Alternate Conclusions.
By H.W.
Chapter 19
*********
"Hey," Samantha Wildman greeted as she walked into her quarters, only to get a semi-focused 'hi' back from her daughter that was studying a PADD.
Curious as to what was distracting her daughter like that, Sam asked, "What are you reading, or is it something Top Secret that I'm not allowed to know?"
Though she could joke about it now, it had taken Sam some time to get used to the fact that her daughter, as Admiral Supreme's Assistant, had a higher security clearance as Sam herself had as Vice-Minister. Sam had a feeling that she would never forget that time when Naomi actually had to tell her, 'I'm afraid I'm not allowed to discuss this with you, mom.'
"Remember what I told you about how I met Mara for the first time?" Naomi asked thoughtfully. "How I had told Mara that I didn't expect any birthday invitations anytime soon?"
"Yes, so?" Sam asked as she sat down on the armrest of the chair her daughter was sitting in.
"Well, that's what this is. Zan'k's fifteenth birthday is the day after tomorrow and he invited me. Actually, he is celebrating three things and combining then in one party. His birthday, the fact that he got that Engineering job with on-the-job schooling that he's going to start next month here in Main Engineering, and lastly the fact that he has his own set of quarters now."
"Ah, the benefits of having your own job; you get the right for own quarters, if there are any to be had of course. I think that people in the Federation would be very jealous of this aspect of the Klingon army." Then Sam laughed. "Of course, almost all other Klingon ships are smaller than this one and having private quarters is something most of those Klingons can only dream of unless they are of higher command level. But, seeing that Zan'k is only just starting out and therefore has no seniority, his quarters will be really small. So, he invited you to his birthday? And that surprises you?"
"It is small," Naomi agreed. "I saw it when the group and I were helping to move Zan'k's stuff there. It's just a small living-room, a bedroom, and a bathroom with a bath big enough to hold several people. I think that if you take it all together you have just about one third of the room we have in our quarters."
Then Naomi frowned. "What is it with Klingons and bathtubs anyway? In his quarters that space would have been better off being added to the bedroom. Or to the living-room, and simply have a smaller bathroom with a sonic shower next to the toilet."
She wrinkled her nose a little before adding, "And not to forget that I don't think that all Klingons wash themselves every day. Some of them really stink."
"Well, maybe that's just it," Sam said with a smile. "They don't bath or even take showers every day so when they do get into the water they make it worth their while."
Then she became more serious before explaining the more likely reason. "You have to take in mind that the Klingons aren't into modesty like we are. A body is a body, and if it happens to be nude, so be it; it's not the end of the universe. So just like we would sit in the living-room and talk and joke with our friends, it's not uncommon for Klingons to do that in the bath while relaxing in the water."
Then she shifted the conversation back to what had started it. "So, you want to accept that invitation? You told me that you were getting along with them now, that they treated you like one of them more and more. At least, I assume that he invited the others as well."
"They are, I am, and I want," Naomi agreed. "It's kinda... interesting. Mara and I became friends and as that friendship grows I was kinda pulled along as she was making growing friendships with the others as well."
"Don't sell yourself short," Sam said as she gave her daughter a one-armed hug. "You made headway with that group even before Mara showed up. At best you can say that you and Mara being close is an excuse for them to treat you as one of themselves as well. But you would have gotten there even if Mara had never showed up. It just so happens that Mara did show up and you gain another friend alongside the ones you were already making."
"I made headway by using my head, you mean. I had to head-but Zan'k so hard that he had to go to sickbay to have his wounds treated, and I saw stars."
"But you stayed on your feet while he went down. You impressed those Klingons with that part and not with the fact that you have sharp horns on your forehead. It may not have been a way of acting I would have condoned in the other Universe," Sam admitted. "But, we are in a different place here. Here we play by different rules, and here sometimes the result justifies the means. You are being treated by Klingons as one of their own; just how many people do you think would have managed to do that? Even here in this Universe and between those species that were not slaves, how many of them are treated as equals by the Klingons? You are one tough lady, and I'm proud that you are my daughter."
Naomi merely beamed at that.
"So, you going?"
"I'm going, if that's okay," Naomi affirmed.
"Alright," Sam said, then she sighed. "Honey, if Zan'k is holding this party in his own quarters there is bound to be alcohol involved; we are talking about Klingons here."
"I know," Naomi said while looking down. "Be careful, don't drink any alcohol, don't make it too late, and don't have too much fun."
Sam groaned at her daughter's words. 'God, do I really sound so much like my mother?' Sam wondered. She looked down at her daughter and took a moment to look at her not just as a daughter, but as a person.
Then she sighed. "No, I'm not going to tell you that. Well, I am going to tell you to be careful, but not the rest. Honey, you'll always be my little girl for as long as I live. But even though you are my little girl, you are no longer 'a' little girl.' You were listed in the files as a Ktarian/Human mix, and not the other way around, for a very good reason. Because of this you fell under the Ktarian species, and also under the Species Specific Rules age lines for the Ktarian. This was mostly done because that way you could officially take the job of Admiral-Supreme's Assistant without being considered too young."
The Species Specific Rules age lines were something that had been thought up by slavers shortly after the Coalition was established and rules for slaves had been created. Over time the free species saw the benefits as well and adopted those new rules to suit their own needs. It had actually been the existence of the Ktarian that had first prompted the new rules. The standard year, month, and week had been introduced when the Coalition formed so that all over the Coalition there were clear set time frames that were the same for everyone no matter where they lived in the Coalition. But as convenient as this was, it also brought problems.
