The Queen of The Lost Worlds - Part 2

halfofone's picture
Submitted by halfofone on Fri, 16/09/2005 - 17:58.

Star Trek Voyager

Torres/Seven

Part 2a and 2b

Fri, 16/09/2005 - 17:00

15 or R

TITLE: The Queen of The Lost Worlds
AUTHOR: halfofone
RATING: R
CODE: T/7
FEEDBACK: Constructive feedback welcome.
SUMMARY: Same characters, different universe. Very different. And perhaps the characters are not all that similar either ...
NOTES: I don't really have an explanation for the genesis of this story, and only a basic idea of where it is going. Less exposition in this part, the story gets going and
Annika Hansen appears. She is not a Borg ...
ARCHIVING: If you want ... I would quite like to know where.
DISCLAIMER: TPTB are Paramount/Viacom. In a perfect world I would own Star Trek but it's not and I don't.


TPTB are many. In a perfect world I would be one of them but it's not and I'm not. No infringement of copyright/trade marks or other intellectual property is intended. This story was written for fun and not profit.


Warning: This story includes same sex relationships between women. If you are offended by this or it is illegal where you live or you are underage then please read no further.

Full warnings, credits and disclaimers can be found in the contents page and chapter 1.


Part 2a

There were few things more frustrating, Ms Hansen decided, than travelling. Everything was conspiring to prevent her rejoining her parents at their holiday home. Yet it should have been so straight-forward, a quick side trip to Khi'Tok to meet up with old friends and then a comfortable journey to Risa on a passenger ship. Now all the scheduled flights in the sector had been disrupted by this annoying war with the Romulans. Her friends were stranded in another sector and she was alone in a strange town, a town with a tough reputation.

She exclaimed against the unfairness of life and only narrowly caught herself before she stamped her foot. Two curious fellow passengers turned to stare at her. A half-smile crossed her attractive face and she muttered aloud 'That's right ladies. Look out! Spoilt, petulant blond at six o'clock.' The smile faded as she considered her position.

'Okay think Annika. If I cannot get on a scheduled flight then I'll have to charter a special and how am I going to do that? I don't even know where to look. I'll probably end up being kidnapped and murdered by pirates.'

As she tried to concentrate, the two women observing her were joined by two men. Spouses or partners she supposed from the manner of their greeting. Seconds after their arrival, the two men spotted the tall blond.

Witnessing their hapless men gawking openly at the gorgeous woman like a pair of hogs spotting a truffle, the girlfriends started to get very restive, pulling at their arms. They were too late. Annika turned a high voltage smile on the two men and sashayed towards them, fashionable clothing clinging to each sway of her hips.

"I wonder if either of you two gentlemen could help me." She turned up the wattage on the smile and added a touch of vulnerability.

Somehow both 'gentlemen' knew that they could help this beautiful creature, no matter what she wanted.

"Do you know where I might charter a ship? I've just arrived here and I have no idea how to set about this," she admitted candidly.

The good fellows nearly fell over each other giving directions for the freight terminal where the private hauliers would be found. They were also full of good advice of how to avoid rogues and find a good captain, what to pay, whom to bribe, the need for insurance and protection, so much so that Annika sighed "It sounds terribly complicated and dangerous. I don't suppose you could take me there?" Helpless blue eyes gazed at them, removing any reservations about any inconvenience that either fellow would experience going so far out of his way.

Annika smiled gratefully into their nodding, earnest faces and then turned her attention to the two women who were both protesting ineffectually.

"Thank you so much for lending me your men. I promise to return them unharmed." The girlfriends did not look convinced. She ignored their surly disbelief.

"Would you please pick up my luggage," she said to one of her rescuers as she slipped her arm through the arm of his younger and better looking friend, leaving him to struggle with her three enormous bags as she launched another devastating smile on her escort. She clutched his arm tightly and said warmly, "I've heard so much about the kindness of people on Khi'Tok. It's obviously all true. Shall we go?"

