By Rowan Green
Disclaimer: The actor in this should in no way be taken as an accurate representation of any real person – I’m just playing around with ideas of reality and fiction. And in real life, I am, of course, really a fan of a certain person not portrayed here! It’s only the Ranger who’s been pretending. The setting, and most of the characters belong to Paramount. This is a not-for-profit usage of them with no infringement intended.
'Ranger Rowan’ is my role-play character on a message board where the rough version of this story was originally posted. I did think of re-writing with a different character…but why bother? If you want history: she’s not Starfleet trained, and ended up on Voyager after a transporter accident (useful things, transporter accidents). The rank was made up for convenience (suggested by andrewsfan in fact), but I’ve since found that ‘Rangers’ appear in Jeri Taylor’s book ‘Mosiac’, so it’s sort of cannon. Readers should also note that though we have a symbiotic relationship, she is cooler, more athletic, wittier and better looking than me, and sometimes holds different opinions to myself.
This story contains spoilers for the episode ‘Muse’ (sixth season, recent episode, not yet shown in many countries). I don’t think it will spoil anyone’s enjoyment, but you have been warned. Some issues discussed in ‘Muse’ are also raised here…but not in a way that I think will give anything away. There is also a spoiler for the episode ‘Faces’, (from the first season).
Rating PG. No sex, no violence (in fact not a lot happens), but there is a little bad language.
Special thanks to Sybil, who found the time to do a great job of beta reading this with very little notice, and to Otter, who picked up on a few really stupid mistakes!
Story index / Main Page / Site Guide
***************
Ranger Rowan entered Engineering with some trepidation. She’d never actually met the half Klingon Chief Engineer before, but B’Elanna Torres’ reputation was well known. Rowan had only been onboard a few months, but she’d already heard quite a few stories of the broken bones this formidable woman had produced, and her fierce temper. As she entered she looked around, searching for a tall, bulky Klingon figure, but saw no one answering her expectations. Only one woman was visible. A slender, dark woman, of her own height or slightly less, that Rowan had seen in the canteen on several occasions. She was frowning in apparent frustration as she worked at a computer display some way down on the right. Suddenly the pieces fell into place, as she realised that the ridges on this woman’s forehead were the result of Klingon blood. Softer than those of a full Klingon, but Klingon none the less. She had only a moment to assimilate this new knowledge before the woman turned from the workstation and seeing her in the doorway, moved towards her. She might be smaller than expected, but she moved with the grace and power of a hunting cat, and fixed Rowan with a gaze that made her feel she was being assessed as a possible food source.
“You’re Ranger Rowan?” The woman didn’t wait for an answer before turning back to the display, indicating that Rowan should follow her. “I hear you know something about primitive computer technology.”
Rowan caught up with her, and examined the display. In the middle of the familiar LCARS display, was a very different interface. She recognised the ‘Maxiloft’ logo from the alternate Earth she had visited on an away mission a week before. “We established a data link with Earth 2, but we don’t seem to be able to access the data at more than 4 kps, and then half the time we lose the connection and have to return to an earlier point.” Torres’ tone was incredulous. “Seven had no luck either. The data we want is embedded in a primitive media broadcast. At this rate it will take weeks to download.”
Rowan peered at the screen, instantly seeing a possible means for improvement. “I think I can help, Sir.”
“Yes?”
“You’re interfacing through a browser program. If you use a specialised download program, it should be quicker and more reliable.”
“A browser?” Rowan was about to explain, but Torres waved her into silence. “Don’t tell me.” Her eyes flashed with a fierce humour. “I already know all I want to know about this technology. Just try it.”
She left to get on with other work, and Rowan settled to her task. With a few quick commands she located a suitable program on the Earth 2 network, and installed it. Soon she was downloading at a significantly increased speed. What was more, when the connection broke in the middle of downloading one of the programs she was able to resume at the point where she left off. After the first hour she was glad to note the average kps had increased to 20; Not brilliant in a world where gps would be closer to normal, but it still represented a considerable improvement. When Torres came to check her work, the engineer seemed somewhat taken aback.
