Alternate Conclusions.
By H.W.
Chapter 20
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Mara grinned at the question. "Not right now, but now that you mention mother, there is one thing I have been wondering about though."
"Go on."
"Well, see, she's 18 years older than me. While this is enough to make her the clear adult and me the clear child in the family, and in fact enough that time wise I could have been a biological daughter of her, that is still not really enough of a timeframe for an Heir. She can go on being in full control of her company for fifty years at least. Surely she doesn't want me to train for that long. There must be something else going on there."
Seven thought about the question for a moment and then decided that the answer wasn't that much of a secret and Mara was allowed to know the reason. "You are correct. However, the answer is simple; my Mistress does not want to be in control of her business for so long. Yet on the other hand she also does not want to hand it to the Board of Directors, or split up the company that took such much of her time to build. She wants to hand it to a person that will continue the company in my Mistress' mindset; you."
"But why?" Mara asked.
"Things have changed in my Mistress' life since she and I met. Before we met all her time was taken up by two things. By being the Intendant and doing Intendant things, and by being the head of her company and doing things that needed doing in that capacity. Most of her Intendant work was taken up by traveling to places where she could be that Intendant. While most of her business work was things one could do everywhere, including when traveling to places. It was a nice combination that kept her busy."
Mara nodded her head in understanding. She was reading up on tons of deals and she could envision Torres having done the same, with the small difference that once Torres was done reading she had to sign the deal.
"Then I came into her life," Seven continued. "And she realized that having a personal life is not a bad thing; that having time for yourself and the people you love is just as important as taking care of business. So, my Mistress decided that she had to give something up."
"And Mother does not like giving things up," Mara said in understanding, knowing Torres well enough by now to know this to be true.
"Indeed. So to answer your question about what else is going on here; my Mistress and I plan ahead. She moves to where she can hand control, or at least most of the control, of her business to someone else. Someone she trusts blindly once you have earned that full trust. In the meantime I myself work on setting up more and more of my government in a way that most of the work is done by others. That for most in the Phoenix Alliance the Sub-Intendant level is the final level and that I only come in for things that need the Intendant, like the Grand Assemblies, and to make sure that the government as a whole still reflects my mentality. This so that in several years time I have to do less and less as Intendant, and my Mistress has to worry less and less about her business as you take over more and more control. And in a couple of years my Mistress can focus on being Intendant, and I can focus on my Mistress, and as we travel from place to place we have more than enough time for our family."
"You say 'our family'," Mara said, only to stop because she didn't really know how to ask the question that was on her mind.
"Our family," Seven repeated. "We are not going to ship you off to some office the moment we feel that you know enough of the business to take over," Seven assured. "My Mistress has proven that her business empire can easily be run from this very ship. You will take over running the business, from this ship. The difference being that my Mistress no longer has to spent time at the business side, and since you are not an Intendant as well, you do not have to spend time on that. This will result in you both having a decent amount of free time in which you both can peruse other interests."
"Hmm, talking about free time," Mara said thoughtfully.
"Yes?" Seven wondered.
"Well, there are two things I wanted to ask about. First, I messed up a little."
Seven merely lifted an eyebrow at that.
"I got a birthday invitation from Zan'k yesterday for tomorrow. I accepted, but I totally forgot to check if you and mother have any plans that require my attention tomorrow."
"You forgot?" Seven asked. "Or did you forget between quotation marks?"
Mara grinned. "I honestly forgot. I don't think that starting to do things in quotation marks is a smart thing to do around mother. The both of you actually. Na, it's simply, I checked if there was something already planned that involved me; there wasn't, so I accepted. But I forgot to ask you if either of you were going to do something that would require me to be there for training purposes."
"Which would not be mentioned in your agenda since we decide if situations are good training tools as they come up," Seven said in understanding. "If nothing unplanned happens then no, we do not require your attention outside the normal daily training sessions."
"That's okay," Mara assured. "Zan'k has planned the party to start in the afternoon anyway because he has to be in Engineering before."
"In that case; have fun," Seven said with a smile. Then she added, "I will link the agenda of my Mistress as well as my own with your agenda in such a way that we can mark certain events that we might think might be of interest for you to attend. That does not mean that it is already certain that you have to attend those, it merely means that your time might be occupied at that moment and you should better ask us before making plans at those times. So in the future, if there is nothing marked in your agenda, assume that the time is yours and free to do with as you like... as long as you keep in mind what we discussed the first day you stayed here."
"Let you know if I'm going to be around for the set eating times, and make sure that all the schooling stays up to level; don't fall behind," Mara said, just to show that she remembered which ones of the house rules that had been explained to her that day Seven was referring to.
"Indeed," Seven agreed. Then she asked," You said there were two things?"
"Oh, right. The second is about Vesena. Um, now that she is allowed to use those cleaning appliances she needs less time to clean."
"Yet she spends not less, but more, time in our quarters," Seven said.
"Let me guess, you checked the computer logs?"
"Not at all," Seven assured. "It was merely logical deduction from the fact that you are now always finishing up your studies when my Mistress and I arrive, where before you had already finished the studies for that day and were reading up on other things. Also keep in mind that besides the cleaning appliances Vesena now is allowed to use, she comes in now more often because my Mistress and I spent quite some time in meetings that are needed to ensure the proper growing of the Phoenix Alliance. Because of that my educated guess is that you and Vesena spent about four hours together every day. Which means that some days she is not cleaning at all."
"My fault," Mara assured right away. "Sometimes she comes in and it's all still clean because, well, she just finished it all the day before. So I just tell her to leave it... which she does once I assure her that I'll take any blame if there will be any. Um, there isn't any, is there?"