A Ktarian grew up twice as fast as a Human, so if both only could be sold into slavery at twelve standard years it meant that the human was still just a child while the Ktarian already had the body that could be compared to a twenty-four year old Human. So to get around the problem of not being allowed to sell slaves that would have been considered adult by their own species years before, the Species Specific Rules were introduced. Certain key events in the life of an average person of that species, like puberty setting in, were plotted on a chard and a species specific age was linked to that. This meant that Naomi who was eight standard years, was at the same time considered sixteen Species Specific Years old, which allowed her to have a job and earn credits. The reason why this was taken over by non-slave species as well was because it had been shown that the mind aged just as fast as the body with normal humanoid species. When you had an adult body, you also had a mind that could be considered adult and were considered to understand actions and consequences.
Naomi, was in fact, a good example of that. She might only have been eight Standard Years old, but her mind was just as developed as her body was and she had proven time and again that she could handle the emotional pressure that came with her job. It had not been a clueless girl who had handed the report to Annika about what had happened to those fleeing members of the Orion Syndicate that had thought hiding in Phoenix Alliance space had been a good idea. 'The not-so-glamorous side of the job,' Annika had said. And Naomi had fully understood what the blonde woman had meant as she saw how Annika brought her thumb to the PADD to approve the executions. Naomi had also fully understood that there would come a time, not might come, but would come, a time when she would be the one approving things like this because it would be considered too unimportant to bother the Commander of the, then, much larger Phoenix Alliance armed forces.
"And I think," Sam continued, "That it's time that I start treating you as such. You are no longer a small child; you are a young woman. Your body is developed to a point that many an fully grown person would love to trade with you. Hell, you even have a job and a Security Clearance that is higher than my own. So, no, I'm not going to tell you those other things. I'm not going to tell you to not drink alcohol while we are living in a society where there aren't even any laws against selling alcohol to minors. You could walk into any shop and buy it, and you are also allowed by law to drink it. It's time you were also allowed by 'mother law' to drink the stuff. But here that 'be careful' comes in; be careful with drinking alcohol; don't overdo it. Just go and have fun, and realize that you don't need alcohol to have fun. Oh, and don't participate in any dangerous challenges."
"That's it?" Naomi asked.
"That's it," Sam assured. "They... I think they are a good group of people. This place, this ship is our home now, Naomi, and I don't see that changing any time soon. It is one of the reasons why I petitioned Torres for us also getting a set of quarters on this ship, even though we are of a government level where we would normally have stayed on Voyager. Only to find out that my petition wasn't needed since we would live here anyway because of your job. You had your life on Voyager. Now we all started a new life, and you should have the opportunity to have that new life in a place where you can meet more than just grownups you already know. You have the chance to make some good friendships here that last you a lifetime, and I don't want you to waste that chance just because I still see you as my little girl. Because that too, I assure you, will not change any time soon."
"I like them," Naomi admitted. Then she looked at her hands before mumbling, "In kinda would really like to have some friends that want to be my friends for who I am, and not for what I am."
Sam sighed in understanding and pulled Naomi a little closer. Yes, Sam too was wondering when people would start to try and get close to her daughter. As the old saying went; 'it's good to have friends in high places.' And Assistant to the person that was in command of all the armed forces in the Phoenix Alliance was a pretty damn high place, and a pretty convenient friend to have. "Then go to that birthday party and have some fun with your friends honey."
**
Mara's mouth fell open when she saw how Seven simply caught the bat'leth in her hand and then with a sharp twist broke the weapon in half.
"Match over," The computer announced as the Klingon which still held the broken weapon froze, "Opponent has been disarmed."
"Seven, that's cheating; a normal person can't do that," Torres said, grinning despite the words.
At the same time it was becoming very clear to Mara why Seven had said that she would never hit her. Mara could only try to imagine what someone that can break a bat'leth with her hand could do to the, in comparison, very weak flesh and bones of a Klingon. "You can break a bat'leth with your bare hand?" Mara asked amazed.
"As bare as you can call an artificial hand that is covered with high density metal," Seven said as she showed Mara the inside of her hand, and the metal band that went across the palm. "If I catch a bat'leth like that, I have to make sure that the blade lands on the metal band first. Once the blade is stopped I can do the rest. Though I have to admit that the fact that this is a holodeck also comes into play. If he had been a real person the force of my hand twist would have forced the bat'leth out of his hand and would not have broken it. I assume that this is also why the computer considered him disarmed even though a good fighter can still do considerable damage with a broken bat'leth."
"You were going to tell me about that stuff," Mara reminded.
"So I said," Seven agreed. "I was also going to explain to you why I actually want to be my Mistress' slave. Since both facts are intertwined it might be best to tell you both at once, and now is as good a time as any since the training session is over anyway. Since we are on the holodeck, how about taking a stroll through a forest? That way Toby can chase some animals around."
"Fine with me," Mara said. She just wanted to hear the story.
"Well, in that case I'm going to get out of here; I have stuff to do. You know; places to go, people to terrorize. Stuff like that." Torres said as she stood up and came closer to Seven. She gave Seven a kiss and then clasped Mara's shoulder. "You two have fun. See you later."
