Alternate Conclusions
By H.W.
Chapter 15
As Mara followed the guards she worried what she could possibly have done to warrant not one, but two disrupter rifle-armed guards. On top of that she was being led to the Chancellor's palace of all places. But for the life of her she just couldn't think of anything.
She looked in aw as for the first time in her life she was walking through what she, and the majority of Klingons, had only heard of; the Hall of the Great. She wished that she had the time to watch some of the statues a little longer, but the guards just kept walking, and if she slowed down too much the one at the back would just push her along. Then, halfway down the hall they moved into a side corridor and a minute later, Mara was pushed into a room while the guards stayed outside.
Inside Mara was faced by two women sitting at a table with one free chair on the other side. One of the women was clearly a Klingon hybrid like herself, and the other one was Human.
"Sit," The Klingon said in a tone that made it clear that she was used to people doing as she said.
Mara slowly walked over to the chair and sat down with enough hesitation to show her irritation at being ordered around. But to her surprise, the Klingon only chuckled at the behavior.
"Do you know how I am?" Torres asked, knowing that Mara would not have seen the last Grand Assembly because children only had to watch them from the age of twelve onward. Because before that time they were considered too young to fully comprehend the things discussed at the Grand Assemblies.
"I saw you both at the Orphanage, and considering that you are staying in the Chancellor's palace, and that I was brought here by armed guards, I would guess that you think that you are someone important," Mara said defiantly
"Torres is the name," Torres said, seeing with amusement how Mara's eyes got bigger when she heard the name, and also seeing that the child tried to swallow against a suddenly dry throat. Clearly she had immediately understood that a 'Torres' that was staying at the Chancellor's Palace could only be 'Intendant' Torres. "I see that you may have bravura, but not to the point of stupidity. And this here is my fiancée, Intendant Annika Phoenix of the Phoenix Alliance; Seven to friends and family."
Not really knowing how to react, Mara shifted in her chair, making her leg accidentally hit something under the table. A soft growl followed and Mara looked under the table in pure reaction, only to make the chair fly backwards as Mara quickly moved away from the huge targ that was lying there.
"Sit back down."
Mara looked at the Intendant in disbelief, only to see a smirk on her face. Mara knew that she was being challenged. She looked back under the table and saw brown eyes looking back. She also saw that the targ was laying in such a way that his back touched the feet of both women. Mara figured that if he didn't bite their legs off, he probably would start nibbling on hers either... at least she hoped, since she sure wasn't going to back down from a challenge like this. She picked up the chair and sat back down again in full confidence, which was totally played of course.
"Do you have any idea why you are here?" Torres asked.
"Can't say I do," Mara admitted.
"What would you say if I told you that I'm here to offer you a job, and a home?"
"I would say that I'm more than happy living in the Orphanage."
"Let me guess," Torres said. "You have it all planned out. You will live there until you are fourteen years old and then you go out and get a job on short contract basis so that you have nobody to answer to but yourself."
Getting no reaction, Torres knew that she had been right. "You are smarter than that, Mara. That's probably just a childhood dream that you are simply holding on to because you never had to let it go. Now you do though. Because now I'm going to ask you to really think about that for a moment, and ask yourself if you really want to do that. If you really want to spend your life doing jobs that are only handed to unschooled people. Do you really want to do jobs that are not much better than the jobs the former slaves have to do? I'm here to offer you something else; I'm here to offer you that famous once-in-a-life opportunity. Here, right now is where you decide your destiny. Are you going to be a nameless and faceless person that cleans up after others, or are you going to be one of the most powerful business people in the Coalition?"
Seeing Mara take a breath, Torres added, "Think about it though. I'm not giving this away for free. You will have to earn your keep, you will have to proof on an ongoing basis that you live up to my demands."
"And what exactly is it that you are offering?" Mara asked. "You said a job and a home. That's kinda vague."
"You ever heard of the Torres Holdings?" Torres asked.
"Sure, who hasn't? In fact, the replicators we have at the Orphanage carry the brand name."
"Well, that Torres name is one and the same as the Intendant Torres. So as you see, I am the owner of a nice little company that needs someone in charge even after I concentrate on other things. The thing is, I really don't feel like getting pregnant, popping out this kid that craps all over itself and then having to wait years before I can start training it. Since I don't want that, the only other option is that I name a heir; that I pick someone that can take over my business when I want to hand over control."
"I'm sure that people are standing in line for that," Mara noted.
"Probably," Torres agreed. "If they knew I was looking. But the thing is that I will never be able to trust an older person because they will have their own agenda. Besides, what's the use in picking a successor that is pretty much my age anyway? I could of course simply adopt some baby, but then I would be once again faced with having to wait before training can begin. Or I pick someone a little older; someone, say, around the age of twelve."
Once again Torres saw the girl's eyes get wide when realization truly set in for her. So Torres continued. "You are old enough for you to clean your own ass after taking a crap. You know how to feed yourself. You are old enough to realize that any action has a consequence, and to wonder if you want to suffer the consequence. You are also old enough to be left alone for some time if Seven or I have to do some Intendant thing. Yet you are still young enough to be formed. Still young enough to learn how I like business to be done. You are still young enough to not yet be tainted by having your own ulterior motives. And last but not least, you are smart enough to understand something the first time I explain it to you."
"So you are talking about an on the job training?" Mara asked. "Are you offering schooling as well? Some degrees I can study for that will help me in the rest of my life?"
