Alternate Conclusions
By H.W.
Chapter 2
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"You wanted to see us?" Megan asked as she and Tom walked in to Voyager's shuttle bay.
"I did," Seven said as she turned away from the shuttle she and Torres had been looking at to face Megan and Tom. "I apologize for the location of this meeting. However, I also wanted to have a look at the new shuttle Voyager created and I hoped that you could be my tour guide."
"No problem," Tom assured before looking at the ship with a grin. "You know, I'm sorry that we no longer have the Delta Flyer because that was more my ship, but I have to tell you, we really outdid ourselves with the Alpha Flyer."
"The schematics Annika gave me are rather impressive," Seven agreed as she walked to the back of the ship.
Overall the ship did look very similar to the Defiant, just extremely scaled down. The nacelles were attached directly to the hull like the Defiant class, but were proportionally to the ship twenty-five percent larger. The only other clear difference was that the cockpit was placed at the front now; between the tips of the nacelles.
With forty-five meters in length the Alpha Flyer was officially not a Shuttle anymore since Starfleet stated that all manned spaceships smaller than forty meters were considered a shuttle, and above that they were starships. The Voyager crew hadn't cared. Two of the Alpha Flyer class ships would fit side by side in the Shuttle bay with just enough room around them to be able to work on them comfortably, and that was what was important.
At the aft of the ship there were two doors, one standard size door at the very left, and the rest was taken up by a large gate like door that opened at the top to come down and form a ramp to enter the ship. From the statistics that Annika had given Seven, she knew that the door at the left went up to the second level via a small set of stairs. Tom opened the large door and they walked into a surprisingly large cargo bay.
"I must admit that I was surprised to discover that the ship had two decks," Seven said as she moved to the middle of the empty cargo bay and took a moment to look around the room.
"Yeah, well, it is mostly because of the nacelles," Tom explained. "We made the ship as small as we possibly could and we hit a physics border. With the size of nacelles we now have this ship has pretty much the same speeds as the Defiant has, but if we were to make the nacelles even half a meter shorter the warp speed would drop by almost a full warp factor. It was then that Harry pointed out that if we made the ship a little bigger again, brought it back to forty-five meters, we could add a second deck. Well, a third deck, depending on how you look at it, since the bridge is located up front now and is basically located between deck one and two. Want to see?"
"Yes please," Seven said and continued to listen as Tom went on with explaining.
"It was decided to put the quarters and facilities on the top deck and leave the bottom deck bare." Tom pointed at a couple of panels that were located around the deck. "But see those panels? Behind that there are computer access points and different computer units can be hooked up there."
Tom waited with opening the door so that he could finish what he has saying. "That way the deck can either be a cargo bay, like now, used to store all kind of stuff that can be held in place by the division force fields that have been installed on this deck. Or we can hook up different computers and machines and turn the deck in to a specialized room in about half an hour; hour at most."
"Impressive," Seven said, seeing no use in pointing out that she had read the same in the schematics that Annika had sent over.
Seven had long since discovered that information was a lot more than just letters and numbers. It was also seeing how enthusiastic, or not, someone was about the subject. "What kind of computer units and machines are there?"
Tom grinned a bit sheepishly. "At the moment we only have one module, as B'Elanna likes to call it. But the point is that we can have more. The one we have is for scanning, mining, and base refining of resources. We have, had, have... I don't really know what to call it. Anyway, plans are for a two more units; one for long range sensors, and the second was more of a mechanic bay. You know, so that B'Elanna can show up somewhere with all possible tools she might have to use instead of only with her basic toolbox."
"Interesting," Seven merely said, while in her mind the ideas for three more modules formed; something that could be mentioned at a later point.
"And the best part, I think," Tom continued, "Is that while we call it modules, it still are computer and equipment blocks that can be handled by one or two people. It's just that they are numbered and if you install a unit, it really means that computer one goes on connection two, and computer two goes on connection five. So even if we have different units later on we can use a lot of the same stuff. And if it's not in use we can just take it all out and stack it in a storage room. That way a full unit fits in a two by two meter room. I mean, we could have made shells of sort that you could just kinda plug in here through the large door, but then you would still need room the size of what the Delta Flyer was just to store those shells. Much better to use individual components I think."
They moved on until they had reached the door on the other side of the cargo bay. Tom opened the door to reveal a short staircase that ended at a plateau where the door to the bridge/cockpit was, as well as another short staircase that moved on to the upper deck.
Since the staircase was just narrow enough for two people to walk beside each other, Seven decided to pause for a moment to give Torres more room.
"Oh no," Torres said, giving the blonde a little push in the back. "At this moment you are the Intendant and I just the adviser; you go first, my Pet. You have to get used to that since that's what has to happen when you visit places."
For a moment Seven looked like she was about to argue, but then she merely smiled slightly. "Yes Mistress."
A moment later they entered the cockpit and Seven saw that it cockpit was basically a copy of the Delta Flyer layout. Three positions, with the pilot position at the point, and two stations behind it. With a hint of amusement, Seven noted that all three stations had standard touch-screens and not the buttons and switches Tom had insisted on for the Delta Flyer.
"We decided that the layout of the Delta flyer would be better suited for a shuttle than the bridge layout of the Defiant," Tom explained. "The only real change we made was to set the stations a little further apart so that you can simply walk to the helm station instead of having to squeeze by."
"The helm functions can also be performed from the other two stations?" Seven asked.
"Well, sure," Tom said confused. "But why would you want to?"
"Maybe if the pilot is interested as much in spending time with his girlfriend as in flying," Megan suddenly said. "You know, that way they can sit nicely beside each other while the piloting can still be done. Or even better, they set the auto-pilot and go spend some time together in one of the rooms."