"There is not," Seven assured. "She does a very good job and my Mistress and I are pleased with the work Vesena delivers. So, why are you bringing her up now?"
"Well, the reason is, she spends so much time there because we get along very well. I really like her, and I think that she really likes to spend the time with me that she does."
"You think, or you hope?" Seven asked.
"I think," Mara said confidently. "It's... she acts the same all the time. In the beginning she comes in and is worried about getting the job done and all that, but once she is done for the day, or once I told her that I take the blame is there is any to be had, she relaxes some and I now even have her as far that she stays out of her own accord. Last week, I told her... it was a close thing for a moment, but I kinda pressured her by telling her that she didn't have to stay if she didn't want to. I think it was easier for her to just pretend that she was staying because I didn't tell her to leave. But I did get her to make that choice and tell me that she would like to stay some more. She always makes sure to be gone before the time you and mother normally get home though."
"She still very much has a slave mentality," Seven said in agreement. "Cleaning slaves were trained not to be seen; to be done with cleaning when a Master came home, or to start cleaning a different part of the house then where the Master would not go at that moment. She may be a servant now, but she still has that mentality. Which makes me wonder; what you do in that time that she does spend in our quarters but does not clean?"
"What if I told you that we spent hours of having wild passionate sex?" Mara asked with a grin.
"Then I would strongly suggest that you take a few lessons in lying with a Ferengi. Telling me that you have wild sex is not a smart thing to do after just admitting to me that you are still a virgin, and that wild sex is the last thing you want."
"Lessons from a Ferengi?" Mara asked with a laugh.
"Have wild passionate sex?" Seven asked amused on her turn.
"We are kinda teaching each other," Mara admitted. "Seeing how little she knew about the value of things I'm helping her getting a better grip on economics while she is teaching me some Cardassian and some Bajoran."
"Really?" Seven asked surprised.
To prove it, Mara stated a line in Cardassian which made Seven chuckle.
"I suggest that you do not say that when a Cardassian is nearby."
"I know," Mara assured. "But Vesena said that starting with the curses is the most fun and you can work from there."
"It is a very efficient, if unschooled, way or learning the basics of a language," Seven agreed.
"Yeah, I figure that once I know enough of those languages to hold a basic conversation in them, I start with the more difficult work."
"I could set up an educational program for you," Seven suggested.
"Mother, um, I hope that you won't be offended if I say 'no' to that," Mara said slowly. "Because Klingon is the official language throughout the Coalition I don't need to know those languages. Now learning them is fun and a good way to get Vesena to say more to me than 'yes Miss.' So, thanks, but no thanks. I might take you up of that offer later though. If Vesena taught me what she knows and I decide that I want to learn more of the languages. But that's still an 'if'."
"I am not offended," Seven assured. "As we told you, what you do in your free time is your own business, within limits. And learning languages is certainly within those limits."
"So you don't mind me shifting the time around?" Mara asked relived. "I make up for those hours I spent with her. I now read those reports in the evening before going to sleep."
"And they do not make you fall asleep before you can finish them?" Seven asked amused.
"Sometimes," Mara admitted with a grin. "But if I fall asleep early because I'm reading them, I wake up early and read them then; I never needed much sleep."
"Which is why you are up before us most of the time," Seven said in understanding, having already figured out that Mara slept less when Torres did. And since Seven stayed in bed as long as Torres was in bed, Mara was normally up and about before the both of them. "And we even get a breakfast ready and waiting for us half of the time. Not that I object mind you."
"I only find it fair," Mara said with a shrug. "You prepare dinner, so I might as well prepare breakfast when I'm up and you both are not."
"But you are robbing me of the chance to experiment," Seven said softly.
"Huh?" Came Mara's confused answer.
"That list with things my Mistress and I like to eat, we only discovered that by me experimenting with the replicator. If you make breakfast, I cannot experiment."
"Oh, I'm sorry."
"I am not," Seven assured. "As I said, I do not mind you preparing breakfast. Maybe we can combine the two though. How about on weekend day the two of us get up early and we do some experimenting? I will see about dragging my Mistress out of bed then as well so that she can judge the outcome of the experimenting."
Mara smiled at the idea. Then she thought about it for a moment before stating what she knew was a fact. "Mother will object to that. She likes to stay in bed longer on weekend day, not get up earlier. Somehow I don't think that she will be too happy about giving up sleeping in with you and then maybe do some things that don't involve sleeping."
"If stated like that, you are correct," Seven agreed. "However, the true art of negotiating is to bring something in a way that all parties get something they want. Mara, I... as much as I appreciate the fact that you understand why my Mistress and I would like some time by ourselves sometimes, I find myself wanting a little more than just that. I like that you have become a part of our family, and I do not want to miss you, but,"
"But sometimes you would really want me to get lost so that you can be alone for some time, and I'm not just talking to make love now."
"Indeed," Seven agreed. "I was hoping that we could reach an agreement that we all will like, and weekend day seems like an excellent choice for that. We get up early and the two of us spent some time while we tolerate my Mistress' presence," the smile told Mara that Seven was only kidding about the tolerating part.
"And then around twelve we kick you out, as my Mistress would say. Or to be more precise, we make use of the force field that can be raised to divide our quarters into two parts and you will be a 'persona non grata' in the part that my Mistress and I stay in. This also includes closing the door between our offices. This division of quarters will then last until midnight. That will give my Mistress and me twelve hours of alone time. Would you object to such a deal?"
"Well, I'm used to spent time by myself. Besides, weekend day is a good day to spent time with my friends," Mara said thoughtfully. "Alright, I can see where you are coming from. If I had a partner I would like to spend some time with her alone from time to time as well, knowing that we wouldn't be interrupted. Okay, you got a deal."
