Alternate Conclusions
By H.W.
Chapter 3
"That is highly debatable," Seven merely countered. She looked at Kastra for a moment and then to her other side at Torres before continuing, "Either way, I am satisfied that the situation is not how initially looked, so I have a position to discuss with you. Intendant Shinze listed several departments that he feels you would be suited for, and besides that he also gave me a list of what he considers relevant information so that I can use that if I want to make a different choice than what he suggested."
Seven stopped for a moment to look at a PADD, though Kastra sincerely doubted that the blonde truly had to reread the information. "There is one thing in that relevant information that draws my attention and makes me think that you might be very suited for a certain position. The other information confirms that you will more than likely be able to do the job well. Intendant Shinze pointed out that over the last ten years there have been several official complaints made about you because you, quote; 'keep meddling in affairs that don't concern you'. It seems that you are not happy with the way education is performed in the province you come from on Romulus' sister planet Remus."
"I'm not," Donatra agreed. "We all know that, of the two planets, Romulus is seen as the true home of the Romulans. Even though ever since the Romulans settled in the solar system, they have lived on both the planets. Because of that Romulans from Remus, like me, always had to fight the stigma of being second class citizens."
Donatra gestured to her rank insignia. "As you can see from the fact that I did make it to the rank of Commander, this stigma is there, but it's not a roadblock. We can still achieve all that Romulans from Romulus can achieve; we just have to work for it harder. It's part of our history and society, and even though I'm from Remus, I don't mind that. In fact, I see it as something to be proud of. Even though I'm from Remus, I made it to Commander and I get respect for that from all Romulans, even the Romulus ones. My problem is the fact that on Remus we even get taught in school that we are not as good as the Romulus Romulans."
She shook her head a little. "That's just not right. Let us earn our place in society, sure, but don't start off by telling the children that they aren't any good. I had to live through that and now my brother is living through that at school. All I want is for that to be changed. Let the children grow up knowing that they are an important part of the Romulan society, no matter which of the two planets they were born on."
"A very heartfelt speech," Seven said. "And on the subject of teaching children, while I cannot offer you the chance to change education on Remus, I can offer you the chance to make sure that education is done right in the Phoenix Alliance. I am willing to offer you the position of Minister of Education. I do realize that the position does not sound as thrilling as a Commander might like, but make no mistake about it, I consider the Ministry of Education one of the most important Ministries in my government. You would not only be responsible for how education is done in one province on one planet; you would be responsible for how education is done for fifteen species."
"Fifteen?" Donatra asked with wide eyes, clearly amazed by the offer of becoming a Minister. It had been the last thing on her mind.
"Of course," Seven assured. "Six former slave species and the nine other species that now also fall in our territory. All of their education would fall under one Minister; you. The position would be vastly diverse. You would make sure that the training of physical and body servants on Risa meet the highest standard and you would also make sure that every child is taught how to read. However, the other nine species already have an education program in place, so let me ignore them for now and concentrate on the former slave species."
Seven gentled her voice a little and said softly," Donatra, if possible I do not only offer jobs to people of whom I am sure that they will probably be good at it; I want something extra. I want to see a passion for the job. I want people that truly want to do their job. You care for the schooling of children that are not born on Romulus; you want all children to have the same chance. That is exactly what I want as well. I want you to take that cause you feel so passionate about and continue to do it... with full governmental backing this time."
Now Seven's voice rose to her normal speaking volume again as she explained her vision. "Until now, a child would be taken from the planets they were born on as soon as they reached the age of twelve standard years. Then they would be trained in one thing and sold in to slavery, or sold directly into slavery without the training, if the masters wanted an untrained slave, so that they could train them themselves just the way they wanted."
She paused to give her next words more meaning. "This, is going to change. I want every child, every single one, to enjoy a broad education so that when the time comes, they can make an educated choice about what they want to do with their life. Do they want to become an engineer, or do they want to go to Risa and be trained as physical servant so that they can become a body servant later on?"
She lifted her hands a little, palms upwards. "Their free choice. To make this possible they should know what all options mean. Just what does it mean to become a physical servant? Are they willing to go that way to make a living? It is their choice, their free choice. After the choices are made, education is needed to train them into extremely specialized individuals. I want them to be the best. A Phoenix Alliance Engineer should be the best you can hire. A Phoenix Alliance Physical Servant should be the best you can hire. That is the line of Education I want to have set up."
She gave a small smile. "But there is more. At the moment, former slaves are specialized in one thing, because they never had an option. While I do think that most will continue to work in the profession they now know, there will be a large part that wants to do something else. The Ministry of Education will take care of that as well. If a former sex slave does not want to be a physical servant, they should have the option to be trained in whatever they want to learn as soon as their contract ends."
"That could clog up the system to the extreme," Donatra pointed out. "I don't mean the schooling of children into young adults that make their own choice and then school them in that choice. That's fine. That's the relatively simple matter of setting up the schools. The biggest problem is to find the people that will actually have the knowledge to teach."
"I would suggest, for the specialized schooling, former slaves are used as teachers; former slaves that liked their job and would now want to teach that job to others," Kastra said, only realizing after she had spoken up, that she had done something she had said she wouldn't dare to do; make a political suggestion instead of merely telling what she thought and felt of people.
"An excellent idea," Seven said with a small smile for the shy woman. Then she looked back at Donatra. "Would that take care of finding the teachers you need?"
