Alliance if they were filled by the wrong people. Because of this I was hoping that I could convince at least some of my friends to stay and help me out."
She looked at the Bajorans once more. "What I would like to talk about with the Bajorans is their help in getting my friends home, and the promise to get friends that stay here home at a later time if they want to."
"You want your friends to know that they can go home at any time and don't have to choose once and for all between going and staying," Torres said in understanding. "You don't want them to have that pressure of making a permanent choice now."
"Indeed," Seven agreed. "However, I also have to keep in mind that even if some of my friends do decide to stay, I still will need more people that I can trust. So the first thing I will need to do is talk to Deanna."
"Deanna?" Torres asked confused.
"Yes, you will soon find out why," Seven said with a smile as she walked over to the Betazoid Intendant.
"Intendant Phoenix," Deanna said with a smile.
"Please, it is still Seven for my friends."
"Well then Seven. Now that it's all official, let me congratulate you and tell you that I hope that we will continue to work so well together on Intendant level."
"Thank you," Seven said sincerely. "I too hope that we can continue to work well together on Intendant level. I would also like to keep the level of Intendant and the level of friends separate. However, I find myself in a position where I have to ask you for a favor, as a friend."
"Which is not a good start for either the friends, or the Intendants," Deanna said in complete understanding. "After all, you are starting off from the very first minute by owing me. Why don't you tell me what favor you are looking for, and then we will see what we can do about it."
"Very well," Seven agreed. "As you know, I find myself in a position where I have to start building the entire government structure of a completely new faction. I will have to put people in positions where normally only people are placed that have years, if not decades, of good service; a track-record so to speak. I do not have these track-records of people. I will have to appoint people of whom I do not know if they truly can fulfill that position, but more importantly if they are trustworthy enough to be in those position. Therefore I wanted to ask you if you know of a Betazoid that would be willing to work as an adviser to me."
"You know, that's a common misconception," Deanna said, understanding what Seven meant. "A lot of people think that Betazoids are the perfect truth-seer. Fact is; we aren't living lie-detectors. It is sooo known that we can read minds, but what people seem to forget just sooo easily is that we can read minds from people that don't take the effort to block us. For instance, I have never been able to read your mind, simply because you have such an organized and strong mind. Now, I can feel how you feel. I can feel your gratitude for something. But I cannot read a single thought of you."
"Interesting," Seven said. "And something I admit I like hearing. It is after all a very convenient situation for a leader who has to think about things that could alter the lives of billions if it would be known too soon."
"True," Deanna agreed. "But you aren't the only one. I can't read the minds of the other Intendants either, for different reasons. With the exception of Jadzia of course. But even there the ease of it varies on just how much she opens her mind for me. Jetur is also an exception, but I have a feeling that Ro will train her soon on how to close her mind. So as you can see, mind reading is not as simple a tool as it may look at first glance."
"And me?" Torres asked bluntly.
"You differ," Deanna admitted. "It all depends on what we are doing. When we are having negotiations, when we negotiated about the conditions for agreeing to support the freeing of slaves... nothing. But the more you relax, the more you open yourself up. Remember, at Seven's birthday I could read just how sincere you were about what you might do. And,"
Deanna hesitated for a moment and looked at Seven. "Forgive me, but since you know that Torres and I once negotiated very... closely," she looked back at Torres. "When we made love you were completely open. I knew exactly what you wanted and how."
Before Torres could speak up, Jadzia placed a quick kiss on Deanna's neck; reminding them all just how relationship ties were woven at that point. "It's one of the things I love so much about her; she always knows exactly what I want."
Torres nodded and then smirked. "So does Seven. But, Deanna, if it's that easy to block, then why is it so wildly known that you can read minds?" This subject had never come up between them, so she was more than curious to the answer.
"Two reasons really," Deanna explained. "First of all, not everyone has the kind of mind that you need in order to survive as an Intendant. Again, take Jetur. Let's be honest; without Ro at her side we other Intendants would be eating her alive."
She smirked. "And I don't mean the kind of eating we ladies here all enjoy. But for the most part, the average Bajoran, or Cardassian, Or... well, your average person really with the exception of a few species that we can't read at all, all of them have a mind we can get in to, if on different levels for different people."
"So the average person of the street is no match for you," Torres clarified. "But since we all have learned long ago not to 'show' what we think, that kinda seeped into our mind as well and there we now also don't 'show' what we think?"
Deanna frowned. "Well, that explanation is pretty much wrong on all levels, and yet it surprisingly covers exactly the basic result."
Torres chuckled. "Annoying, isn't it? So what is that second reason you were talking about?"
Deanna's frown changed into her trademark charming and sophisticated gentle smile. "Second of all, many people mistake our other ability for mindreading. As you know, we can sense emotions. But a lot of people underestimate just what falls into that. Just when is an emotion an emotion? I can sense if someone is hungry enough to eat dinner, but would you call that an emotion? Point is, we sense the emotions of people, react to that, and because of that those people think that we actually read their mind even though we didn't."
She nodded in Seven's direction to indicate her. "And to come back to Seven's question, that's also the problem. We sense emotions, and most of our perceived mindreading is the evaluation of the feelings we feel people have. But the problem is that someone could be lying to us until they are blue in the face. As long as their emotions have an overall feeling of sincerity to them, we will be inclined to think that they are telling the truth. This is the very reason why my mother had me. She knew that some of my emphatic abilities would be limited, but because of that I wouldn't trust blindly on them like most Betazoids do."
"I am aware of that part," Seven assured. "And it is actually the overall feeling that I am looking for. Thanks to my Borg enhancements I can actually determine better than the average person if someone is lying to me. But when I am speaking to someone I do not know what they would probably do at a later time. From what they say now I still do not know if they are a person that will do their best to manage the government credits, or if it is a person that does their best to steal as many credits as possible."
"Oh? You can tell if someone is lying; should we get worried?" Jadzia asked from beside her lover and fellow Intendant Deanna.
"I said better," Seven said amused. "I can see clear things; like someone hesitating too long before answering, someone suddenly starting to sweat, starting to blush, and faster breathing. However, I am not able to see such clear signs in people that are used to deception."
"Like us Intendants, conniving bunch that we are," Jadzia smirked.