The little party set off, the luggage carrier and the girlfriends bringing up the disgruntled rear, struggling slightly to keep up with the blond's long strides.

After a short journey by sky-taxi across the crowded thoroughfares above the old city, they touched down in the modern freight terminus.

The two gallants immediately set about trying to impress Ms Hansen, the not so very distressed maiden, by interrogating the harbour master-computer on the various vessels currently docked in the space port. Unfortunately neither gentleman was especially well versed in the Klingon dialect of the computer and a number of nasty misunderstandings resulted in an immediate access ban and harbour security being summoned. Annika waved goodbye to her protesting knights in shining armour as they were escorted from the premises, their girlfriends alternately complaining at the waste of time and crowing that the two men had been made fools of by a pair of pretty eyes and hadn't they warned them.

Alone at last, Annika approached the harbour master-computer access point, read the short list of instructions and the very long list of warnings. She looked amused and cocked her eyebrow.

'State your wishes' barked the computer.

"I wish to hire a vessel for transit to Risa." Annika answered in extremely good Klingon.

'Risa is off limits to civilians,' the computer sneered. 'You must give another destination. P'taq!'

"But I do not wish to go to another destination."

'Then you will not travel. Leave.'

"You are mistaken," Annika snarled. "Listen to me thou psychotic union of a bastard programmer and a travel timetable. You will inform me of all vessels leaving this port for Risa within the next two days or I will permanently terminate your program."

'Ha! Daughter of Kreth'Or the Coward and Kintha the Imbecile, you have neither the wit nor the courage to carry out such a threat. You are a skinny bag of wind.'

Annika smiled, she leaned forward and began entering codes rapidly into the terminal. The computer bellowed in fury and then responded in a normal computer tone.

'Personality sub-routine dis-engaged. Security override accepted. The following vessels are departing for Risa in the next 52 imperial hours: yuQmey chIl SoS'a, Owner: Torres Freight Company, Captain: B. Torres. Leaving today at 04:00 imperial time. There are no other vessels meeting your criteria.

"Transfer details to datapadd and issue a priority one travel visa for the Risa sector in the name of Annika Hansen... and a visitor pass for the freight bays. Then re-engage personality sub-routine."

The computer came back to life with furious snort, 'A human! It is impossible. You speak Klingon in the old form. My algorithms could only be understood by a true Klingon, someone of the purest blood...'

"... or Ma and Pa Hansen who designed the better parts of you." Annika replied drily. "Mom specialises in cultural linguistics and human-computer interfaces, Dad creates artificial intelligences. There isn't a computer in the empire that does not contain some of their inventions." She tapped a few keys, saying as she watched the deletion happen. "However since that information is classified I am afraid I have to remove this conversation from your databanks."

'Are you still here? Be gone pestilential organism.'

The computer sounded somewhat distracted as it experienced for the first time in its existence, the sensation of having forgotten something important.

"If you insist you sorry substitute for an abacus," Annika responded in kind as was expected. The computer did not reply, it just snorted dismissively though Annika fancied there was a touch of approval mixed in.

She checked her travel padd and grinned. "Now all I have to do is find Captain Torres and agree passage with him. Docking bay 8a."

She sauntered out into the loading bays, flashing her security pass and a high gigawatt smile at the guards. No-one thought to question her, as everyone knew that the foul-tempered harbour master-computer would not give a pass to anyone who did not have legitimate reason to be there and sometimes not even then.

After twenty minutes of purposeful wandering, Annika found herself standing in front of docking bay 8a. She looked at the squat freighter with disfavour as she read the name inscribed on the side. "That's one hell of a romantic name for a piece of ancient junk."

"Who the fuck are you" asked an angry dark-haired woman who popped out of a maintenance hatch in the side of the vessel like a groundhog from its burrow, to confront the stranger, "to insult this ship like that?"

Annika surveyed her interlocutor. The engineer or cleaner was dressed in dark overalls bearing the name of the Torres Freight Company. She was smallish, brunette, well put together and fuming. Flashing dark eyes raked the blond from head to foot and clearly didn't like what they saw.

