Kathryn smirked, remaining quiet for a few moments more so she could fully enjoy the helpless squirming that the two persons on the opposite side of her desk were doing, in their own way.
Sure, it didn't look like the squirming that others did when facing her delayed wrath, but she knew them both well enough to know that right now, either one of them would give an arm and a leg to be anywhere else.
That, and her years as a Starfleet Captain known for adhering to the letter of Starfleet regulations had given her an uncanny knack for smelling this particular type of terror in those she commanded.
Her inner voice briefly chastised her for enjoying this power so much, but quickly followed with a statement of how, if anyone ever truly deserved to be in that spot, these two certainly had it coming.
Sensing the approaching moment where her entertainment might cross the mark where the punishment she was about to dish out might lose its efficiency, she decided to end her silence, giving a smile so wicked she was sure she looked like a Ferengi who just ran into an unattended freighter full of gold-pressed latinum.
"Alright, now that you're both here", she started while that same smile remained on her face, "I'll let you know what punishment I've decided on."
She suppressed the urge to snicker when she actually saw B`Elanna swallow nervously, and continued, "I told you six days ago that because of your duties, and the lack of effect, I didn't have much faith in the standard measures that Starfleet regulations allowed me to take in order to punish you two for fighting and destroying the Mess hall yet again. I informed you that I'd suspend the punishment until I found measures that would have the desired effect without having me break any Starfleet regulations or Federation laws, or any moral laws for that matter. Guess what..."
Her smile widened into a whole new meaning to the word 'wicked', giving both Seven and B`Elanna more reason to wish for anything to interrupt – a fleet of Hirogen attacking, or even a dozen Borg cubes.
But there was no interruption, no red alert saving them, there was only Kathryn's dry voice.
"As you both know, Neelix has made a suggestion for Naomi's upcoming birthday. And I know that individually you both went out of your way to avoid taking part in what he suggested. B`Elanna, you quickly scheduled a major overhaul of every engine part that you could think of needing maintenance. And I'm also sure that the long list of sensory data that you suddenly had to process, Seven, has to do with your reluctance to take part in social functions. And I'm not buying either of your excuses, ladies. Don't get me wrong, the jobs will be done... but not by you, not at that time."
She watched the two like a hawk, ready to rebute any objections that they might throw at her, but seeing that they knew better, she continued.
"You're both the heads of your departments. So, I'm making you use that position. You'll both assign members of your staff to these jobs. B`Elanna, in your department there are six Engineers who aren't involved with Neelix' plans. And Seven... Chakotay informs me that the Delaneys volunteered to take on your list, and Icheb has already tackled part of it. Now, for your punishment...", Kathryn started to grin in a way that would have put the Ferengi finding an unattended freighter full of gold-pressed latinum to shame.

Tom smirked when he saw B`Elanna sit down at the table she always shared with him and Harry.
"You look beat", he started with a smug tone, but quickly swallowed what he was going to follow up with when he saw B`Elanna's annoyed expression.
He had learned to fear that expression ever since his fifth attempt at hitting on her, which ended with him having to endure the Doctor's poor bedside manners and the painful manner in which the same Doctor chose to treat Tom's broken nose, broken fingers and bruised ribs – all being the result of him trying to 'lighten the mood' by tickling B`Elanna despite her repeated warnings towards him.
Tom actually backed his chair away a few inches while quietly thanking Harry for cutting in.
"Hey, Maquis. What's the Captain got you doing? Double shifts? Tripple? Cleaning out plasma manifolds?"
"Worse", B`Elanna groaned her answer while poking the unidentifiable pile of red and grey sludge on her plate, the latest of Neelix' concoctions.
"Worse?", Harry repeated in a puzzled way while turning to Tom, who looked back just as puzzled.
"I have to work with Seven. Rehearsing some damned play which we will have to perform in a few days."
Despite knowing the volatile history between B`Elanna and Seven, Harry also knew that when they weren't fighting, they both actually thought highly of eachother.
Running the possible explanations for B`Elanna's answer through his mind, he finally drew a blank and had to pose the question, "THAT is worse? Come on, you've got to be jok--"
Swallowing the last sound Harry quickly raised his hands in surrender, trying to diffuse the potential danger that he saw in B`Elanna's glare towards him.
"That damn Borg won't quit, Harry", B`Elanna snapped at him, "she's riding me all the damned time. It's never good enough, she keeps insisting that I'm not 'feeling the part'. In fact, the only goddamn reason she agreed to let me take a break right now is that I was about to ram her head into a holographic hollow tree."
"Damn", Tom interrupted and quickly regretted doing so, seeing B`Elanna's fist grab her fork so tight it made her knuckles stand out – a grip that again reminded him of the broken fingers that the Doctor treated – but once again he quietly thanked his lucky stars for another diversion to draw B`Elanna's fire.
A diversion that was, in fact, the reason for her rant.