"Well, I'm sure that there will be millions of Betazoids that would want the job of adviser to an Intendant, even if it's the newest Intendant," Deanna assured. "I'm sure I won't have any problem finding a good candidate for you. Having said that, I don't see why you would call this asking for a favor."
"Because that is not the favor part," Seven said. "The problem is; how do I know if I can trust the person that tells me who I can trust?"
"Ah, the age old problem," Deanna said, now in complete understanding. "This is just another version of the famous question: who watches the watcher? How can you know if the person that tells you that it is better not to hire someone is telling you this because it is true, or because they have their own agenda? How would you know if a Betazoid adviser is truly working for you, or actually working for the Betazoids? How would you know if we aren't slipping a spy into your staff? How could we do better; have the adviser of the Intendant actually be a spy of ours?"
"Indeed," Seven merely agreed.
"So the favor that you are asking me, as a friend, is that I give you a suggestion for an adviser that is a person that you can trust completely," Deanna clarified. "That I don't use this perfect opportunity to plant a Betazoid spy and instead suggest a person that truly only reports to you and nobody else?"
"Indeed," Seven merely said again.
Deanna was quiet for a moment, clearly thinking about the question. Suddenly she smiled, it was the broadest and most unguarded smile Seven had ever seen the Betazoid give. It totally broke the dignified aura Deanna had around herself all the time. "Well, my friend Seven. I just so happen to know a person that would be perfect, and if you don't mind that I'll be indulging in a little nepotism we can help each other out. No favors, no 'I owe you's,' nothing."
"I do not mind the nepotism, as long as the person is truly working for me," Seven assured before asking, "Who is this person?"
"My baby sister. She will turn twenty-one tomorrow, and up to this point it seemed that she was doomed to some mindless job doing nothing but look busy. She would be perfect for you."
"Why is she not suited for a real job, yet she would be perfect for the job of my Adviser?" Seven asked with a frown.
"Because she just has to tell you what she feels, right? You want a Betazoid to basically stand beside you when you talk to people and then tell you later what she thinks of the conversation. You aren't looking for someone to actually advise you on what you should do. You don't want someone to actually tell you that she thinks it's better to not agree to a deal, right?"
Seeing that her explanation wasn't clear enough, Deanna suddenly asked, "Do you know the expression 'not a mean bone in her body'?"
"I do."
"Well, my sister is the personification of that saying. And that's the problem. How can you let someone manage a business if that person sells items under the purchase price because she feels sorry for the buyer? How can you have someone make a deal if the person doesn't want to say no? My baby sister, who I'm extremely protective of I might add, is such a person. She wants to do good. If she were to be that Adviser you are looking for she can do good. She can help build a life for countless people. Yet at the same time there won't be the pressure of it all depending on her because she simply tells you what kind of feeling she got from a certain person."
Deanna lifted her hands a little in the universally known 'hey' gesture. "It's not up to her if you agree to a deal. It might be that you still make a deal with an extremely untrustworthy person because the deal is too good to pass up, and you have the power of your lover here behind you to kick that person's ass if they don't keep to the deal. Same goes for people to hire; it's eventually your decision, not hers. She merely tells you what she feels."
Seven dipped her head. "She does sound like a very suitable candidate. The only thing I would need to know for sure is that she, being your sister, does indeed only report to me."
Deanna smiled again, this time one of her normal beautiful, but dignified smiles. "I guess then your problem is not whether you can trust your Betazoid adviser, but whether you can trust the Betazoid Intendant to not ask her baby sister to spill a few secrets for her big sister."
"It would seem like it," Seven agreed. Then she answered Deanna's smile with one of her own. "So, when can I expect my new adviser?"
"Well, I first have to ask her if she wants the job, but I would be surprised if she didn't. Then give her a few days to say goodbye to her friends and family before she can only talk to them on a view-screen. Add actually having to travel to wherever you want to meet up with her... I would say two weeks."
"That will give me time to meet up with Voyager and see who of them wants to stay. Once I know that I can start filling positions and then start looking for other people to put in strategic positions. For which I might have to talk to you both at some point, but then as Intendant," Seven said to the three other women.
"Alright then," Torres said with a nod. "Now let's play nice and make things easy for Seven here." Torres raised her voice a little and looked around the room at the other Intendants. "Alright people. Now that Seven here is an official colleague of ours, I think that the best thing to do is to keep working in the open way that we are now. We amongst each other know exactly what everyone gained and will gain from supporting Seven and by ending slavery. I think it's a good idea to keep being so open, at least as far as that part of the dealings between us is concerned. Therefore I would like to invite you all to a nice dinner; a little unofficial get together where we can talk freely about things without it, yet, being binding deals. That way we all know where we are at."
Once the others had nodded their agreement, Torres continued. "After that we will fill you in on a few things that you need to know. It will explain a few things Worf wants done, and why he already agreed to certain things."
"Can you be any more confusing?" Dukat asked amused.
Torres grinned. "I could, but where is the fun in that? It's already confusing enough. But to give you, Dukat, a little impression. You have seen my Pet's sister right?"
"Right?" Dukat said slowly, wanting to see if Torres would also let the others know when this was. But apparently Torres was more than willing to keep his little hobby a secret for the other Intendants.
"Well," Torres continued. "They are actually not sisters; they are one and the same person. You all know about that wormhole we are guarding with weapon platforms?"
The others nodded, with the exception of the Bajoran women because they hadn't read up on reports so far yet.
Torres saw their look and explained mostly for them, and also as a reminder to the others. "That wormhole leads to an alternate universe. Now, about one year ago a ship traveled from there to here. I took position of that ship, and my Pet was on it."
The whole ship Torres?" Dukat asked. "Really."
Torres grinned. "Hey, you never asked where a ship we have never seen here before came from."
Then she became more serious. "Now, that ship has technology vastly advanced to ours, and we are going to use it. With we, I mean all of is... but we have to do it in a way that it isn't too obvious."
"Why?" Shinze asked.
"To prevent questions like 'why' from other people," Torres explained, and this time there was nothing but complete seriousness to see on her face. "Some of the things we do, if only we Klingons did it, it would seem to the Coalition that we are getting ready for a war, getting ready to conquer you all. As you all know, we Klingons are actually quite happy with the power division we now have. We don't want more, and we also don't want people to get nervous. So instead the changes we will make will have to be made throughout all parties and make it seem to the public at large that this is nothing more than normal evolution of new things happening and obviously all wanting the new."