"I see that you have been competing with Tom's hobbies several times already," Seven said amused.
"Oh yeah," Megan agreed while looking at Tom, who was smart enough to stay quiet. Finally Megan relented. "But we reached a deal now, and it works great. I'll give him one warning if he is spending too much time with his hobbies. If he doesn't remember then what's really important in his life, I'll remind him by banning him to the couch for a week."
Torres laughed. "You would make a great Klingon."
"Hey, come on; I'm not that bad," Tom defended.
"No you aren't," Megan agreed. "You're just easy to pick on. Come on; let's show them the upper deck."
Putting action to words, they soon stood in the corridor on the upper deck.
"One advantage of having two decks is that you don't have to share crew quarters and cargo room," Tom opened the door he was standing at. "We have four rooms like this now; two on each side of the corridor." He waited for the women to enter before doing the same.
Seven looked around the small room. She noted that it definitely was nothing like a normal set of quarters, but still a lot bigger than the bunk beds one normally found on a shuttle.
"As you can see, we basically copied the layout of the cell on your ship where normally the Master Slave stays," Tom said while looking at Torres for a moment. "Two beds, two small desks, two small dressers, and at the end of the room a toilet and a shower in separate rooms. Of course, we went for normal doors here. We figured that it was a basic, but good design."
"It is," Seven agreed. "However, a lot of it is also not needed. You now have room for eight people, while shuttles are normally only used for up to four people."
"I know," Tom agreed. "This was Annika's decision. She figured that since we had the place it would be better to make four rooms. That way you can give everyone their own room if there are four people or less, and if you do have more you can start doubling up and still house eight people in relative comfort. Or you can go the other way. Though not deliberately designed that way, there is nothing that says that you can't also put crates of cargo in some of these rooms if you don't need them."
Tom paused for a moment to point at the bottom of the bed. "See the metal bed casing? The bed is held in place with a few gravity hooks. But within minutes you can deactivate those and flip the beds up and stand then against the wall. Then those metal casings are strong enough to carry cargo as well. Just like the desk and dressers. Basically you can still use this room to store goods, simply by stacking goods around the furniture. And if you do use all the rooms for people you can even house two extra people if you put some beds in the recreation room."
Tom moved out of the room and walked further down the corridor until there was a door in front of him and the corridor went left only to turn right a little further down. "This is the recreation room and that corridor leads around the recreation room to the back half of the deck. There you will find the engine, shield, and phaser generators."
As they entered the square room, Seven saw a couch against three of the walls and a large viewscreen and a replicator against the fourth. At one wall there was a door besides the couch and Seven rightfully assumed that there was a restroom behind the door. Besides that there were also four stools in the room and a coffee table in front of every couch.
"Interesting," Seven said once again, not really knowing what to make of the room. "Why do you have a recreation room on a shuttle?"
Tom shrugged. "Well, the thing is that normally on a shuttle you spend time together because there really is nowhere to go. Either you're in the front and in the cockpit, or in the back between the cargo. Here we now have four bedrooms. So we have this recreation room so that people can come here and hang out together. The view screen can be used to watch some entertainment, but more importantly, it is set up in such a way that it gives you the front view of the shuttle and the helm can be controlled from that PADD in that holder there."
"In other words, people that are not as excited as you about flying can spend their time here instead of in the pilot seat?" Torres asked. "Set the auto-pilot and then keep an eye on things from here, and change things if needed."
"Right," Tom agreed. "And since we never know how long a mission is going to last the computer is set up in such a way that the auto-pilot can use the long range sensors and send an alarm in any of the rooms you select and warn you in time so that you have hours or even more than a day, depending on what the problem is, to change course or whatever it is you need to do. Just like the other bedrooms, this too is designed in a way to keep other options in mind. You can shift furniture around to put cargo here as well, or you can sleep here."
He pointed to one of the couches. "Those couches have been selected on being big and comfortable enough to sleep on for the average Humanoid. After all, if you are alone on a mission you need to sleep from time to time and if you have rooms to pick from, why not sleep here in the same room that has a huge viewscreen on which you can also watch some entertainment while you are awake?"
"Or if you are someone that is just using the ship to get from point A to point B," Seven added. "I find it interesting that you set up a clear cargo bay, and clear sleeping arrangements... and yet you still have it all in such a way that you can shift the whole layout of the ship by shifting furniture instead of walls."
"That was Harry's idea," Tom pointed out. "And as soon as he had brought up the idea of creating these rooms so that they can be more than one thing, the others jumped at the idea. Why tie yourself down to one option? As you know, a crate full of dilithium is worth taking a trip for. But it's still just a crate. Why bother putting that in the cargo room and having to strap it down, when you can simply carry it to one of the rooms and place it under the desk?"
The aft part of the deck came next and it was immediately plain to see that it was designed with someone with an Engineering mind sitting at the design table as well. Sometimes engine rooms were designed without keeping practical maintenance in mind. Items were placed in places where they would function the absolute best, not keeping in mind that to reach it for maintenance an engineer would then also have to remove three other things as well that normally never needed to be removed for maintenance. This was not the case in the Alpha flyer, which Tom quickly affirmed.
"Yeah, Annika and B'Elanna sat down together and designed the engine room and once they were done, Harry went over it and made changes that kept their design in mind. He changed the location of pipes and such, but not the layout itself. I think that as far as that is concerned we had the luck that both Annika and B'Elanna are conscious engineers. They do know that sometimes things have to be put in places where you don't really want them, just so that they can actually work. When this was needed they did so. It is just that they thought hard to come up with ways to prevent this as much as possible."