"Did she hear you talk about those implants so often that she doesn't want to hear it again?" Mara asked, wondering why Torres had suddenly left.
"Not at all," Seven assured with a smile. "It is merely that in regards to talking about feelings my Mistress is very much a Klingon; she does not like it. It took months before she was able to say 'I love you' to me without first having to consciously form the words and say them. The mindless way you now sometimes hear her say to me that she loves me is the result of us being together for over a year now."
Figuring that this was a perfect time to explain something, Seven added, "Mara, you might see similar behavior again. Please do not think that my Mistress does not care. It is simply that she and I came to an agreement. I am the one that will do the sensitive talks if they are needed, and she is the one that will do the more Klingon things."
"Like giving me my bat'leth training even though you are better in the use of a bat'leth," Mara said in understanding.
"I am more efficient in the use of a bat'leth," Seven corrected. "However, I am still not as good as my Mistress in the style used for friendly competitions. Sometimes I get impatient and break the inefficient rules."
"By breaking the bat'leth of the opponent in half for instance," Mara said with a grin.
"Indeed," Seven agreed. "Besides, I may be better in the use of a bat'leth than my Mistress as far as efficiency is concerned, the fact still remains that she is a very skilled fighter. It will take years for you to reach her level, if you ever reach it at all, so she is very suited for being the one to teach you the fighting; bat'leth and the rest as well. By the time that you reached her level, we can see about me teaching you some other things as well, though I doubt that this will be needed because by that time my Mistress will know these things as well and can teach them to you also."
Then Seven addressed the computer, "Computer, change the scenery to the BatarCh mountain forest program."
The scenery changed, causing Toby to whine since he had never liked it when the scenery of the holodeck changed when he was there.
"Toby, go play," Seven said as she pointed in a random direction.
Knowing the command only too well, a now suddenly very happy Toby ran off in the direction in which he heard some sound that might just be an animal he could kill.
"So you and mother made some deals about just who would take care of what in regards to me?"
"Most certainly," Seven affirmed as she and Mara started to walk down one of the forest paths. We... I will be honest with you, Mara. My Mistress and I were expecting problems with you. We knew that you had been placed with families before. We also knew that you can be very stubborn. So my Mistress and I went over things that we thought might become an issue and decided who would be the one who would handle what. This was also so that we could visualize the tasks and that we could divide them fairly. Saying 'we will deal with it together' sounds good, but is simply not practical because my Mistress and I are too different on some subjects. So we had to decide who would take the lead in handling which subjects and therefore how our interaction with you would form you."
"I see," Mara said thoughtfully. She had already noticed that her mothers had a tendency for subjects to be handled more by one than the other. Now at least she knew the reason.
"Having said that," Seven continued, "do not think that the other person does not care. My Mistress cares and later tonight I will talk to her, give her my view of the talk we now have, which will for instance include the fact that I am telling you this right now. At the same time, if I am not with you and my Mistress when you train, yet you accomplish a great feat, believe me that she will tell me about it."
"Alright, so you do the talking. Mother does the martial arts training. You do the helping, and sometimes instructing, in my schoolings," Mara surmised. "What else?"
"You will find out when a situation occurred," Seven said with a smile, only to then add, "There is one thing I am curious about, and it also has to do with the divided tasks. Even when my Mistress and I were talking to you on Qo'noS about us adopting you, we already told you that it would be my Mistress' task to give you the physical punishments when they were needed. The night before that, my Mistress warned me that such situation would arise. Would, not could. She told me that it was certain that you would push to see how far you could go. Yet it has not yet happened. There has not yet been a reason for physical punishment... for punishment at all. Both my Mistress and I are pleasantly surprised by this, but nevertheless surprised. It does not fit with the image we had from you. Not a lot does actually."
"Is that good or bad?" Mara asked.
"Believe me; that is very good."
"Maybe it's that intelligence thing you like so much about me."
"I like you, Mara," Seven corrected. "That you are very intelligent is a very convenient tool in the studies I help you with, but it has no bearing at all on whether I like you as a person. However, to be honest with you, your intelligence did play an important part in my Mistress and I deciding to give adopting you a try. But that was because then we were looking at facts, and did not know you. Now, I assure you, your intelligence has no bearing on how much we like you."
Mara smiled, and it was at that moment that Seven realized that the young Klingon had needed that assurance.
"As you can see," Seven said after returning the smile, "And as we told you, this parenting situation is new to us as well. I apologize if we gave you the impression that only your traits were important to us and not the person you are."
"It's nice to know," Mara admitted. Then she started slowly, "See, the thing is; when we had that talk back on Qo'noS, mother laid out the rules very clearly. What she and you say goes, period. I may ask questions and object, but you have the last word. The answer 'because I said so' is a reason. Never, every, try to play you two against each other. I was told those rules, and I agreed. Those are very clear rules, and you do not use them unfairly. You do listen to my side, and have indeed changed your opinion several times already to keep my side in mind. 'Because I said so' is used, but very sparsely, and even then you don't just leave it at that. When mother said 'because I said so' yesterday, it was to end the situation at that point, but later in the evening she explained the why to me. I still don't agree with the point she had, but the fact is, she did indeed have a point. So, I don't see a reason to push; it's not going to change anything other than pissing off people that are very fair to me."