"No schooling," Torres said, only to correct herself moments later. "Well, that's not right. If you feel that you need to learn something that I'm not teaching you, you can ask me and if I agree that there might be some use for it you will be allowed to follow schooling in it. And you can follow schooling in your own time if I don't see the use in it but you still want to know it. In either case, if you want to you can then take the tests at the end just so that you have a degree for yourself; a proof that you did it. But you won't be needing any degree later in your life because the position I'm offering is for life."
"Really?" Mara asked pleasantly surprised. Contracts for life were hardly used anymore because even if the employer fired you, he still had to pay you wages for the rest of your life. There were not many companies that wanted to take that risk. Then Mara frowned when Torres replied to the 'really' with a chuckle. "What?"
"I believe that you do not fully comprehend the kind of life contract my Mistress offers," The Human called Seven spoke up for the first time.
"What's not to understand at knowing that you will get paid for the rest of your life?" Mara wondered.
"The fact that my Mistress, as Intendant, can get away with murder; literally. If my Mistress offers a contract for life, it means that if you do not succeed at your job you will be terminated. However, the only way you can be terminated from a life contract offered by my Mistress is... by being terminated in the true essence of the word."
Mara swallowed. "You're trying to tell me that if you aren't satisfied by what I do, I will get killed?"
"Yes," Torres confirmed, wanting there to be no confusion at all about that point. "As I said, I'm not giving this away for free. If you want to achieve something in life you need to take risks from time to time. The higher the risk, the higher the reward can be, or the harsher the results of a failure will be. This is literally a multi-billion credits deal I'm offering you, so it only seems fair that the result of failure will be severe as well."
"But one mistake and I would get killed!" Mara exclaimed.
"No," Torres assured. "Not one mistake. I know that you are untrained; hell, that's the major reason why I'm picking you to begin with. There is no question that you will make mistakes. I fully expect you to make them, and the potential losses those mistakes will cost me are considered part of the cost of training you. In fact, depending where we are on the route of training you, we will even do some of the things as you think they should be done even though I know better. That way you will see what the results of mistakes are, and the result of those results."
The she decided to give some examples of things that were most definitely lethal. "No, what will get you killed is if you don't learn from your mistakes, or if you think that you are smart enough to outsmart me. Or if you think that you can take a shortcut and do some extra work for someone else. Let me warn you right now, Mara, don't ever be tempted to go behind my back. Trust me; you cannot do better than me being pleased with you. Nobody can ever offer you more than I do. Oh, they might offer you more in one amount than I will pay you in a year, but they won't be handing you a multi-billion future and a company worth even more than that. And more, remember, I'm the Intendant. Do you think that you could ever hide for the person that can send the entire Klingon Army after you, and the Klingon Security Department, and on top of that can ask the other factions for help in finding you?"
"You say that I can't do better than you being pleased with me," Mara said slowly, knowing that Torres' question was meant as a reminder, and not a question that needed answering. "Pleased can be in all kinds of ways. The last family I stayed with, they figured that at age eleven I was old enough to have their fifteen year old son be pleased with me as well. They brought me back to the Orphanage after I kicked the asshole in the nuts so hard that he needed an emergency beaming to the hospital."
Torres chuckled while Seven smiled amused. "Good girl," Torres said approvingly. "Trust me on this; if, how, and when, you use your body like that is purely your own decision."
"Totally?" Mara asked.
"Totally," Torres assured. "Well, there are two demands I have. Because of your training, and the fact that I want you to spend your time learning things and not being otherwise occupied, I want you to put your training first. If you have 'plans' and I have other plans that cross your plans then your 'plan' will have to wait until you do have the time. Second, because of the same reason it will be mandatory for you to get your yearly anti-conception injection until you are thirty years old. If you want to have a child of your own, be it biological or adopted, it's going to be at thirty or older."
At the moment having children was the furthest thing on Mara's mind, but she realized only too well that she might think different sometime in the future. But on the other hand, she could see the advantage of first securing her position in life before thinking of a next generation. thirty did seem like a good age to start thinking of children. "Alright, and what about wages?" Mara finally asked.
"You will be getting a flat fee that won't ever change until the time comes when I feel ready to sign the control of the company over to you... mostly. At that time I'll be the one that will be receiving a flat fee for the rest of my life, the amount of which we will negotiate at that time. The flat fee you will be getting is one million credits a year."
Mara's eyes got a lot bigger when hearing that. She would be a fool to say no to that, but then she realized something. "That sounds very tempting, but if I do succeed at the job it would mean that in fifteen years or so if I'm a very successful business person that is making you a lot of credits, I would still only get paid one million a year while there sure are successful business people that get paid a lot more than that. In fact, for a successful business person, one million a year is not that impressive."
"Very perceptive of you," Torres said, giving a short nod. "A flat fee would be very unfair if you consider that a good deal can be worth millions or even billions in credits. That is why there is a second payment as well. At the end of every year I will review your achievements in that year and reward them fairly with awarding you a certain percentage of the net profit. Even more interesting, that percentage will never get less, but will get more. If you, say, managed to get up to five percent, you will from then on be assured those five percent every year. Meaning that every month you will get paid five percent of the net profits of that month. If at the end of that year I find that you earned another percent, you will get six percent from then on."