Lifting his arms a little to indicate the room around him, Tom added, "And here you have the end result. True, the room doesn't look as stylish as it would if designers designed it. In fact it looks a bit basic, but things that need to be accessible are. And it is all much more user friendly this way."
"From the first impression I must agree," Seven said before suggesting, "Shall we go back to the recreation room so that we can talk in comfort?"
~~~~~~~{}~~~~~~~
"In a moment I will offer you the position I hope you both will take in my government," Seven said once the four of them were seated comfortably in the recreation room. "However, before I do, I would like to hear your opinion on something else."
"Sure," Megan said, wondering just what kind of jobs Seven was going to offer them, but more than happy to wait a little longer so that they could help Seven with the 'something else'.
Seven thought for a moment before saying, "I find myself rather impressed with Harry's design abilities. He did a lot of the designing for the Delta Flyer. He did most of the design work for the Alpha flyer. He did the design work for the remodeling of deck two and three of Voyager. And he also did a lot of the design changes that were made to Voyager when the ship was being repaired at my Mistress' star base. All in all he is doing a lot of designing lately and I am wondering if this is a case for him of 'someone has to do it and I can'. Or does he truly enjoy the designing and is doing so much of it lately because he is finally allowed to and given the room to do so?"
"Definitely the last," Tom and Megan said at the same time. They looked at each other for a moment with a smile and Tom nodded, telling Megan to go ahead.
"I didn't know this until Jennifer and Harry got together and the four of us also started to get together to do absolutely nothing but spent some time together, if you know what I mean. Anyway, Harry is always designing. It's a hobby of his. When he is doing nothing and we are just talking, he is always playing with some PADD, designing stuff just like other people use a PADD to doodle mindlessly during conversations. But when you look at it, you would think that this 'doodling' was actually a design created by someone from a design department."
"Yeah," Tom agreed. "I mean, I had been coming in to Harry's quarters for three years before I discovered that the models he was always building were actually his design. I always just thought that they were some Starfleet ships and I never gave them much attention. He is just so damn modest about his designing because he never really studied for it."
"Do you think that starships are the sole interest for his design?" Seven asked.
"I don't think so," Tom said thoughtfully. "I mean, if that was the case he wouldn't have been so enthusiastic about redesigning deck two and three of Voyager; those are quarters, not the actual ship. I think it's more a case of working with what he has. He was in space, on a starship going home. The only real design opportunities he got were starship designs. The same really goes for the models. He's in space on a starship; one is bound to make models of... starships. What incentive would he have to suddenly build a model of... I don't know, an agricultural harvester?"
"But from the other side, Annika and B'Elanna told me that Jennifer did do her share of 'pulling him back in to reality'," Seven pointed out. "In other words, pointing out that some of his designs would not work in reality because of certain practical issues."
"Oh, yeah," Megan said with a grin. "Jenny would cross her arms in 'that' way and then ask him; 'right, and just how do you think people would actually get there? Walk through the living room of the first set of quarters'? As Tom said; Harry never studies for designing. He is bound to miss a few details."
Seven smiled at the comment of walking through other people's quarters. "I have the distinct feeling that they would form a formidable design team together. One doing the design thinking, the other doing the practical thinking."
"I think they would," Megan agreed. "I also think that they would love it, working together like that all the time. In that they are a lot different than Tom and me. We love to spend our time together while we are both doing out thing. I read, Tom is tinkering with some old stuff. But Jen and Harry, they really love to work together, on the same thing, for hours. Brainstorming, going back and forth. It's sometimes so cute to see. But why are you asking, if I may ask?"
"I am asking because I am thinking of offering them both the position of an Intendant Adviser; my advisers," Seven explained. "Harry as Technical Design Adviser and Jennifer as Practical Design Adviser. One thinking freely while the other thinks realistically. Building a society is more than just giving certain jobs to certain people. There is also actual building to be done. From houses to starships. From farming tools to experimental space mining sites. I do realize that neither Harry, nor Jennifer will be able to have insight into all these matters, however they will have the base insight needed to tell me if situations will need adapting, or even if something I would like to have done is simply impossible."
Seven sighed softly before admitting, "I do know that most people will fear the power of the Intendant. They will fear telling me that something is not possible and instead put impossible pressure on their subordinates. I will need people around me that will honestly tell me, 'we can try that, but do not be surprised if it does not work; I personally think it is impossible'."
"As long as they also add that 'we can try' part right?" Tom asked.
"Indeed," Seven agreed. "Impossibility only exists as long as people think that it is an option. I will accept the answer 'impossible,' but only if the answer is accompanied with the evidence that proves that it truly is impossible. Again, once people realize that I have this mentality they will fear even more to tell me that something is impossible. Not understanding that I do accept the answer, just that I want people to try first before saying 'impossible'."
"Well, since that's the Voyager and Federation mentality anyway, I think both Jennifer and Harry will do great as your advisers," Megan assured. "If there's one thing that's drilled in to us all from the first day at the academy it's; 'try before you say it can't be done'."
"It is one of the many reasons why I am glad the Voyager crew was willing to stay and help me," Seven agreed. "And this brings me to you two. Tom, from my stay on Voyager I know that you get bored with jobs relatively quickly; you prefer variety. Also, I have not yet seen you perform a job which you clearly excel at; you are adequate at all jobs you perform. You have a name as a good pilot, and you are... compared to the rest of the Voyager crew. But even the Beta shift pilot on my Mistress' ship is more qualified than you."
"I got to tell you Seven, that doesn't sound too nice," Tom said, slightly hurt, but also knowing it to be the truth.
