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Date: Wed, 21 Jan 2004 03:00:05 -0600
Subject: [ASCEM-S] NEW: TNG/VOY "Illusions of Civility" (PG) 1/2
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Hello all.  This is my first time posting here.  Glad to be a member 
of this group.

Title: Illusions of Civility

Series: TNG/VOY

Author: Thomas Myers

Rating: PG

Spoilers: TNG--The Best of Both Worlds/I, Borg.  VOY--The Gift/The 
Raven/Dark Frontiers/Endgame

Summary: Seven of Nine and Jean-Luc Picard are about to make a 
Disclaimer: Star Trek is the property of Paramount.  No infringement 
is intended.

It has been one year and eight months since Voyager's somewhat heroic 
return to Earth.  Images of Voyager blasting its way out of a Borg 
sphere had been played and replayed on the Federation Information 
Network.  It had been a storybook ending to Voyager's epic tale.  
There were plans to turn Voyager into a museum, but the Federation 
Council indicated that that would not be for a long time.  In spite 
of its history, Voyager was still a relatively new vessel and had 
plenty of years left in it, even if it was reduced to the functions 
of an administrative command ship.

What that meant was that it remained Admiral Janeway's ship, but it 
wasn't going to be doing any exploration.  It was an olive branch 
vessel.  Voyager on a mission translated to Admiral Janeway playing 
diplomat.  Admirals did that from time to time.  It was in their job 
description.  Seven of Nine, sitting in a runabout on a shuttle dock 
in the main hanger of Starbase One, looked up at the Intrepid Class 
starship and felt slight pang of sadness.  It had been designed and 
built to speed across the cosmos at warp nine point nine five.  
Instead, it was sitting in a hanger bay collecting dust.

They should make it into a museum now and get it over with.  Seven 
didn't fully understand why she felt this way.  She had been feeling 
sentimental from time to time ever since the Doctor removed the 
emotional inhibitors in her cortical array.  Perhaps this was part of 
being human: falling in love with huge chunks of titanium and 
plastic.  

She looked down at her uniform.  The jacket was fairly standard.  It 
was clearly a common Starfleet uniform, with some exceptions.  The 
turtleneck undershirt was white, denoting that she was a civilian 
officer.  Another exception was that instead of regular rank 
insignia, there was an emblem with an image of San Francisco.  It had 
a label that read "Starfleet: Science and Theory".  Seven wondered 
why they even bothered to put the words on it.  The emblem was so 
small that any normal person would need a magnifying glass to read 
it.  

On the other side of her neck was a number that read "S12".  This was 
her rank in the civilian corps.  She had read once that S system had 
been adapted from the old United States G system of ranking.  
Starfleet civilian corps also had different system of ranking than 
the military and exploration divisions.  Those divisions gave 
increases in rank for demonstrated skill and experience.  The 
civilian corps ranked based on aptitude and knowledge.

Seven had still had to work her way to S12, but her Borg augmented 
mind gave her a distinct advantage.  Most S12s were nearly twice her 
age.  Thankfully, nobody addressed anyone by rank in the civilian 
corps.  It was quite cumbersome and tedious. Carol Saunders sat near 
the rear of the runabouts command center.  She was a doctor in 
Seven's department ranking S6.  All the same, they still answered to 
Starfleet Command, and they had an assignment.  Seven returned to her 
senses and reviewed.

A Borg sphere had flown hot out of transwarp conduit (the report 
meant `hot' to indicate that it was out of control.) and crash-landed 
on a planet thirty-seven light-years from Earth.  Although Voyager 
had done extensive damage to the Borg's transwarp network, and for 
all intents and purposes crippled the Borg, everybody knew that this 
had been temporary.  The Borg were far from defeated.

Seven and Carol had been assigned to a salvage operation.  Starfleet 
always followed standard procedure, which meant that Seven and Carol 
had to wait for the Starfleet pilot, engineer and one officer ranked 
commander or higher.  Enterprise was carrying out this operation.  
Apparently, Captain Picard had fought for this assignment.  He had an 
understandable obsession with the Borg.  It was an obsession that 
Starfleet feared would jeopardize this mission.