"I am glad to hear that." Then Seven step in front of Mara and put a hand on both her shoulders. "Mara, that 'won't be interrupted' is a very important part. Those twelve hours are for my Mistress and me, and no interruptions unless it is an emergency. That includes not quickly coming in to retrieve something you left behind. If it is in the other part of the quarters then you have to consider it univalve for those twelve hours because you will also not be able to beam in out because of the dampening filed around these quarters."
"What?" Mara asked confused. "Surely,"
"Mara," Seven said patiently. "Let me just say that the bedroom is not the only place in our quarters that I have fond memories of. And the absolute last thing I would want is for our daughter to walk in while my Mistress and I are making more fond memories."
"Oh, right, get it," Mara said, now fully understanding. "Yeah, that wouldn't be too good a thing. Um, alright, but it goes the other way as well. No coming into my part either. You know, that wild and passionate sex thing I was talking about."
"Or in other words, you want to make use of the fact that you can guarantee your friends that it is safe to come over for some time and they do not have to worry about meeting some Intendants," Seven said in complete understanding.
"Or that," Mara agreed with a grin.
"I think we can manage that. I will talk this over with my Mistress tonight, and tomorrow we will let you know if we make this agreement a fact." Then Seven decided that it was time to come back to the subject they had been discussing before. "Now, were you talking about Vesena for a specific reason?" Seven asked as she moved to Mara's side again.
"Huh?" Then the half-Klingon smacked her forehead. "Oh, duh, right. Yes. Um, the reason why I brought her up is because I like her. I mean, I really like her. I would like to spend more time with her, take her with me when I visit some of the places I go to on the ship in my free time. I was just wondering if that would be okay with you two. I thought I would better ask before trying to coax Vesena into coming along."
"You are asking me if we would object to you befriending Vesena? We do not choose your friends for you, Mara. There are some things we cannot tolerate and we will step in if a friendship goes in that direction, but as long as that has not happened then who you befriend is none of our business."
"Well, I'm asking because this might be one of those things," Mara said, looking at Seven. "The others, that's not a problem. What's wrong with me having Klingon friends? Even Naomi; she may be a mix of species that used to be slave here but she has a job that covers that. What's wrong with the daughter of the Klingon Intendant becoming friends with the Assistant of a person that only has to answer to the Intendant? But Vesena? She is just a cleaning servant; a former slave that is worth even less than a sex servant. At least a good sex servant can bring you some credits if you sell the contract. But a cleaning servant? If you buy three contracts the negotiator will immediately offer you a discount on a fourth just so that he can get rid of them and make room for servant contracts that bring a higher credit margin."
"Ah, you think that we would consider Vesena not good enough? You do not have to worry about that. What we told you still stands. We gave you some clear examples of when we would step in concerning your friends. Has Vesena come close to doing any of that?"
Mara snorted at that. "She would die of fear before ever coming close to that. I tell you mother, I say servants instead of slaves because it's not the politically correct thing to do to say slaves anymore, and as the daughter of two Intendants I better damn well do the politically correct thing. But Vesena... she is still a slave. I managed to get her to open up a bit, to talk to you and mother without stuttering, but..." A sight. "If mother were to sell Vesena's contract to someone else that girl would be right back to cowering on the floor and allowing anything that this new employer would do."
Mara flicked her eyes and Seven before looking down at the patch again. "I... I didn't tell you this because it didn't matter. But that first day... I admit that I like the way she looks, and that day I let my eyes drift a bit. Just taking in her forms; nothing wrong with that, right? Not the first time. You and mother teas me about it often enough."
"True," Seven agreed. "As my Mistress likes to say; you are showing the signs of being a healthy Klingon."
Mara nodded. "Most people would have seen it as a compliment, some maybe as an insult. But either way, it would stay at that. She? She started to shake. She was expecting me to do more than just look. I could have raped her right there... well, not that I could have actually done that, but... you know, I could have and she wouldn't have done anything about it. She is cleaning the quarters of two of the most powerful people known in the Universe, and I could have raped her right there in that room and she wouldn't have told either of you, or anyone else about it."
She sighed. "I fear for her. I really do. What will happen to her if the cleaning schedule is changed again? She cleans our quarters, but she just one of many cleaning servants. All it takes is for the new Master Servant to reschedule the cleaning servants because he thinks they will work better that way and Vesena might suddenly be cleaning the quarters of someone that that also realizes that Vesena wouldn't tell if someone forced her, and then does just that, maybe even every time has to go and clean there."
"That is pessimistic worst case scenario thinking," Seven pointed out. "However, worst case scenarios do sometimes happen. And if you worry about Vesena then I guess it is up to you to do something about it."
"There is not much I can do about it," Mara pointed out.
"Hmm, you really are not used to asking for help, are you?" Seven asked. "The second most powerful person in the Coalition, the person that can make laws simply by stating that something is a law now, the owner of this very ship, the owner of all the servant contracts on that ship, with the exception of the few owned by others, that person happens to be a person you like to call mother. Do you not think that she might be able to do something about the situation?"
"I... I guess. No, I mean I know that she can do something about it. But I like her. If I start asking her to do things for me, where will it stop?"
"A lot further than with the contract of a servant, I can assure you that," Seven said confidently. "After all, she willingly let slaves escape in a time where doing so would mean the death for almost everyone else. All, just because I wanted my friends to be free. Oh, she can give you reasons that would have covered her if Worf had made problems for her. But the fact is, she still did that for me. As my Mistress told me several times; she does not like to be used, in general, but at the same time she does not mind if people that she knows and likes do use her a little. Changing the contract of a servant? That is something she would do for pretty much everyone here on the ship simply because these people provided her with a good service over the years. She would most definitely change that contract for her daughter. But, if you are worried because you do not want to start going down that line of asking your mother or mothers, to do things for you, then there is another way."