"Net profits always go to the owner, or owners, of a company," Mara noted, making it very clear that she did indeed already know things that the average twelve year old wouldn't know. "That means that the net profits of your company go to you. Yet I would have to just trust you that you would give me the true percentage I earned while this would mean that you would me making that same percentage less from then on. Why would I ever believe that you would do that?"
"Are you questioning my Mistress' honor?" Seven asked. "The honor of a Klingon? Not just that, but even of the Klingon Intendant?"
"With all due respect, there have been more than enough Klingons that acted without honor if the temptation was big enough," Mara said, staying very deliberately between saying yes or no.
"She has a point," Torres agreed. "Offer a Klingon a couple of million credits and they might just decide to swallow their honor for once, and then of course never admit it afterwards. Just deny it long enough, even to themselves, and eventually even they themselves will start to believe the stories they came up with to explain the credits they suddenly have. Remember K'Trelan? He sure wasn't alone when he tried to ambush me. Those Klingons sure seemed able to ignore their honor for just long enough to earn them some credits."
Then she looked back at Mara. "To answer your question, the assurance you have is in the fact that I don't need the credits to begin with. Remember, we are talking about new profits here; not the credits I already own. I have billions of credits on my personal accounts. That is an amount I can't ever possibly spend unless I start collecting starships or something like that, and even then it would have to be big ships."
"I will have a few you can buy if you want," Seven suggested amused.
Torres chuckled and then focused on Mara again. "Alright, let's say that somehow I did manage to spent or lose it all. I still would not need the extra credits from my business back simply because I happen to have this other nice job. As Intendant I get paid a flat fee, just like you would if you take the job. Only that my flat fee is one million credits a day. So, you see, I really don't need the credits, but at the same time I want to have something for you to strife for. I will tell you when you did a good job, and I will tell you when you messed up. But I know that you will also want to have some proof; something that shows you that I truly think that you are doing alright. So, your goal will be to impress me in such a level that I will award you with higher and higher percentage points."
"And what happens if I'm great at the job, but we just don't get along? You said I would get killed if I mess up my job, but what if what I just said happens?"
"Maybe it is better if I answer that one," Seven said. "You will find that my Mistress is a strict, but very fair person. She does not punish unless it is deserved. If you and my Mistress will not get along you will not be punished for that, but you might get punished for how you act. You might dislike her in such an amount that you decide to not do as she told you. In that case you will get punished, but not because my Mistress does not like you, but because you did not do as told without having an underlying reason that justifies your actions."
"So in other words, if we don't get along and I start hating your guts, I simply have to pretend that all is fine and dandy," Mara surmised.
"Basically, though not in that extreme," Torres agreed. "You don't have to hide that you don't like me; in fact, you can tell me without it having any consequences. But at the same time I won't tolerate you arguing with me without reason, or you not doing as I told you, or you 'forgetting' just who is the one in charge here. And while we are on the subject of behavior... Just as much as I don't want any disrespect, I also don't want any sliming. I don't need you to tell me how wonderful and extraordinary I am; I have enough people that work for me that already do that because they think it will get them somewhere. Bottom line is; act like yourself, but keep in mind who's the boss around here and we will be fine."
"And just who is the boss around here?" Mara asked, her eyes very deliberately drifting to Seven.
"A reasonable question," Torres said a lot calmer as Mara had expected. "Especially considering that if you take the job you will hear Seven call me 'Mistress' most of the time while I call her 'my Pet.' Let me lay it down for you as best I can. Officially Seven is the Intendant of the Phoenix Alliance... you did hear that slavery is over now and there is a new Faction, right?"
"I did," Mara assured.
"Seven is the Intendant of that Faction. That is for real and she has all the powers of an Intendant. You might even hear us having negotiations on that level. In our private life it is more complicated. Seven and I are engaged to be married; out of love, not out of need. I see her as my equal and my other half. Insult her, and I will act, and vice versa. Her word and mine are the same. So if she talks to you, tells you to do something, then consider it a command from me that you do not first have to check with me."
Mara nodded thoughtfully, showing that she understood so far.
"Now for the 'Mistress' and 'my Pet' part," Torres continued. "It is simply that over all Seven and I compliment each other in the fact that she wants there to be a partner in her life that is mostly in control, and I want to be in control. Since you will probably hear it soon enough... Seven started out as my Body Slave and liked it. I liked having her as my Body Slave and I really liked her. From that love followed, and here we are. I'm Seven's Mistress because we both want me to be her Mistress. But make no mistake, we can step out of that role with a mere changing of how we address each other and then we are what we actually are in reality; totally equal."
"Why would you want to be a Body Slave?" Mara asked amazed.
"It is a rather complex story," Seven replied. "Not that I would mind explaining it to you later if you take the position offered. That way you will understand more of the dynamics between my Mistress and me. But for now, I will merely answer with a; that is not important right now."
"Ookaaayy," Mara said in a slow and drawn-out way before asking Torres, "I assume that you have certain guidelines you want me to follow?"
"I only have three base rules for you, the rest we will make up as we go along. First, if Seven or I tell you something you may feel free to ask why. We want you to ask questions so that you can learn. If there are no other people present you may also object to things we say, see if you can convince us from your point, but in the end; what Seven and I say goes. Second, and let me be very clear here, if Seven or I give you the answer 'because I said so' it 'is' a reason. And third, if you every try to play Seven and me against each other, as in 'but Seven said' or 'let's see how Torres thinks about that,' I swear, I will kill you on the spot. I have no use for mind games, and frankly, someone that has to resort to them to get their wish is not someone I want in control of my business anyway."