"Yeah, I guess it would. The matter then would only be recruiting them now, since they still have to serve their contract, but that isn't really the problem I was talking about. The problem is, that if suddenly people start training in jobs they don't know, you will need a lot of extra teachers because once they start training they might decide that they don't like what they are learning and want to start something new. People could be in school for decades without ever finishing a single profession."
"A valid point," Seven agreed. "As for doing the recruiting now, that will not be a problem. I have the permission from Chancellor Worf to dissolve any contract and have that person work for me, provided that I can prove that I truly need that person. As long as the people I approach for a teaching job actually end up teaching, this is not a problem since this proves I need them."
Donatra snorted. "Oh, people will love it when you just take away their experienced workforce."
"I would strongly suggest that you watch that tone," Torres pointed out. "Seven here prefers an informal approach, but there is a line between informal and disrespectful. Watch that line, Commander. This is the second time I'm warning you."
"I will try to," Donatra assured. "I apologize. I don't do it on purpose. It's just that I'm not used to having a 'back and forth' discussion with an Intendant. Normally they just tell you what to do and you do it, if you're smart."
"I do guess that we will have to make some allowances for the characters of people if we want them to speak freely," Seven agreed. "I am sure that we will find a balance that is to our satisfaction. But for now, let me get back to the subject and let me talk about getting workers. I do not simply dissolve the contract and be on my way. The employers do get paid enough compensation to hire at least one new contract. I will only take the people I truly need from that location, not the entire workforce. So an employer might have to give up one or two workers at the most. They may still not like it, but they will be glad that I did not simply take all their employees."
You know, Seven," Torres said thoughtfully, "To come back to the schooling. We could do this similar as it will be done with the body servant training in the future. There people follow the training for free and get a rating test for free with the schooling. But if they want to take the test a second time, they have to pay a fee that's so big that they first have to work a couple of years to save for it. We could kinda do that here as well."
Torres grinned at her. "People didn't have a choice, so now you give it to them. If their long contract ends, they can opt to take schooling free of charge. The base course of that schooling will be the same as for the children; a little information on all options so that an educated choice can be made. And then once someone makes a choice, that schooling is also provided for free. Only once they have started a specialized schooling or finished one, they will have to pay a large fee to follow a different or second schooling. They just have to make sure during the base course, that what they choose, is really what they want. Since they won't have the credits to take this second schooling, they can't start it. Therefore, you don't get the situation the Commander just suggested."
Torres thought for a moment before adding, "There is another part that can keep the numbers down. You provide the schooling for free, yes. But at the same time, they also don't get paid during this schooling. They will only get the basic; food and boarding. They will have to make a choice. Do I go to school to train for a job I 'think' I really want, but don't get paid during the training, or do I stay here and do a job that's okay to do, but not really my first choice, and get paid for doing it? Only the ones that really hate their job will take the schooling."
"I like that idea," Seven agreed. "It will also ensure that we basically have only one system of education for all jobs, from the theoretical ones all through the physical ones."
"If you set it up like that, others can benefit from it as well," Donatra suggested. "Not only the former slave species, but also the ones that have always lived free. There are bound to be people there as well that wonder. Not every job done by slaves was a dirty and ugly job. Take maintaining gardens. My mother loves to maintain our garden. I think that she would not have minded to do it for a living, but that was impossible because it was a slave job. Either you did it yourself, or if you could afford a slave you had a slave do it. But a Romulan maintaining the garden of another Romulan? Or people that decide that after having done their job for so long, that they want something else. They too can take the schooling because for them it will also be the first time that they take it and therefore free of charge."
"It will also take the pressure from the sex jobs, or physical jobs like you prefer to call them," Natasha spoke up. "That way there are more people that will give the sex professions a try."
"What pressure are you talking about?" Torres asked confused.
"The age pressure of course," Natasha stated the to her obvious. "I'm 36 standard years old, and if I do say so myself, still looking good. But I have to tell you, ever since I hit the age of thirty I have been wondering; is this the year? Is this the week? Will this be the day that he realizes that I'm not the youngest anymore and that it's time to buy himself a new sex slave?"
She clearly flinched when thinking of something and then asked. "Do you know what happens to sex slaves that become too old? If we are lucky, we get sold to someone that likes them older and still have a few years. But eventually there comes the time where we become un-sellable as sex slaves. Then? We get sold to some mine or factory that doesn't care less where the people come from, as long as they are cheap. Never having learned how to mine, what to look out for, guess which people are the ones that die first in mining accidents. Same goes for the factory jobs."
"I must admit that I never gave much thought to the matter," Seven said.
"Nor did I," Torres added. "I never had a slave for sex before you, Seven. The rest, in the other professions, they just do their job until they drop. I never thought about it, but yeah. I can see how sex and body slaves could get too old for the job. The sex slaves even more so than the body slaves. The Body slaves also do other jobs besides just giving good sex. Those jobs are valued by the employer even if they think that the slave is too old for sex. But the sex slaves? They were products to be used. And what do you do if the product is, well, worn out? You get a new one."
"Right," Natasha agreed. "I don't think it will be as bad for the ones that now start in the profession willingly. They still have their whole 'looking good' life left to save credits for the time that they are no longer wanted. For the older ones it's also not a problem anymore. Either they are already sold to the mines and probably dead, or they have become a part of the family and the family decided to keep them to do other jobs for them, or simply because they don't see the getting older. They just see the person they took to bed the day before, and the day before that. They don't see that now this person is someone they would never have bought like this, because now this person is a part of their life. A part they don't want to miss."