"I'm looking for Captain Torres," said Annika.

"Why?"

"That is between me and Captain Torres" Annika responded with an air of cool superiority.

The brunette was clearly going to speak again when a tall, good-looking blond man in a blue uniform, rounded the corner.

"B'Elanna, the starboard thruster really needs some work. It's badly corroded - have you being flying through acid clouds...Whoa" he exclaimed as he took in Annika Hansen.

She smiled. This would be easy, he was practically salivating.

"Captain Torres," she said warmly and stepped towards him with her hand out.

"Yes... I mean no," the man stammered and then with ghastly slow-motion inevitability he pointed at the small brunette who was now standing with her arms folded, glaring at them. "That's Captain Torres."

Annika winced. This was not so good. She attempted a swift recovery.

"I am so sorry Captain Torres..."

"No apology necessary," B'Elanna Torres spoke calmly yet Ms Hansen could see the storm rising in the dark eyes. "An easy mistake for a tall, blond, human lady. I mean it's obvious to everyone that the tall, blond, male human must be the captain."

Annika who firmly believed that attack was the best form of defence retorted "How would I know... dressed like that... I thought you were a cleaner or an engineer."

"I am all of those things and captain too. Anyway now that you have finished insulting me, my ship and my clothing, what in Kahless's name do you want? On second thoughts I don't care what you want. The answer, and believe it when I say it, is no!"

Annika bit her lip to prevent a retort. As uncomfortable as it was for a self-confessed control freak to admit, the aggressive little woman in front of her held all the cards.

"I really am sorry if I insulted you. It was not intentional."

Captain Torres rolled her eyes and turned her back without replying, and started to climb into the maintenance hatch.

"I am just a little desperate," Annika said hurriedly.

B'Elanna hesitated but didn't turn back. "Not my concern."

"Please listen to me. I really need your help."

B'Elanna's head disappeared. Annika swore under her breath. Bloody Klingons. She looked at Tom who shrugged sheepishly. He obviously wouldn't be any help. She leaned into the hatch and called down into the gloom.

"I can pay. I have money. Ten thousand credits if you can take me to Risa."

B'Elanna's astonished face appeared below her, framed by the narrow walls of the hatchway."

"What are you?" she exclaimed, "An escaped criminal? Any ordinary charter flight will take you there for five hundred."

"There are no charter flights. Everything has been cancelled."

"Well why in Kahless' name do you want to go there then? From what I hear the hotels and resorts are closing their doors even for your sort."

The shock on Annika Hansen's face was not feigned. She frowned down at the Klingon's upturned face which had frozen in an expression of dismay. At another time Annika would have found it funny.

"My sort?" she enquired coldly.

Captain Torres found the grace to look embarrassed by her own words. "No. I mean... your dress... you look... you're very..." Captain Torres was on the back foot now and Annika wasn't about to lose advantage. Angry as she was, Annika saw an opening.

"Are you accusing me of being some kind of pleasure girl?" she asked bluntly. "Are you by any chance judging me by what I wear Captain Torres? I had the impression that that was an unforgivable sin in your book or are you just a hypocrite?"

B'Elanna opened her mouth twice to speak. And then didn't. She started to climb back up the ladder towards Annika. The latter stood back to let B'Elanna scramble out of the ship. The captain and the blond stood at arms length, staring at each other, arms crossed. Tom was still standing watching with his mouth open, looking nervously at each of the protagonists. Both women appeared very angry and he found that scary, a turn-on as well because both were damn good-looking women and anger suited them, but mainly it was scary.

B'Elanna finally broke the silence.

"First Ms Hansen: if your reasons for going are illegal then I am not interested and I don't care how much you offer me; the military and the police are very edgy right now and they shoot first and arrest later. If there's any sign of that sort of trouble then this old heap of junk as you called it, has a perfectly functional airlock. Second: this is not a passenger ship, so no complaints about the accommodation or the food. Third: we are leaving in one hour. If you're one second late, I leave without you. Fourth: the fee is five hundred credits, payment up front. Any questions?"