“I don’t like to call 20kps impressive, but good work Ranger.”
Rowan glowed. B’Elanna Torres didn’t seem the type to give praise lightly.
“I don’t suppose there’s any chance of it getting faster?” Torres asked.
“Not really I’m afraid. It’s still going to take a few days.”
“Then I’ll need you to keep at it this evening. I’m afraid you’ll have to change any plans you’ve got.”
“Yes Sir.” Rowan replied with resignation.
B’Elanna’s lips twitched into a slight smile. She liked Rowan’s dedicated attitude. However the engineer’s next statement was somewhat sarcastic. “Of course, why they couldn’t just use their advanced technology I’ll never know.”
Rowan knew exactly why, having seen the secrecy in which the scientific underground operated. “With respect Sir, it would have been just too dangerous for them.”
On a world on which scientific progress had been banned since the devastation of the Third World War, making such a broadcast would have put them in grave danger of being exposed. But Torres just snorted dismissively, unwilling to admit that there might be good reason for them to act in a way that annoyed the hell out of her.
***
A couple of mornings later, Rowan made her way into Engineering, waving goodbye to the Bolian who’s place she took. She checked progress on the download, and was secretly rather gratified to find the average kps had gone down a little without her supervision. At the moment though, it was going smoothly enough, so she concentrated on extracting and ordering the hidden data. She began to compile a Padd full of medical notes to pass onto the Doctor. As she worked, she was delighted to find a message with her name on it. Her cover during the recent away mission had involved pretending to be a tourist, and she had taken quite a few 2D pictures. It was these that had been processed and then sent to her. She flipped through the file, pausing when she came one picture. It showed someone she had only met briefly, but something was niggling her about it. Finally, giving up trying to work it out, she transferred them all to a Padd, and put it aside. With all the data ordered, and everything looking after itself for the moment, she decided to watch one of the programs. Some of them were proving quite entertaining. Engineering could really do with more comfortable chairs though, she thought ruefully.
“Watching programs on duty Ranger?” Rowan jumped, spinning round to face the frowning figure leaning over her. But then Rowan recognized from the glint in B’Elanna Torres’ eyes that she was merely teasing. Rowan had got over her initial nervousness. Though fierce in appearance, and not someone you would want to get on the wrong side of, she found she really appreciated the engineer’s sharp wit. “How’s it going?”
“Very well, with luck it should be finished tonight, Sir.”
“Sorry you had to miss the baseball.”
“I’m useless at ball games anyway, and I programmed a hologram to take my place. I doubt they’ve noticed.” In fact, the assignment had probably saved her a lot of embarrassment.
“A hologram hey? Clever.”
“Aren’t you playing Sir?”
“Nah, I got banned from team games - I broke a couple of bones.”
“I thought that wasn’t such a big deal for a Klingon? Don’t you heal really fast?”
“True, but they weren’t my bones.” B’Elanna flashed a grin. Rowan was at a loss as to the correct way to respond. She momentarily thought of offering to play with her sometime, then very quickly decided against. She liked the woman, but maybe not enough for a trip to sickbay. Instead, since the engineer seemed to be feeling chatty, Rowan decided to show her the picture.
“Could I just show you something, Sir?”
B’Elanna looked briefly at the photo that Rowan called up on the Padd. “Cute. Someone you met on that away mission?”
“Yes. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but she seems familiar somehow.”
B’Elanna had another look. “You know, she looks like me.” Rowan did a double take before turning to look at the picture again. “A few years ago, the Vidiians split me into two people you know, one Human and one Klingon. I looked like that as a Human.”
Rowan looked at the picture, then back at B’Elanna, and saw two different faces. But then for a moment she saw the person she had met a few weeks before in her mind’s eye and she realised something. “You know, you may have something. The face is different, but a lot of the expressions are the same.”