Deanna nodded. "I still have no idea what you are on about, but I do know for a fact that you are right there. Only we at the very top know that you Klingons don't want to conquer us all, those spies we all have are a very nice tool. But most people just don't believe that Klingons are capable to sit back and not start a fight if they have a chance to fight."
"Yeah, imagine that; Klingons can actually think," Torres said with a grin, but then turning serious again. "As I said, it all has to look obvious and normal. Because what I told you until now was the good part. Now comes the bad part. Seven also told us about some threats that exist in her universe. We don't know if they exist here as well, but Worf wants us to be prepared in case they do."
"What kind of threats?" Now it had been Jadzia that had asked.
"As I said, I'll explain more later on, but for now," Torres looked at Seven and said, "My pet, why don't you introduce yourself in a little more detail?"
Seven nodded and started to explain. "You all know me by the name of Seven of Nine. Yet none of you ever asked why I would have numbers as my name."
Dukat shrugged. "We only found out just now that you aren’t from this universe, I just assumed that it was something done by the person that sold you to Torres. As in, the seventh slave of a bunch of nine for that day, and Torres not bothering to give you a different name."
"And soon you will wish that this was the reason," Seven said. "However, it is not. Seven of Nine is short for my full designation. I am Seven of Nine, Tertiary Adjunct of Unimatrix Zero-One, and I am Borg."
"Show them your little party trick," Torres said, handing Seven one of the PADD computer units that were always placed in the Intendant gathering room in case one of them needed fast access to a computer. As Seven was taking the unit, Torres assured the others, "As you can see, this unit is idle and I haven't logged in."
Seven waited until Torres was finished talking before taking over. "Let me start by showing you why one of the first things I will do is to upgrade the security system used by you all at the moment. You place too much trust in the fact that it will take people time to get to files and that automated systems will have deleted the date before that time."
She looked at the others for a moment before finally settling on Dukat. "Intendant, would you mind if I used you as an example to show what every single Borg drone is capable of doing?"
"In what way?" Dukat asked.
"By me accessing your military data, only the level official spies would know as well of course, then finding where your fleets are at the moment, and then ordering the one that is the closest to the Klingon boarder back to Cardassia, and all of that in your name and under thirty seconds."
Dukat crossed his arms and smirked. "This I got to see, alright, you have my permission."
Seven plunged her assimilation tubes into the computer unit, making chills run down the backs of people that were used to seeing things most others never would. She made a direct connection to her cranial unit, and exactly twenty-seven seconds later she retracted her tubes and Dukat was no longer smirking. None of them were.
"Forget eating," Jadzia said, "And start talking. Are you sure you can come up with a system that is hack proof? All of the Borg can do that? How many are there?"
Before Seven could answer, Jetur spoke up, "And, on Bajor, I saw you lift a guy of the ground with one hand and keep him up like you could do that for hours if you had to. There is more than just being able to access a computer pretty damn fast, isn't there?"
"A lot more," Seven agreed. Then she glanced ad Jadzia, "And to answer your questions; yes I am, all of them can, and trillions. There are over 10.000 species in the Borg collective."
Torres grinned. "Now that we have your attention and you will probably believe us when we say stuff instead of thinking that it's just one more Klingon boast, let's start explaining. Seven, from the start please?"
~~~~~~~{}~~~~~~~
"So how is my favorite baby sister?" Deanna asked as she looked at her sister over the viewscreen.
"I am your only baby sister and I'm fine. Thank you for asking, very old sister of mine," Kastra replied with a smile. It seemed that she and her eighteen year older sister would never tire of playing their little game.
"Hmm, you don't seem fine to me," Deanna noted. "Why so sad baby sister? This should be a happy time. Tomorrow you are an adult. You will move on, get a job; leave the protective wings of our dearly beloved mother that has the habit of driving people into frustration."
"Yeah, and I'll be moving exactly one door away. And going to work in one of the family businesses where I'll be having the very thrilling job of keeping inventory," Kastra said sadly.
"Well, you don't have to take that job, you know," Deanna reminded. "You are an adult as of tomorrow, and you can take any job you want."
"And bring eternal shame to the family?" Kastra asked. "I can hear mother now, talking in her most diplomatic voice. 'Now Kastra, don't be silly. You know that working there won't be good for your career.' In other words, it won't look good for the family."
"Then I guess you will have to find a job that will look good for the family," Deanna countered with a smile. "Something that will give the family a huge boost in respect, something that will make it impossible for mother to say that there is a better job for you to have."
"Yeah, right. And just who would give such a job to someone like me? And just what kind of job is there that would make it impossible for mother to say that I can't do better. Deanna, you know I love you, but mother will always be able to say 'just look at your sister, she made it to Intendant'."
Deanna lifted her eyebrows a little. "You can remind mother that I'm not about to give up my job any time soon so my position is not available. This means that the only possible thing you could ever achieve would be to have the job of someone that has the ear of the Intendant; someone that can freely tell her mind to the Intendant. Someone like, oh I don't know, an Intendant adviser."
Kastra sighed. "Deanna, I appreciate what you are offering, I really do, but you know that I,"
"Not for me," Deanna interrupted. "Go on; take a look at the file I'm sending you now."
Kastra did so, calling up a split screen and looking at the data of the file that had just finished downloading. "Is this a joke?" She asked in a whisper when she had finished reading the file.
"No joke," Deanna assured. "A real position. One for you to excel at, or to mess up."
"But I couldn't."
"Kastra," Deanna said with a sigh. "You were complaining that you could never get a real important job; there's one right there. You worried about how any job you would get would affect the standing of the family. By taking this job you would raise the level of the family to a point where not only did the Troi's produce an Intendant, but also an Intendant Adviser, and that in one and the same generation. This position is perfect for you."
"I would only mess it up," Kastra blurred.
Now Deanna smiled. "You can't, as long as you are honest. That's the beauty of it. All you have to do is tell her honestly what you feel from a certain person. She won't be asking you for advice on deals. And even if she does, it would be up to her to decide whether she will follow your advice. As I told her when she asked me for a name; you might tell her that she can't trust someone, but she might still decide to agree to the deal that person wants to make simply because she might not be able to trust them, but she is in a position to browbeat them in to keeping up their part of the deal."
"Why would she do that?" Kastra asked confused.
