Star Trek Voyager: The Loving Game

Star Trek Voyager: The Loving Game (Chapter 68)

“You are capable, for a female.” Seven heard the Hirogen remark breathlessly as her fist hit the sensitive point under his arm where an old scar interrupted the defensive network of grey-green scales which overlaid his skin.

Seven was surprised to see a thin smile cross his lips as he said this and frowned, pausing momentarily in her constant assessment of his weakness to reply, “I do not think I wish to be what the Hirogen consider would consider “capable”.” She retorted tightly as she clenched her fists and lifted them above her head, ready to throw them down against the base of his neck in what had unconsciously become her signature move…

A sudden fist to the abdomen, followed almost in tandem by a crashing blow to her mid spine sent her sprawling onto her knees at the Hirogen’s feet. His wry laugh managed to penetrate through the stunned fog in her mind, “You’ll want to be far more than “capable” if you want to be the victor in this fight!” He told her seriously as she remained prostrate on the floor, her rapidly bruising ribs meaning that her conscious efforts were focused on breathing rather than standing up, but she had enough energy still in her to narrow her eyes at him in disgust. “Over and over you allow yourself to be distracted by your opponent, why did you pause before ending our battle? You wanted to; I saw it in your eyes.” The Hirogen mused as he watched her rise unsteadily to her feet before once again taking the defensive stance in front of him.

“My eyes are irrelevant!” Seven snapped, “You have been instructed to train me, not converse with me!”

He stepped closer, a mixture of admiration and disappointment in his expression as he studied her tense frame. “Those humans have ruined your chances; compassion will get you killed here. You should let go of those habits, the Borg are formidable hunters, if you acted like a drone in the ring you would win everything.”

Embers of fraught emotion which had been forced to the back of her mind by sheer physical exhaustion and agony now enflamed Seven’s being, set alight by his incendiary comments. “You may enjoy this constant cycle of meaningless violence Hirogen, of hunting prey, but I do not and if letting go of what keeps me sane is the only way to survive this then I will die gladly!” She declared with icy defiance, only the words hoarse edges revealing how much it emotionally cost her.

The Hirogen seized her arm in a vice like grip, dragging her around to face him as she turned her back to stalk away. As he stared at her with unblinking, reptilian black eyes her mind was involuntarily filled with images of the war torn scenes of the holodecks which had changed the path of her life for the better and still made her cringe at the same time. “Do you think this is hunting?” he hissed out, his hot breath brushing against her throat. “Being penned up and forced to submit to another’s control? If my people, my children saw me thus, they’d think me lower than prey! We are prey they have not seen fit to kill…” Resentment echoed through his gruff voice now, and as his hand slackened its grip on her, Seven recognised grief reflected on the fierce face she’d thought soulless, a willing participant in the mercilessness of Tsunkatse.

“How long have you been here?” Seven whispered, uncertain if she wanted to know the answer.

He snorted; his self derision now fully evident. “Ten years. Ten years of hollow victory, I cannot face my children, though they will be almost grown now and I don’t know their hunting grounds, with honour and pride. Capture is worst than death.”

Seven nodded slowly as understanding and, unexpectedly, compassion flooded her. “I would not want my daughter to see me like this…” She admitted in a murmur.

The Hirogen’s eyebrow’s rose slightly, “A Borg child?” he asked incredulously.

“She is fully human, as I once was.” Seven clarified sharply.