Chapter 2 added on 18 April 2001
Disclaimers are in part 1.
Rating: NC17
Torres flew out of Engineering and into the turbolift. "Deck 8," she spat out to the computer. She took this moment to call the Bridge and inform Commander Chakotay of the situation and her estimation on how long the repairs would take. Upon reaching the appropriate deck, she stomped down the corridor, barged into the Cargo Bay, and began yelling as soon as she crossed the threshold. "What the hell do you think you're doing, Borg?!" When she looked up to continue her verbal assault, what she saw stopped her cold.
All four of the Borg children were hunched over a work console, feverishly going over some problem. Torres still couldn't believe that the three little ones were back on board. Several months ago, the 10-year old twins, Azan and Rebi, had been contacted by members of their species, the Wysanti. Voyager met with the Wysanti and Azan and Rebi decided to leave with them. The 8-year old girl, Mizoti-a Norcadian-had not been contacted by her people and was invited to live with the twins in their new home.
Then, quite unexpectedly, two weeks ago Voyager came across a small Wysanti vessel. At a meeting of the senior staff the next day, Torres discovered that the "borglings" had "run away." Apparently, the Wysanti neglected to inform Captain Janeway and Seven of Nine that their planet had just engaged in a civil war with catastrophic repercussions. The twins and Mizoti stole a shuttle and escaped after learning that they were to be used for their Borg knowledge to defeat Wysanti insurrectionists.
During the recounting of the horrors the small children had to endure in their short stay in a "normal" life, B'Elanna could tell that, although she tried to hide it, Seven was deeply upset. Torres remembered Seven's guilt over Icheb's failed return to his homeland and wondered if she was thought all of this was her fault. Perhaps Seven was the best thing to happen to those kids, she thought. After all, they were safe while Seven took care of them. Danger never accosted them until they left. B'Elanna also realized that Seven would never let anyone harm them as long as it was in her power to keep them safe. She also wondered why she kept thinking of Seven at all.
Staring at the four children, now, she felt her rage dissipate slightly. She would die before admitting it, but she had a soft spot for them. Maybe it was hormonal, due to her pregnancy, or perhaps, it was because she was about to be a mother herself, but she felt very protective of them. Icheb noticed her arrival first, looked up, then quickly input commands into the console to remove whatever was displayed on the screen.
"Lieutenant Torres. Are you looking for Seven of Nine?" he asks in his vaguely dispassionate way.
"Yeah," she replied. "What are you guys working on? Shouldn't you be regenerating? It's after 0330."
The littlest Borg and only girl, Mizoti, stepped forward and assumed a very Seven-like pose, feet shoulder-width apart, shoulders back, hands clasped behind her back. Torres bit back a chuckle at how absolutely Seven-like she was. Mizoti answered Torres' question, "We are not at liberty to say, Lieutenant. Why are you not regenerating? It is, after all, after 0330."
By now, Torres was on to the fact that these four were behaving in a more than odd fashion, even for them. Icheb was standing very stiffly behind the console, while Azan and Rebi were giving each other these veiled looks. And Mizoti's diversion tactic was not lost on her, either.
"Funny you should ask that, little one. Vorik got me out of bed to fix a ship-wide systems failure. Seems someone was trying to enhance the comm. system using a routing algorithm. A Borg routing algorithm. A damn-er, uh, darn good algorithm, but too complex. Seems as though it caused a feedback surge to pulse through the system, blowing all the positronic circuits. You guys wouldn't know anything about that, would you?"
Torres observed the shuffling of feet and the nervous looks with a touch of humor in her eyes, proving that the same guilty behavior existed for all children across the universe, including Borg ones. She walked up to Mizoti, took her hand and led her over to the Borg alcoves. Passing the twins, she grabbed Rebi's hand, also and nodded her head to Azan and Icheb. Once all the children were seated on the deck, B'Elanna asked them to explain what they did.
Twenty minutes later, the mystery of the systems failure was solved. It would, of course, take hours and hours of manpower to correct, but they were children. Torres still didn't understand why they "enhanced" the comm. system. So she asked them.
To her surprise, the twins answered in unison. Creepy. "To help Seven."
"Why does Seven need help," she asked softly.
Icheb replied this time. "We are forbidden to say, Lieutenant."
Torres looked at them for a minute, then said quietly, "Okay. But I need a promise from all of you that you won't undertake any more experiments that affect ships systems, including any "enhancements," without speaking with me first. Can you do that?"
All four answered in the affirmative. Torres suggested that they regenerate and then started their cycles once they were installed in their respective alcoves. Leaving the Cargo Bay, she wondered briefly why it felt like she was "tucking them in."
To be continued....