Deanna shook her head a little. "My dear sister, you would be surprised at how often I, as the Betazoid Intendant, make deals with people while my mind is screaming at me not to do so. Why? Because I know that these people might screw me over if I was just a business person, but they will think twice before trying to screw over an Intendant who can simply confiscate all of their businesses and belongings, or ask one of the other Intendants to do so if they actually live in the other faction. See sister dear, there are some nice benefits to being at the top. You can even deal with people you know you can't trust. As Intendant Phoenix's Adviser those kind of decisions are not up to you, but up to her. You just honestly tell her what you are feeling. No pressure on you, but yet an extremely important and real job. Perfect for you."
Kastra looked at the data again, but mostly since she didn't want to look at her sister as she asked, "And does she want me as adviser because I'm perfect for the job, or only because you mentioned my name?"
"I'll be honest with you, Kastra," Deanna said. "Your name was the only one mentioned; I never did give her a choice between people. There is a reason for that though. Maybe, yes, maybe there might be people that are better for the job. I don't know; I didn't look. The thing is that Seven... that is Intendant Phoenix's informal name... wanted someone she can trust completely. She has that famous problem, 'who watches the watcher'? How can she be sure that she can trust the person that tells her who to trust? That is a difficult position for her, don't you agree?"
"It is," Kastra indeed had to agree.
"Well, I just so happen to know only one person of which I know that Seven will be able to trust her completely; you. Hell, I wouldn't even suggest myself because I know that there might be occasions where I would steer the answers a little. You though, you would never do that because," Deanna said the last word in a slightly questioning tone, prompting her sister to finish the sentence.
"Because I would feel bad about doing it," Kastra admitted with a sheepish smile. "So, this Annika Phoenix, you think I'll like her?" She then asked, making it clear to Deanna that her sister had made up her mind.
"Oh, I have a feeling that you and Seven will get along just fine."
~~~~~~~{}~~~~~~~
"The crew has decided," Annika said while looking at her counterpart. "Twenty-three of them want to first visit the Federation. They first want to see how certain issues stand before they give their final vote, I hope that's doable?"
"It is," Seven assured She quickly glanced around the conference room of Voyager, making it clear that the next answer was meant for all of them. "You have the promise of the Bajoran and Klingon Intendants, and from me, that at any point anyone who wants to go to their own Universe, can. Even if a situation occurs where the Bajorans no longer want to assure this on an ongoing basis they will give your crew a last chance to go home."
Seven hesitated for a moment before asking," You said that twenty-three first want to go home before deciding if they will come back here. What about the rest?"
"The rest," Annika said with a small smile, "have decided that they will stay."
"All of them?" Seven asked totally surprised.
"All of them," Annika assured. Then the smile disappeared and she started to explain. "For seven years in the Delta Quadrant, and now for one year here, all the crew could really dream of was going home. There really was no other option, save settling on some planet. As you probably know better than me, one of the biggest reasons why the crew went on was because Janeway only had one goal; getting Voyager home. She portrayed that goal as if it was the only option, and because their leader was so fixated on that goal, it also became the crew's goal."
Annika paused for a moment. "But now, now they have arrived at a point where that goal is reached. All they have to do to really be home is step onto a transporter pad on a star base less than two hours from where we are now, and they are home. Now it's time for them to think about what they really want to do with their life. Go to the Federation where the choice is between staying in Starfleet or going civilian. Or they can stay here and literally make history. They will be the ones that lay the foundation for a whole new society; that's a very tempting prospect."
"I am very glad to hear that," Seven said. She looked around the table at the senior crew of Voyager before looking at her lover for a moment, the last person in the room. "Is there someone of the senior staff between the people that want to go to the Federation first?"
"There is; me," Tuvok said before adding, "I have been separated from my wife for eight years now."
"That is correct," Seven said with a frown. "I must admit that I did not think of this before, but is there not a certain situation which demands that you can not be separated from your wife longer than seven years or risk dying?"
"Seven years is an average," Tuvok said reluctantly. "It differs from person to person. Luckily both my wife and I are above this average."
"You call that lucky?" Tom asked. "I wouldn't call going eight years without lucky."
"Who says that Vulcans do?" Torres spoke up. "On the, now former, slave breeding planets the people were only left relatively alone as long as they produced a child every two years; this includes the Vulcans. Fact is, Vulcans have sex just as much as the next person, and also enjoy it. It's just that every so often they have to have wild sex in which they let all of their pent up emotions loose."
"Your description is extremely crude, but to the point," Tuvok was forced to admit.
Torres merely shrugged. "It's not that hard to understand if you think about it. You Vulcans put so much effort in to controlling your emotions, but that still doesn't mean that something doesn't feel great anymore. You Vulcans may not scream in pleasure, but that doesn't mean that you can't feel that pleasure."
"My Mistress has an insight into some subjects that most do not have, which makes her very well suited to be the Klingon Intendant," Seven explained.
"Be glad, or else a lot more Vulcans would have been used as sex slaves," Torres added. "Most masters want to try and make the slave scream; be it in pleasure or in pain. Vulcans just stay quiet no matter what; it annoys the hell out of most people. From what I understand from one of my directors in one of my businesses who actually has a Vulcan body slave, sex with a Vulcan can be a lot of fun; you just have to learn to read the signs."
"Signs?" Tom asked.
Torres grinned. "Signs. A Vulcan doesn't say 'fuck yes, right there'. A Vulcan places a hand on your head and you know that you have just gotten one hell of a compliment. A Vulcan doesn't scream their release so loud that you go deaf for an hour. A Vulcan lets out a soft sigh that would make you wonder if they are bored if they were a Human and you know that you just were just 'called' an extremely talented lover."
"Either way, we digress," Seven spoke up. "Tuvok, you said that you wanted to go to the Federation to see your wife. Will you be staying there?"
"It depends," Tuvok said, glad that the subject of Pon Farr was apparently over. "If my wife wants to stay in the Federation so will I. If she is willing to come here, I will be back."
"I would greatly appreciate your help in this endeavor," Seven admitted. Looking around the table once more she saw a deep frown on B'Elanna's face. "Is there a problem, B'Elanna?"
"No," B'Elanna said slowly. "I was just wondering. You have this technology that makes it possible for us to create a portal of sorts between our universes, but why only use it on Deep Space nine?"