“She must be my equivalent in that reality. They didn’t have any Klingons there did they?” B’Elanna was clearly intrigued.
“No. I suppose that would make sense.” Rowan was pleased to find an explanation for the effect the picture had been having on her.
“So what does she do? She an engineer with those scientists you met?”
“No, an actor.”
“You’re kidding?” B’Elanna gave Rowan her patented ‘you what?’ look.
“She’s a star, and she was appearing at a social event where I met a contact. I was pretending to be a fan.”
At that moment Vorik called B’Elanna from the upper level. She waved in acknowledgement, before momentarily turning back to Rowan. “I can’t believe you’re telling me my double can’t get a real job! You sure she’s not building starships on the side?”
“Not as far as I know.”
The engineer walked off, shaking her head.
***
Rowan checked progress again. The end was in sight. A few more hours should finish the job. It was evening. Though she had already worked past the end of her shift she had turned down the offer to be relieved. She intended to be the one who took the last transmission. Around her Engineering was quiet, with only two crewmembers monitoring the displays. She looked up at the hiss of the entrance door, surprised to see Torres enter. The engineer glanced round, apparently checking that all was well. Satisfied, she came over to Rowan.
“I thought your shift was finished, Ranger?”
“If you don’t mind I’d like to finish the job Sir.” Rowan considered pointing out that B’Elanna wasn’t on duty either, but she supposed that in a sense the Chief Engineer was never off duty.
“Yes, I always like to finish a job. B’Elanna paused a moment, then asked in a voice which feigned disinterest. “So, what’s that actress like?”
“Well, I only met her very briefly…”
“She any good?”
“Very good. She’s in some of these programs. Actually, she plays a half alien. Looks a lot more like you with the make-up. Would you like to watch a few?”
“Maybe later.” The engineer looked thoughtful. “That could be sort of strange.”
“You know, I was thinking, maybe she isn’t really your double anyway. Maybe there’s an actress somewhere in our universe that’s her real double.”
“What, and my real double is an engineer? But she’d still be human.”
“Well, we don’t know for sure there are no Klingons over there, maybe they’ve just not contacted Humans.”
“So my double could be Klingon?” B’Elanna speculated, warming to the subject.
“Or maybe you have two doubles, one Klingon and one human.”
“But wouldn’t that mean there’d have to be two of us over here? Hold it! This conversation is getting too weird. Maybe we better just assume she is my double and leave it at that.” B’Elanna paused, before adding an afterthought. “Depressing though it may be."
“You know, I think you might be being a bit hard on, well, ‘yourself’.” Rowan grinned to take any bite out of the description. “After all, entertainers bring a lot of pleasure, and are really very skilled.”
“You sound like a Ferengi trying to make a sale.” B’Elanna frowned briefly, but then her expression lightened again. “Anyway, maybe it’s the Klingon blood that makes the difference.”
“But wasn’t Shakespeare a Klingon?” Rowan asked.
“There is that theory…” B’Elanna spoke the words dryly. “So, did Shakespeare exist on that world?”
“I haven’t a clue.”
“I guess we still have a mystery then.” B’Elanna’s eyes sparkled as she intoned the words.
“Anyway, she’s a different person, with a different life.”
“You can say that again!” B’Elanna straightened. “I have to go meet someone. Good luck getting this finished.”
“I’ll do my best, Sir.”
***
Rowan was surprised when the Chief Engineer returned only a short time later. The Ranger was even more surprised to be offered a sandwich from the Mess Hall. Though B’Elanna had been glowering as she came in, when she spoke she seemed to deliberately put on a cheerful voice.
“Don’t look so surprised. I can’t have you keeling over at your workstation can I?”
“Thanks...”
“And don’t ask.” Her voice was suddenly edged with steel.
Rowan took the hint and didn’t.
“Is there much left to do?” B’Elanna asked cheerfully.
“Another hour or two should do it.”
“I guess I’ll join you.” B’Elanna pulled up a chair. “How about we watch one of those programs?”