She shook her head sadly. "It's my age group where the worry is the strongest. Between thirty and fifty for a Human. As I said, you wonder, when will be the day? If there is schooling you can take at any age, then the wondering changes to a personal one; when will come the day they don't find me attractive anymore and I have to go learn how to do a different job? Still not the nicest of wondering; basically when will they find me too ugly? Yet still a lot better than wondering; when will be the day I will be sold to die in a mine?"
"Or the day to be killed by the owner because they don't want the hassle of having to sell an old slave," Torres agreed. "I can also see what you mean that it will make the sex professions more desirable. There will be a lot of people that will vainly think, 'damn I look great'. They will decide to go in to the sex professions while they still have the looks to make some good credits and if it doesn't turn out..."
Torres shrugged to give her words the meaning she wanted to convey. "Hey, nothing lost; the second schooling to try something new is free anyway."
"Right," Natasha agreed. "Either it works out for them and they spend the rest of their life in the profession, or they try it for a couple of years before trying something new and you still have had that person working in the sex industry for a couple of years. There is bound to be a large group of people who will try this well-paying profession for a couple of years. It's good pay, and a bit of a thrilling job, if you have chosen for it instead of being forced in to it."
"Just like the young Klingons like to join the smugglers for a couple of years," Torres agreed. "The sex industry would be something to do for a couple of years; lot's of pay, lot's of sex, and a couple of years later they move on to a different job... or not of course."
"I told you before that I would never have chosen a profession as sex slave, or physical servant nowadays, but," Natasha sighed before saying thoughtfully. "It's more complex than that though. I don't know... If there had been the right circumstances, circumstances you are creating, I might have thought about it. If I could have tried it without having to be condemned to it for the rest of my life, if I had the option to learn something new if I don't like it as much as I thought I would, or if I had enough of it. If laws were in place to protect me against abusive employers, laws that now exist because now the sex professions fall under contract laws. If I would take away more from it in the end than just being alive for another day. If even though it's my chosen profession, I can decide to not work for a certain person."
She gave a small smile. "A lot of 'if', I know. But still, yeah, I think I might have tried it, if. Now that I know for sure that Dukat could not have sold me to a different person; that at best he could have ended my contract prematurely by buying me out by giving me all my wages to the end of the contract at once. And if I knew for sure that no matter what my age is I would always have the chance to learn a different profession for free once. I think that I wouldn't have been really averse to spending a couple more years as sex servant."
"Why not?" Kastra asked, her feelings telling her that Natasha was fully sincere.
"As I said, Dukat wasn't a bad owner. If I had him as an employer and not an owner, there is something to be said for being a sex servant. I had a good place to sleep; my own set of quarters and not just one room. Good food every day. The sex was good, not great because I had to perform on command, so to speak, but it was okay. There were days that I really didn't feel like it and Dukat seemed to notice, sending me away again. I didn't have to work twelve hours every day; I had to work thirty minutes, and that not even every day. If you like sex, why not? Have sex, be paid for it, and have lots of free time on top of it?"
"So you would sell yourself like that?" Kastra asked.
Natasha shrugged. "Sell, I guess you could call it that. At least both the employer and I would know from the get go where we are at with each other. Tell me, what are those others doing? Did you ever see a rich person that doesn't have a young person on their arm? Isn't the rich sixty year old always engaged to the beautiful twenty year old? Do you really think that these people can say no? Just how often are they able to say no before they suddenly are no longer engaged? I would get paid with a certain amount of credits every month. Those people are 'paid' by expensive things being bought for them. Where's the difference?"
"An interesting way of putting it," Seven said. "The influx of a lot of young people in the sex industry would also benefit those rich people. After all, as you just said, if they get themselves a couple of physical servants, they know exactly what they have. They do not have to worry whether they are getting their 'relationships' enough gifts since the price will be agreed upon and paid monthly, weekly or daily, all depending on their contract. The strong influx will also make sure that the sex industry continues to be a normal thing. Something of which people freely admit, 'oh, sure, I did that myself a couple of years before I learned my present job'."
"You worry about that a lot?" Donatra asked.
"Enough to have a Minister position for the sex industry," Seven said. "We are starting off with the fact that for 150 years the sex industry was performed by slaves. Now all of a sudden those same people do that same job and should be honored for doing it? I want to have the sex industry be an industry that people are proud to be a part of. Physical servants or Body servants should be people to be proud of. People you take with you to show off at parties, not to hide away in some room until needed."
"And that pride you will get if it's normal to know someone that has done the job for some time at some point, if not having done it themselves," Donatra said in understanding. "May I make a suggestion then?"
"Making suggestions is what I want from my government," Seven said amused. "Especially from my Ministers?"
Donatra understood the last question; clearly Seven was asking her if she was taking the position that had been offered to her. Considering that she was already thinking along with the other people on how to deal with issues, Donatra had the feeling that she would fit in just fine in this new government.
"Especially from your Ministers," Donatra agreed before continuing with her suggestion. "To make the professions as accepted as possible, you should go out and actively recruit people from other species. You now have the species that once were slaves, its normal to see a lot of them as sex servants. But that's exactly the reason why the other species shied away from having people in those professions. You should try and get some species like Bajorans, Romulans, Betazoid, Bolians, Cardassian; you name it, any of the other species."