The assignment wasn't against procedure and whomever Picard chose to 
expedite this mission, even if it was himself, would be fully 
qualified.  Starfleet nevertheless accounted for everything.  Upon 
arrival at Deneb V, Seven would assume command of the mission.  Those 
were Starfleet's orders.  Picard's assignment to this mission may 
have been against Command's better judgment, but it was still in line 
with procedure.  That didn't stop them from foreseeing a conflict of 
interest.  Their orders stood.

An Andorian male walked in.  He was tall and broad shouldered.  A 
medium height human male followed him.  He had gold departmental 
colors.  He was clearly the engineer.  Seven could see with her 
artificial eye, that this human had been augmented with VISOR 
technology.  Although his eyes were retinal implants, the 
technological design was unmistakable.  He may have even worn an 
actual VISOR at one point.

Two years ago, Seven would have simply ignored these new arrivals, 
but not only did she force herself to remember the Doctor's classes 
on social etiquette, she remembered her supervisor's words on 
civilian protocol.  ("Introduce yourself by name and rank.  I know 
you don't like your real name, but give it to them anyway.  You can 
give them your Seven handle afterwards.")

"Hello, I'm Annika Hanson; S12, but I prefer to be addressed as 
Seven.  This is Doctor Carol Saunders; S6."  Director Matthews would 
have been proud of her textbook introduction.

The engineer accepted Seven's handshake first and then Carol's.  "I'm 
Commander Geordi LaForge."  He turned to indicate the 
Andorian.  "This is Ensign Bari.  Glad to be working with you."

Everyone took his and her respective seats.  Seven sat at the science 
station while Bari sat at navigation.  Geordi went over to 
engineering while Carol went into the rear compartment where medical 
was located.  Seven turned to Geordi.  "Who will be commanding this 
operation?"

"Captain Picard wanted to head this up personally.  He managed to 
convince Admiral Nechayev that his previous experience with the Borg 
made him the ideal candidate."  Geordi examined Seven and 
smiled.  "I'll bet that's you were assigned to this mission."

Seven felt her cheeks flush.  It was a common reaction.  She didn't 
like being reminded of her history with the Borg.  "That is correct."

Geordi's smile turned into a frown.  "I didn't mean to upset you.  
I'm sorry, I probably should have thought before opening my big 
mouth."

"It is okay.  I have become accustomed to it.  I have been a point of 
curiosity since Voyager returned to Earth."

"I know how that feels.  I used to wear a VISOR.  People would 
comment all the time.  Some actually made fun.  It always used to get 
to me.  The fact is that it's not fair.  We can't change who we are, 
but then again, life never was fair."

"No, it's people who are either fair or unfair.  I have not actually 
endured ridicule, but I have been gawked at and stared at.  People 
have a tendency to ask uncomfortable questions.  They seek to satisfy 
their own curiosity with no consideration of how it affects others.  
When I was first liberated from the collective, there was a great 
deal of that on Voyager.  There were a few who were immediately able 
to see past my implants."

"I always thought that the most insensitive question a person could 
ask is, `are you blind'.  I should have thought before I spoke.  I 
didn't mean to be so insensitive to you."

"Your apology is not necessary."  She turned as a rather stately man 
entered.  Seven guessed his age to be from his late fifties to mid-
sixties.  This had to be Captain Picard.  Seven stood and repeated 
her introduction.

Captain Picard took in all of Seven's appearance.  He did not accept 
her handshake.  He smiled politely, but that smile did not extend to 
his eyes, which remained hard and uncaring.  "I'm Captain Jean-Luc 
Picard.  To your post Ms. Hanson, we are running behind schedule."  
Seven had become accustomed to this as well.  She had endured forced 
politeness from people who could only see a Borg drone who may or may 
not have been responsible for his or her own pain.

Picard sat at the tactical station and looked back at Seven.  "I 
don't know how they do it in the civilian corps, but I require you to 
observe the dress code.  That includes how you keep your hair."  
Seven had been wearing her hair down since Voyager's return.  She 
went over to the replicator and replicated two aluminum rods, which 
she used to tie her hair into an extremely tight bun.  It gave her 
the appearance of having an oversized skull.

Picard turned toward navigation.  "Mr. Bari, prepare for departure."  
The docking tower signaled the runabout Xi Yung's departure 
clearance.  "Clear all moorings.  Thrusters at one quarter."  Bari 
confirmed his orders.  "Take us out."  He turned back to Seven.  "Ms. 
Hanson, Admiral Nechayev gave me the impression that upon our arrival 
at Deneb V, you would assume command of the salvage operation.  I 
require you to confirm your orders."