They watched in silence. Though the program was entertaining in itself, Rowan found herself sneaking glances at the engineer, gauging her reactions. She found the play of smiles, frowns and snorts quite fascinating. She was also glad to see the woman relax, whatever was on her mind apparently forgotten.
“So, what do you think?” Rowan asked as the final credits played.
“I’ve seen worse.”
“Don’t you like the genre?”
B’Elanna’s tone was dismissive. “I find they rely too much on effects. They need more plot and less explosions. In fact that’s pretty much true of most popular entertainment.”
“Actually, I thought it was more thoughtful than average. And I only counted one explosion!”
“But wasn’t it a bit dull? A bit preachy.”
“Not hard to satisfy, are you?” Rowan thought for a minute. “I think it’s too easy to criticise a show for not being inventive, and then to complain that it’s dumb or boring or inconsistent when they try.”
“Really?” B’Elanna sized the Ranger up.
Rowan decided it was time to steer the conversation in a less confrontational direction. “Some of their ideas about life in space were pretty funny.”
“Yes!” The engineer paused a moment. “OK, I admit it, she was pretty good.”
Rowan was pleased by B’Elanna’s admission, but she felt it tactful not to comment. She just smiled to herself. For a while they traded comments about acting style, bits they’d found laughably inaccurate, and how the plot could have been improved. Rowan couldn’t help thinking that for someone who made a show of not liking actors and the entertainment world in general, B’Elanna Torres had a remarkable ability to discuss plot construction. Finally she decided to dare a question she’d been longing to ask.
“I heard you did a bit of play writing on an away mission recently.”
B’Elanna’s mouth dropped open. “Did you now? Well I’d hardly call giving a few plot ideas to some hack play writing!”
“You had a bad time of it?”
“Put it this way, I woke up tied up, getting slashed. I’d call that a bad time.” Rowan stayed silent as she ranted, wondering if she had really put her foot in it this time. But then B’Elanna smiled at her. “Though he was only trying to help of course. He was alright really.”
“Funny way to help! I’m not surprised you’re not keen on entertainers right now.”
“You should have seen what he was doing in his play! He had everyone on the ship paired off.”
“Hah! I wish!”
“Spoken like a true single! You are single right?” Said B’Elanna dryly.
“Yes. You have a partner though?”
“Yes. Change the subject.”
Rowan struggled for a moment, then said hopefully, “So, what’s wrong with a bit of romantic fiction, then?”
“It’s uninteresting. And let's face it, we have better things to do than chase each other constantly. It’s adolescent.” B’Elanna seemed to be enjoying the chance to rip something to pieces.
Rowan found herself thinking ‘sounds like a true non-single’ but restrained herself. She had a feeling the engineer was not too happy in that area at the moment. “Do you never like any erotic fiction?”
“Hmm, OK. I have been known to read the occasional Klingon romance…when I’ve got nothing better to do.”
“So are you sure it wasn’t just a matter of taste?” Rowan braced herself.
“What, not enough blood?”
“You said it.”
“Maybe. But not in this case. Believe me. He turned Voyager into a slumber party.”
“I suppose it would be kind of weird, doing that to real people.”
“You know, that’s true. I never thought about it that way.” B’Elanna seemed surprised. “But he wasn’t really writing about the real people. Just using them as a starting point. You know, he had Seven really being the Borg Queen? It just wasn’t very good, or very likely.”
“Don’t you ever imagine how people would be together?” Rowan asked cautiously.
“What do you mean?”
“I have a friend, used to play this game on public transport, where she’d imagine the people around her having sex, and what kind of sex they’d have.”
“So,” B’Elanna cocked her head towards the upper level, “we’re supposed to imagine what Chell and Carey would do if we weren’t here?”
Rowan nodded. “Or how about Vorik and Janeway?”
“Never in a million years!”
“Tuvok and Janeway?”
“Oh no! Tuvok and Neelix!”