"Because that's the only place where it works," Torres spoke up. "The slave that created the device created it in such way that when you beam, the body is moved to the same transporter PADD, just that this 'same' PADD is in your universe. So there are actually a very limited amount of places that have a PADD in a certain location in both Universes and where the device could be used. The one on DS9 is the only one we know about."
"I understand that, but the slave that created the device is still alive, right?" B'Elanna persisted.
"He is," Torres agreed. "I have him working in my house on my planet. He basically makes sure the technology stuff there keeps working as it should."
"So, why not get his help on this?" B'Elanna suggested. "With the man that created the technology, and Seven's Borg technology, and some Federation technology added to that... I'm sure that we could come up with a way to make this technology a little more user friendly."
"But why would we?" Harry asked. "We already have a workable way of getting home."
"Yeah," B'Elanna agreed. "But why should we be satisfied with that? As Seven told us herself, to make the Phoenix Alliance a workable society she needs all the help she can get. She is lucky; the other Intendants are willing to help, within limits. I just see no reason why we couldn't get a little more help. If we enhance this technology we could take a ship to our universe, and also a ship back here. We could go to the Federation, ask Starfleet for a little help; use a ship to take back some stuff we might need. What do you think; would they be willing to help build a society where slavery is no longer an issue? Especially since Humans, Vulcans, Tellarites, Denobulans, Ktarians, and Gorn were those slaves?"
"An interesting idea, I did not think of this," Seven admitted. "Thank you for the suggestion, I will give it some more thought."
"No problem," B'Elanna said with a grin.
"Do you already have an idea on how you are going to create your government structure?" Chakotay asked.
"I have," Seven assured. "There are still some positions that will be created or removed depending on whether they are actually needed when theory is brought to practice, but the general outline is as follows. First there will be the Intendant, and after that there will be three Sub-Intendants. These Sub-Intendants will have the same powers as a normal Intendant does and can talk and deal in name of the Intendant. Each of the Sub-Intendants will be in control over two former slave species, and three of the species that never were slaves but now live in Phoenix Alliance territory. While they will basically have full Intendant control over 'their' five species, they cannot do tasks that will have to be done by the Phoenix Alliance Intendant specifically, like negotiating with other Intendants, or attending the Grand Assembly."
She hesitated for a moment before admitting, "This is a condition the Chancellor himself insisted on, and I must say that I agree. This way the Intendant cannot become merely a symbolic position; the Intendant will be in total control of the Alliance. Just that most of the work is done by others, freeing up the Intendant to have an overall view and concentrate on specific things. Under the Sub-Intendants there will be ministerial posts and a few other posts that are important enough to warrant direct reporting to the Sub-Intendants."
"Doesn't having three administrations cause a huge government system with multiple double positions that interfere with each other?" Tom asked.
"It would, if there were multiple administrations," Seven said. "While there will be three Sub-Intendants, the ministerial posts will only be single positions. For instance, there will be only one Minister of Finance in the Alliance."
"Oh boy, that'll create governmental mayhem," Neelix spoke up. "One Sub-Intendant will give an order, the other will counteract it, and nobody will really know what to do."
"It could result in mayhem," Seven agreed. "Or it will force the Sub-Intendants to work together well. Reports will be sent to all three Sub-Intendants, and when one of them gives an order this order is also sent to the other Sub-Intendants so that they all know what is happening. If the Sub-Intendants were the highest power this would still lead to backstabbing and being difficult just to be difficult, but here is where the Intendant comes in. The Sub-Intendants will know that the Intendant has the power, at all times, to remove them from their position. If they do not work well together, the one that is causing the problems will simply be removed. Another safeguard is the Inspector General."
"The what?" Tom asked.
"The Inspector General," Seven repeated. "As I said, under the Sub-Intendants there will be the ministerial posts. However, besides the Sub-Intendants there will also be some other rather interesting positions; like the Inspector General. There are also the Intendant Advisers. These will be people who are in the rather unique position of having no power, with the exception of the powers needed to do their job. But from the other side, they do have direct contact with the Intendant."
"I'm afraid you lost me," Tom admitted.
"Take the position of Inspector General I just mentioned," Seven explained. "This person will not have the powers to arrest someone, or even order a correct reworking of falsified books. However, they do have the powers to order whatever is needed to get to the position to do their inspections. They can demand to see the Sub-Intendants and the Sub-Intendants will have to make time for them, and these people do not 'have' to follow the orders of anyone save direct orders of the Intendant herself."
"So," Tom said thoughtfully. "This Inspector General won't even have the power to demand a better room at wherever they are staying because the room does not affect their inspections, but they do have the power to demand entrance to a maximum security area because dodgy things could be going on there?"
"Indeed," Seven agreed. "There will be several such special positions and their powers will be tailored to their function. Of course, just like myself, the Sub-Intendants will be free to have their own advisers, but to prevent the number of advisers from swelling too much, I am limiting the number of advisers each Sub-Intendant will be allowed to have to ten people."
"Do you know how many advisers you yourself will have?" Tom asked.
Seven shook her head slightly. "I do not. I decided to not set this clearly for the Intendant so that adviser positions can be created and removed as needed. After all, setting the amount of advisers and what they will advise me on, is of no use because it still does not mean that the Intendant will actually listen to that advice. That is also mainly the reason why I am limiting the number of advisers for the sub-Intendants. I have to think further ahead than now, and I want to prevent that in the future the sub-Intendants misuse the not clearly stipulated position of advisers."
"Like having a personal army of ten thousand 'advisers' that can do whatever they want because they are basically and pretty much literally above the law?" Harry asked.
"For instance," Seven agreed. "I do think that for the sub-Intendants a limit of ten advisers is more than enough since people will tend to get advisers on things that they consider their weak points. But since there are three sub-Intendants that are, hopefully, working well together, I see it happening on a regular basis that one sub-Intendant will borrow an adviser from another sub-Intendant in a field that they themselves do not have an adviser on."
Seven then reminded, "Also keep in mind that I am setting a limit on the people that can have the position of sub-Intendant adviser. But that does not mean that a sub-Intendant cannot for instance hire an individual on a short or even long contract base to help them out. Just that this person will not have the rank of sub-Intendant adviser."