"If this is so, then why did you not show the same behavior with the other families that tried to adopt you?" Seven wondered.
"You mean not counting the last family that merely adopted me because they wanted a convenient live-in sex partner for their son and didn't want to buy a sex slave for it?"
Besides them," Seven agreed as she put her hand around Mara's back and onto the shoulder furthest away to steer the Klingon down one of the paths at a T-juncture. She wanted to remove the arm again but she felt Mara put her hands on hers. Getting the hint, Seven left her arm where it was.
"I guess," Mara said thoughtfully, glad that Seven had not removed her arm and instead was pulling her a little closer, "It's because you do leave me the choice. The others, they basically demanded that I act like a part of the family. I had to cal the mother SoS, and the father vav. They demanded that I act just like I was their child. You don't. You treat me fairly, you listen to the things I say, and as long as it doesn't interfere with your plans, I can make my own decisions. You don't demand that I call you SoS, you even don't demand that I call you mother, unless it's in situations where Klingon law demands it... which I can understand. After all, it would be really bad behavior if the daughter if the Klingon Intendant doesn't stick to Klingon law."
"We don't demand that you call us mother, yet you do it all the time," Seven pointed out.
Mara shook her head a little. "See, that's my point; you leave the choice to me. You suggested that I call you Seven, and mother Torres. You suggested; I decided otherwise; you don't object. I think that Seven and Torres are names I would like to use if I have to make a clear indication of just who of you two I mean. But if I am talking to you, like I am now, and I tell you that you and mother leave me the choice then you know who I mean with mother. And if I'm talking to mother and say to her 'mother suggested' or something like that, then she knows who I mean. Just like you two decided to give this family thing an honest try, so did I. You both treat me with respect, so I find it fitting to use the honorary title of mother for you both. Besides, I like how it sounds."
"And we do not object," Seven assured. "So, my Mistress and I are adequate as a family unit for you?"
"You, mother and my brother Toby, you mean? You have your flaws, but nothing I can't live with," Mara said with a grin. "You're alright, mother, and I like you very much; all of you."
"And you, daughter of mine, are alright as well, and we also like you very much," Seven assured. Then she asked, "Mara, how about the business part of the agreement? When my Mistress had that contract made up we did not know how well we would be getting along. We could nullify the contract. Since we are passed the trial stage and you are officially adopted, you would get the same rights as the contract gives you because you are my Mistress' daughter."
Mara thought about that for a moment. Then she shook her head 'no.' "Now we get along, yes, but what if next year we don't? I wouldn't be the first child that estranges from its parents; adoptive or not. If we still have the contract then, mother knows that she nevertheless gets what she wanted from the beginning, and I know that I don't have to worry about losing my job just because I then don't get along with my parents."
"In that contract, losing your job is a situation of a rather permanent kind," Seven reminded.
"I remember," Mara assured. "But I know mother well enough by now to be confident that even if she hates me, she would not 'terminate' my contract if I wasn't truly doing a bad job. She is after all also the Intendant; she is well used to doing deals with, and talking to, people she might hate. And from my side... it will keep me sharp. In the back of my mind I will always know that I can't relax too much, or do a sloppy job because the consequences of that will be death."
"You are hoping that if such a situation occurs, my Mistress will take you out of your job without killing you because she likes you and you are her daughter."
"Of course," Mara agreed with a laugh. "But it is the contract I agreed to, and even if I don't believe, hope, that she would actually do it, it is still a very potent incentive to think that I have to succeed, or else."
They were quiet for a moment and Mara used the opportunity to touch the Borg-enhanced hand that was resting on her shoulder. "So, what's up with this stuff?"
"As you know," Seven started. "I am not from this Universe. We do not know if they also exist here, but where I come from there is something called the Borg. They are..."
*
"Wow," Mara said amazed some time later. "That's some story. If I hadn't seen some of the things you can do I would never have believed it."
"It is simply because the Borg, or anything like them, are not known in the Coalition. However, the concept itself is not that strange even here. My implants are vastly advanced compared to the items used here in the Coalition, but what happens if you lose a hand in an accident?"
"You get an artificial one," Mara said right away.
"Indeed. The same if you have a bad heart or lose an eye... well, some Klingons would take the scar over the treatment if it is the result of an honorable fight, like Martok chose to do."
"Yeah, the implants on themselves aren't that strange," Mara agreed. "It's the linking them all, and having no control over your own body. And then those nanoprobes crawling around in your body; those are just creepy."
"They are a very effective tool and I would not want to miss them," Seven countered. "I agree however that they do have the potential to be used in ways that are not beneficial to the person they are used on."
"To put it very mildly," Mara said with a laugh. "But," Mara started hesitantly, "That still doesn't explain why you like to be mother's property... for lack of better words."
"It does not?" Seven asked, mostly to get Mara thinking about her own words. "Mara, I think that the reason why you cannot envision this is because you have grown up very independent. You like to make your own choices. As you said yourself, you get along with my Mistress and me because we let you make your own choices where possible. But try to turn that very feeling around. As I told my Mistress when I explained this very thing to her; the first years of my life I was told what to do by my parents who thought of me as a little girl that needed to be told when to go to bed, when to eat, when to play. Then I was assimilated by the Borg and was literally told how to do every move I made; I had no free will then. After that I was told what to do by Captain Janeway... she was the former Captain of Voyager. So when I met my Mistress I had 27 years behind me of someone telling me what to do. I never knew any better and I got used to that just like you are used to your independence. I like it, and I like the freedom it gives me."