"But if the rest is made up as we go along, as you say, it can mean that if I agreed to take this deal, then somewhere down the line you can suddenly throw up a rule that I would normally have never agreed to," Mara noted, not reacting to the three rules Torres had lain out, but having already committed them firmly to memory. She had a feeling that she would especially have a big problem with the second one. The third rule she could ignore because it was simply not in her nature to do something like that. And the first, well, it made kinda sense anyway. After all, the boss paid the wages so the boss should have the last word. Mara was already glad that she would be allowed to question things at all.
"That is part of that taking a chance," Torres reminded. "You just have to hope that doesn't happen. But, one thing to keep in mind is that because this is not covered now, it means that the first rule I just told you will apply to that as well. If we bring up some new rule, you may question it, and you may explain why you don't like it. If your arguing is good enough, then the new rule will be changed or not implemented at all. So I guess you better learn how to have pointed discussions."
Mara frowned at that and Torres continued amused, "Also keep in mind that I want to produce an Heir that can think for herself and knows to survive in a business world. A lot of restricting rules from my side would not aid in that. I realize that just believing me on my word is a risky thing in a business negotiation, and something I most definitely don't encourage you start doing. Still, believe me on this when I say that we want the contact with you to be such that we feel comfortable with your around. Because of that I want to implement as few rules as possible. Instead I want to encourage communication; talk things through. Not just give you a rule to live by, but explain to you why we would prefer that you do something in a certain way so that you understand it instead of resenting it. Making it a rule to live by is only a last resort."
Mara thought about that for a moment before giving a short nod. She could see the logic of that. Too much 'because I said so' or too many unexplained rules would not create a free thinking Heir. It would only create a mind-numb puppet. "You said you were offering me a job and a home. Since you want to train me, I assume that you meant that I'm getting a living space close to you so that I can be there at a moments notice?"
"Seven?" Torres said, clearly handing the conversation to the blonde. Apparently the answer was considered her department.
"It depends on how well we all get along. If you have a problem with either my Mistress, me, or my pet Toby, then yes you will get a place to live that is close enough that you can be at our place within a minute."
Hearing Seven talk about a pet, Mara could only assume that she meant the targ at her feet. Mara had totally forgotten about him, and at the reminder she looked under the table once more. This time she was treated to seeing the targ lying as if he was sleeping, but just as she was about to look up again she noticed that his eyes were at mere slits, but still clearly watching her.
In the meantime, Seven continued. "However, if you do fit in with the family unit well enough then we were hoping that we could offer you more. If you agree we were hoping to give you a place in this family unit as a part of it. The business part my Mistress just explained will not change. A contract will be set up that you have to agree to if you want to become her successor. But we were hoping to offer you an official adoption as well. As such you would become part of our family and live with us."
"Thanks but no thanks," Mara said right away. "I survived just fine without a family until now. I really don't need a momma and a..." Mara frowned. "Well, two mothers anyway."
"And neither do we want to become 'mommas'," Seven assured. "My Mistress is only thirty-two standard years old, and I myself only twenty-nine. Both of us are too young to feel comfortable to be called 'mommy' by a twelve year old child. You would be addressing my Mistress as Torres, since she prefers her last name to be used, and me you would be addressing as Seven. We are not your birth mothers, and we do not want to pretend that we are."
Seven paused for a moment before continuing, "Having said that, as you probably know, there are certain situations where you would have to refer to us as your mothers. This is not our choosing, but simply Klingon law and Klingon traditions. When we are alone in private however, you can call us as I just suggested. The point is; my Mistress, I, and Toby, are a family unit and we would be opening up this family unit to you as well. Yes, we would be the adults in the family unit, and you would be the child. And yes, according to Klingon law we would refer to you as our daughter and you would have to refer to us as your mothers. But we would not, and do not want to, pretend that you are a child born to us."
"I know the difference between the Honorary title of mother, and the actual family title of SoS only too well, but it doesn't matter since I don't want a family."
"That is your choice to make," Seven said with a short nod. Then she added, "Mara, we know that you have been placed with families before, we do not know why it did not work, but I can imagine that it left marks. You learned that you do not need a family because they will only get rid of you when things get difficult. This is different though. As my Mistress pointed out; the job is for life. We will not be getting rid of you,"
"Unless I don't measure up to expectations, then I will be killed," Mara reminded.
"On a business level," Seven reminded on her turn. "If you do not measure up to expectations on a business level, then yes, you will get killed. But that is not on a family level. On a family level we do not have any clear expectations. You have to remember that this is new to us as well; we do not know what to expect. You will be faced with something else though. Both my Mistress and I can be very stubborn. Stubborn enough to out-stubborn a twelve-year-old Klingon child."
Seven looked at the table for a moment, but decided that Mara had the right to know it all. "You would also be facing physical discipline from my Mistress if you try to push either of us to far."
"Only from her?" Mara asked surprised.
"I have seen enough suffering that has been caused at my own hand," Seven said softly.
For a moment Mara just assumed that Seven had misspoken and actually meant 'hands'. But then the blonde lifted one of her hands slightly and only now did Mara notice that it was covered with metal. Mara had of course noticed the metal parts on the face of the blonde right away, but hadn't given it much thought. She had simply assumed that it was some kind of decoration. Some people did really weird things to stand out. She had however missed the hand, probably simply because she was too busy looking at the faces of both women.