"Loopholes will always exist," Torres pointed out. "The smart ruler knows which loopholes she builds into her open rules so that even the exploits are something she can live with. Just look at me. Just how many long contracts I now own. Once all is settled down and sub-Intendants are a common thing, I would not be surprised to see then having a staff of hundredsa of people working for them. There is no law that they can't ask any of them for advice. But there will be a law that only ten of them will have an elevated position of official adviser, and all the benefits that come with that."
"True," Seven agreed. "But I will not limit the number of Advisers for the Intendant because there it is of no use. If an Intendant wanted such a personal army they do not have to cheat the rules; they can simply make new rules, unlike the Sub-Intendants. Having said that, I would be extremely surprised if I myself ever were to have ten advisers. At the moment I have two Advisers already picked. One will be my 'Betazoid Adviser'. This position will very obviously be filled by a Betazoid. This person is already selected and I will meet her in two days time. The Other adviser will be my 'Political Adviser'; I do not believe that this needs much explaining."
"Since you will be having a Betazoid adviser, do you plan on adding more people to your government that are of species that once were the masters of the former slaves?" Tuvok asked.
"I will," Seven agreed. "In agreement with the other Intendants I have decided to put one person of the other six faction main species in my government; this for two reasons. First, this will show that my government does not hold any grudges against the former masters. Second, for one and a half centuries people were doomed or lucky merely depending on which species they were born as. The Phoenix Alliance will not continue such species selection. We will not turn down people that are suited for a specific job merely because they are of a species that does not have its home planet in Alliance territory."
Seven looked to her side at Torres before adding with a small smile, "In that light, the Klingon Intendant graciously accepted the position as the Political Adviser I just talked about. That and the Betazoid Adviser we just talked about are already two positions that are filled by species that do not live in Alliance territory. Now, I will fill most positions in my government with people that were former slaves. The reason why I will fill a lot of positions with people that are of former slave species is simple. Because they will give all they can to better the life of their friends, their family... their people. So they will work hard at a time where we cannot really offer them much other than the fact that they have the chance to better the lives of others. However, if any person of any other species shows that same conviction they have just as much chance to get the position than a former slave does."
Seven was quiet for a second before adding with a slight trace of amusement in her voice, "Of course, having said all that, there is also politics. As I said, to make sure that this 'no hard feelings' is properly shown I agreed with the other Intendants that one person of each of their species will get rather important positions in my government. Besides that, I will also have people in my government that are of species that now are part of the Phoenix Alliance but that were never slaves."
"Are they going to fulfill those other positions you talked about that exist beside the Sub-Intendants?" Annika asked.
"I do not know yet; it all depends on the individuals and what their strengths are. I did agree to the fact that they will be in my government, however I will place them in positions where they will actually perform a job for the Alliance that they know how to perform."
"And just what exactly will those positions be that exist besides the Sub-Intendants?" Annika asked, curious as to what kind of jobs Seven would find important enough to put them in a position where they existed besides the Sub-Intendants.
"Again, I am not yet fully sure yet as to what kind of positions there will be," Seven reminded. "However, I already do know a few. There will be the Inspector General I mentioned before. This is someone who's sole task is to inspect whatever they think needs inspecting and report directly to the Intendant without the report being colored by countless people that give the report their personal spin. This person will, of course, also tell me what they think of certain situations. Besides that, there will also be a Commander of the Security Department, and an Admiral Supreme."
Seven lifted a hand a little. "Before you ask, Admiral Supreme is a position I am creating. This is the person that is in command of all armed forces that are not specifically linked to a different department that needs individually operated armed forces, and that have received special clearance of the Intendant, me, to have those forces under their separate command. The Security Department comes to mind as an example of such a separate group."
"And they work besides the Sub-Intendants so that they won't be put into a position where they have to follow Sub-Intendant commands no matter what?" Chakotay guessed.
"Indeed," Seven agreed. "But to answer your question a bit more detailed, the way I envision them working is that the Sub-Intendants will be able to give orders to these people, and have them report back to the Sub-Intendants. Yet these people can decide to contact the Intendant and ask for the Intendant's direct order if they do not think that the orders of the Sub-Intendant are the wisest of choices."
"And of course these people will know that the Intendant's orders override the Sub-Intendants orders at all times, right?" Chakotay asked before surmising. "So basically you have a 'check and balance' system directly at the top. The Sub-Intendants order the Admiral Supreme around, making sure that you have a 'check' because the Admiral has to get an order. But if the Admiral Supreme thinks that the order of the Sub-Intendant is foolish, the Admiral Supreme can contact you to see what you think, which gives you the 'balance' part. The Sub-Intendants are undisputedly the second highest power, just that it's not absolutely certain that all of their orders are automatically followed."
"Indeed," Seven said. "I have no delusions. I do realize that this system has the potential of causing roadblocks. My point is to set it all up in such a way that people have to work together because if they throw up a roadblock, they are also blocking themselves. I want the Sub-Intendants to work closely together, glad to help each other out."
"And just to be sure that they really don't create those roadblocks you have that one person at the top that can say 'stop playing children, or else I'm going to decide," Torres added with a grin. "So tell me Intendant Phoenix, mighty person at the top, do you also intend to have your position be as feared as mine? That when you say that you'll come by and take care of the problem that they start peeing their pants?"
"Not as extremely, Intendant Torres," Seven said with a smile. "I still want my government to be able to function and not be paralyzed by fear. Their 'fear' will exist out of knowing that not doing their job correctly will result in them losing the job. It is when they deliberately misuse the job, for their own gain, that they will have to start to worry. After all, there will also be jail and death penalties in the Phoenix Alliance."
"There will be death penalties?" Chakotay asked.
"Yes," Seven said. "There have to be. One of the things that does sustain the stability in the Coalition is the fact that the Intendants are in undisputed control. For instance, merely the crime of not recognizing an Intendant as such is what is called a Capital Crime and is punishable by death. There are crimes that carry the punishment of death throughout the Coalition, and since the Phoenix Alliance will be part of the Coalition, those sentences will also apply there."
"Besides," Torres added, "You will need the same kind of laws here or else the Phoenix Alliance would become the refuge for all the scum of the Coalition trying to find a safe spot. How long do you think the other factions would stand by without interfering? I'm sure that Seven will be an Intendant that you people will be proud of, that she will make the Phoenix Alliance thrive, but in order to be able to do that she will have to do things you people won't like."