"Ooh, good idea," Torres said. "Not only would you shake up the sex market by having the physical servants and body servants in the way you are now shaping those professions. You will also bring something to the market that almost nobody alive today has seen; having sex servants or body servants of the other species."
Torres frowned. "Hmm, come to think of it, I think you will kinda have to. Seven, you want equality for all. That has to work both ways. You will have to open up jobs to other species that only your people have done until now."
"I do not have a problem with that," Seven assured. "I strongly believe that if someone wants to do a certain job, they should be able to get the chance to do it. No matter what their species, gender, or age is. The only limitations will be if things make it impossible for them to do that job. There will be certain acceptance tests for certain jobs. As long as the applicant passes that test, they can have the job regardless of their species, sex, or age. What I am wondering about more, is whether people will be willing to do the jobs and whether people will actually hire these people."
"Sure to both," Torres said confidently. "First, the hiring? Seven, everyone has personal preferences, as you know. Just like I really like blonde Humans, there are people that like Bajorans, or Romulans. People they can only 'have' now if they start relationships with them, or the kind of relationships Natasha just talked about, the 'engagements'. Or like in the case of Commander Tei here, if both of them are single and interested in spending some time together. They can't however hire them as physical servants or body servants."
Torres grinned. "Or even more simplistic. What about liking their own species? A Bajoran will more than likely like the way Bajorans look. There will be countless of people that will jump at the chance to be able to hire someone of their own species. Which only leaves the question whether people would be willing to do the job. It once again comes down to credits. Seven, imagine that you are the first Bajoran body servant. Forget the grading system you will install for body servants for a moment. What would you think you would be worth simply because of the fact that you are a Bajoran?"
"A lot?" Seven asked amused.
"The first, and at that time only, Bajoran body servant? A lot is right," Torres assured. "There would be people that want that Bajoran body servant to be 'their' Bajoran body servant; people that can pay a lot of credits. People that can say 'at all costs' and mean it. You as that first Bajoran would, without a doubt, get offered over two hundred million credits a year, simply because you are the first ever Bajoran woman in Coalition history that can be hired as a Body Servant. What do you think? Will there be a Bajoran that is willing to train for the job and then be that Body servant for the wages of two hundred million credits a year?"
Before Seven could answer, "Torres continued. "What about for a hundred million? Ten million? One million? As more Bajorans will take the job of Body or Physical servant the price will go down because of the age-old supply and demand balance. The thing is, by the time the credits have dropped to normal levels, it will already be normal that Bajorans also take those jobs. The same goes for the other species. Eventually the price will drop, but by that time it will be normal for them to have the job as well and it's the grading system that dictates the price. At that time a fifth grade Body servant still gets paid an astronomical amount of credits, but by that time it no longer matters whether that fifth grade body servant is a Human or a Bajoran. Well, it might be of importance in personal preference of the employer, but my point is that the Human will have as much chance of getting the high paying job as the Bajoran does."
"What grading are you talking about, if I may ask?" Donatra said.
"Considering that you agreed to become part of my government, how about we go enjoy some dinner during which I will fill you in on some of the plans we have for the Phoenix Alliance?" Seven suggested.
She looked at Natasha and added, "That same invitation goes to you as well. Please join us."
Both women agreed and Seven decided to bring up the last thing that needed addressing before they could move to the dining room. "Commander Tei, I was sincere when I told you that Intendant Shinze demanded that you never set foot on Romulus ever again. Can I let him know that you agreed with this demand?"
Donatra crossed her arms. "Well, I don't make it to Romulus that often anyway. As you know, I'm from Remus, so even if I go home for a visit, I don't go to Romulus. In fact, I only went to Romulus for the state dinners and parades; all of which I'm more than happy to miss from now on. But I have to tell you, it bites to be treated like this, because I did nothing wrong other than the fact that I happen to like a person who has an overprotective father."
"Commander Tei, I would strongly suggest that you simply accept the situation for what it is," Seven said, and Donatra had no trouble to hear the warning tone. "Now you are the official Romulan representative to my government. You will keep your rank of Commander in the Romulan military. You will perform an extremely important job for your people. A job that will give you a cloud of power that no other Commander could ever have."
Seven gave her a small smile. "You would even be in the position where you can give friendly suggestion about how the schooling is done in a certain province on Remus. Suggestions that are done from one minister of a faction to another minister of another faction, on a level where small favors are exchanged all the time. I believe that all in all, that sounds like a perfect position for you to be in."
Then she smile left Seven's face. "It would be a real shame if you were to lose all that, including your rank, because you were charged with the Capital Crime of not following Intendant Shinze's orders. Do you not think so?"
"It would," Donatra agreed. "More so because Capital Crime punishments turn out to be quite deadly in about ninety-five percent of the cases. Are you telling me that this 'could' happen, or are you telling me that it 'will' happen?"
"Will happen," Seven said sincerely.
"I see." Donatra slowly uncrossed her arms and folded her hands instead. "I guess it's really a good thing then that I don't like Romulus much, isn't it?"
"It is," Seven agreed smiling once more. "Very well, Commander Tei, please join us for dinner."
"Sure. Actually, Seven. Considering how you are urging me to informality, please, call me Donatra, not Commander. I find it kinda weird to have you addressing me with my rank, while I don't do the same for you. Especially considering that you do outrank me by a range of ranks. Hell, you are even out of the ranks list."
Seven lifted her eyebrow at that. "I can not find any fault in your reasoning, Donatra."