Annika resisted the urge to grin. She kept her face impassive.

"It is a deal Captain. I can reassure you that my reasons for going to Risa are entirely respectable, I am not on anyone's wanted list. I am grateful that you have agreed to take me and I am ready to leave as soon as your associate collects my luggage from the holding zone."

She held out her luggage reclaim ticket to Tom who looked startled at his new baggage handling duties until Annika turned a smile on him that made him feel he was the only man in the galaxy. He blushed and grinned and took the ticket. Seeing this interaction, B'Elanna groaned to herself. She was already regretting her decision. She really had to stop making hasty decisions especially when guilt or pity were the motivators. She didn't like or trust this blonde woman and now she was also going to have to prevent Tom making a fool of himself.

Annika was not really paying attention to Tom. She was watching B'Elanna again. She was curious.

"I do have one question Captain. Why five hundred when I offered you much more?"

B'Elanna had been wondering that herself. She answered stiffly and a little dishonestly "Profiteering from war is dishonourable. It is not the Klingon way." Annika raised her elegant eyebrow quizzically and B'Elanna bridled at the slight suggestion of disbelief. "I have work to do" she asserted irritably.

"Aren't you at least going to show me where to go?"

"I'd like to," the half-Klingon muttered under her breath. Annika's amusement increased and it showed on her face. B'Elanna felt her temper rise instantly. "Find it yourself. Crew quarters are on the second corridor between the bridge and the engine room, on the port side. Find an empty cabin and it's yours."

"Crew quarters?"

"I told you Ms Hansen, this is not a passenger ship" the captain barked.

"Yes Captain!" Annika replied, resisting the urge to salute. B'Elanna glowered and then stomped off round the dock to inspect the aft of her ship. She hadn't gone far when she distinctly heard Annika Hansen ask Tom.

"Is she always that pompous?"

B'Elanna didn't hear Tom's reply, For a moment she contemplated going back and telling the annoying Ms Hansen to stuff her money and get the hell away from her ship. Her business sense prevailed. It was certainly not okay to back out of a deal simply because the woman was an infuriating pest and anyway the five hundred credits paid for Tom's entirely unnecessary presence on this trip.

Back with Tom, Annika was digesting his reply.

"I didn't mean to insult your friendship... sorry what is your name?"

"Tom Paris."

"Tom. The captain is a fine person I'm sure but she's very Klingon."

Tom looked disapprovingly at her, an expression that did not come naturally to him.

"If you are very lucky Ms Hansen, B'Elanna will one day become your friend. And you will realise that you had not understood friendship until that time." He relented and smiled at the bemused blonde. "In the meantime, I'll get your baggage so you can get settled in."

Part 2b

Tom left Annika alone and feeling uncharacteristically fearful. If she allowed herself to think, she was worried about her Mom and Dad and her friends. The last official newscast she had heard was very positive; the Romulans were losing territory and would soon be gone from the Empire. But who believed official news in wartime? If it was true then why was there no communication allowed with systems like Risa who weren't even supposed to be near the fighting. Why had the planet been almost sealed off?

She wrestled with the urge to cry and chose instead to feel indignant at the behaviour of her host. 'Tom Paris can say what he likes but she is pompous and judgemental. I could see how much she disliked me from the first moment she laid eyes on me. If this ship wasn't my only option I would tell her to take the whole damn ship and shove it up her tight little ass. And it is a stupid name for a creaky old freighter.' she thought as she stepped aboard 'The Queen of the Lost Worlds' for the first time.

Inside the main boarding hatch, the old ship didn't look much more prepossessing. The two corridors leading away from the hatch were gloomy and narrow, weak lighting reflecting off bare dark metallic walls. It was a little cold too which was unusual on Klingon ships. Shivering at the change in temperature from the warm dock, Annika Hansen decided to look for her quarters. Since the captain's curt instructions had been vague she decided on a whim to take the right hand corridor.