Torres gestured to herself. "Take me; I as the Klingon Intendant, sign about three hundred execution orders every week for people that did things we can't accept, and that's not even counting normal disputes that go the standard justice system route. No, I'm talking about the swift kind of executions that transect that; the A-B cases. Meaning; A, killing a mountain targ for sport is punishable by death. B, you were caught doing it, you get executed. Luckily for her, Seven's territory is a lot smaller than mine, but there will come the day that she will have to sign execution orders. Not doing so would in the long run mean her own demise, and I'm not just talking about her merely no longer being the Intendant. I'm talking about the demise of the permanent kind."
"Then I guess we will have to help Seven to make the Phoenix Alliance a kind of place where such orders have to be signed as few as times as possible," Chakotay said determined.
"That all sounds rather positive," Tom said, "But won't all this be put in a huge shadow because of the actions going on now against the Orions? I mean, they are now part of the Phoenix Alliance, so surely you as their Intendant must have some official reaction to that."
"I," Seven stated, only to be interrupted by Torres.
"Mind if I answer that, Intendant Phoenix?"
"Not at all, Intendant Torres," Seven assured. It was a little game they had started playing the day that Seven had become an Intendant. They would address each other with Intendant, both seeing the fun of it. Besides, it also helped to clarify on just what level they were interacting. Where once it had only been 'Mistress/my Pet' and 'B'Elanna/Seven,' now the 'Intendant' had been added, making it clear to both that they were indeed talking to each other on that level, no matter how informal and light that conversation was.
"That is one of the major differences in politics," Torres started to explain. "From what Seven told me, actions like what's going on would get official reactions in your universe because they are for a part taking place in Orion space. Here it's different. Here we are all part of the Coalition, and here everyone is eager to show that they approve or don't approve of something all based on how they can gain from it, or at least limit the damage from it. The actions that are going on against the Orion Syndicate?"
She nodded. "True, the Syndicate started on Orion, and for a long time was synonymous with Orion. This changed over the time the Coalition now exists though. It became more of a nameless, faceless, crime syndicate that was everywhere in the Coalition. The ultimate proof of this is the fact that the leader of the Orion Syndicate wasn't even an Orion, but a Trill. Taking all these facts in mind, here in our Universe we now have a situation where Orion is, apparently, extremely thankful to us Klingons for finally taking some action against the nasty Orion Syndicate which have done nothing but tarnish the fine name of the Orions." There was no mistaking the clearly amused sarcastic tone in Torres' voice while saying the last sentence."
"In fact," Seven added, "to show 'no hard feelings' an Orion will be part of my government."
"Just to show no hard feelings?" B'Elanna asked. "Isn't that a little bit of a, well, stupid factor to base choices of governmental people on?"
"It would be," Seven agreed fully, "If not for the fact that this Orion is actually someone that I would have approached for the job regardless. I already looked for some suitable candidates for governmental positions amongst the Phoenix Alliance species that were not slave species before, and she stood out by her diversity. While she certainly is not a big player in the markets she is in, and certainly no competition for market leaders, she stands out because she has a toe in basically every market that exists."
"Must have a lot of toes then," Tom said amused. When he saw Seven take a breath to speak, he quickly added. "A joke."
"I see," Seven said; privately glad that around the table the loose atmosphere was there that had also been around most Senior staff meetings. It was the kind of atmosphere Seven hoped she could have with her governmental workers.
Seven knew that she would need the input of the people she appointed, be it her Voyager friends, or people she hadn't even met yet. She knew that they would be more eager to give their ideas if they didn't have to fear with every word they spoke.
"Well, to explain using your joke," Seven said. "She indeed has a lot of toes, and all of them are richly decorated and free of diseases. And on top of that while none of those toes is the biggest toe around, you can also say that none is the smallest; not counting companies she just started or bought. And do you know what this means?"
"Um, nope," Tom admitted.
"It means that while big companies keep fighting over big companies, they ignore her walking in and buying up mediums size companies. And once the big companies have fought themselves to the last person standing, this person turns to that medium company to push it away... only to find that this medium company actually has an umbrella company over it with a bigger and more secure footing as this one big company does."
Seven smiled. "And then all those little toes aid in helping the stands and it's actually impossible to push the foot over. I want to offer her the position of Minister of Commerce. She has proven to have the mind for the job, and also already has a 'hands on' experience about how almost every market that exists operates."
"Wouldn't it be better to appoint someone that has been able to corner a market?" Harry asked. "After all, this shows a great mind for commerce."
"It only shows that this person knows how one market works," Seven disagreed. "This individual I selected knows how all the markets work that she is active in. This ability to adapt and understand is something I am looking for because it is a Ministerial position I want to offer her. She will function as an overseer and policy setter. More detailed situations will be worked out by the people that work for her."
"So it's kinda like how Janeway worked," B'Elanna said while crossing her arms. "Someone at the top saying 'get more power out of the engines' and me at the bottom having to just find a way to make it work."
"Is that not the definition of leadership?" Seven asked amused. "Besides, Minister B'Elanna Torres, do you think you will be able to run your department in a different way?"
"Minister?" B'Elanna asked surprised, the subject of being told what to do totally forgotten. "You want to make me a Minister?"
"Indeed I do. Minister of Science and Technology to be precise."
"You got to be kidding me," B'Elanna merely said.
"I assure you, I am not."
"I'm not fit to be a Minister," B'Elanna pointed out. "Hell, I'm just barely able for more than command of an Engineering department. I have permanent marks in my file for throwing things at my engineers; I would kill someone if I was a Minister."
"I believe that you have a rather low opinion of what you are capable of," Seven disagreed. "You have the proof of just what exactly B'Elanna Torres is capable of sitting right beside me. B'Elanna Torres is capable of being the second most powerful person in all of Coalition space. All you need is the opportunity to grow that she had."
Seven looked around the table at the others before saying, "That is something to keep in mind when thinking about the positions I will offer you in the future. When hearing the name of the position you might think that you will never be suited for it, but think a little further."
Looking back at B'Elanna, Seven continued. "In the beginning you and a couple of engineers you select to be in direct line of command below you, will be the entire Ministry of Science and Technology. The Klingons are at the moment in control of governing the Phoenix Alliance territory. Over time, when we have the personnel to do so, we will take over more and more functions. Eventually you will hire a few more individuals to work for the department, and some more after that. Then, before you know it those new people are actually directly commanded by the people below you while you set out general lines for the Department to follow."