"I am merely stating the facts," Seven persisted. "Fact is also that these two traits make you extremely suited for the position I am going to offer you. You may not excel at any one job, but the important part is that you are adequate at all jobs you have performed on Voyager. As much as I have never seen you truly excel at something, I also never saw you truly fail. From piloting, to sickbay nurse, to spy, to engineer, to Federation representative; you have done it all and succeeded. You have an extremely broad spectrum of abilities. You may not excel at them but you will be able to cope with more situations that most others can. Because of that I want to offer you the position of Rover of the Phoenix Alliance."
Now Tom grinned broadly. "So in other words, I'll never know what I'll be doing from week to week; where I'll be? I'll get handed different jobs all the time and just have to make it work?"
"Indeed," Seven agreed. "True, there will, eventually, be departments and positions that will do the things I will hand to you to do in the beginning. However, there will always be certain things that I would like to have handled by a person I trust completely and whose word means more to me than any certified PADD from a person I do not know."
Seven paused for a moment and looked him straight in the eyes. "However, Tom, remember this. Until now you have always stood by your decisions and accepted the results if things turned out wrong; never stop doing that. I need to be able to trust you completely. I need to be able to know that even if something goes disastrously wrong, you will come to me and tell me what happened. Never, ever, make things worse by trying to solve mistakes made. Instead come to me so that we can solve the mistake together. Even the worst mistake can be corrected if I at least get the chance to correct it."
"I will," Tom assured with a sincerity that told Seven that she had made the right choice.
"I am glad to hear that," Seven said before looking at Megan. "Megan, the position I had in mind for you may not be as thrilling as the others, however it is still an important one and I know that you are suited for the job. From the time you worked with me in Astrometrics and Stellar Cartography I know that you do not mind at all if you have to spend a lot of time charting information. In fact, you once told me that you find it rather relaxing. Keeping that in mind, I would like to offer you the position of Minister of Transport."
"Well, um, what exactly is the work of the Minister of Transport?" Megan asked hesitantly.
"The majority of the work will exist out of ensuring travel routes between planets so that people without private spaceships can still travel. Travel on planetary basis will be taken care of by the planets themselves, though your Ministry will have an overriding authority should it be needed. Besides that your Ministry will also take care of the traffic to and from mining areas. All in all this is mostly a matter of settings up schedules and after that checking them periodically to see if demands have shifted, if more or less ships are needed. However, there is more. The Ministry of Transport will also be responsible for performing random searches of ships in Phoenix space, providing escort services for valuable cargo, and hunting down smugglers and pirates. Because of this the, Ministry of Transport will eventually have its own fleet of starships and law-enforcement ships."
"I don't know, Seven," Megan said thoughtfully. "It's sounds interesting, and definitely something I would enjoy doing, but... I'd be way over my head. Making star charts is just a little different than this."
Seven dipped her head a little. "I agree, you personally would be 'way over your head'. However, you must not forget that I am offering you a Minister post. This means that your task will mostly be one of supervision; the person with the overall view. At the moment the traffic routes already exist and there are people that do the planning of those routes for a living. You would hire some of those people to do the actual job. You would have the Risan that now is in charge of planning the traffic around Risa in your department and the job of that person would be... planning the traffic around Risa; a job the person has already been doing for years."
Seven waved a hand to one side a little as if loosely pointing at something. "The same goes for the other planets. Your task would be to have an overall view of things and inform people that you think there has to be more travel opportunity in a part of space, or more mining ships. You would also be the one that coordinates the different people doing their different jobs so that over all there is one blanket of cover that is up to the standard I will demand. You would also be the person that decides the things that others do not dare to decide."
Now the hand moved to indicate Megan herself. "And you would be the person that is the highest commander of the Ministry of Transport's enforcement ships. Your orders to these troops can only be overturned at Intendant level, or by the Admiral Supreme, who as you know, will have the final control over almost all armed forces in the Phoenix Alliance and can only be overruled by me personally."
Seeing Megan hesitate, Seven added, "Do not worry, all of this will not be 'dumped' upon you directly from the first day of your job. You will slowly take on more and more tasks until at one point you are performing all Minister functions and do not even know yourself how that happened."
Finally Megan nodded. "Alright, I'll do it."
Seven gave a little nod before saying, "I am glad to hear that, thank you."
Megan frowned. "Of course, now the question is; now what? Do I have to go somewhere and do my job? As much as I like to help you Seven, I also want to be together with Tom more than just seeing him once every couple of weeks or even months."
"I am aware of that," Seven assured. "I am planning on setting up the departments in such a way that the head of the department, in this case you, can do their job theoretically from everywhere in the Alliance. It is a fact; today you may have a meeting with a Vulcan, tomorrow with a Risan, and the day after that with a Gorn. It is impossible to have all of these meetings face to face."
She shook her head slightly. "You cannot travel to all three of these planets in three days; you would need transwarp speeds for that. It is also not reasonable to let everyone that needs, to see you travel to where you are, especially not for the smallest things. Because of this most of your meetings with people will be done over a viewscreen regardless. There will come times where you, as the Minister, will have to travel to places to see things for yourself, but I do not see why for the rest of the time you can not travel with Tom when he is doing his job. A viewscreen meeting can just as easily be done from an office on a traveling ship, as from a Ministry office. As long as the job does not suffer from it, I will not care from where people do that job."
"I think you are definitely right," Megan agreed. "As Rover for you, I have a feeling that Tom will be doing a lot of traveling, and I'd be damned before I would give up so much of our time. Others will think the same way, I'm sure. If you were to demand they do their job from a certain place, you would lose about half the available people because they would choose being with their lover of spouse over having that job."
"As I said, I already gave the matter some thought," Seven assured. "As for the traveling, that brings me to the first job I have for you, Tom."