"Well, if we are on the topic of being addressed," Natasha spoke up. "Natasha Yar was a sex slave. While I'm not about to change my name, I would like to start this endeavor off by asking people to address me as Tasha, informally of course."
"Of course," Seven said as she got up and the group started to move to the door. "Tasha, seeing that you are my tactical adviser, please give me your opinion on the schooling issue we just discussed. What problems can you see arising?"
Tasha had gotten up as well and was just about to answer when she heard a soft sound behind her. Looking back, she paled when she saw a huge targ moving from under the table.
"Holy crap," Tasha exclaimed, as she automatically moved closer to the door.
Though Donatra didn't say anything, it was clear to see that she too had moved closer to the door a little.
Seeing the reaction, Seven couldn't help but give a small laugh. "I apologize for not introducing my pet. I am so used to having him at my side that I sometimes forget that, to others, he is something entirely different than what he is to me; a loving pet. Toby, sit."
Toby did so and looked up at the tall animals. He had immediately liked the dark animal that had been introduced to him the day before. Oh, nowhere near like he liked his nest mates, but enough to not see the animal even as a potential threat. There was a calming feeling that radiated off her and he liked that. The other two he wasn't so sure about. But by now he knew the rules. He knew that it was considered wrong to bite the tall animals, even just in fun.
Unless his nest mates gave him the command of course, then it was alright. So he just happily sat there as his nest mates both gave him a scratch, one behind each ear. He loved when they did that. He fixed his eyes on the light animal that he didn't know and waited for a moment. Oh yeah, the animal had looked away first. There was no doubt that this animal was no threat to him. Maybe still fun to play with though, maybe chew off one of its paws for fun. But no, his nest mates probably wouldn't like that.
"You call that a pet?" Tasha asked as she looked at the targ. She noticed that the targ's eyes found hers and there was no mistaking the clear and deadly look of the killer in those eyes. Tasha quickly looked away, knowing only too well that you never wanted to stare down a targ that didn't see you as his dominant.
"Yes. This is Toby. You will see him a lot more in the future. With the exception of a few places, you can say that where I go, he goes. Do not worry. As long as I am with him he is totally harmless, unless I tell him otherwise of course."
"You trained him to attack?" Donatra asked.
"Rest assured, he was already quite capable of attacking before any training was done," Seven said amused. "What I did was train him to attack, and kill, on command. However, it is more a case of 'reverse psychology'. I do realize that Toby is a dangerous animal. By teaching him to attack and kill on command, he also knows that he may not do so unless I give him the command. Where before there was the chance that he would do something before I could stop him, now he will not for the simple reason that I did not give him the command."
Seven patted Toby and assured the others, "As I said, do not worry. Please do not be alarmed by his presence. Proof of the fact that he is harmless, in my presence, is that he was lying beneath the table the entire time during our conversation, your feet and legs extremely close. Yet you still possess both legs and feet."
"I guess so," Tasha said. "It's just, well; it will take some getting used to."
"I personally like him," Kastra assured, holding her hand in front of Toby and smiling when he licked it. "I don't suggest that you do this, but I think he and I have some kind of understanding. I don't feel threatened by him, but I'm also not stupid enough to think that he is any less than he is; a creature that deserves my utmost respect, and I'm more than happy to give it to him."
"I personally think that it also has a little to do with you being a Betazoid," Seven added. "General Martok is often to be found in our quarters, in his official function, and for nothing more than visiting good friends. Toby does not mind his presence, but even Martok cannot touch him without Toby showing off his teeth."
"Well, whatever it is, I still like it," Kastra said as she moved her hand to scratch Toby under his chin for a moment; sending the animal straight in to targ heaven. Now there were three people giving him their attention, and he was basking in it.
"I think he and I just reached our own kind of deal," Tasha said. "I won't try to touch him, and I hope he won't take a nibble out of me."
"Seems like a fairly one-sided deal," Seven said before finally moving on so that the group could go enjoy their dinner.
~~~~~~~{}~~~~~~~
Torres and Seven were enjoying their last drink of the evening before they went to bed. A pretty domestic scene, if not for the little fact that a huge targ was lying between them on the couch and that their entwined hands were resting on the beast's large back.
Torres looked at the animal for a moment, amazed at just what a fixed part Toby had become in their lives. Torres had known that Toby would be at Seven's side all the time, but she had been surprised at how easy they had adapted to it. Toby now always shared the couch with them, though not always lying in the middle. At other places, Toby would always lie under tables or desks close to their feet. In the bedroom, he now had his little corner where he went to without much fuss, just a sorrowful look from time to time.
Torres had to admit that sometimes she didn't even notice the animal as he followed them around when they were not in their quarters. But more importantly, Torres sure always noticed that Toby wasn't there on those few occasions where he couldn't accompany them. There was simply something missing when he wasn't around. All in all, Toby was the most perfect playful and sweet pet one could wish to have around.
Torres grinned. Well, there was that small other side of Toby, the side Seven let the animal fully release on the holodeck. Torres always found it interesting to see just how damn fast the targ could kill, once given the command. Torres had tried it once, just to see, and Toby had managed to rip a holographic person's throat out before Torres could pull her disrupter and ready it for the first shot.
Seven had been correct though. By training Toby to attack and kill on command, the targ had stopped giving those small indications in public that he was clearly thinking about attacking. As Seven had said; by knowing when he was allowed to attack, Toby automatically knew that he wasn't allowed to do so under any other circumstance, other than when getting the command.