"If you do agree to become a part of this family unit, I will tell you more about my implants at some point, I am sure. But do know that I am very capable of pretty much pulverizing a Klingon skull with this hand. For that very reason I would never lift it in anger towards you. However, be assured that I am very capable of telling my Mistress if a physical punishment is warranted and then have her take care of the problem."
"And I would not need telling most of the time anyway, since Seven and I are hardly ever apart," Torres added.
"Either way," Seven continued. "If you do take the job offered then this, we, are the last chance you have of becoming a part of a family unit. Ask yourself this, Mara, do you really want to grow up alone? I know that you preferred to be on your own in the Orphanage, but that was mostly because any friends you made would only leave again soon after. But we are not leaving. Tell me honestly, have you never daydreamed about having someone to talk to? Having someone to eat dinner with? Someone that goes to the theater with you? Someone that you can proudly tell that you passed a test or won a fight?"
"With all due respect, I just don't know if I would even like you two."
"That goes both ways," Seven said slightly amused. "The point is that we are willing to give it a serious try. If you worry about giving up your freedom, just keep in mind that we will be doing the same. We too would be taking in severe limitations simply by taking you into our home. However, my Mistress and I have talked this through and decided that we are willing to do that. All we would like from you is that you try. If it works out then we will all benefit from it, and if it does not work out you can still get that set of quarters close by."
"I think we could do both at once," Torres spoke up.
"How so?" Seven asked. She and Torres had discussed having a bedroom from one of the adjacent quarters added to the quarters by having a door put in the wall between the two rooms. However, that would mean that if things indeed didn't work out and Mara decided that she wanted her own complete set of quarters, then she would have to move.
"I'll let you both know when we are on the ship, if Mara agrees to the deal and wants to give being part of the family a try, because if not that talking about quarters is of no use at all."
"Could I think about this for some time?" Mara asked.
Torres gave an approving nod. "I would be worried if you hadn't asked for that. We will be leaving in two days." Torres took a communicator out of one of her uniform pockets and slid it partially in Mara's direction. "If you decide to take the business deal, or the business deal and the adoption offer, then this is yours. Use it before mid-day the day after tomorrow and ask for a beam-out. The people on the other side will be expecting the call. If you don't use it before we leave we consider it a decline of the offer."
Mara took the communicator and looked at it for a moment, realizing that at that moment she truly was literally holding her future in her hand. Then she looked at the women for a long moment. The families that had offered her a place to stay before had pretty much demanded that she act like a child of them. Or in the last case, that she and their son should be... really close. These women didn't ask that though. Instead they actually told her that they weren't going to pretend to be a happy family that had always been together. No, they would start from the beginning and go from there; both sides learning along the way.
Mara realized that the blonde was right; there would be no more chances for a family after this. Even if she declined this offer now, she knew that she was at an age that there would be no more adoption offers, and most certainly no more offers that would suggest an equal learning to get along from both sides.
Mara finally put the communicator on the table and asked, "And what if I decline the first offer, but am interested in the second offer?"
Torres and Seven looked at each other in surprise, neither of them having expected that possible result. Seven lifted an eyebrow, handing the decision to Torres. Torres grinned and winked before turning back to Mara. "If you decline the first offer, but go for the second one, then I guess that my search for an Heir will continue, but in the meantime Seven and I would need to get used to having a certain twelve year old living with us as our daughter."
Mara nodded and then made a decision of which she had a big feeling that it would truly mean a new life for her. She took the communicator and closed her first around it. To her it was a token; a sign of her future. Hers. She put the communicator away, her eyes firmly on the two women. "I'll take the second offer, with the standard adoption trial period, and I'll let you know within two days if I take the first offer as well."
She grinned. "Seeing that the second offer will only get me a beating at worst and can't get me killed, I think it's safe to take that one without thinking about it for two days."
"The second offer won't get you killed as long as you do keep my three rules in mind," Torres said, also grinning. "Don't worry, I will try to be nice and not say 'because I said so'... too much at least."
"So it's Torres and Seven?" Mara aside just to reaffirm that part.
"It is," Torres assured. "Though you might hear Seven call me B'Elanna from time to time I prefer if all other people call me Torres; friend and enemy alike. Seven is an exception because her calling me B'Elanna is an indication of us communicating on a different level, like we just talked about."
"I see," Mara said, understanding what Torres said, but not really getting why someone would bother with such complex communications. But truth be told, Mara also liked it because it made clear to her that even Intendants had their own personal weird quirks. It was somehow reassuring to see that apparently Intendants were just people like everyone else instead of these mythical creatures who were the personification of the law.
"Um, so, um, now I go back to the Orphanage, or stay here, or... I got stuff at the Orphanage."
"Well, if you don't mind the company, we could head over there together," Torres suggested. "It seems that Seven and I got some papers to sign. Since Seven and I aren't married, yet, we both have to sign the papers."
"Actually, there is one last thing I feel I have to point out," Seven said.
"Which is?" Mara asked, fearing that suddenly there would be restrictions not yet talked about.