"Let's have it," Tom said with an eager grin.
"It is actually a combination; I want you to do two things. First I want you to travel to a certain place and make contact with a certain individual. Second, I want you to take this ship while doing so. I want you to take the Alpha Flyer and put her to the test. I do not want you to take her to the limits; I want you to take her beyond. I want you to break her, literally. I also want you to find an asteroid field and test the shields, weapons, and targeting system. A ship will accompany you on your journey and I want you to participate in a mock battle; test combat maneuverability."
"You want her real stats," Tom said in understanding. "Right now we have the stats that the computer gave us and we didn't take her beyond that. You want to see what she can really take."
"Indeed, Seven agreed. "I will ask Carey and Vorik to go with you to do the needed repairs. Megan, if you want you can go too, as we just already discussed. The ship that will accompany you will be a Klingon ship of the Vor'Cha class. It will provide protection for this journey, and even more importantly, it will provide you with a shuttle bay so that repairs can be made and the testing of the ship can continue. When you come back I expect the true statistics for speed in all three levels; normal cruise, maximal cruise and for how long, and the maximal speed and for how long. The shuttle bay of the ship that will accompany you will be stocked with all you might need for repairs, including the materials to rebuild the entire warp drive if needed. I also want the statistics for the weapons, shields, hull integrity. You name it, I want it. I want a true value for every statistic that is normally listed."
"Well, I've never been told before to actually break a ship," Tom said with a grin and clear gleam in his eyes. "This will be fun. But on the other task, just where am I going, and who am I'm going to meet up with?"
~~~~~~~{}~~~~~~~
Seven looked at the PADD in her hand for a moment before looking back up and at the blonde sitting across from of her. "Interesting. The Trill will send me a Trill, the Bajorans a Bajoran."
Seven gestured to her side before continuing. "The Betazoids graciously lend me the service of a Betazoid."
A gesture to her other side. "The Klingons a Klingon, and the Romulans are sending me a Romulan. In light of that, do you have any idea why the Cardassians would send me a former Human sex slave?"
Seven had asked this question while being in a large room of Torres' ship. Knowing that Voyager really wasn't equipped as a place to govern from, Torres had officially given the Phoenix Alliance a part of her own ship in loan to be used as an Embassy until the Phoenix Alliance's official seat of power was built. They were seated at a large D shaped table that could seat ten people at the round side, and five people at the straight side. Seven had liked it immediately. That way she could sit with her Advisers at the round side and they could easily look at each other when talking, and visiting parties could be seated at the straight side.
The roundness also took away the feeling for visitors of facing a whole panel of people because there wasn't a cold line of people looking back at them.
Other than that the room was pretty bare, with the exception of decorations you would find in any official government seat. Flags of all Phoenix Alliance species hung on short poles at the back wall, with the flag of the Phoenix Alliance in a clear place of prominence. However, the flags were arranged as tasteful decorations and not as a stuffy sign of grandness.
On the wall opposite the one that carried the Phoenix Alliance flag there was a memorial of sorts, with pictures of people that had played an important role in the history of the different species. A picture of Zephram Cochran hung beside a picture of the most outspoken anti-Imperialist of Human history; Hoshi Sato. A picture of the Vulcan Surak hung beside a picture of the Vulcan T'Pau. The entire wall was covered with pictures of important historical figures of all fifteen Phoenix Alliance species. They formed a clear reminder of the fact that you had to stand for what you believe in.
"Only two reasons come to my mind, Intendant," The woman said and it was clear to see that she was well used to choosing her answers in a way that they could be ignored if one wanted to.
"Then please enlighten me as to what you believe."
"The more unlikely reason would be that sending me is a kind of insult to you; showing that my former master thinks little of you. But that he also doesn't want to be seen as not cooperating."
"And this is the unlikely reason because?" Seven prompted.
"Because I don't think that a former," The blonde suddenly stopped talking, clearly trying to find a way how to reword what she was about to say.
"Go on, you can talk freely here," Seven assured. "My feeling is that you were about to say that you do not think that a former body slave will be insulted by a former sex slave being sent to work for her, am I correct?"
"Yes, Intendant."
Seven gave a small nod. "In that case there is only one more option left, which is?"
"That I'm being punished for speaking honestly."
"Could you elaborate a little more?" Seven asked.
"It's, well, Intendant Dukat asked me, now that slavery was over, if I was going to stay as a physical servant. I informed him that according to the new laws I would still be his sex servant, I mean physical servant, for the next two years until my now physical servant contract would expire. When he asked, I told him that I would not negotiate for prolonging the contract after that because if it truly was my choice, I would never have worked in the sex industry. Suddenly I find myself here. My guess is that I'm being punished for basically telling him that I may pretend that I love the sex we have, but if it's really my choice, I wouldn't want to have it."
"And maybe you are underestimating Intendant Dukat," Seven objected. "I can see why you would believe what you do. However, you do not know all the facts that there are to know; Intendant Dukat does. Intendant Dukat does not strike me as the 'tearful goodbye' kind of person, so did it occur to you that by sending you to work for me, he might actually be giving you your freedom?"
"What?" The blonde merely asked, but it was plain to see that she was totally perplexed.
"I do realize that a lot of people see the new Phoenix Alliance as some kind of scheme; I assure you it is not. I have strict orders from the Chancellor himself to, quote; 'make this damn thing work'. I assume he means my government. To do so I have received the standing permission to dissolve any contract that any person might have that I want to have serve in my government. Regardless of the kind of contract, or where in the Coalition the individual is serving that contract. The only limitation is that I have to be able to prove that I am hiring the individual for a valid position."
"I don't see how this would free me; it would only mean that now my contract is with you," The blonde noted.
