“Shit!”.
The comm from Seven had cut off abruptly and Raffi was suddenly thrown into a state of panic.
In response she ran as fast as she could down the stairways of this dark and deserted old building.
The planet was a long abandoned old mining colony in a backwater system in the middle of nowhere.
Raffi had accompanied Seven on this Ranger mission as she sometimes did and they had been tasked a simple job - locate this old building and retrieve a criminal gangs weapons stash that was rumoured to be stored there.
Simple!
Raffi had been making her way up through the building floor by floor and establishing that each level was clear.
As she had reached the top floor and deemed it safe she had received the comm.
“Raff…”, was all Seven had called before the signal shut abruptly off.
So now Raffi ran. She ran down the crumbling old stairs, passing floor after floor with her phaser in hand and desperate to aid Seven as quickly as possible.
She knew Seven could more than take care of herself but the abrupt shut off of the comm had rattled her.
Finally she reached the basement and slowed to a stealthier pace as she approached down the final few dimly lit steps.
She knew Seven had headed down here to search the lower parts of the building so she stepped quietly, unsure wether an adversary awaited her.
Readying herself for a fight she leapt through the entrance and into the poorly lit and dust layered basement with her phaser at the ready.
Her built up apprehension then evaporated at the sight before her and it took a moment for her to fully comprehend what she saw.
Two gang members lay unmoving on the ground, one with a phaser burn to his chest and the other unconscious with a very bloody nose.
Yet it was the sight in the centre of the basement that now drew Raffi’s full attention.
After the cut off comm she had expected to find Seven holding some defensive position in a firefight or at worse maybe even wounded.
What she did not expect to find was Seven dangling upside down from the roof, her ankles snared securely in the wires of a trap she had clearly stepped into.
Raffi relaxed.
She holstered her phaser, released the breath she hadn’t realised she had been anxiously holding and placed her hands on her hips as she took in this most unexpected of scenes she saw before her.
“Well... this is awkward”, she shook her head and tried to suppress her growing smile of amusement. She even placed her hand quickly over her mouth to hide her expression.
She really did try but instead her laughter blurted out involuntarily before she even realised.
There was nothing she could do because first and most importantly Seven was clearly unhurt and secondly… this was hilarious.
Seven’s body wriggled in response as she made an attempt to free herself.
“Don’t say another word”, the Ranger warned as her arms and hair dangled limply towards the dusty ground.
Yes, this really was awkward and even from her upside down perspective Seven could see the smirk of absolutely unhidden amusement on Raffi’s face.
She knew this would happen, she knew Raffi would find this immensely funny and she had damn well been right.
What was worse was knowing there was absolutely nothing she could do about it.
She knew Raffi well enough by now to know her humour and know that she would relish this moment.
“You ummm… you didn’t mean to do that did you?”, Raffi asked in the most fakest innocence as her smile grew with another laugh.
“Just get me down Raffi”, Seven grumbled and folded her upside down arms impatiently as she hung there.
Raffi laughed more as this pose now looked even more ridiculous.
She took a step forward to observe closer, interested to know just how this calamity had occurred.
Brushing a hand through her curls Raffi scratched her head as she looked Seven up and down inquisitively (or was that now down and up?) where she hung from the trap.
She looked up and noted the thick wires that had snared Seven’s ankles as the trap had triggered and which now held her tightly in this predicament.
Taking a step back Raffi looked at the ground and the marks on the floor where the snare wires must have lain waiting in the dirt and dust before being triggered.
“I’m just gonna assume that you didn’t see the wires of this kinda obvious trap babe?”, Raffi pointed all the way along the ground and then moved her pointing finger to indicate along the floor, up the old brick walls and toward the ceiling where the pulley system had clearly activated.
She heard Seven huff out a breath.
It was one of Seven’s ‘done-with-this-bullshit’ huffs.
“I was a little busy knocking these two down”, Seven pointed to the two unconscious thugs and held her right hand up to show the graze she had earned on her knuckles for her trouble, “now how about getting me down?”.
Raffi thought. She wasn’t ready just yet.
Slowly and in the style of many a Romulan interrogator she had for years studied Raffi walked, step by very slow step, in a wide circle around Seven.
Unable to resist the urge of her sense of humour, and she tried - she really tried - Raffi stopped just behind Seven and gave the Ranger a gentle poke in her back with a finger.
She smirked as the gentle nudge caused Seven’s stuck body to swing back and forth just very slightly and once more a chuckle was heard. She just couldn’t help herself…
“Raffi!”.
“Sorry, couldn’t resist…”.
Seven’s voice was transitioning to a somewhat snappier tone but Raffi knew there was a still a little leeway to play yet.
She stepped back round to stand infront of Seven and looked down at her upside down face that was level to her knees.