"Toby; the mountain targ lying at our feet," Seven said while tapping the table with a finger to indicate the animal under it. "You have to realize that he is a part of the family unit as well. However, do not make the mistake to think that he is a tame animal; he is not. He did however bond to me, and accepts my Mistress as a nest mate. I cannot assure you that he will accept you as a nest mate as well, but I can assure you that he will not follow any commands from you if he does not feel like it. If you and Toby cannot get along, I am afraid that you would be the one that will have to move out. You would still be a part of the family, but you would get those private quarters after all."
"You would find and animal more important than your child?" Mara asked amazed.
"I consider Toby my child as well," Seven pointed out. "I thought it would appeal to you and give you confidence in our sincerity to make you part of our family if you knew that we do not make changes to our family unit on a short term basis. Toby is part of our family and he will be so until he dies. If you become part of the family and we pass the trial stage, then you would also be a part of this family for the rest of your life. We will not 'trade you in' when things get difficult. We will not give up on you lightly. The only way that we will give up on you eventually is if you push us away; if you do not want to have anything to do with us anymore."
"And you also have to keep intelligence in mind here," Torres added. "Toby is an animal, he would never understand why we suddenly do not spend as much time with him anymore as we do now. You on the other hand would hopefully realize that we are keeping you and Toby apart so that you both can be a part of the family."
"Having said that, let me also put you at ease," Seven said. "Toby might not be tamed, but he has been trained. You can be assured that as long as I or my Mistress are in his presence he will not attack anyone or anything unless we give him the command to do so."
"I have a feeling that it will be an interesting coexistence," Mara said as she looked under the table once more. Then looking back at the women, "But, I'm a Klingon. A little bit of danger will make life only more interesting."
~~~~~~~{}~~~~~~~
The director of the Orphanage looked up in surprise. She had never thought that she would see the Klingon Intendant again. She hurried to greet the group that had just walked into the door.
"Intendants." She looked from them to Mara who was with them and then looked over their shoulders to the guards that were waiting outside, recognizing two of them as the Officers that had retrieved Mara a few hours before. "I apologize. When those Officers came for the child I assumed that they had arrested her for something she had done. Had I known that she had angered you in some way,"
"You would have done, what?" Torres interrupted. "Besides, who says that she angered me... already? Give her some time to do so."
Seeing the confused look of the director, Torres waved her off. "We are here to sign some papers, and so that Mara can gather her possessions."
Torres gestured behind her and the guards entered as well. "Please help her carry," Torres said, looking at two of the guards.
The guards nodded and Torres favored them with a grin. Over time a good compromise had formed between her and the guards. They were after all highly trained operatives from Martok's department. Not the kind of people that normally were used to carry things around. But since Torres now actually let them do their jobs, they were more than willing to do small things that were normally below guards. Which in turn resulted in her treating them with more respect than she would the average guard; even going so far as to say 'please' from time to time.
"Intendant?" The director asked confused as she saw Mara and two of the guards move further into the Orphanage.
"I assume you keep the adoption papers in your office?" Torres asked.
She was getting annoyed with standing in the foyer of the Orphanage, yet at the same time she was also amused at seeing the Director's eyes almost pop out of her head when the older woman realized what Torres was saying.
"What?" Torres asked with a laugh. "Are you afraid that the Hair to the Torres Holdings will remember her life in the Orphanage a little too well? You better hope that Mara is not one to hold grudges eh? Office, now."
As the woman hurried in front of them, Seven asked softly, "Grudges about what, Mistress?"
"I have no idea," Torres admitted. "But part of my 'I know everything' ability is to know people. Fact is, after having lived here for twelve years there must have been some situations that happened here that the people in charge here would wish that Mara never tells anyone. We all have secrets, my Pet. Even the two of us. The only difference between us is that we two have those secrets not because we want to hide stuff, but simply because those matters have not yet come up in discussions."
"I see," Seven said slowly. Then she asked with a smile, "Alright, tell me a secret about you."
"I killed the person who I had sex with for the first time," Torres replied right away.
Seven looked at her in disbelief.
"Told you."
"You know perfectly well that you cannot leave it at that," Seven said, knowing that there had to be more to it. Then she frowned. "Just how old were you anyway when you killed for the first time?"
Torres shrugged. "Well, the story is simple. As you know, I had sex for the first time when I was thirteen. She and I both wanted to know what it was like, had sex, and went our merry way. But then years later, when I had just become Intendant she managed to get close to me again thanks to some business deal. We had sex once more, but then she tried to play me, use me, and you know how I feel about that. I gave her one warning to stop, but she tried again. So, I killed her. She never did get the fact that just because I fucked her that I wasn't a slave to her cunt."
"She should have gone for your heart instead," Seven noted. "Owning that sure turns you into a willing slave of mine."
"Very willing," Torres agreed. "And to answer your other question, I don't know." Seeing the look of disbelief, Torres added, "Honest. I don't know how old I was when I killed the first time. I do know that I was still a kid, and I do mean the kind a lot younger than Mara is now. I do know that I was sick to my stomach after I truly realized what I had done. I also know that the first person I killed was your predecessor. As I once told you; you are the first Body Slave I had ever since I killed that Body Slave that was supposed to raise me. I wasn't kidding then. I had a Body Slave back then that was given to me by my family because I didn't have a father or mother and the rest was too busy looking after themselves. Obviously I didn't have that slave for sex but to take care of me and act as a nanny of sorts. One day she annoyed the living crap out of me. So I took hold of some metal sculpture and beat her fucking head in until I couldn't lift the sculpture anymore. I,"
"Mistress?" Seven asked when Torres stopped talking.