"Your freedom would come from how my government is going to be made up," Seven explained. "Government positions are not linked to a specific time frame, and there will not be elections or 'elections' for certain positions. All positions are appointed, and once appointed a position is held until someone is promoted, terminated... or to use the more common wording fired..., retires, or quits. Once you take a position in my government all previous contracts you have are nullified, which means that if you decide to quit your governmental position there are no other binding contracts for you."
"So, if I understand you correctly, I can, and have to, take your governmental position, but once I have that position I can quit and am considered a free person?" The blonde asked. "Even if I quit one minute after getting the job?"
"Theoretically, yes," Seven assured. "Practically you would have to wait a day or so because 'paper work' will have to be taken care of, and to create a document that will prove that you no longer have any binding contract."
Seven was quiet for a moment while the other blonde woman was clearly thinking about what to do. Finally Seven asked, "Is that what you want?"
"I'm not stupid," The blonde said. "Even if I were to be free of any contract, I still would need some job to make a living. So I guess it all depends on what kind of job you are offering. I won't work in the sex industry. If I really do have a choice, my days as a sex," a pause, "servant are over."
"I can assure you," Seven said with her famous impassive voice of which only a person that knew that voice only too well, like Torres, would hear the slight trace of amusement in it. "I am in no need of a physical servant. My personal needs are well taken care of."
Seven looked at the PADD again for a moment before saying, "Intendant Dukat pointed out that he is impressed with your ability to analyze situations in a tactical, micro-management level. Do you know what exactly he means?"
The blonde thought about that for a moment. "I can only assume that he is talking about the game he liked to play."
"Game?" Seven merely asked.
"Yes. He would hand me a theoretical deal and challenge me to find any flaws in it. The more I would find, the more my reward would be."
"Theoretical deals?" Seven asked, before adding, "What was the last theoretical deal you worked on?"
"A deal with the Ferengi about gambling rights on Cardassian star bases."
Torres chuckled at that before speaking up. "Ah yes, I remember that. Remember Seven? That complaint I had gotten from the Ferengi because the standard sub-conditions had been exposed and counteracted?"
Seven nodded. "To which you replied and asked why the Ferengi, that live in Cardassian space, were complaining to the Klingon Intendant about a deal made with the Cardassians? But if they really had problems with those contracts the Torres Holdings would be only too happy to take over the contracts? Yes, I do indeed remember that 'theoretical' deal."
Looking back at the blonde, Seven added. "It seems, Natasha Yar, that you were playing the role of an adviser for the Cardassian Intendant."
Seven looked to her other side and at the Bajoran sitting there. They had agreed on three small signals, nothing anyone that didn't know what to look for would see. A 'positive,' a 'negative,' and an 'I'm not sure yet' sign. That way Seven could ask for an opinion at any time by simply looking at her adviser and no words would have to be exchanged. Seeing the sign that indicated 'positive,' Seven continued.
"And that is also the position I'm offering you; Intendant Adviser. I myself know how to look at something in a tactical way, but I am more of a strategic individual. I prefer to plan ahead. In detail, yes, but still general plans that focus more on keeping in mind the result of a result of a result. I could use an adviser who would look at things in a clear tactical way. Someone that focuses on how a general plan would be put into reality, and then informs me in time of possible obstacles. Someone that informs me of the small details, like the fact that a mining program is sound, however it can not be implemented yet because we do not yet have the ships to transport the mined ore."
"Or someone to point out that a deal, written like that, will give the Ferengies free access to all locations labeled gambling locations," Torres added. "And that with the way the contract is written the Ferengi would be allowed to work under their own laws, even if it's not their star base, right Seven?"
"Indeed," Seven agreed.
"Those were real deals?" Natasha asked amazed.
"They were," Seven assured.
"But why does he send me away now?" Natasha asked with a frown. "I didn't know they were real deals, and I would have kept giving him my opinion on them."
"The reason why he sent you away is quite easy," Seven said. "You yourself indicated that you did not want to work for him as a physical servant and now he knew that he would always remember that when he were to take you to bed. It is much more effective for him to hire himself a new servant from Risa and pretend that she loves to be with him. Who knows, under the new system of people actually applying for a job, she will probably actually truly like to be with him. There are certain advantages to working for a powerful and rich person like an Intendant."
Seven paused for a moment to let that sink in. To make Natasha realize that maybe she had just missed a golden chance. It would make it a lot more likely that she would not want to miss her next chance; people only got a limited number of good chances in life. "So he sends you here to me, making sure that you are taken care of, if you decide to stay. And also taking care of the promise that all Intendants gave me; full cooperation in making the Phoenix Alliance a working reality. That last was not a political promise that means nothing in reality; all factions want the Phoenix Alliance to succeed, and are willing to help... within limits. Sending me an excellent adviser to help me is certainly within limits."
"Interesting theory," Natasha said. "But do you know any of it for sure?"
"No," Seven readily agreed. "It is all a guess, and that is also all it will ever be. Because even if you were to ask Dukat himself, he would never admit that he actually cared. He would simply say that he was tired of you and wanted to get rid of you. Personally I would suggest that if you ever see him again, you thank him."
"Thank him?" Natasha asked bewildered.
"Yes," Seven assured. "You might want to know that even though he send you to me, you are still the official Cardassian representative in my government, if you take the position that is. I am sure that he will find an excellent reason as to why he would send a Human to be the Cardassian representative, but you still will be just that, nevertheless. You will be going down in the chronicles of the Phoenix Alliance as the official Cardassian representative; the first ever official Cardassian representative."
Natasha thought about that for a long moment before asking, "So as this tactical adviser, just how does that work? Will I be sitting in some office going over deals you make?"