"Really? What?"
"You could bid for Vesena's contract."
"Yeah, right. I don't have the credits to buy a servant contract. Besides, Vesena is under long contract with mother."
"First of all you seem to forget that you are being paid wages; enough that you now can afford to buy a servant contract. Second of all, you seem to forget that your mother is one of the richest people in the Coalition. She could not care less about the in comparison insignificant amount of credits Vesena's contract is worth. You would have to buy that contract with something that interests my Mistress more than a few credits. And third, Vesena is under a long contract agreement, yes, but you seem to forget that under the right conditions long contract agreements can be sold to someone else. And lastly, your mother can get away with murder; literally. Do you think that someone will object to her selling a servant contract of one of her own servants to her own daughter because dates on the contract do not match?"
"I don't think it would be a smart idea to start a fight with someone that can first change the laws to put her in the right, and then kill you for falsely accusing her," Mara admitted with a grin. "It must be very tempting to abuse such power. Now I can understand why Intendant Kira was tempted and did what she did."
"No, Intendant Kira was acting foolish," Seven disagreed. "People are used to the Intendants getting a lot of credits; if not from their wages, then from business deals, or business people that want to buy their favors. People even understand some skimming; figuring that they would do the same. But Kira became greedy. The position of Intendant is for life, so what good is it to squeeze a planet like Bajor dry and put all of those credits into an account and not use them? She would have been a lot smarter if she had done it the other way."
"What other way?" Mara wondered.
"The way the new Intendant is using," Seven explained. "Ro and Jetur, they even give away ninety percent of their Intendant wages, saying that they only need the ten percent to live on. They are right, considering that they are living in a palace build by Kira and that the state paid for, and that the state also pays every bill. They go to a restaurant to eat, and they get the meal for free because it is considered such an honor to have the Intendant eat at their place. Ro and Jetur only have a couple of thousand credits in their account, and at the same time have a whole faction, not just one planet, but the whole Bajoran Faction wanting to give them everything for free and almost worshiping them because they are such a benevolent Intendant who wants nothing from the people... and therefore gets it all."
"So, seeing that mother also has all she wants, and has the credits to buy what might catch her interest, I have to find something else to offer her in return for Vesena's contract," Mara asked thoughtfully.
"Indeed," Seven agreed. "Are you sure that you would not much rather simply ask my Mistress if she can contact the Master Servant and make it clear that Vesena is from now on only assigned to our quarters and that only my Mistress can contradict that order again?"
"That would be the easy way," Mara agreed. "And if you are sure that mother won't mind me asking that, then I consider that plan B." Then she grinned. "But I think I like this challenge. I'm supposed to be in training to take over her business. Well, let's see what I can come up with to show her that I have a head for business."
"This should prove interesting," Seven said amused.
Suddenly Mara took a hop and jumped in front of Seven. "Alright, we just made a deal about weekend days. We agreed that we would drop the force field at midnight."
"We did," Seven agreed. "However, we already reached an agreement so you cannot use this to deal with my Mistress as well."
"Maybe not that part," Mara agreed. "But what about some extra time? Do you think that she would be interested in me offering to have the force field up until, say, five in the morning instead?"
"My Mistress and I normally go to bed at midnight," Seven pointed out.
"Yes, you go to bed at midnight," Mara agreed. Then she lifted her index finger and shook it slightly. "But do you also go to sleep at that time?"
Seven took a hesitant breath to answer, but the hesitation was enough of an answer.
"I thought so. Just think about it; you and mother are cuddling... or doing other things on the couch... and don't have to interrupt that because it's five minutes to midnight. I bet mother would like the timeline change."
"Or doing other things on the couch?" Seven repeated.
"Well, that one seems pretty obvious to me," Mara said with a shrug.
"Five hours extra private time per week will not earn you a servant's contract," Seven pointed out.
"I know," Mara agreed. "That's more of a down payment, and interest grabber; something that would incline the mighty Klingon intendant to even listen to my proposal. As for the real deal, what do you think mother would say about me paying off those credits that the contract will cost over time?"
"I told you," Seven began.
"I know, credits won't interest her," Mara finished. "But these won't be just any credits. These will be credits I earned here on the ship, not the wages mother pays me either. No, wages I made from a business where I'm getting some firsthand business experience."
"Go on," Seven said, showing that there was potential in that direction.
"See, I was planning on putting some of the things I'm learning into practice. I noticed that there is potential for a little store right here on the ship. The former slaves get paid now, that's a huge potential source of income, as we established when we calculated just how much the former Master Slave could earn just by keeping those credits. The Klingons here get paid as well."
"And they all have access to replicators," Seven pointed out. "There is a reason why there is not already a store on this ship; why buy if you can replicate?"
"Yeah, but not all can be replicated unless you have a high enough rank," Mara reminded. "That's even true for the people working in the Phoenix Alliance; some low rank engineer that is scrubbing the deck plating won't be able to replicate something like Romulan brandy while a Captain can. But if I were to have a store and just happen to have a bottle of Romulan brandy, it might be worth some credits to someone."
"And you just so happen to have complete access to the replicators because of who your family is," Seven said in understanding.
"Of course," Mara agreed. When Seven opened her mouth to speak, Mara shook her head. "I'm partially kidding. Yes, I was hoping that I could use my high clearance to get things that others can't. Things that won't endanger the ship of course, and only legal stuff; so no replicating stasis-kept Tribbles."