Seven, surprised by the request, took a moment to rack her mind for 
the information.  "I have been ordered to oversee the extraction of 
Borg wreckage from the fifth planet of the Deneb system.  My 
interpretation Admiral Nechayev's agrees with your own."

"Very good, Ms. Hanson."  Picard's demeanor remained completely 
unfriendly.  Seven was slightly irritated, but she disregarded the 
Captain's cool attitude.  She was used to this.

As the runabout cleared Jupiter, Picard said, "Mr. Bari, lay in a 
course for." at the same moment Seven said, "The coordinates for 
Deneb V are." Seven turned to Picard, and noting the look of 
irritation on his face, politely apologized.  Geordi could always 
sense friction.  Doctor Saunders, who was undoubtedly monitoring crew 
behavior from the rear, no doubt sensed friction also.  There was 
plenty of it between Seven and Picard.

Picard turned back to Bari.  "Lay in a course for Deneb V, warp six."

Bari didn't look away from his console as he said, "Course laid in, 
sir."

"Engage."

Seven felt the impulse engines disengage as the warp field propelled 
the craft at faster than light speeds.  Seven took the opportunity to 
calculate their estimated time of arrival.  A warp factor of six 
(that is sixty times faster than the speed of light) is approximately 
ten point five million kilometers per second.  Thirty-seven light-
years are approximately thirty-seven trillion kilometers.  After 
calculating the rate of speed versus distance, Seven arrived at a 
sufficiently accurate answer.  "At our present speed, we will arrive 
at Deneb V in approximately forty hours."

Picard curtly said, "Thank you.  Ms. Hanson, if I may have a word 
with you."  Seven and Picard both exited the command center into the 
recreational section.  "I thought that I was in command of this 
mission.  I was under the impression that you would only be in 
command of the operation upon our arrival at Deneb."

"That is correct."

"Then kindly let me give the orders."

"I was merely giving."

"The coordinates are listed in the navigational computer.  It was not 
necessary for you to give anything."

"I apologize.  After being on Voyager, I had grown accustomed to 
providing my captain with information.  Since this is my assignment, 
I would like it to run as smoothly as possible."

"You were intended to provide your captain with crucial information, 
not information that a five-year-old could pull out of an educational 
program."

"I thought it pertinent that we at least be aware of where we're 
going."

"We are all well aware of where we are going."  Seven was about to 
fire another retort, but Picard cut her off.  "That is all, Ms. 
Hanson.  Return to your post."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It had been six hours since Seven's encounter with Picard.  Four of 
those hours had passed in silence.  The first two started with Geordi 
trying to make polite conversation.  He gave up when he realized that 
no one was in a very polite mood.  Bari had tried to convince 
everyone to participate in various games.  A sharp look from Picard 
after thirty minutes of this convinced the ensign to give up.

Carol had been in and out of the command center for various reasons.  
One was to get the checkup out of the way.  An initial checkup was 
mandatory for missions of this nature.  Picard for his part was 
enjoying the silence.  He avoided looking at Seven the entire time.  
He didn't want to see her.  He didn't want to be reminded.  What was 
more, nothing could ever convince him that this Borg drone would ever 
be anything but that.

Picard took a look at his console.  He switched to a navigational 
readout and saw that their heading had drifted.  It happens traveling 
at warp velocity.  The ship can't be turned at such speeds, and the 
deflector isn't full proof.  "Mr. Bari, adjust heading by five 
degrees; port."

Seven checked her sensors, which gave a much more detailed look at 
the space ahead than the tactical scanners.  "I am reading an ion 
particle."

"I don't recall asking you."  Picard seemed determined to cause as 
much trouble for Seven as possible.

"I am giving you a read out of the space ahead on that heading.  That 
is my job.  I don't require you to ask."

"I think we need to have another discussion."  Both went into the 
recreation compartment.  "Do you talk back to your supervisor like 
this?  Did you cause this sort of trouble for Admiral Janeway?"

"No.  You seem to be unique in that respect."

"This sort of behavior is entirely unacceptable."

"I agree.  It's a wonder you graduated the academy."

Picard bristled.  He was tempted to round on her.  "How dare you."