"Also," Seven said. "When I negotiate, I will have my advisers with me so that they can hear information first hand. It is when someone wants to negotiate 'alone' that I will bring the group of advisers back to two. My Political adviser here; B'Elanna Torres, and my Betazoid adviser; Kastra Troi. Because of this, as my adviser you will travel with me on my flag ship at all times and be in most of the meetings."
Seven could see Natasha's eyes light up at the prospect of a lot of traveling. It wasn't the first time she saw this reaction. It seemed that for most slaves the first and most obvious proof of being free was being allowed to travel and see places.
Seven could guess what question was already forming in the woman's mind and decided to answer it. "Yes, when we travel to places you will be allowed to used your off-duty time to explore them. However, what most people forget about traveling is... the traveling. There will be days or weeks between meetings because of travel distance. During that time I might call on my advisers for input on issues, but most of that time you will spent that time going over matters with a micromanage mindset; seeing if you can find issues that need to be brought to my attention."
Natasha nodded. "Good, sometimes I only find the real problem once I spent time to remove the problem that was deliberately planted to draw attention away from other places."
"A common tactic," Seven agreed. "And I will give my advisers enough time to deal with, and counteract, such tactics. However, I feel that I also need to point out that I am not only talking about deals. You would go over the same things I have to deal with, which means that you would also be looking at laws. Your task would be to see what the direct results would be, if other laws would be affected, and see if the law is actually as beneficial as it seems at first sight."
"Alright, your offer seems very interesting, and honestly, I would be stupid not to take it. When do I start?"
"Now," Seven said. "I will be meeting the Romulan representative next. If you want to be that adviser, you can join us while I talk to her."
"If that's what you want. Intendant, I have one more question for you if you don't object."
"I do not. I would like to keep the working sphere of my government rather informal. I do not want people to keep quiet because they are afraid to speak up. I want people to speak their mind so that I can take their opinions in mind when making decisions. That goes especially for my Advisers. How can they advise me if they are afraid to speak up? Therefore, whenever you have a question, you may ask. Also, unless we are in a formal setting, please address me with my informal name of Seven. I see Annika Phoenix as my official name, but I prefer Seven."
"Alright, Seven," Natasha said. "My question is this; Dukat rewarded me for things done well, what is your payment?"
Seven raised her eyebrow at that. "Not rewards, I assure you. Actually, I will set up the government positions in a rather interesting way. The payment will be anything people want, within reason, and nothing at all at the same time. Government employees will get 'paid' by getting private quarters, bigger and more luxurious the higher the position. If they serve long enough and then retire they will be allowed to live in those quarters for the rest of their life. They will also have access to their private replicator, again within reason. Or to use the more common term; on the 'fair usage' principle."
"You can take what you want, as long as you don't take so much that the next person doesn't get anything?" Natasha asked, mostly to show that she knew what the 'fair usage' principle was, despite being a slave.
"Almost," Seven agreed. "Almost because we are talking about someone having access to a replicator. So here it is more about people creating what they self need, but do not start using that access to buy favors from others by goods that those others cannot replicate. Again, the higher the position of someone is, the more... exotic the replicator patterns will be that can be accessed. Other things, within reason, will also be taken care of by the government. A hover car or a starship if travel is required for the job. So as far as that is concerned, the pay will be very high since people will get whatever they want, including private luxury items, within reason. However, none of it will be truly theirs. If they take the job while having nothing more than the clothes they are wearing, they will also leave the job again with just that if they ever leave it again, or leave it without retirement that is."
"And what about free people?" Natasha asked. "Some of them might have businesses."
"They might," Seven agreed. "And if someone already has a business, or sets up a business while working for the government as well, they will be free to manage that business as well, as long as it does not interfere with the work they do for my government. Of course, they will be checked from time to time to make sure that they do not misuse their government position for their own gain."
"But the temptation will be there," Natasha noted. "If I have a mining business, the temptation will be very big to give some very lucrative mining contract to my own business."
"I realize that," Seven said. "Which is why the Ministry of Finance will have a department that will go over all deals in which a business of a government employee is one of the business entities. All will be done to ensure fairness. It is simply that I also do not see why someone that is successful in business should give that up so that they can go work in a government position that pays nothing at all in the end."
Seven indicated Torres. "My mistress is famous as Intendant. But what far less people know is that she is also the owner of the Torres Holdings. Most people assume that this is another person by the name of Torres. Surely I cannot ask her to give up the Torres Holdings because she is doing me a favor and helping me to learn just what being an Intendant actually means."
Torres merely chuckled.
"Or take the person I want to be the Minister of Commerce," Seven continued. "She has succeeded in building a large business that is vastly diverse in what it does. I do not see why she should give up that business because I am asking her to help me with my government. Because her business is so vastly diverse, there are bound to be times where interests will conflict. On those occasions the Ministry of Finance will ensure honest and fair dealings."
Natasha nodded her understanding. "Not to mention that if you were to ask someone to work in your government, but that they can only do it if they give up all they have, nobody in their right mind would do it. Or at least, nobody that you want in your government. The ones that you do want in your government, are the ones that have already proven that they know what they are doing by building up that business. They sure aren't going to give up now."
"Indeed," Seven agreed.
"Alright," Natasha said. "As I said, I'll take the job. Now, we were to meet someone? Where do I go, or should I just keep sitting here?"
"For now you can sit beside Kastra."
~~~~~~~{}~~~~~~~
Donatra Tei walked in to the room and her eyes were drawn to the four women in the center of it. She of course recognized the Klingon Intendant, and because she had seen the Grand Assembly she also recognized Intendant Phoenix. The other two were a mystery to her.