Seven chuckled. "Mara, not even my Mistress has the clearance to replicate stasis-kept Tribbles."
"Well, I was just exaggerating a little. But, I have been thinking about this for some time now. I think that some firsthand business experience will do me some good. It will add to just seeing deals on PADDs. But I want to do it fair and square. I would like to open a store on deck seven since that's where that big meeting place is, and that big fitness and fight area that the Klingons are so fond of. But I want to pay the normal fees stores on starships have to pay, including location and energy fee. I would really like it if I could use the replicator access I have now, but have the replicator in my store set up in such a way that credits are automatically deducted from my account. I want to pay for those goods since others will have to pay me for them, but I want them at a reduced coast. You know, kinda like buying at cost if I had to buy the products from a merchant."
"My Mistress will insist on a new account being opened for the store so that any potential loses will not be financed by your personal wages. If the store does not run well enough and has to be closed, then you have to suffer through that like any business person would. Also, you are officially still not old enough to work; you have a learning agreement with my Mistress. So this store will be a part of her enterprises and you will be credited as a student that is doing a schooling project. As part of the deal Vesena's contract will become yours, as long as you keep paying the payments from earnings you made with the store. Also, the contract for Vesena stays the same. She works on an 'on-call' basis and she will clean all of the quarters, not just your side. Lastly, my Mistress will reserve the 'first buy' right. If you want to sell Vesena's contract you may only sell it back to my Mistress at which time you will simply lose all the credits you already paid to my Mistress if Vesena's contract is not yet fully paid by you, of course you get the same amount of credits back that you had to pay."
"Um, that reminds me; how much does her contract come at?" Mara asked. "And since you are telling me what mother will demand, you think she will agree?"
"I believe she will find the prospect interesting," Seven assured. "There is nothing for her to lose, so why not? I cannot be absolutely certain until I discussed the matter with my Mistress, but I would be extremely surprised if she did not agree. I do know that she will not agree without certain things being covered, hence me making demands of which I am fairly certain she will want to have those covered. As for Vesena's contract; it will not be cheap. While Vesena may 'only' be a regular cleaning servant my Mistress does think that she does a good job and therefore would not give her up cheap. Her contract would cost at least six thousand credits."
"Hey, what happened to that 'she doesn't need the credits' thing?" Mara asked, mostly to show disapproval. After all, you always had to disproof of a price so that you could get it down.
"As my Mistress once told me; if she were to just start giving her credits away, soon there would be nothing left. You were the one proposing a deal," Seven reminded. "If you were to ask my Mistress to make sure that Vesena will only be appointed to our quarters from now on; my Mistress would do it without even asking much in the way of an explanation. If you were to ask my Mistress to simply put Vesena's contract in your name, my Mistress would more than likely do that as well, after having asked the why. But if you want a deal, than you will get a deal like any other person would."
"Alright, alright," Mara grinned. "I was just trying to get the price down."
"Already?" Seven asked. "Maybe I was correct when I mentioned a Ferengi before. Tell me, have you ever been tested for having Ferengi blood by any chance?"
"Funny. So, I have to come up with six thousand credits to get Vesena's contract?"
"No; much more than that," Seven assured. "The contract itself would be six thousand. But then there is the fact that you want my Mistress to break open a long term contract deal. Even if the reason fulfils all the legal requirements the penalty for breaking up a long term contract is ten thousand credits, per contract, unless the seller is bankrupt. Since my Mistress is far from being that, the price for Vesena's contract would be sixteen thousand just because of that. However, there is more. A new contract has to be checked by lawyers of course. This new contract would undergo a thorough investigation of my Mistress' lawyers, which are some of the best and therefore are not cheap. That would at least be another six thousand credits."
"Oh, come on now," Mara objected. "You know as well as I do that mother would not bother with having lawyers look at a simple contract like this. She would read it, say 'yes' or 'no,' and that's it."
"You know that, I know that, my Mistress knows that, but the person that gets the total 'take it or leave it' price in which lawyer fees are added does not know that. Besides, by Coalition law you are allowed to be your own lawyer. My Mistress is Intendant, I think her time is pretty expensive, so if she were to bill you 'Intendant time' you would be paying a lot more than only six thousand for lawyer fees."
"Fine, fine," Mara relented. "So sixteen plus six: that's twenty-two thousand credits. That's the price?"
"Almost. Until now we have just added cost. Of course my Mistress would want to make some profit as well. Seeing how eager you are to get the contract, but keeping in mind that my Mistress likes you, I think she would settle for only four thousand profit."
"You are trying to ruin me before I even started my business," Mara growled. "Twenty-six thousand credits, for a servant contract that is worth six thousand at most?"
"Nobody is forcing you to take the deal," Seven reminded. "And yes, this is a deal that my Mistress would offer to others as well. Though others might not even get the chance because my Mistress might simply opt to say 'not for sale' because Vesena is indeed good at her job and my Mistress likes that. So, are you still interested in the deal?"
Mara let out a curse and growled again. She raked her fingers through her hair in frustration before finally sighing. "Yes, fine. I take the deal. So, do I have to go through all of this again with mother?"
Seven tilted her head a little while thinking. "I think that I can speak for my Mistress on this. If you truly want this, then the conditions I just offered you are the deal. Take it or leave it."
Mara hesitated a little before finally offering her arm so that she and Seven could shake on the deal. Once they had, Mara didn't let go but did start grinning. "I got you."
"Got me?" Seven repeated.
"I got you. With all the talking you forgot about the replicator access."
"We discussed that," Seven disagreed, wondering what Mara meant.