"Mistress?" Seven suddenly asked.
"Yes?" Torres asked.
"I have noticed that you have been very quiet the last couple of days."
"What do you mean?" Torres asked, surprised by the comment.
"Take today. During our meeting with Tom and Megan you hardly spoke up. The same when I hired Tasha and Donatra. I did most of the talking."
Torres frowned. "Huh? Well of course, you are their Intendant, not I."
"Yes, however, you can still give your opinion."
"And I do," Torres reminded. "Think about it, my Pet, during those meetings, whenever I had a suggestion, I spoke up. When I had a question, I spoke up. When I wanted to make a comment, I spoke up. Seven, I think that you are just used to me being the Intendant and doing all the talking. The thing you should remember though is that I promised you, you would be the Intendant to these people and I would be your adviser. I mean that. And I also have to do that. If I were to act more like the Intendant in charge when you are the Phoenix Intendant, people will think that in reality I'm the one running the show. They will start talking to me about things that concern you. Tell me, have I started acting different when we are alone?"
"No, you have not," Seven had to agree.
"Or am I'm acting different when we are meeting with friends? Is there any question then just who of us is in charge of our relationship?"
"No, there is not," Seven said, this time with a smile.
"And don't I still,"
"Yes," Seven interrupted, knowing what Torres was going to say next. "You still do the Klingon Intendant issues, and I still read all the PADDs for you every day, and we still spend two hours every day with Toby."
"So?"
"So I am being irrational," Seven said with a smile. "I think it is simply that I am not used to you meekly following me around."
"Now my Pet," Torres growled playfully. "Don't go calling me meek. It will only force me to be the tough Klingon, and I don't feel like playing that tough Klingon tonight."
"Yes Mistress," Seven said before asking, "How do you think I am doing?"
"As Intendant?" Torres asked. "Pretty good I would say. Of course, I don't have to tell you that I would do some things differently; you know that. I think that the best thing you are doing is taking your time. A lot of people would crumble under the pressure and try to please everyone now. You just can't do that."
"Do what?" Seven asked slightly confused. Crumble under the pressure, or please everyone?"
"Definitely the last," Torres said. Then she corrected. "Well, both really. You also can't crumble. You can't show that you can't deal with stuff. People willingly follow a confident leader. But only a fool would follow someone that says, 'I don't know in what direction to go, so let's try that side'."
Seven smiled. "I would not, unless it would be a direct order. Which is something I, almost, do no longer have to worry about now. But I see your point. Even if someone had to follow such an insecure person because of orders, they would be much more inclined to change sides, run away, or simply hide. While a confident person is followed because everyone can clearly see that this person knows what they are doing and surely must have a plan."
"Right," Torres agreed. "And for the pleasing everyone part..." She shook her head slightly. "Let's be brutally honest here. Anyone that is alive today, you should consider lost. Or lost might be the wrong word, more like unimportant. You may make some change that affects them, you may free someone to work for you, but all in all, this generation is shit out of luck. They will just have to cope. They may get contracts now instead of being slaves, but in reality they are still screwed."
"Why?" Seven merely asked.
"Because..." Torres stopped talking as she lifted her hand and showed Seven the pluck of hair between her fingers. "Our boy here is starting to shed. We need to give the Master Sl... Servant an order to have someone come in more often to clean."
She let go of the hairs and pointed at Seven. "And no suggesting that you can do it. You have enough to do and I enjoy the free time that we have left."
I was not going to suggest that I do it," Seven assured. "Even though I normally clean and straighten things because otherwise it hurts my eyes, I do not enjoy cleaning. However, what I was going to suggest is that maybe we can use the sensors in your quarters. Have a servant come in whenever we are out of the quarters. That way we have clean quarters, and the servant can do their work without trembling because two Intendants are in the same room as them."
"Oh, good idea," Torres approved. "Now to answer your 'why' question. As we said before; the 'pay' of the people that were slaves will be food and a roof over their head. Theoretically, they are now all protected against mistreatment, but in reality? Sure, incidents will be investigated by the security department of whichever faction the incident happened in, but we both know only too well that a vast majority will never get reported and therefore will never be investigated. Will that former slave truly take the effort to report that a former master has beaten them when they are used to that anyway because they got beaten every day? Or will they just suffer through it until their contract ends?"
"Good question," Seven had to admit.
"There will be some exceptions," Torres stated. "But that's mostly in the sex market. Basically, you need to forget about this generation. That is actually the best thing you can do for them. By concentrating on putting things right for the next generation and the ones coming after that, things slowly change and the people now can also benefit from it. Just that where in the future it is automatic that something happens for someone, the people now will have to actively reach out and grasp their chance... or not."
"Like the new schooling system?" Seven asked.
"The new schooling system is a good example," Torres agreed. "People now will have to reach out themselves and grasp the chance you give them, but the next generation automatically goes through it. You can't go making changes that benefit this or that small group. What you need to do is take your time to lay the base, to put the right people in the right place to do the right job."
"Sometimes I do feel that I delegate too much and not see something come to a full result because of it," Seven admitted. "On Voyager, yes I was head of a department, but in reality this nevertheless meant that I would start, finish, and then present the results of a job. Now I feel that soon my life will only exist out of me telling people to do this or that and not see individual results anymore."