Mara snorted at that. "Being someone's slave giving you freedom? Did you ever hear of the word Paradox?"
"I will assume that this is a rhetorical question," Seven said amused. "You would be surprised about in just how many forms freedom comes. For instance, you tell me right now what you would like for dinner."
"What?" Mara asked confused.
"Dinner, this evening, what would you like?"
"I don't know, why..."
"Tell me, now," Seven persisted.
"The same as yesterday?" Mara blurred.
"Is that an answer or a question?" Seven asked amused. "Now, think about it for a moment, and yes, I do have a point here. Think, do you really want to eat the same as yesterday?"
"Well, no, not really," Mara admitted after a moment. "If it's really my choice I would like some MakDklaK."
"We could do that," Seven said. "The point I was making however is that you were just pressured to make a choice. Did you like the pressure?"
"No I didn't."
"And if my Mistress and I are not acting on the same level, I do not have to make choices like that. If someone else is in control, it can be very freeing to not have to make choices. To not have to decide what you would like to do, and what the results of that might be. I did not want to become Intendant, but the price for me not becoming Intendant was too high. As Intendant I know how to make choices. I know how to decide the fate of billions, and because I have to make choices like that, the time when I am with my Mistress and do not have to make choices is all the more precious to me."
"Mother, I'm not looking for any details here; believe me, I don't want to know any details," Mara said hesitantly. "But... does this also happen in the bedroom?"
For a moment Seven thought about how to answer the question. She and Torres had agreed that they would be relatively open with Mara on the matter of sex, but then they had been talking more about Mara mentioning things from her sex life. Then Seven decided that for now the question was general enough to answer.
"Yes and no. Though we still call each other 'Mistress' and 'my Pet' then, you can say that as soon as the door to the bedroom closes, we are on equal level. So the answer would be 'no' there. Yet at the same time, yes, we do take our roles to bed with us sometimes. Not having to make choices can be very liberating there as well."
"Is mother rough?" Mara asked, her eyes firmly on the path they were walking on.
Seven's first reaction was to say that this was a too private a question, but something in Mara's tone made Seven decide to go on, for now. "She can be. And she can be as tender as a nesting Mandrian bird. It really all depends on what we are in the mood for."
"We?" Mara repeated.
"Yes, we. As I said, we are equals in the bedroom, or more to the point in our love life. Together my Mistress and I decide what we are in the mood for. If one of us wants something and the other not, it does not happen."
"So before you have sex,"
"Make love," Seven interrupted. "I know that having sex is the correct description, but I find 'making love' more fitting. We might have sex when we make love, but we never have sex without making love."
"That's confusing," Mara said with a frown.
"Only if you have never been truly in love," Seven countered. "If you had been in love you would know the difference between having sex and making love. I am sorry, Mara, but I do not know how better to describe the difference than merely saying that 'making love' is... more."
"Right," Mara said, clearly still not fully getting it, but also not finding it important enough to ask for more explanation. "So before you make love, you ask each other what you are in the mood for, and then agree on something you both want?"
"Sometimes one of us is in the mood for a specific thing, and ask the other if she wants that, as in 'would you like to'." Seven agreed, wondering where the questioning was going, but also seeing clearly that Mara was struggling with wanting information on something she didn't really dared to talk about. It was an interesting position to be in, Seven decided, to decide what information was truly too private, and what private information to give up to help the clearly struggling young Klingon.
She decided to go on a bit more to see where the discussion would end up. "Other times one of us is in the mood making love, and would like to do several things. Then the choice is left to the other. So yes, there is direct asking what we want that night. But most of the time it's more subtle than that. A conversation that slowly shifts in a certain direction, or us simply starting to make love and seeing where we end up. It is not a clear cut pattern, Mara. My Mistress and I make love almost every night,"
"And I really don't have to guess what you two did on those two times when you suddenly went to take a bath and made it very clear that 'my Mistress and I are going to take a bath,' all but saying the words 'and you are not invited'." Mara interrupted with a grin. "Did you actually end up in the bath then?"
"Eventually," Seven admitted with a smile. She realized she wasn't having as hard a time with the conversation as she had assumed when she and Torres were talking about adopting Mara. Back then Seven had thought of Mara as a twelve year old child. Even though this was true technically, Seven obviously knew her adoptive daughter personally by now. Now Seven knew that Mara was a lot more complex than a simple age could ever convey; including the not so small fact that Mara, who still wasn't fully grown, was already almost just as tall as Torres and had the body of a very attractive young woman.
Seven squeezed Mara's shoulder softly before adding, "I am sorry, but I found it a very effective way of conveying that my Mistress and I needed some private time."
"It was," Mara agreed. "So, when you need some private time in the future you can just tell me that you two are going to take a private bath. The word private will let me know that I'm not invited."
"Very well," Seven agreed, liking the suggestion. "But to come back to your question, as you can see, my Mistress and I make love quite often. If you have made love with each other so often you can also get a general 'feel' of what someone wants by the look in their eyes, the sound of their voice. And if you want that too then you talk in that direction. If you do not want it, you very deliberately talk in the direction you want instead. So often us talking about what we want does not really involve talking about what we want, but interpreting the tone of voice and the nuances in the discussion that we have before we make love."