"Yeah, we discussed it, as in I could keep my clearance and all that I replicated had to be legal and would cost me certain credits."
"Indeed," Seven agreed, still not getting it.
"Mother, you seem to forget that we also discussed that because I'm a Torres, I have a replicator clearance so high that even the captain of this ship has less replicator clearance than I. I can replicate things that nobody else on this ship can, with the exception of you, mother, and Martok. That clearance alone is worth a lot more than those twenty-six thousand credits; a lot more."
Seven smiled at that. "True, but you still have to earn those credits. A business is a lot more than just being able to get stuff. Starting up a business will take credits, or else you will already be broke with your first down-payment on the store location. How do you want to manage that?"
"Easy; I find an investor that is willing to front me some credits at a pretty decent rate. I think you know her; her name is Mara; daughter of Torres. As you correctly pointed out; I earn credits now and I can write out a loan to cover first business expenses."
"I thought I stated clearly that you were no allowed to use your credits to finance this endeavor," Seven reminded.
"No you didn't," Mara disagreed with a grin. "You made it clear that I had to set up a new account so that I would not hide loses by my monthly wages covering up those loses. I'm not doing that. I will set up a contract, no matter how weird it is to set up a legal contract for myself. In that I will set conditions, interest rates, and a timeframe for repayment. I'm not hiding any loses. These are costs, just like the location fees that I have to pay and these fees will be paid out of the store account, so you will clearly see if I really am paying back this loan. And it's also a one time thing. As I said, I still have a plan B of simply asking mother to make sure Vesena is taken care of. If this store thing doesn't work out I'll call it a learning experience and cut my loses after that first loan."
"I believe you are correct. Under the agreement we just reached there is nothing that says that you may not loan credits to your own store. I think it is safe to say that you got me again." Seven regarded Mara for a moment and then shook her head with a smile. "Tell me, how would you like to learn the game of chess? I think I would like to have an opponent that can truly challenge me."
"Sure," Mara said happily. "Wow, I really got you."
"That you did," Seven agreed. "You got me alright."
***
"She got you alright," Torres said with a snicker.
"That is what I told her," Seven agreed.
"That will take up quite some of her time though." Torres then said thoughtfully.
"I pointed that out as well," Seven assured. "I also told her that deal or not, she had a prior agreement with you and she had schooling to uphold."
"So what did she say to that?" Torres asked as she leisurely circled a nipple with her index finger until the bud was stranding proud at attention. "Ooh, will you look at that; so responsive. I like that in a girl."
"Now that you made it hard, will you do something about it, or will you let me suffer in pain?" Seven said with a hurt look.
"Ooh, that pout looks almost believable, though the silent tears work better."
"Very well," Seven said with a smile, right before a few tears started to roll over her cheeks.
"Without the smile baby," Torres said amused. "The smile kinda ruins it."
"I know," Seven assured. "I merely did not want you to think that I was serious." The tears stopped and Seven merely asked," Well?"
"Well, what?" Torres asked confused.
As answer, Seven let her eyes drift to a still very hard spot.
"Oh, that." Torres moved up a little until her mouth was close to the hard bud. She slowly swirled her tongue around the bud and then moved away a little and blew over the now wet flesh; grinning when she saw the nipple contract even more.
"That... was cruel," Seven said with difficulty.
Torres mover her hand and captured the aching bud between her thumb and index finger, pinching and rolling it softly; more to sooth then to arouse. "I'll get back to that later, I promise. Now, come on, tell me."
"I love you," Seven answered right away.
"And I love you too baby," Torres assured. "Come on; don't tease me like that. The longer we talk, the more I have to wait. I really want to hear this, but damn it Seven, I'm so damn horny that I'm about to explode."
"Very well, no more teasing, for now," Seven agreed.
"Thank you baby," Torres said, placing a kiss between the valley of Seven's breasts.
"Mara said that she is planning on only having the shop open at certain hours. Having it open the entire day makes no sense on a ship where most people work in shifts. It would only result in her sitting around for hours without being able to sell a single thing while people are either working or sleeping, or spending their time doing off-duty activities."
"Makes sense," Torres agreed as she moved up a little and started to nibble on Seven's neck.
"Indeed," Seven agreed as she moved her head to give Torres better access. "She is planning on having the store open from one in the afternoon until two hours after shift change. She..." Seven felt a sucking sensation and asked, "Are you going to mark me?"
"Of course," Torres happily agreed before she started to suck again.
Seven realized that her uniform would easily cover the hickey. This was not what she wanted though, so she softly demanded, "Higher, and make it a good one."
Torres placed a kiss a little higher. "There?"
"Yes, right there."
Another kiss. "And are you going to command your nanoprobes to not heal the damage?"
"I already did," Seven assured. "Natural healing only, my Mistress."
"In that case," Torres kissed her again, and then sucked hard. She knew that beside the normal bruising her sharp teeth would also scratch the skin she was sucking into her mouth, and she also knew that Seven would wear the mark with a pride that would make most people on the ship envy Torres, and what she had.
"Now you can show Mara the true damage of love," Torres said a moment later. She moved to Seven's full lips and spent some time sharing kisses with her lover before finally prompting, "And talking bout Mara?"
"If you would stop distracting me, I would have already finished and we could be doing other things. I thought you were horny in the 'just fuck me and make me come baby' way."
Torres laughed at that. "Kahless, Seven, you were right back then. By only sparsely saying stuff like that you immediately make me wet the times you do say something like that."
Seven looked at Torres in silence for a moment before shaking her head a little. "B'Elanna if only that got you wet just now, I must have been doing something severely wrong for the last fifteen point two minutes."