Suddenly Torres chuckled. "You know what, my Pet? I think that we just found the answer to one of my most dangerous sides to date. I just realized that she pissed me off because she was trying to use me. Trying to make me see her as more than just a slave, as someone I should take care of later in life."
"So in other words, you have a deadly aversely to being used by anyone you do not really like because at some point a slave wanted to use you to make sure that she would not be killed when she grew old."
"Yeah," Torres agreed. Then she grinned. "I guess that really backfired for her, huh?"
"To put it mildly," Seven agreed.
~~~~~~~{}~~~~~~~
Mara had just reached her room when the three kids she had fought with the day before came up behind them, having seen her and the guards walk passed their own rooms.
"Hey toad, finally got yourself arrested?" The oldest boy taunted.
"Not quite," Mara merely said as she turned to him. "Go on, get lost. This will be the last time I'll be here so move before I decide to knock your teeth out as a goodbye present."
Not waiting for an answer she walked into her room and pulled out a bag to throw her clothing and the few personal possessions she had into.
"Come on, toad, tell, did they catch you stealing?"
Mara sighed. "No, you know damn well that unlike you I don't take stuff I didn't pay for. Actually, if it makes you happy to know, I have been adopted."
The boy laughed. "Yeah, sure, like anyone would take you. I bet you h, h, h," He suddenly stopped talking when one of the guards slung the disrupter rifle off his shoulder and pointed it at him.
"Ma'am, Intendant Torres is waiting. This is taking too long, should I kill him?"
"Tempting... but no," Mara said thoughtfully. "I don't want to start off with having to tell my new adoptive parent that her guard left a mess in my old room."
The boy saw that the rifle was no longer pointed at him and braved to ask, "Intendant Torres?"
"The person that adopted me," Mara said, managing not to smirk when she saw the boy pale. "She is signing the papers right now. These are her guards. Now get lost, I have stuff to pack."
The boy wanted to say more, but changed his mind when he saw the guard not so subtle change his disrupter rifle to a better position. Within seconds the three kids were gone.
Mara grinned at the guard. "Thanks, I really didn't want to waste time by knocking him on his ass again."
The guard merely nodded.
Then Mara asked, "Say, can I really get away with that now?"
"Don't push it," The guard growled.
"Yes sir," Mara said with a grin. Then the grin got wider when she saw him give a ghost of a wink. Oh, she liked him. "Alright, let's get this over with, I don't want to keep Torres waiting."
She looked around the room, wondering what she should take with her to her new life.
~~~~~~~{}~~~~~~~
When Torres and Seven had finished showing Mara the quarters, Torres explained. "Now, here is my idea. As you saw, the official and private parts of the quarters have exactly the same layout. They are differently decorated, but the walls are in the exact same place. If you come in the door you enter this living/kitchen room with on the left of it the office, on the right the bedroom, and on the right of the bedroom is the bathroom. So, here is my idea. We give most of the official quarters to Mara."
Looking mostly at Mara, but still explaining to both Seven and Mara, Torres continued. "You will need an office to study, or if you are a little like me, a place to put things that you need in your studies while you do the actual reading in the living room. So, you use that office. We will also put a door between the two offices which you can leave open if you want so that you can walk directly there if you need Seven's help and she is sitting at her desk. And if you need some privacy during the studying you can simply close the door, or even both doors."
She waved a hand to indicate the living room they were standing in. "Then we get to the living room. Seven and I spent most of our time in our quarters here. The thing is, it's the right size for two people, but with three people and a targ on top of that, it might get a little cramped. So what we do instead is we combine both living rooms. We remove the wall between the two rooms and turn it into one big living room which has enough room for all of us."
She patted the wall in question while she continued, "But, at the place where the wall used to be we do put a non-transparent force-field privacy wall. If we ever do get tired of being around each other all the time, the wall can be activated and with just a touch on a pad the one big set of quarters has turned into two again. Of course, we would have to add a replicator to this side here as well so that you still have access to a replicator in your living room if the force field is up. As you see, the replicator that's here now is located in the wall that would be replaced."
Torres moved on to the bedroom of the official part of the quarters and then continued once Mara and Seven had entered as well. "This would then be your bedroom. With the living room being the united big living room, your bedroom would be located directly besides ours with the door to your bedroom being on the right and the door to Seven and mine being on the left if you look at the wall from standing in the living room. So, it wouldn't be like you would have to leave the family quarters to go to your bedroom. My goal is to give you room to live in, yet at the same time have all of it feel like one set of family quarters."
"I hope that the wall between the bedrooms has a good soundproofing then. Otherwise the two of you might keep me out of my sleep," Mara grinned.
"Why I aught to," Torres said while lifting her hand as if to hit Mara... only to place it on the girl's shoulder with a grin. "The soundproofing is more than enough, believe me."
Then she walked on to the bathroom and once again Seven and Mara followed. "And this would then be your private bathroom. Maybe it's for the best anyway that you have your own bathroom instead of having to use the one connected to Seven and my bedroom, considering that you first have to go through the bedroom to get there, and,"
"And your bedroom door might be closed," Mara interrupted. Then she stopped for a moment before continuing. This way she gave a very clear indication of one reason of just why the door might be closed. Then she continued as if she had meant something entirely different. "I mean, at night of course. When I wake up at night because I have to use the bathroom, I would have to walk through your bedroom if the bathroom behind it would be the only option. I like this, having my own bathroom. The bath in it is huge though."