"Lieutenant Torres", Seven started while coming to a halt behind B`Elanna, "we agreed on you taking a fifteen minute break. That was twenty-eight minutes ago. I am certain that I do not need to remind you of the Captain's demand that we spend four hours after our duty shifts on rehearsing. However, given the reason for your break, I can suggest a compromise that might make our rehearsal more barable for you."
Hearing the sound of gritting teeth, Harry quickly picked up his tray and got up, nodding at Tom, "We should be going. Our break is over in a few minutes anyway."
Tom initially refused to move, but only seconds later he decided that Harry's 'suggestion' was the best way of avoiding another possible trip to the Doctor, or worse, so he, too, grabbed his tray and followed Harry to a hasty exit.
A few tables away, Kathryn saw Harry and Tom flee the Mess hall, and it only took her another second to see the reason of their hasty retreat.
She quickly pointed it out to Chakotay and Tuvok before taking a last gulp of her coffee, thinking this just might be her last fix for the day if she had to break her two pupils up, but before she could swallow, Seven's clearly-spoken words caused the coffee to make its own hasty exit again, ending up a new, be it unvoluntary, decoration on Chakotay's face and uniform.
Analizing the sudden silence of the rest of the assembled crewmembers following Seven's words, the sudden bright-red color of the Chief Engineer's face accompanying her incoherent grumbling, and the coughing fit that Kathryn just went into, Tuvok decided that he did hear correctly what Seven just stated.

Kathryn again sat behind her desk, assessing B`Elanna and Seven who were standing on the other side of her desk.
She recognized the irony – again she was in her Ready room with Seven and B`Elanna, again for an exchange between them that took place in the Mess hall, and again it's obvious that two out of the three people gathered here right now are wishing for anything to break up this gathering, but this time Kathryn realized that she herself was one of those two.
Judging by the way B`Elanna stared at some point on the floor, Kathryn figured that the half-Klingon had already made her peace with where-ever the Barge of the Dead from Klingon beliefs would take her, but looking at Seven next, Kathryn failed to pick up any of the anxiety, any of the dread that she had sensed the previous time they were gathered here.
Instead, Seven seemed to be surrounded by an air of Borg-ish superiority, more cocky and sure than Kathryn had ever seen her.
Deciding that she wanted this particular meeting to be over as soon as possible, Kathryn cleared her throat and started.
"I don't care who started it or why... but Seven, you can't just-- you... you don't just blurt out--", she stuttered... and Seven smirked, taking over the initiative.
"I could. And I did, Captain. Or we would not be here right now, I am sure."
Kathryn's left eye started to twitch uncontrollably and her mouth trembled as she tried to form words, while B`Elanna seemed to grow smaller and smaller by the second... while Seven continued.
"The play you made us rehearse is the story of 'Little Red Ridinghood', is it not? The main characters being Little Red Ridinghood and the Big Bad Wolf. I merely stated in the Mess hall that in order to alleviate some of the friction which caused the Lieutenant to require a break, I was willing to switch our roles. Alowing her to be the 'Director', as that would be part of her taking the role of Little Red Ridinghood. And since that would make me the Big Bad Wolf, I correctly stated that I would eat her properly. Which is what caused our artistic difference with her playing the role of the Big Bad Wolf. While she did play the role perfectly in all other aspects, she kept bursting into giggles whenever she got to the part where she was supposed to inform my character that she was going to eat me. Switching roles would 'kill two birds with one stone', as the saying goes. There would be no more giggling, and less friction between us."
Kathryn's face had turned a deep, bright red from being reminded so accurately of the scene in the Mess hall, but finally regained some of her command strength, and now glared at Seven while yelling, "I... DON'T... CARE! Goddamnit Seven, you don't waltz into a full Mess hall declaring loudly that you're going to eat another woman!"
"Indeed", Seven replied coolly while throwing in a raised brow – and implant, with it – for good measure.
It finally dawned on Kathryn that contrary to what Kathryn thought – that Seven wasn't aware of the more salacious meaning of the expression – Seven was actually quite aware of that meaning, and more than that, that Seven was actually using it to her advantage, getting one over B`Elanna, and now using it to dominate this meeting.
Kathryn almost wanted to bark at B`Elanna that she had to stay right there, but she actually felt sorry for her, so she allowed the muttering about plasma manifolds that accompanied B`Elanna's attempt to retreat with whatever shred of dignity she had left – something that Kathryn recognized all too well right now.
But Seven obviously had other plans, turning to the retreating Chief Engineer, "Lieutenant, were you not aggravated by my 'riding your ass' regarding your giggling, as you put it? I was under the impression that my offer to eat you was a most reasonable and logical one."
Seven would have milked it further, were it not that she just heard the thud with which Kathryn buried her face in her desk, as well as that the last comment made B`Elanna abandon her last shreds of dignity in favor for a warp-speed dash for the door...