Torres burst out laughing at that again. "Alright, I stand corrected. No, wait. Before you say it; I lie corrected. You baby, get me wet just by looking at me in 'that' way." Which of course got Torres 'that' look. "Yeah, just like that. Get's me wet every damn time. That damn 'I'm going to fuck you and resistance is futile' look."
"I told you that you were going to love that line," Seven said with a little smirk.
Torres sighed when she saw the smirk; she knew what Seven was doing. Soon Torres would only be interested in the blonde woman that had the ability to become Torres' whole Universe. "Seven, let's handle that Mara thing before she is the last thing I want to think about."
"Very well," Seven relented. "Mara feels that opening the shop daily from thirteen hundred to seventeen hundred hours is a good time. It will give the people from the Alpha shift time to come in after the shift is over, people from the Beta shift time to come in before their shift starts, and people from the Gamma shift can come by after they have slept."
"It will be busy hours."
"It would be if all the shopping had to be done then," Seven agreed. "Can I touch you?"
"If you promise to not make me any hotter than I already am."
"It is impossible for you to become any hotter; you are the hottest thing in the Universe. And you are all mine," Seven said before treating Torres to a kiss to silence her, knowing that she had to continuing with her conversation or else Torres would really move thing along. Which, of course could be fun as well, she thought as she softly trailed her fingers along Torres' side.
"Mara is planning make a page available on the Short Area Network. On it people will find a full replicator list and people can select things they want to buy. Mara even wants to add a search option so that people don't have to look through the whole list of several million items to see if the thing they want is available. People will also have the option to place an order on that page and then pick up their selection the next day, or have it beamed to their quarters for a small extra fee... since Mara will have to pay for that transport as well. By placing the page on the Short Area Network it will be accessible to everyone within the range of thirty thousand kilometers, so well within the maximum transporter range of forty thousand kilometers. This in turn means that Mara will be able to do business with the people on the ships that accompany us, like Voyager, and any passing ship that comes within range and is able to match our speed."
Torres thought about that for a moment. "The selling to the other ships with us I'll allow, but I'll have to nix the trading with other ships that pass us. It's a security risk to have ships coming that close, and than also allow beaming."
"You have a point," Seven agreed. "And I am sure that Mara will understand the limitation." Seven suddenly rolled them both over before softly commanding, "Turn around."
Never questioning why, Torres turned and laid herself face down on the bed. Then she smiled when she felt how Seven straddled her and set down on her upper legs. "You thought that massaging my back was a safe thing to do?"
"Maybe," Seven agreed. "And maybe I just love looking at that beautiful ass of yours." Despite her last words, Seven started to run her hands over Torres' back, kneading in all the right places, and playing feather light touches in their places where strength was not needed.
"Mara thinks that this possibility to order and get items without actually having to be at the store at certain times or deal with someone will help business considerably. People do not have to wait while someone in front of them is wasting time because they do not know what they want to order, since people can check at home if what they want is available. She thinks that it will also help with the sale of other things."
"Other things?" Torres asked and then groaned when Seven hit a particularly sore spot. "Damn, I never realize how much my back hurts until the times where you start doing that stuff."
"Are you saying that I am hurting your back?" Seven asked, stopping what she was doing.
"No baby, I'm saying that it is normal that it hurts and I don't really notice it because, well, my back always hurts. You don't become as good as fighter as I am without hurting stuff in the process... unless you just assimilate the knowledge of course." That last resulted in a healthy slap on her bare behind. "Ouch! Bitch."
"Yes, but I am good at it." With a smirk Seven offered, "I could put my hands in ice-water and then massage your back again. You could call me an ice bitch then."
"Naw, just keep going baby. I promise I'll show my gratitude in a moment."
"Very well," Seven agreed and started to move her hands again. "Maybe you simply need massages more often. I could do this daily. I am certain that such reoccurring massages would keep your pains at bay the entire day, every day."
"Seven, I appreciate the offer, but really, I can't ask that of you."
"B'Elanna, you are my Mistress. I would be happy if I could do this for you every day. It is my pleasure to please you. I can do this slow, like I am now. I can also do this erotic. Or I can do it fast and efficient and be done in five minutes. This is all about touching the right pots in the right way with the right amount of force; not about how long this touching takes. I will always have time to do this for you. Besides, I would really like if I could do this for you on a regular basis. It would make me feel like I am finally repaying you for the scanning of my implants that you always do."
"Alright, if you put it like that; you are hired. Um, what other things is Mara going to sell, and how does that page on the Close Area Network help with that?"
"The page will help by Mara also adding a 'specials' section where she will promote these other things. As for that there other things are; nothing that is not absolutely legal to have on this ship," Seven assured.
"Like?"
"Personal favorites. For instance, Mara somehow found out that Arandis really likes a specific brand of Krakian brandy, while Naomi told Mara that her mother really likes Brakzilian black chocolate. Both are items where you clearly notice the difference between real and replicated. And if Mara happened to have some of that because someone that was visiting family brought it along to repay Mara for another favor..."
"Kahless, that girl is a Klingon/Ferengi mix, not a Klingon/Human mix."
"You might be correct," Seven agreed amused. "She is also planning to do more than just have the replicator there. She is planning to display some of the more... exotic goods. Things that you were not planning to buy, and might not even be in the standard replicator memory, but now that you see them, well," Seven moved her hand a few times over a specific spot and then stopped.
"B'Elanna, do you want your back to feel really good? More relaxed than it has been in years?"
"You really have to ask me that? Hell yeah."
"Then I will have to hurt you, severely."
"I see. Can, can you do more damage than there already is?" Torres wondered.