“Now that is perverse.”
Both women stifled their laughter as Chell passed by checking the displays.
“I still say this is adolescent.” B’Elanna would not have convinced anyone that she was not enjoying herself though.
Rowan decided to play the card she’d been working up to. “Wouldn’t you be impressed though, if someone wrote a story that, say, put together someone like Tuvok and Neelix, and made it sound convincing.”
“It would be bloody miraculous!” B’Elanna burst into laughter again. “OK, so you’re saying it takes skill to write stupid romances?”
“I guess so.”
“But wouldn’t you rather just get on with the story? Isn’t it possible to write about people with other things on their minds?” Apparently B’Elanna was still in the mood to trounce romance.
“Most of the time I’d agree. Actually I’m not that keen on romances either!”
“No! You’re defending them and you don’t even like them?”
“I think they’re fun sometimes. But I think it’s a shame if people think they have to include a love angle.” The conversation paused for a moment. Then Rowan changed her voice to the best impersonation she could manage. “Excuse me Mr Tuvok, but there’s only thirty seconds before the Kazon attack, and I have to tell you I love you!”
They both broke into laughter again, and to Rowan’s delight, B’Elanna answered in kind. “That is…most…illogical.”
“So, what about Chell and Carey then?”
“Alright, enough already! I guess we pretty much agree really.” B’Elanna paused for a moment. “Weren’t you some kind of artist before you came on board?”
“Yes, I made holo-novels for a living. Still do for fun actually. Just too many people around here who can make their own!”
“Maybe that’s the problem. There’s too much mediocre stuff around, you can’t even find the good stuff.”
“You have a point. But nothing is stopping me making my own stuff. And people will still pay for the best.”
“But you’re not doing it as a job?”
“Thank you for assuming I’m one of the good ones! But I think it’s more of a case of there being too much talent here, and me having other useful talents. You make the occasional holoprogram don’t you?”
“I’ve dabbled. But I wouldn’t say they were exactly creative.”
“Would you like to collaborate sometime?”
“What, the marriage of Tuvok and Neelix?”
“Ha! No, I think that would be a little tasteless. Fantasy is one thing, but that is a little too close to home!”
“OK, I’ll think about it, as long as you don’t expect me to give up my engines!”
“I wouldn’t dare!”
“Hey look, it’s nearly done.”
Rowan looked, and saw that indeed, the indicator was nearly on full as the last few data packages came through. Even as she watched it passed across the last bare space and was replaced by a ‘download complete’ message. She tapped her comm badge.
“Ranger Rowan to bridge.”
“Chakotay here. Go ahead.”
“The download is complete, Sir.”
“The Captain left a ‘thank you message’. I’m sending it to you now. Please pass it on. Chakotay out.”
Rowan set the commands to pass the final message onto the Earth 2 network. She also transferred the last packages of downloaded data to their final destinations. It took only a few moments to complete, then she turned off the special display she had been using, seeing it replaced by the familiar LCARS display.
B’Elanna had been watching silently. Now she spoke. “Fancy a beer, Ranger?”
“Yes, Sir!
Actually, she wasn’t that keen on beer, but it seemed appropriate somehow. As she paused in the doorway for a last look at Engineering, she felt vaguely unsatisfied. After days of work, with the data now ordered, and the thank you note sent, she felt the story needed a final flourish. A dramatic rescue, a resolution to the lose threads, or an emergency beam out. But life just wasn’t like that. She turned, caught up with the engineer, and they walked to the canteen.
The End
******************
PS: I wrote this in rough before seeing the episode, ‘Riddles’. So now I know the source of all those Tuvok/Neelix subtext jokes, which I’ve been hearing on the Internet! I find it rather ironic that ‘Riddles’ was directed by Roxann Dawson, who plays B’Elanna. I didn’t do it on purpose! Honest!
All original material, unless otherwise credited, is Copyright © 1999 Rowan Green. All rights reserved.
Story index / Main Page / Site Guide