"That's confusing," Mara said once again.
"It only sounds that way," Seven assured. "You have to keep the fact in mind that you also know the person. You saw a very good example today. Did you hear my Mistress or me talk about what kind of training we would like to do?"
"Now that you mention it, no," Mara said thoughtfully.
"Then how did we know that we wanted to do the bat'leth training, and not for instance the hand-to-hand training?"
Mara thought about that again but she simply couldn't think of a moment where a choice was discussed. "I have no idea," She finally admitted.
"Do not worry about not remembering when the choice was made; even I do not remember," Seven assured. "The point is however that somehow my mistress and I communicated with each other without even fully knowing it ourselves, and found the training we both felt like doing. It is often very much the same when making love. I would say that less than half of the time there is any suggestion or question as to what one of us wants. For the rest we just see where things take us; that is half of the fun."
Seven thought about that for a moment. "That is incorrect: it is most definitely not half of the fun, but it is still part of the fun."
Mara had to laugh at Seven's correction.
"Mara, may I ask you a personal question?" Seven asked hesitantly.
"Oh ho."
"Yes, be afraid, be very afraid."
"Alright, ask," Mara said with a grin.
"Are you still a virgin?"
The grin immediately disappeared. "What? Of course not."
Seven merely waited.
"Yes," Mara admitted after a moment. "You know, that being-able-to-know-if-people-are-lying thing can be very annoying."
"Then you have three options," Seven pointed out. "Either you get better at lying since I am only able to pick up clear signs of lying... for me clear signs that is. Or you no longer try to lie to me."
"And the third option?" Mara wondered, but in reality she was only stalling. She knew that now there would be more questions and she wasn't sure if she wanted to answer them. But she realized that Seven had answered her own questions honestly, so in Mara's mind that meant that now it was her time to do the same.
"The third option is obvious; you get better at lying, and at the same time stop trying to lie to me."
"Funny."
"True it is though."
"That's not grammatically correct speaking," Mara pointed out.
"Considering that I am living around, and with, Klingons it is very proper speaking," Seven counted before asking, "So, have we stalled enough now?"
"I guess. How did you know?"
"I guessed," Seven admitted. "You were asking questions that made it clear to me that you have never been in a relationship. Though that does not mean that you never had sex before, and now I do use the word 'sex' very deliberately instead of saying 'made love.' But you strike me as a person that would not have sex simply to have sex; especially not if you were indeed still a virgin, as you just admitted. I am wondering though why you act as if you are ashamed of the fact that you virginity is still in tact. That is nothing to be ashamed about,"
Mara snored at that, interrupting what Seven was saying. "Around Klingons it is nothing to be ashamed about to still be virgin at twelve? With all due respect mother, I think you mixed something up with that Universe that you come from."
"And I think that you should not believe all you hear," Seven countered. "Klingons boast about their sex life, it is only logical that they also boast about when they had sex the first time. Not everyone is like you, Mara. You did not care what the other thought about you in the Orphanage, as long as they left you alone. But children that do care? They say a lot just to sound big and interesting to others. While we can argue about the fact if it is something to be proud of the fact that you are still a virgin, I for one am personally glad that you decided not to throw that away simply to have some sex."
"I guess," Mara mumbled.
"Mara?" Seven asked.
Mara sighed before explaining, "Look, it has nothing to do with throwing away my virginity. You know how good we Klingons are at rewriting our past. I could have had sex and then simply firmly tell myself and a possible new lover that I never had sex before; nobody would know, and even I would start to believe it after some time."
"That is true enough," Seven admitted, knowing that Klingons were one of the species where the women didn't have a hymen that clearly marked their virginity. Instead Klingon women were very tight if they never had been penetrated. So much so that if the first time they had sex wasn't careful slow, and aroused enough, it could hurt a lot more than the tearing of a hymen. And seeing that Klingons weren't exactly known for taking it slow and careful, the first time for a Klingon woman tended to hurt quite some. Luckily the body adapted fast and the second time, even if it was the same day, would feel a lot more enjoyable.
Of course, a very select few Klingon women had the luck that their first was someone that did take it slow and careful and the experience was absolutely mind-blowing. It was those people that tended to be together with their first lover for the rest of their life.
However, a flip side of this was that if a Klingon woman who had been penetrated then stopped all forms of penetration, she would become just as tight again over time; not leaving any clear difference that indicated she ever had sex of any kind. "So if being a virgin is not important to you, why are you still one?"
"Because."
"Because?" Seven persisted. "Surely you must have had opportunities. We saw the ones you fought with in the Orphanage; they were not much younger than you."
"I had offers," Mara admitted.
"Offers you clearly declined. Do you not want to experience sex?" Seven then wondered. "It is a feeling that does occur in some Humans, but I do not know of any case in which a Klingon did not have a sex drive. Maybe you inherited this from your Human side?"
"I want it, believe me, I want," Mara assured. "Look, it's just... I'm a freak, alright?"
"A freak?" Seven repeated.
"I... I want things that aren't normal."
"I see," Seven said slowly. "And these things, are they prohibited by law?"
"What?"
"I asked if the things that you want are illegal."
"Not that I know of," Mara said confused, wondering why Seven would ask that.
"Well, if those things that you want are so terrible, do you not think that there would be laws against it? So at the very worst you want things that are not what the majority of people like. That does not make you a freak however."