Her mood did not improve as she wandered through the semi-darkness. The few doors she tried, either didn't open or slid aside to reveal small storage rooms walled by instrument panels and in one instance an actual broom closet. There was nothing resembling sleeping quarters or even a washroom.

'She probably hangs from a bar like bat, or sleeps standing up in one of those cupboards or doesn't sleep at all but just plugs herself into a socket and recharges,' Annika thought bitterly.

The human was tired, thirsty and needed a bathroom. She was about to give up on this path through the ship's innards when the undistinguished door in front slid open and revealed a large room. Annika had limited experience of starships but even she could recognise the bridge. She would have passed by but she heard a voice coming from inside. Someone who might be able to help her find the way. Annika looked in cautiously but could see no-one. The voice became a little clearer though. Well it would have been clearer if the owner hadn't sounded totally inebriated.

"Damn and blast the scurvy pirates," the voice complained in blurry tones. "Leave me be, just leave me be."

'Oh great, another ill-tempered misfit,' Annika sighed to herself. She stepped through the door and looked around. She still couldn't see anyone. She walked a few paces further in.

"Anyone here?" she said and then nearly leapt out of her skin when a man's voice boomed loudly behind her in Klingon. "Come on boys. Throw the lubber out the airlock."

What the hell?" she shouted and span around to see... no-one.

A loud inhuman shriek answered her own cry and then a much lighter voice shouted "Look at the tits on that."

Finally able to pinpoint the source of the voices Annika realised that there was a small grey bird looking at her from a perch just on the inside of the door and rocking from side to side. "Look at the tits on that," it shrieked again.

"What on earth are you?" Annika said walking slowly towards it.

The bird replied with a repeated chorus of "Show us yer bum, show us yer bum... "

"A parrot?" She had never seen one outside of pictures and old video film.

"What are ye looking at asshole?" queried the parrot as she continued to stare at him.

She began to giggle and and then couldn't stop as the stress of the day released itself in hysteria. "You're amazing," she choked out through her laughter, "amazing."

"Amazing," repeated the parrot in a passable imitation.

This sent Annika into fresh giggles which the parrot also made a fair attempt at. "Totally amazing, but I don't think you're going to be much help to me."

"Butt-breath," replied the parrot nonchalantly. Still laughing Annika made her way off the bridge. Feeling a lot more cheerful she remembered the sparse directions that Captain Torres had given her and made her way to the second corridor after the bridge, Having little idea of which way the port side might be, she had to try first the right and then the left branch. Finally she opened a door into a cabin which was clearly designed for habitation.

The room was totally different from the rest of the ship. It was spacious, furnished in the Klingon manner with heavy wooden furniture, upholstered in black and red but the chairs and divans actually looked comfortable, padded with a liberal number of cushions. Even more unusually for Klingons, the walls were lined with shelves stuffed full of books, ancient and modern, some of which were lined up neatly, while others rested in rough stacks. Between the books, were half a dozen, randomly located and beautifully decorated boxes stuffed full of Klingon scrolls. A modern library computer access device was neatly built into one shelf, sandwiched between two piles of books. The few wall spaces remaining were covered in photographs except for one in which hung a pair of heavy bat'leths. The floor was carpeted from wall to wall in a deep and somewhat intimidating red pile, interrupted and lightened by four large and very well-worn patterned rugs.

Intrigued, Annika moved closer to examine the collection of books and scrolls. They seemed equally divided between human and Klingon and ranged from very academic texts through classical volumes from both cultures to modern poetry, stories and histories as well as a sprinkling of scientific and engineering works from the past five centuries. Waving her hand past the library computer sensors brought up the library indexes, and revealed a similarly heavy emphasis on history, language and literature. She turned her puzzled attention to the photographs. They were mostly family photographs depicting a number of children and young adults who were clearly related to the captain. B'Elanna Torres at various ages figured in many. There were a few images of adult Klingons and humans, including a formal portrait of a very handsome human male and a very imposing klingon woman. Annika realised that the couple were probably B'Elanna's parents.