Seven cut him off.  "I am not the one who started this, Captain.  Do 
you make a habit of provoking those under your command, or am I 
unique in that respect?"

"I am accustomed to having my orders followed."

"It didn't sound like an order a few minutes ago.  Perhaps you'd like 
a crown to accompany your rank."

"If you want to be charged with insubordination, you keep talking."

"Are you resorting to intimidation?  It doesn't work with me.  I 
won't lay down and allow these verbal attacks to continue."

"Don't say another word.  I'm warning you."

"Starfleet was right."

"About what?"

"Admiral Nechayev informed me that she did not believe that you were 
fit to participate in any operation that involved the Borg.  She also 
informed me that I, as a former Borg drone, was likely to meet with a 
strong disrespect from you.  Admiral Nechayev will not like my 
report."

"Now who's resorting to intimidation?  Your history has nothing to do 
with this."

"I wonder if you reprimand Commander LaForge for doing his job."

"If you don't want to be on this ship with me, there's an escape pod 
that you can take right back to Starbase One."

"I was assigned this mission.  You were not.  If anyone is going to 
take that escape pod to get away from unpleasant company, it will be 
you.  I have a job to do.  Either let me do it, or relieve me of 
duty, but do not hinder my efforts."

"I have no intention of doing so.  I am simply trying to command this 
ship."

"You've been making this mission unbearable for me since you came 
aboard.  How can anyone on your ship stand you?  You are the most 
unreasonable man that I've ever met.  Admiral Nechayev is positively 
motherly when compared with you."

"If you can't handle command procedure, then why did you put on that 
uniform?"

"I don't have a problem with command procedure, and I haven't for six 
years.  I have a problem with you.  Did it occur to you that I'm not 
the only one here with a history, Locutus."  Seven put a deliberate 
emphasis on the last word.

Picard's eyes narrowed.  He tightened his lips back and fixed Seven 
with a deadly stare.  "Don't ever."

"Don't ever what; put the matter into context?  That is what this is 
all about and you know it.  It has nothing to do with command 
procedure or a difficult officer.  You don't like me because of what 
I remind you of.  It should be noted that you remind me of the same 
thing and I just as strongly dislike you because of it."  Seven 
suddenly realized that she was shouting.  She knew that her cheeks 
were flushed a brilliant red.  She was grinding her teeth.  "Fine.  
Do whatever you want to do.  Leave me alone, and I won't say another 
word."

Picard was in no mood for this.  He took a moment to recover his 
balance.  Seven's words had cut him to the bone.  "It doesn't work 
that way.  We're on this assignment together.  We're going to have to 
endure one another."  Picard measured his next words carefully and 
said in an overly calm voice, "I admit to being somewhat abrupt 
towards you.  I shall try to have a bit more patience."

Seven didn't say anything.  She simply nodded and turned to leave.  
As she did, Picard uttered a wordless exclamation and followed.  
Geordi and Bari turned and gave both the captain and Seven uncertain 
glances.  They both appeared as if they had run a race.  Geordi 
couldn't tell from their expressions exactly who had won that race.  
Picard motioned toward Bari.  "Readjust our new heading by one degree 
starboard, if that is agreeable with our science officer."

Seven didn't like Picard's falsely friendly tone.  She looked at her 
sensor readout and said in a matching tone, "I am detecting clear 
space on that course."  From their tones, Geordi determined that the 
race hadn't yet finished.

Picard didn't turn towards Seven.  "Very good, Ms. Hanson."  Picard 
returned to the tactical station and sat down in what appeared to be 
a semi-comfortable position.  His back was bolt upright in the seat 
back, but his legs were stretched out in front of him.  He moved his 
hands to his front and pulled his jacket down.

Doctor Saunders came out from the back.  She moved and sat at the 
resources station.  There was no medical station in the command 
area.  She scrutinized both Seven and Picard.  Picard turned to look 
at her but she didn't break her gaze.  Picard only looked away when 
the good doctor turned back to Seven.  Seven could feel Carol's eyes 
on her but she did not turn look.  Picard and Seven both knew that 
Doctor Saunders had been monitoring them and was now observing their 
behavior.  Worse was that she had a degree in psychology.  Seven 
didn't like being analyzed, particularly by a psychiatrist, even if 
she did consider that psychiatrist to be a friend.




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