"Oh yeah? And just how normal does it sound to you to want your lover to go slow, to take fifteen minutes before she even touches... your places?"
"It sounds wonderful," Seven said right away. Then she asked, "She? No he for you?"
Mara shook her head right away. "I couldn't imagine. It just doesn't do anything for me. "You, you really don't think it's weird to want a lover to tease you, deny you?"
"You are very deliberate with choosing your words," Seven said amused, and approvingly. "You ask me about a lover, and not about my Mistress. Making a personal question a general one, even though you know I can only answer it from my personal experience and that I have only ever been with one person; the one I wake up with every day."
"I was kinda hoping that general questions would get me more info," Mara admitted.
"And you were correct," Seven agreed. "And no, I do not find it strange. Mara, I just told you that there goes a lot of communication, and also non-communication, into deciding with your partner what you two are in the mood for. Do you really think it would take that much communicating if there were not many choices? If sex was only the same thing all the time, then the only communication would be; 'want some'?"
Mara laughed at that. "I do, you know? I really do want to have sex, but I don't want the roughness. I think of those stories I heard and it does nothing for me. I simply don't see any pleasure in pushing my partner around, or having to fight her just to have her do what I want."
"As I just said, I think that you have been listening too much to boasting stories," Seven noted.
"Sometimes I used some of the allowance credits I got at the Orphanage to visit the local holosuite establishment," Mara started to explain hesitantly. "Once there was a new guy there. He was too busy trying to talk up one of the other customers and waved me on without checking my id crystal. Because of this no age limitation was set in the holosuite."
"Let me guess," Seven said in understanding. "You made good use of that and ran an adult program?"
"Right. I thought it would be fun; it wasn't. Instead of getting turned on, I got turned off. I... I could never do those things."
"Mara, nowadays those 'people' are fully generated by computers, so none of that is real."
"I know, but,"
"I was not finished," Seven interrupted. "But before all of that was done by computers, those programs were created by recording actors doing those things. Mara, do you have any idea why those people were called 'actors?'"
"Because they were acting out the scene?"
"Indeed; acting. None of that is real. That is just mass market entertainment, of the adult kind. The thing is, yes, Klingons do have the tendency to be a little rough if not held in check by the fact that they are dealing with a real and living partner. So those holosuites are set up in a way to let those Klingons live out their fantasies without having to keep physical limitations in mind. But I can assure you, if those people had been actors instead of full computer generated images, most of what you would see would be holo-recording magic. Mara, you only see what they want you to see. If a scene takes six tries to record or program, they will not show you the five times that it did not work out. No, they only show you that one time that it did. Let me give you a good tip to separate real from fake. If it looks very real; it is probably fake."
"That's a paradox again."
"It is," Seven agreed. "But it is also true. The problem there is between feeling and seeing. Let me use the metaphor of eating dinner. Do you think it would be very interesting to watch someone eat dinner for fifteen minutes?"
"I think it would be boring as hell," Mara said.
"Indeed it would," Seven agreed. "But now imagine that it is you that is eating, and you are eating your favorite foods. Do you think you would enjoy that fifteen minute dinner now?"
Seven knew the answer she would get so she simply continued. "It is the same with making love. If you are one of the people that are making love, then the same action for five minutes will feel great. But if your were watching those same five minutes on a holodeck it would become boring. You say you would like to be teased. Being teased for fifteen minutes will feel great, having to watch two 'lovers' on the holodeck teasing each other... you would be bored within minutes."
"That actually makes sense," Mara admitted.
"As I said, if it looks really real, it is probably fake. Again, those scenes are, relatively, perfect. But Mara, sex is not perfect." Seven took hold of some of Mara's long hairs and followed them down to their tips so that Mara would focus on them as well. "Again, picture yourself eating your favorite food. Now picture yourself eating that food while bending down and think about what your hair would do."
Mara frowned before suddenly grinning. "Now you used the example of eating very deliberately. Isn't that damn annoying?"
"It can be," Seven admitted. "And again, that is part of my point. Sex is not perfect. There will be situations where other things interfere, like your hair being in the way. But you will not see that in those programs, because there they just so happen to be in a position where they can throw the hair to the side without it coming back to be in the way again... because they did not show you them first moving to that position because the hair kept falling back. In those programs of which you watched one, things are portrayed to keep you interested. They change positions while in reality changing position would be the last thing on your mind. They play rough and like it, but in reality the wrong roughness would ruin any fun there could have been in playing a little rough. Tell me, that program, did it involve the breaking of bones?"
"Yeah, an arm. The bone stuck through the skin."
"Did that look real to you?"
"Very," Mara admitted with a slight cringe. Then she thought back to that moment. "It looked real, but she was acting like she enjoyed it."
"So, it looked real, but does it also sound real to you?"
"Can't say it does," Mara admitted.
"Also, if you think about it logically it makes no sense at all," Seven said as she herself thought about those common myths that even a lot of Klingons themselves believed; especially the young Klingons that hadn't learned the true lessons of life yet. "You have two things at play here. First, if you believe the stories then Klingons have sex about three times a day."
"I know that that's nonsense," Mara said, only to add, "You and Mother are active though."
"My Mistress and I love each other, and love to make love. We see no reason to not make love if we both want it, and we do appreciate the fact that our daughter seems to understand that."