"B'Elanna, I can always do more damage than there already is; I could break your back," Seven pointed out the obvious. "But to answer your question correctly, no, I will not do more damage than there already is."
"Alright, then go for it."
"Very well. B'Elanna, what did you mean when you said Mara must be a Klingon/Ferengi mix?"
"What do you mean, that's obvious. I AWWW, you Kahless be damned fucking bitch! You can be damn glad I love you or else... Hey, what the... wow. You really are the best baby."
"Are you feeling better now?"
"Yes. In fact," Torres twisted her body to one side. "I couldn't twist this far in years, and that's with you sitting on top of me. What was that?"
"I will answer that later, but first, five, four, three..."
Knowing only too well what Seven was doing, Torres moved up the bed a little so that her legs were free enough that she could fully turn around. She took hold of both of Seven's hands and placed a couple of kisses on the knuckles.
"Seven, you are a wonderful person and I am truly sorry that I called you a 'Kahless be damned fucking bitch' in earnest. Please forgive me for being rude to you especially when you were so nice to distract me so that I couldn't tense up when you did... whatever you did."
"Hmm, very well, you did enough groveling. You can go back to being my Mistress now. Truthfully, I rather have my Mistress than a long apology."
"Just had to have the fact covered that I did actually apologize, right?"
"Indeed," Seven agreed.
Alright," Torres said as she pulled her knees up and pulled her legs from under Seven before she put them on either side of the sitting blonde and stretched them out again. "There, my legs are wide open and you are sitting between them. Go on, fuck me so that that horny edge is gone, and after that I will apologize to you like a true Mistress should."
"How is that?" Seven asked as she moved to lie between the legs and bring her mouth close to the heated flesh that was awaiting her touch.
"How? I apologize to you by taking what is mine, of course. I'm going to take you, and take you, and take you some more until you beg me to stop. And then, maybe, I'll do just that... if you are lucky. I'm a hard ass bitch and I don't need to apologize to you, and I'm going to nail you until 'you' apologize to 'me' for whatever reason I want."
"Yes Mistress," Seven said before moving her tongue over warm flesh. She slowly mover her hand under Torres' behind and suddenly pinched it; hard.
"Auw! Seven you bitch."
"Mistress, your ass is not that hard. Very nicely muscled, and I love it, but it is not hard. Firm, yes, but not..."
"Seven, come on now. How can I be tough and ruthless here when you go pinching my butt?"
"Mistress, I changed my mind. I am really in the mood for some slow and very pleasurable equal sharing. How about I first take your edge off and then, we play together? Then tomorrow I am all yours. Come to think of it, tomorrow is weekend day. The first weekend day where we put the force field back up." Seven moved up and kissed her lover. "Imagine, you taking me on the couch, and then bent over the kitchen unit; you always liked that."
"Yeah, like you didn't."
"Oh, I do, I love it," Seven assured. "Tomorrow I want to be taken by you that way as hard as you can, and then you can help me calm down by putting me on the table and just eating me, and then..."
"Seven?"
"Yes, Mistress?"
"Get down there and take the edge of, or else I don't fucking wait until tomorrow and take you right here like that."
Suddenly Seven moved off the bed and moved to the dresser. She looked at Torres and curled her index finger at her. "No, I thought of something better. I told Mara that I think that Klingon sex is more about the act, and I told her that this can be fun too. Now I want to feel how much fun that can be. No, I will not take the edge off. Instead, why do you not take that toy that makes you feel what it feels like to be inside me and then you fuck me, and keep fucking me, until we both can no longer stand?"
Torres grinned at that. "That sounds fine with me."
Seven placed her hands on the edge of the dresser and waited for her lover. Suddenly Torres was at her side, whispering in her ear.
"You know, you are really bossy tonight, Seven. Ordering me around, changing your mind on a whim and I just have to go along; twice."
"I... you are correct. I apologize," Seven said, starting to move, only to be stopped by the next words of her lover.
"No, don't apologize and don't move. Tonight is your night and you can have whatever you want." Suddenly Seven felt a single finger slip home. "But tomorrow 'is' weekend day." The finger pulled back out and her whole center was covered by a warm hand. "Today is your day. Tomorrow is mine. No if, but, or why about it. Tomorrow you are mine."
Torres moved her hand a little, placing a little more pressure against Seven's center. "This, is mine tomorrow. Tomorrow, once that force field is up, is going to be all about me and what I want to do with what I'm holding in my hand right now. Whatever I want, you do, you go along, and you will like it; or else."
Torres saw that the blonde was shaking slightly and smirked. She never mover her hand, but never the less pushed Seven onward with her words.
"Tomorrow you don't get any outs. If I want this, I get this, and you will thank me and beg for more every time. Tomorrow you will be my perfect little Body Slave, and you will do whatever I tell you to do. Forget about that servant crap, tomorrow you will be my perfect little slave. You won't have rights; you will be nothing more than my property, my sex toy, my living dildo. You will be nothing more than a cunt-carrier to be used for my every whim, my..."
Torres was interrupted by a loud gasp and then some panting.
"Damn it baby, that was all it took? What made you so hot? The idea of me treating you like that, or the fact that I'm actually going to do that?"
"It was simply you that makes me so hot, and now I cannot wait until tomorrow," Seven said as she turned around and let her eyes drift down her lover's body. "Where is it?"
"Um, didn't put it on yet," Torres admitted. "I saw you standing there and couldn't resist. Sorry baby. But now this evening is all yours again. You still want the toy?"
"No, my sweet Mistress. After what you just did, I do not want the toy; I need the toy. I need to feel you inside me for a long, long time."
"And you will," Torres assured as she walked over to their toy draw.
*******************