Torres sighed. "Seven, as much I would like it, you won't live for ever, and neither will I. You need to have a system in place for that time, making sure that there will be a smooth transition. When I die, the Klingon faction won't grind to a halt. Things move on, the daily life for the average person continues from one day to the next. The reason is because we Klingons have a system in place. You also need to have that system. You, as Intendant, should be the clear top of the pyramid, but the pyramid should continue to stand when you are gone and a new person is chosen as Intendant. That's what you are doing now; laying the base. The people you chose now will set the mentality of the Phoenix Alliance, and when the day comes that you die, the mentality of the Phoenix Alliance will survive with the new Intendant because you did a good job now."
Torres grinned. "But before you die, once that pyramid is in place, that's when the fun stuff starts. Then you have all these other people doing all the work, then you can take something you are truly interested in and focus on it. Then you can do that 'seeing it through' thing you just talked about."
"I really will be doing this for the rest of my life, will I not?" Seven asked.
Torres nodded. "Well, the rest of your life might be a little on the long side, but yeah, you will be doing the job of Intendant until you are old and gray. But baby, one of the fun things about being an Intendant is that you are your own boss... well, as long as you don't piss Worf off. So, now you might have to do a lot, but the more you put the right people in the right place, the more you can sit back and supervise. I mean, just look at the others. What does Deanna do? What does Jadzia do? Hell, what do I do? We just travel around taking care of the big things that others don't dare to take care of. The most work we do is reading PADDs and replying 'yes' or 'no'."
"And you see me doing the same?" Seven asked.
"Sure," Torres affirmed. "I honestly see the day coming when we two will be traveling around again like we did before you became Intendant; visiting planets, scaring people. Seven, we have only been to Qo'noS, Bajor, my home, and a few quick stops at planets along the way to kick some people in the ass. There is tons of stuff left yet that I want to share with you. I want to walk with you down the Victory promenade on Cardassia Prime, visit the Trill Capital, visit the plains of Orion, go climbing in the Ice caves on the Breen Homeworld, and not to forget getting the Ferengi's shorts in a wad by having not one, but two female Intendants visiting Ferenginar fully clothed and ordering Ferengi men around just for the fun of it. So much to do, so little time. Do you really think that I will want to wait until we are old and gray before actually doing that?"
"I sincerely hope not," Seven said, looking forward to sharing those times with Torres. "When do you think we will have the time for this?"
"We will have the time whenever we make it," Torres said with a shrug. "If in two months time we want to go do something, we make the time. But if you are asking me what I think the timeframe overall will be. Well, I think that there won't be much time in the next two years. Mind you, I do think, and am determined, to make some time for us during that time. Say about two times per year, two weeks each time, or something like that. For the rest of the time, your Faction needs you."
Torres thought about the potential timeline some more. "I think... I think that after the next Grand Assembly will be the time that you will be able to be a little more hands-off. That's the sole reason why you will have your Sub-Intendants. In two years time they, and the rest of your government, should be settled into their jobs well enough. From then until the next Grand Assembly, four years from now in total, we will have more time for us, but you will still have to be around a lot to deal with the delicate issues."
"So you believe that in four years time the Phoenix Alliance will be at the point where I can indeed be that Intendant that merely supervises?"
"Supervises and keeps the other people at the top in line," Torres corrected. "Yes, I really do think so. As I said, the next two years you will be building your Faction, but after that, things should start to settle down until the point where you will only have to do 'Intendant work' for a combined time of, say two months out of the year."
Torres thought about her own statement for a moment. "Well, let me correct that. Two months of 'Intendant work' and six months of traveling from place to place to do those combined two months of work. So you will have about four months of time truly for yourself."
"However, we also have to keep in mind that you are still the Klingon Intendant as well," Seven reminded. "You too will have to travel to deal with issues, and I sincerely doubt that Klingon issues and Phoenix issues will be so nice and happen at the same time at the same place. I think that we will always be traveling to some destination to take care of a problem. Having said that, I think we can work with that."
Torres softly touched the tip of Toby's ear, as always amused to see the animal twitch his ear to get rid of a pesky fly that didn't exist. After a few touches, Toby looked at her and let out a soft growl. Torres laughed and kissed him on the nose, only to be rewarded by a wet targ kiss as Toby quickly turned his head and licked her face.
"Pheth." Torres wiped away the targ saliva. "One of these days I'm going to learn."
Then she looked at Seven. "Alright, enlighten me on 'working with that'."
"You had to be on Bajor to handle the Intendant issue there. You had to be on Qo'noS to talk to Worf. Both of those times we spent time sightseeing. As you said yourself, there is so much for me, for us, to see. It will be hard to pick something that needs to be seen first. So why not combine the two? Whenever we have to go somewhere, we always take a couple of days to do something on that planet. It would save us the time of first having to travel to a destination since we are already there anyway, which means that we have more time to spend together."
"Oh, good idea," Torres said with a grin. "Which do we see first; the ice caves on the Breen Homeworld, the plains of Orion, or any other interesting place? It really doesn't matter."
"As long as we see all of them at some point," Seven added.
"Right," Torres agreed.
"And talking about traveling," Seven said, changing the subject. "I believe it is time for me to meet the person who designed the system that makes it possible to travel to my universe."
"Ah, you want to work on making that 'grand entrance'?" Torres asked ammused. "Well let me see if I can impress you. You want to see him? Alright, you will. How about... tomorrow?"
"Tomorrow?" Seven asked, clearly surprised. "You succeeded. You impressed me."