"It is," Torres agreed. "But you have to keep in mind that I had both this and my personal bath made with the mindset that I as Intendant might have some people over and we could then discuss things while taking a relaxing bath. All in all it really didn't turn out that way, but that's nevertheless the mindset behind the big baths. Seven and I take a bath at the end of the day every day; you are of course welcome to join us then."
Seven was surprised at the casual invitation, more so because Torres hadn't asked Seven how she felt about the idea. Then Seven remembered that Klingons were no where near as modest as Humans were. It had already happened several times that Martok had contacted Torres for something and Torres had simply opened the channel without bothering to get dressed.
In fact, not counting the time when Jadzia and Deanna were present as well and they had all worn bathing clothes, Martok had now visited the quarters twice while Seven and Torres happened to be taking a bath, nude of course, and Torres had simply invited Martok to get in the water while they discussed the problem that had brought him to visit them in the first place. Still, there was a little something that needed mentioning. Seven leaned in and softly whispered her reminder in Torres' ear.
Torres nodded her head in agreement. "You are right, my Pet." Then looking at Mara. "You are welcome to join us for our daily bath, but be prepared for the fact that we might ask you to leave before we self do."
Seeing the confused frown on Mara's face, Torres added, "Let's just say that the bathroom can be a very convenient place to make love."
"Got it," Mara assured with a grin.
"That only leaves us with the small problem of how we would leave our part if the dividing wall is up," Torres continued. Normally we enter into the living room and that's fine if the force field is down and the quarters are basically family quarters. But it would not be fair to Mara if she had to worry about us dropping the force field if we want to leave our part. That is the only problem I see."
"That is not a problem," Seven disagreed. "There is a part to our quarters that Mara's quarters do not have. We have the corridor that leads to the teleported room. We could have a corridor added that passes by these quarters and connects to that corridor."
"I like that idea," Torres approved. "We can look into that."
"I'm wondering though. Why have two basically identical sets of quarters?" Mara asked, curiosity about that strange fact getting the best of her.
"It's actually a common thing with people that are in power and sometimes need to see people at home," Torres explained. "This way you can invite people into your home without truly letting them into the truly private part of your home. You make the layout the same simply because that way you know where everything is in case you only use the official part once or twice a year."
"But why a bedroom?" Mara asked. "I mean, visiting you in your quarters, sure, I get that. But everyone will assume that they get guest quarters if they stay long enough that they actually need a place to sleep."
"That's not what the second bedroom was for," Torres admitted honestly. "The second bedroom was for those people that wanted to convince me of a deal or something by sleeping with me."
"You did that?" Mara asked surprised.
"Mara, I'm a very successful business person. On top of that I'm the Klingon Intendant and literally the second most powerful person in the Coalition. Do you have any idea just how many people there are in the Coalition that are willing to sleep with me so that they get my vote on a deal they want to make?"
"You did that?" Mara asked again. "You let your vote be swayed by someone having sex with you?"
Torres grinned. "Nope. Mara, let me give you your first business lesson. 'If' you ever have sex with someone and that is part of a business deal, always make sure that you pick the one you would have sided with anyway. I would look at the deal, take a side, and if I liked the person who was representing that side enough I would ask them over for a little bit more info on some details... and go from there."
Torres reached over and caressed Seven's cheek before adding, "Of course, for the very obvious reason, that kind of dealing has no interest for me anymore. Seven was the first person besides myself to ever sleep in my private quarters bed, and she will also be the only person I ever sleep with from now on. So, I don't need this bedroom here anymore anyway. But for you, as long as you are not tied down... when you get to the stage in your life where you can make business decisions you might want to give it a try."
"Why?" Mara merely asked.
"Because the advantage is that it gives you some very decent sex," Torres pointed out. "After all, even someone that normally stinks at having sex will work extra hard to give you pleasure so that you won't be disappointed. They want your support; they don't want to drive you away by giving you a bad lay. Anyway, since I don't need the bedroom anymore, you might as well use it as your bedroom."
Mara looked at Seven for a moment, basically asking her what she thought of the deal since the blonde and not yet given her opinion. She got a small nod of agreement and then she turned back to look at Torres. "I think I would like sharing quarters like that."
"I like the idea," Seven also agreed. "Especially since it would increase the size of our living room."
"Yeah, but the kitchen unit and the table doesn't really have to change," Torres reminded. "The table seats four as it is. So we can reposition the furniture, maybe even have a dedicated spot for Toby so that his claws don't keep ripping the couch."
"We already had the couch replaced three times," Seven explained for Mara. "I suggested getting a couch covered with tear-proof fabric. However, my Mistress prefers the feel of the current fabric."
Then she asked and reminded Torres, "However, if we do use the official part of our quarters this way, you no longer have a location to welcome guests."
Torres shrugged. "Considering that you now have an official welcoming room for the people that come to see you, maybe it's not a bad idea if the Klingon Intendant also has something like that on her own damn ship. I can have one of the empty set of quarters outside the dampening filed remodeled and have it be a big welcoming room with a second meeting room attached."
"Outside the dampening filed just in case one of the guests decides to leave a present," Seven said in understanding.
"Dampening field?" Mara asked confused.
"A security measure," Torres explained. "And since you will be living side it as well, let me shed some light on that."
~~~~~~~{}~~~~~~~