"Hey, I'm all for it," Mara said, only to add with a grin, "I don't think I would want to deal with mother if she is cranky because she doesn't get laid."
"Please do not call it that," Seven reacted right away. "My Mistress and I make love. I prefer to not call it having sex, nor do I prefer to have it being referred to as 'getting laid'."
"Alright, I'll remember," Mara assured. "But in my own defense, two nights ago mother herself said that she really wanted to get laid."
Seven thought back for a moment, picturing the whole scene at that time. "You were gone to your bathroom when my Mistress said that."
"I was coming back and the bedroom door was just opening," Mara corrected, "You did stop talking right after that, but mother still said it."
"You are correct," Seven had to admit. "I see that as far as recall goes, you truly could have been a biological daughter of mine."
Mara looked at Seven at that and smiled, taking the comment as a compliment.
"However," Seven continued, after she returned the smile. "That is taken out of context. Sometimes, a lot of times actually, my Mistress and I say things to each other that we would not tolerate from someone else. Yes, we amongst us so sometimes refer to making love as 'getting laid,' and even as 'fucking' or 'screwing' sometime. But if someone were so stupid and ask my Mistress if my Mistress screwed me any time lately... it would not be a smart move. My Mistress had told me several times already that she wants to fuck my lights out. But what do you think would happen to a person that says that my Mistress should go and fuck my lights out?"
"I think it would be their brains that would be out. Out of their body that is. So it's kinda like an 'I know who's saying it' thing?" Mara wondered.
"Indeed," Seven agreed. "Worf and Martok could get away with it. Not because of their position, but because of the mutual friendship. Then in the right situation if would even be considered funny by all. But if even the Captain of this ship would say that, she would regret it for a long time, if she survived. And in that context, yes, my Mistress and I do refer to us making love as 'getting laid' sometimes, and in those situations it is fun to hear the partner say that. It does however not mean that it is fun to hear our daughter say that in reference to the love life of my Mistress and I."
"I'll keep it in mind," Mara assured.
"Very well, with that settled," Seven said, moving on. "I was saying that you have to keep two things in mind. If you believe the stories, Klingons have sex three times every day, at least. And if you believe the other stories, breaking bones is part of having sex. Making your partner bleed is part of the fun. Being rough to the point of hitting is fun."
"Right," Mara agreed.
"If that is so, if three times every day Klingons break the bones of their partners, do you not think that there would be ten times as many doctors on Qo'noS? Ten times as many hospitals? That bone-knitters and dermal-regenerators would be sold in every store just as commonly as food? Do you not think that at the point where you pay for the goods you bought, there would be dermal regenerators lying right besides the snacks?"
"I never thought of that," Mara admitted. "I guess you got a point. But just because those stories aren't true doesn't mean that everyone is like me."
"Probably not," Seven agreed. "I never studied it because my Mistress' and my own preferences just 'clicked,' so to speak. But my educated guess would be that the Klingon love life is more about the factual act. I believe that they are more about the intercourse and doing that part longer; perhaps having more than a single orgasm from a longer act instead of building up and cooling off between orgasms. I believe that they are generally less about the build-up before and the calm down after. There is nothing wrong with that, and that too can be very interesting. It is simply not that everyone by definition likes that simply because they are Klingon. From what you told me you do appreciate the build-up and cool down parts."
Mara nodded her head. "Just from my fantasies, that's half the fun. And I now do mean half the fun."
"Then this merely means that you have preferences that are different than the majority of Klingons. But Mara, if there is a majority, this also means that there is a minority. There are others that want what you want. If you would like, I can use the link to the Federation database do download some educational files so that you can study real facts and not some adult entertainment program."
"What's wrong with the ones we have in this Universe?" Mara wondered.
"There are probably very suited educational files to be found here as well," Seven agreed. "However, I merely do not want to get files that portray popular facts for true facts. I do know that in the Federation there is a system in place that checks if files are suited for education, of whichever kind. Those files have been tested and reviewed and are certified to have correct information. I will download the file on Klingon sex, and on Human sex as well."
"I'm not interested in that part."
"Mara, you are seen as a full Klingon, and I know that you see yourself as such. However, the fact is that you are partly Human and because of that your bodily urges might differ from the average Klingon. Do you really want to go through life ignoring what you might want, simply because it might come from your Human side? You can study the files and if you do not like them you can ignore them. But do know that the first step to being comfortable with yourself is to accept what you are. That is a lesson I only learned recently, thanks to my Mistress."
With the last sentence, Seven squeezed Mara's shoulder slightly to indicate the hand that was still resting there. Making Mara understand only too well exactly what part of herself Seven had to accept to feel comfortable.
"I'll take a look," Mara finally said after a moment of silence.
"Such enthusiasm," Seven said teasingly. "Mara, I merely do not want you to be unhappy in your life simply because you ignore the fact that your body is not fully Klingon. Do not be ashamed that your body is part Human. Your body is not what makes you a Klingon."
"It is not?" Mara asked confused.
"No, it is not. Honor, facing fears with your head held high, not giving up, being ready to fight for what you believe in. Those are things that make you a Klingon."
Mara didn't answer, but did think of Seven's words. They watched for a moment how Toby came running by, chasing another Targ around. When Toby was gone again, Seven asked, "Any more questions you might have that would make my Mistress cringe is she would have to talk about it?"
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