Seven touched the table with a finger. "Now the Ministry of Science and Technology will only exist out of five people and you are more than capable to be in command of them."
She moved the finger to indicate a line. "Next month the department will exist out of perhaps fifty people and you are able to be in command of them because the people directly below you actually give the orders to individual people."
Then she moved the finger to form a pyramid and then tapped the tip of it, clearly indicating the top of a pyramid structure. "In half a year there might be ten thousand people working for the Ministry, yet you still will be able to deal with it because you still are only giving commands to the people below you. Which now on their turn will give commands to other people, which will then give commands to other people yet again. Everyone around this table will grow along with their position."
"So, if B'Elanna is going to be Minister of Science and Technology, what are we others going to be?" Tom asked curious.
"I already have ideas in my mind for each of you. However, if you do not mind I will keep them to myself for now because situations might still change. People might not want to position that I offer them, others will depend on whether a first choice candidate is actually available for the position."
"Like whether Tuvok will come back?" Harry asked.
"For instance," Seven agreed. "And as Tuvok just said; he will only come back if T'Pel will accompany him. That alone are two positions that will be filled depending on whether the people I would like for those positions are actually available."
"Alright," Annika said. "Now that we have reached the point where further discussions are theoretical anyway... now what?"
"For now I would like to ask you all to stay on Voyager and fulfill your tasks as you do them now," Seven said. "Over time I will then 'pick off' people as soon as I am sure of where I would like them to work. However, in the beginning, until I have my government structure complete, Voyager will be your home base."
"We are staying on Voyager?" Neelix asked surprised. "I had kinda assumed that we would all be moving to that great hunk of iron out there."
Seven tilted her head a little. "While I personally will be living on that 'great hunk of iron' with my Mistress and our pet, you are all welcome to stay on Voyager for now. Every Intendant has a flag ship; so will the Phoenix Intendant. For now, until a new ship is built, Voyager will be that flag ship. This basically means that you will be doing nothing more than following the most powerful ship in Coalition space around. A boring task, I know; a task that could just as easily be done by the computer. However, this boring task is perfect for you to start familiarizing yourself with the others task I will be asking of you. Of course, the ship will then no longer be known as Voyager, but as Phoenix."
"What's with the Phoenix stuff?" Tom suddenly asked. "I mean, don't get me wrong, I think it's a great name for the Alliance, but you now have the Phoenix Alliance, the Phoenix Intendant which will for ever be known as Intendant Phoenix, no matter what the person's real name is, and now you say that the ship will be called Phoenix as well. What's up with all the Phoenixes?"
Seven lifted an eyebrow at the wording of the last question. "You are correct; there are a lot of 'Phoenixes'. However, there is indeed a reason for this. For 150 years the slaves had nothing but their lives. No larger whole that they were part of, save for the slave structure. I will be installing a Minister of Culture and a Minister of Sociology to try and remedy that situation. To once again give the individual species a feeling of 'self'. I want them to have their own religious holidays and historical individuals."
She put the tips of her fingers together. "However, the whole picture is much larger. I also have to keep the nine species in mind that always have been free species. They have their history and culture firmly established. So my idea is to have a base where all species can have their feeling of 'self', but over that there will be a layer of unity; being a Phoenix Alliance member. They may be a Human, or a Vulcan, or an Orion, or a Risan... but all of them will also be a part of the Phoenix. Because of that the Phoenix will be used at a rather prominent level."
"I see," Tom said before grinning when an idea struck him. "Hey, if it's all about the Phoenix then why not leave the name Voyager for Voyager and just change the call-sign system? On Earth... um, our Earth... back in history, at the end of the twentieth and beginning of the twenty-first century, there was this large country that called itself the United States. You know, we, Voyager, have been there when we went back in time."
"That was before I joined Voyager," Seven reminded. "Either way, I do not see your point."
"Well, my point is that when the leader of that country, think it was a president, traveled on an airplane the call-sign for that plane would always be 'air-force one'. No matter what the call-sign was mere minutes before, as soon as the president was on board it was 'air-force one'. If you want to make the name phoenix that prominent, make the call-sign just as prominent. If someone is told that 'Phoenix one' is set to arrive the next day, they know that it won't just be a space ship that's coming; it'll be the Phoenix government right there."
"Wouldn't that make my ship 'Phoenix one' as well when Seven is home?" Torres asked amused.
"Um, well, um, yes. I guess so," Tom admitted, losing a lot of his enthusiasm.
"I have to admit that I like the idea though," Seven said. "Maybe we can change it to where the flag ship is always Phoenix one."
"Actually, I think the first idea isn't that bad," Torres disagreed. "For me it doesn't matter what ship I'm on because it's my name that is important. 'Torres is coming for a visit' is what makes people start shaking in their boots, not 'the Negh'Var is coming for a visit'. It would also make it damn clear just who is coming to take care of business. I may be on that ship, but I promised you, when you have to do Intendant stuff then I would tag along and advise you. So you may be on my ship, but when you go somewhere, it will still be 'Phoenix one' that goes somewhere; no confusion on just which Intendant is coming. And if I have to go somewhere as Intendant and you tag along as that great adviser for me, we can give the ship the original call sign even though you are on board."
"That sounds like an acceptable compromise," Seven agreed.
"I see that she hasn't lost any of her famous enthusiasm," B'Elanna said with a snort when hearing Seven's cool reply.
"For Seven, that was a show of being wildly ecstatic," Torres said with a grin.
"It is sad to see that bad humor apparently runs in the genes," Seven said with clearly fake disapproval. Then she looked at Annika before asking. "Captain, your crew has made a choice to stay. Now I would like you to ask those that first want to go to the other universe if they would be willing to wait one month longer. I promise you, and them, if the answer is no than we will let them go to their universe in two days time. However, B'Elanna had a sound idea when she suggested that we might get some help from the Federation with building our faction here. However, to be truly convincing in the fact that we are telling the truth, especially since they have had dealings with Alternate Universe individuals before, a clear statement has to be made that we really are not simply a small group of rebels."
"What kind of statement are you thinking of?" Annika asked so that she could give the answer to the people who would ask 'why yet another month?'
"I was thinking of making a grand entrance."
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