"See anything you like?" said a cool voice.

Annika span around guiltily to see B'Elanna Torres standing in the doorway.

"Do you normally snoop around other peoples homes?"

"If you had shown me to my cabin I would not have needed to snoop," the blonde retorted.

B'Elanna snorted and shook her head disbelievingly. "This way then," she sneered. "I don't think you'll find your way on that wall."

She stood aside from the door and ushered Annika through with exaggerated courtesy.

"You have an interesting looking family," Annika said politely. Her host ignored her. She marched ahead and stopped at another undistinguished door.

"This should be okay. It was my sister's room." B'Elanna turned and regarded the beautiful blonde with undisguised aggression and Annika wondered what she had done this time. "My sister. Tom's wife," the captain said with emphasis.

Annika's blue eyes looked at her steadily. "Thank you for the warning Captain. I'll remember that when I feel an uncontrollable urge to fuck Mr Paris. Now if you don't mind I'd like to get some rest."

She pushed past the Klingon into her new habitation. The woman's voice followed her.

"Dinner is at twenty hundred, breakfast at seven hundred. Lunch you get for yourself. The galley is down there. There are two bathrooms. Please keep them clean and tidy."

"Thank you Captain but I think we will both be better off staying out of each others way don't you. So I'll get my own food if you don't mind. At least I'll know it's not been poisoned."

A cheerful voice interrupted the hostilities.

"I see B'Elanna's reputation as a chef goes before her."

Tom ignored his sister-in-law's glare of death. He was carrying their guest's three large bags and making surprisingly light work of it although his next words dispelled that illusion. "Is she going in Jeri's? Let me put these in there before my arms are permanently lengthened."

"Fine. Then I want to speak to you Tom."

"I expect she wants to warn you about me Mr Paris. In case I seduce you."

"Amongst other things..." B'Elanna agreed angrily. "Just come and see me Tom."

"Okay. You're the boss." Tom looked after B'Elanna's retreating back. "So you and she are not hitting it off?" He looked puzzled.

"Very observant," Annika replied stiffly. The blonde didn't seem ready to compromise either.

"I'll talk to her."

"Don't bother. We'll only be a few days and I can stay out of her way. I don't think there is anything you could say that would dent her prejudices. Or mine for that matter. But thanks for your concern. I was beginning to think I would have to fall back on the parrot for a friendly word."

Tom laughed. "You've met Arkoo. Was he er..."

"Comprehensively offensive and insulting? Yes he was as remarkably rude as the captain, except at least the bird appreciated my er physical assets which would of course make no impression on his mistress."

"You'd be surprised," Tom muttered under his breath. Annika looked at him strangely, not understanding. Gallantly he decided to try make peace. "Ms Hansen please come to dinner tonight. This ship is too small for holding grudges and we will be together for at least a week, maybe more if the permitted routes are closed."

"Call me Annie," she interrupted and held out her hand.

He took her hand and shook it.

"Okay Annie, I'll do that. Dinner?"

"For you Tom. Anything." She smiled up at him.

"You're flirting again." He grinned.

"So sorry. It's a bad habit I seem to have. Especially around good-looking men. Damn there I go again." They both laughed. A thunderous voice intervened over the ship's intercom.

"Paris! Where are you! I want to speak to you now. We are on a schedule here."

Tom promptly pressed the button on a wall mounted comm device and answered.

"On my way Lanna."

He released the button and shrugged. Annika was looking at the small speaker in horror.

"Oh God. Please don't tell me she wakes everyone up with that thing."

Tom smirked. "O six hundred on the dot. Anyhow I must be gone. See you later."

"Later then."

The door closed behind Tom and Annika took her first proper look at her room. Too much pink and too many flowers was her first reaction. However it seemed clean and the bed looked large and comfortable. 'I'll survive,' she reckoned to herself. 'I'll bet that the captain's quarters don't resemble this.' She wondered what they might be like and realised that she couldn't even guess. B'Elanna Torres was a total mystery to her.

TBC


( categories: Torres/Seven )