Donatra realized that she was faced by four attractive women, but being smart enough to not even want to try and mess with the Klingon Intendant, there were only three woman left that were of interest to her. Two were blonde, but despite the fact that blonde was the hair color most favorite in the Coalition, Donatra had never really seen the appeal. The fourth woman though. A brunette, Donatra had always liked that, and this Human sure was extremely attractive.
With a little bit of a surprise, Donatra saw how the brunette was starting to blush in a very nice shade of pink. It was at that time that the brunette's black eyes registered with Donatra and that she realized that the Human was actually a Betazoid, and that her rather lustful thoughts had been clearly read by the woman.
"Am I missing something?" Seven asked when she was how Donatra saw looking at Kastra, who on her turn was clearly blushing.
"Not really," Kastra assured. "Let's just say that Commander Tei did not realize that I was a Betazoid and not a Human, and that I consider myself extremely flattered."
"I see," Seven said in understanding. "Please Commander Tei, have a seat."
When Donatra had sat down in the chair Seven had pointed at, Seven asked, "Tell me, Commander, is the fact that the first thing you do when you walk in to a room... checking out the women in the room... also the reason why Intendant Shinze send you to me with the words, 'an excellent candidate, perfect for your government. Just keep her from setting foot on Romulus ever again.'"
Donatra shrugged a little. "I could give you some excuse about how Intendant Shinze and I do not see eye to eye on all facts. I can also tell you the plain truth. The truth is that I honestly didn't know that she was his daughter."
"She?" Seven asked.
"She being the woman that approached me during a state dinner and who ended up in my bed that night," Donatra clarified.
"So in other words, you are a womanizing individual who's first task upon entering a room is to check out women and find a way to bed them. Someone who spends more effort on sleeping with women than on her career," Seven accused.
Donatra clearly bristled at the accusation. "I do my job just fine; otherwise I would never have made it to Commander to begin with. Do I look at women? Yes, I happen to find them very attractive, but that doesn't mean that I always act on it."
"Not always, but enough to get you in to trouble with Intendant Shinze," Torres spoke up.
"Look,"
"No, you look," Torres interrupted. "Remember who the fuck you are talking to. Don't you 'look' me."
"Intendant, you are right, and I apologize," Donatra said with a nod. "It is merely that I am annoyed at the fact that an innocent situation is used so extremely against me. Had she been anyone but Intendant Shinze's daughter, nobody would have said a word about it."
"Very well, if it truly is such an innocent situation, why do you not tell us your side of the story?" Seven suggested.
"Intendant," Donatra said before starting to explain. "It was the state dinner we have every year on Romulus, which I have been attending every year for the last twenty years now."
Seven raised an eyebrow at that. Commander Donatra looked hardly a day older than twenty herself. Then she mentally scolded herself for forgetting that Donatra was a Romulan and that they lived just as long as Vulcans did.
"Forgive me for interrupting," Seven spoke up, "But the information Intendant Shinze sent over about you is rather sparse on the personal side, it mainly lists your abilities and what Intendant Shinze thinks you would be suited for. So hopefully you will not find this question too personal, but just how old are you? You yourself hardly look much older than twenty."
"Intendant, I'm fifty-two standard years old. People do say that I do still have my youthful looks, and considering the subject we are discussing, it will not come as much as a surprise to you if I tell you that I am glad that I do indeed still look so youthful. Having said that, I do not look 'that' much younger than is normal for my age. We Romulan do live to be two hundred standard years on average, so I guess you could compare the aging of my body to be at the same point as a Human is at twenty-five, since Humans live to be a hundred standard years old, on average."
"If the Humans survived until that age," Torres reminded.
"Indeed," Seven agreed. "Please, continue your explanation."
"At the dinner I met this woman I hadn't met before. We started to talk and enjoyed each other's company. Things went from there. As you see, a normal encounter that is almost certain to happen at any state dinner."
"Just that you happen to end up in bed the first night," Torres added.
Donatra frowned. "Intendant, with all due respect, I really don't see the point. She was single, as am I. We met at a party and liked each other. It's normal, it happens daily. There are countless relationships that formed from two people that met up and slept with each other on the first night because the liked each other."
"You talk about relationships," Seven said before asking, "Are you saying that you would have pursued a relationship with the woman if you had a chance?"
"Sure," Donatra stated firmly. "Mind you, now that things worked out differently I file the experience away as a very enjoyable night, but sure. In fact, that is how Intendant Shinze found out about us. I gave his daughter a data crystal that held my personal information, including the code needed to contact me privately. After the Intendant found the crystal on the floor where his daughter had dropped it, he checked what it was and it didn't take Intendant Shinze that long to figure out why I had given that to his daughter."
Donatra took a deep breath before forging ahead. "If I may ask, what I don't understand is what all of this has to do with why I am here? Intendant Shinze plainly told me that he never wanted me close to his daughter again, but that even he understood the situation and that sending me away was not to be seen as a demotion."
"And he was sincere," Seven assured. "The reason I asked was because I need to be certain that you do not think with your groin. We certainly will not hold it against you that you have a preference for women. It would be hypocritical to the extreme, considering that there is not likely to be even one person in the entire Coalition that does not know that I myself am in a relationship with a woman; the Klingon Intendant. At least not if they did what was mandatory and watched the Grand Assembly. I asked because I need to be certain that if a decision needs to be made, you make that decision because it is the correct one and not because the person doing the asking has a pretty face and that she told you that she would be really... grateful. Especially if you were to come by bot a visit later that night."
"I would never have made it to the rank of Commander if that were the case," Donatra reminded.
~~~~~~~{}~~~~~~~