Torres grinned. "Well, since I don't have to pretend that I know how to do magic... it's actually simple. He has been on his way for two weeks now. He left the day after the Grand Assembly. At the time I still thought that he would have to be on Bajor to help your friends get home. Now I had the ship he's on redirected and we will meet up with him tomorrow."
Seven brought their entwined hands to her lips and placed a kiss on Torres' knuckles. "Now you see why I do indeed need Tasha as my tactical adviser. I totally forgot the not so small detail that we would need his presence. My mind was set in the memory that there is a device that can open the portal. I totally forgot that besides the device, we also need the man that made it."
Torres grinned and returned the knuckle kiss. "Great. I finally thought of something you didn't. I have to write that down somewhere."
Seven was about to reply when a whine interrupted them. Amused she brought their hands down to rest on Toby's back once again. "Excuse me for forsaking my most important task of petting you, your highness."
Despite her words, Seven didn't start petting Toby. She merely rested her and Torres' still linked hands on his back. Apparently it was enough for the beast. He let out a happy huff of air and closed his eyes again. After having looked at the clearly content animal for a moment, Seven spoke up again.
"I see a problem forming with Toby; something we need to find a solution for."
"What Problem?" Torres asked.
"His dislike for the transporters. As much as I would like him with me at all times, it is also not possible to do every journey off the ship by shuttle. Our visit to Voyager today proved that. Seeing that Voyager is right beside us, I prefer to beam over and speak to people face to face instead of using the viewscreen. I can see us visiting Voyager one or two times every day, if not for official reason than to visit friends."
"You could have them beaming over here," Torres pointed out.
"I could," Seven agreed. "But I do not want to. Perhaps for the Intendant related issues, but merely for friendly visits I want to keep the balance even, so to speak. I want to make sure that they see the visits from the friend separate from the work with the Intendant. As their friend, I have to do things as well. I have to visit them; I have to take dinner invitations; take Annika up on her offers of cooking, which I most definitely want."
"Me too," Torres agreed. Both Seven and Torres truly liked Annika's cooking and the dinner invitations were becoming more frequent, as were the most sincere acceptances of the invitations.
"Besides that though, Voyager was just an example," Seven continued. "The same goes for visiting planets, or other ships. Most times the transporter is simply a lot more convenient."
"Well, I agree to that. Use the transporter and be there in a minute, or use a shuttle and take half an hour or more because first you have to ready the shuttle. Give me a moment."
Since it certainly wasn't the first time Torres asked for 'a moment' to think about something, Seven knew what was meant and played a little with Toby's fur while waiting.
"Well, we could leave the choice up to him," Torres said after a few minutes of silence. "I mean, the only real reason you have transporter pads on ships is to have fixed locations; an automatic signal that can be locked onto instead of having to scan for exact coordinates just to make sure that you don't materialize in the middle of a wall. As you know, since I value my privacy all the other quarters on this deck are empty."
Torres pointed to the door that held the bedroom, and beyond that the bathroom. "We could make a door in to the neighboring quarters and have most of it changed to where it exists out of a corridor that is long enough to pass outside the dampening field I have around our quarters. At the end of that corridor we can then have a room with a transporter pad."
She grinned when a thought struck her. "Oh, I already like that idea. Just think, we come back from a frustrating meeting with people I would rather kill than talk to, and we walk straight into the bathroom where I can take a relaxing bath. And the best part is that security is still assured since the actual transporter is outside the dampening field, and Toby can't get out because the corridor goes nowhere but into a room with no door other than the one of the corridor. Whenever we want to go somewhere using the transporter we use 'that' transporter."
Torres patted the targ on his head. "Toby is a smart boy. He will soon figure out that if he goes into the room with us he has to suffer through being transported. But he will also realize that if he doesn't go in to the room with us, we disappear and he stays here alone. So, we let him choose. Either he comes along, or he stays. Of course, if he comes along, he also just has to suffer through being beamed back. I think he will figure that out fast enough as well. Beaming means a second beaming to get home, shuttle means a second shuttle trip to get home. Personally, I have the feeling that he will choose to come with us despite the beaming, but yeah, we don't want to pressure our boy here into it."
"I like that idea as well," Seven said, knowing that the smart animal would figure it all out in no time. "I believe that for added security the transporter should be set up in a way that the beaming is redirected through the transporter buffer in the main transporter room. We can then beam out from the room we added here and we will not notice the redirecting during beaming. But when we beam in we can be held in the buffer for a second to check that it is really us. That way if someone manages to override de beaming safeguards and beam in without permission, they will still be trapped in the buffer."
"I'll let Engineering take care of it," Torres assured. "Now, are your ready to go to bed?"
"That depends," Seven said after pretending to think about it for a moment.
"Depends on what?"
"On whether you are willing to make up for your mistake. We did not make love yesterday. So are you prepared to make up for that tonight and show me how sorry you are?"
"Hey, wait a minute," Torres objected. "Why should I be the one to make up and be sorry? It's as much your fault as mine that we didn't make love yesterday, or more to the point neither our fault since we simply went to bed too late to take the time we wanted."
"I know," Seven affirmed. "However, I am in the mood for a little attention, so you can work to make it up. Would you mind?"
Now Torres grinned. "Oh, not at all."
She cleared her throat a little playful before saying, "Seven, I'm sooo sorry for yesterday. Please let me make it up to you."
Seven returned the grin with a smile before getting up. "Very well, I will let you make it up, but I expect a really... good... apology."
"Hmm, let's go see if I'm up to the challenge then."
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