“You couldn’t have just blasted your way out of this?”, Raffi asked with a shrug, “y’know, like you’d usually do?”. It seemed the obvious solution.
Silently Seven pointed to where both her phaser and communicator lay on the ground where she had dropped them so suddenly as the trap had snared her and pulled her off the ground.
“Ah…”.
“Look just get me the hell down Raffi…”, Seven huffed and began to fidget and thrash about once more before finally giving up. The Ranger was stuck, completely stuck and she knew it.
Raffi smiled as an idea pinged into her brain!
An opportunity never likely to be repeated had presented itself and there was no way she was going let go of the chance to remember this day forever.
She smiled, stepped back and took her tricorder from where it sat tucked into her belt.
“What are you doing Raff?”, a note of suspicion now grew within Seven’s voice as she looked awkwardly up.
Raffi’s smile became a large grin as she activated the devices camera mode.
“You’re not... You wouldn’t? Raff?”, the Ranger wriggled as she realised what she was seeing.
With that Raffi held up the tricorder and switched it’s camera onto herself.
She chuckled as she stepped forward just enough to make sure that Seven was fully in shot behind her.
“Smile sweetie!”.
Resigned to the fact that her fate was now firmly in Raffi’s hands, Seven sighed and flipped two fingers to the tricorder as Raffi smiled and took her much wanted selfie.
Raffi looked down at the picture on the screen and smiled a cheeky but loving smile. The photo was everything she had expected, a happy Raffi and a sassy Seven, and she loved it.
She would show it to Seven later (once she had regained her composure), infact she would probably upload it into the computer and replicate it as a real print photograph and stick it to the bulkhead of their quarters with the many other little pictures Raffi had amassed during their various adventures.
Seven made a throat clearing noise to draw Raffi back from her thoughts and remind her of her predicament.
“Can’t actually feel my feet at this point Raff”, Seven jabbed a pointing finger repeatedly up towards her snared ankles, “so unless you plan on carrying me outta here maybe you could…”.
“Oh uhmmm…yeah, cut you down”, Raffi quickly put her tricorder away and drew her phaser once more.
Having aimed it at the wires suspending Seven from the roof she took hold of Seven somewhat awkwardly around her waist as best she could.
“Hang onto me Honey if you can”.
A focussed phaser blast later and Seven was freed.
Raffi caught Seven haphazardly mid fall as the wire snapped and the pair fell into the dust and dirt in an awkward heap with a thud.
Raffi laughed once more as they now lay tangled.
It was still hilarious even if she did currently have Seven’s boot in her face and her arm stuck under Seven’s back.
“Damnit Raffi”.
Seven sat up and hastily brushed the grimy dirt from her clothing as she watched Raffi lay on the ground laughing.
The Ranger wasn’t one who appreciated being laughed at but the fact that she had felt herself boot Raffi firmly on the head as she fell had slightly made up for it.
The corners of her mouth turned upwards slightly as she watched Raffi laugh.
It was, she supposed now she was free, a little bit funny and Raffi’s laughter had a tendency to be infectious and with a feel good vibe.
Raffi sat up, still chuckling to herself as she did so and reached forwards to brush a little of the dirt off Seven’s face.
Seven smiled a little more and looked up to Raffi as her indignation began to fade away.
“Go on, show me”, she pointed to the tricorder.
Raffi took the tricorder out again and with a few button presses she accessed the selfie.
Seven looked at the picture, herself hanging upside down, her sassy expression, two fingered gesture and of course Raffi and her huge beaming smile.
Seven laughed. She hadn’t meant to but she laughed with a smile - it was an affect Raffi tended to have on her.
And then Raffi laughed too.
“Nobody ever sees this”, Seven urged and then Raffi leant in and placed a small kiss to Seven’s dust covered cheek.
“I’ll stick it on our wall with the others”.
Later that night Raffi lay comfortably in bed.
Seven was sound asleep and warm in her arms and had been for some time after the days misadventure and mishap.
Seven had been a little sore after her experience and Raffi was relieved to learn that aside from slight damage to Seven’s pride there had been no damage other than a couple of bruised ankles.
The lighting of their quarters was set to a low level and Raffi glanced up to the bulkhead above her side of the bed where she had over the last few months stuck her growing collection of photographs.
She and Seven enjoying a melting ice cream, she and Seven each enjoying a glass of chateaux Picard while visiting JL, a photo of Seven sat proudly in her captains chair on La Sirena with the smile Raffi loved so much, a photo Deet had taken of she and Seven stood proudly infront of the landed La Sirena at a Ranger outpost and now added to the growing number… Seven hanging upside down and flipping two fingers while Raffi smiled.
She chuckled to herself and pulled the sleeping Ranger a little closer.
It was funny though…