Chapter 8 to 10 added on 2 Aug 2000
Disclaimers are in part 1.
Rating: PG
Chapter 8
"Regeneration cycle complete." Seven of Nine stepped forward from the alcove to see Commander Chakotay waiting for her. "So Seven, what happened?" She initially ignored the Commander as an ache gripped her heart. After they had made love, and admitted that they did indeed love each other, she had held B'Elanna as they wordlessly lay in each other's arms. Now she woke up alone, and asked herself thee question that neither had the heart to ask. "Now what?" Chakotay must have noticed something was wrong because his voice pulled her from the heartache that was leaching all the strength from her body. "Seven? Should I call the Doctor?"
"No Commander, I am fine." "Are you sure, the Doctor has informed me how Unimatrix Zero can have real world consequences." She could almost feel herself pale at his words as she thought of the real world heartache that she was currently choking on. It was a difficult action, but she swallowed the heartache back down and left it to burn some where around her abdominal implant. "There have been many happenings in Unimatrix Zero. You must assemble the command staff so that I can tell everyone at once." Chakotay nodded, but didn't turn to leave. "Summary?" "The days we had to rescue them have dropped to hours." He nodded, but a bit stiffly this time and strode quickly from the cargo bay. "The meeting will be in 10 minutes."
The doors opened to reveal the Borg children who dashed in right after the Commander. In typical fashion Icheb stepped forward to speak for the group. "Seven, are you damaged? You appear pale." B'Elanna's sense of humor seemed to speak through Seven as she spoke. "I believe "pale" is my standard appearance." Icheb simply nodded. "That is why your current pallor is so pronounced." Mizati was the one, in typical fashion, to cut to the heart of the manner. "Did something happen to Lieutenant Torres?" The look of longing the crossed her face must have been enough to tell Mizati the story. "You have finally mated." It was a statement, more then a question, but it caused Seven to react. "You are too young to concern yourself with that." Seven sank down to sit on the platform, her arms resting on her knees.
Seven recognized the look on Mizati's face as one she typically got when dealing with the children. "I am Borg, we all are, and we are familiar with the mating practices of thousands of species. So the details are irrelevant. What is relevant is if you and Lieutenant Torres have made that commitment to each other." Seven wondered if the children had activated their cortical implants to form their own collective as Icheb picked up Mizati's though seamlessly. "Was there something wrong with mating with Lieutenant Torres?" She didn't try to hide her emotion with the children, and her voice was thick with it as she spoke. "No, she told me that she loved me, but she loved me there. Here she is still mated to Lieutenant Paris, I am still Borg."
Mizati didn't seem to be letting her emotions go, but she also didn't have Seven's control over them so her aggravation was visible. "Lieutenant Paris is irrelevant, and I believe he is realizing such." She looked up at the young girl, her expression showing how desperate she was for an ounce of hope. "Clarify." "I have spoken with Lieutenant Paris, and Ensign Kim, and I believe he is realizing that he is unsuited to be the mate for Lieutenant Torres." She stared at the child, but Mizati did not flinch. "Am I any more suited? I am Borg." The twins finally spoke, in unison. "Now Lieutenant Torres is as well."
~~~
B'Elanna could taste the bile rising. Many think Klingons do not feel fear, but it was closer to say they do not react to it like most races. While most races go through the fight or flight response the Klingon species has all but removed the flight part of the equation. At the moment however even her Klingon side wanted to run away. The problem was that even if she was able to escape the drones standing at each arm she would still have a cube full of them, and no way to get away from them. Yet the fear still raced through the parts of her mind that were still her own, still tightened her now nonfunctional stomach, still had the muscles underneath her black body armor clenched to the point of pain. She recognized the assimilation chamber as soon as it came into view, and that she and her two companions made a beeline towards it.
She wanted to scream, wanted to run away, but she stayed stock-still, kept her mechanistic pace. If she gave the slightest twitch she would give it all away, and if they lost it now they lost it all. When the drones directed her to lay down on the assimilation table B'Elanna just hoped it wouldn't hurt. Her mind raced, but then it settled on one thing. "This is what Annika went through. They did this to Annika. They sliced away little Annika Hansen and carved her into Seven of Nine." Fear over her own fate turned into anger over Annika's. At least she was an adult Annika was a kid. Underneath her she felt connectors similar to the alcoves, and realized regeneration cycle would be active to help her body heal the alterations that were about to be made to it. As the cycle began and her eyes closed she felt a voice whisper into her ear. "Axum sends his best."
The first thing she realized upon awakening in Unimatrix Zero was that she was screaming, and she couldn't stop. Not even as someone shook her, but when she was able to open her eyes and look into the alarmed face of her captain. Janeway was shaking her, and looked ready to slap her back to her senses. The sight of the familiar face allowed her to cease her screaming, though it ended in a whimper. "B'Elanna! What's wrong?" Her body tightened into a ball where it was on the ground. "He's assimilating me!" Janeway's eyes got wide. "Axum?" B'Elanna could only nod. Janeway pulled her crewman into her arms and rocked her as the storm continued to rage around them.
Chapter 9
The Unimatrix Zero encampment was eerily calm as Annika approached. Only one building in the distance showed any signs of life. Even the screaming of the winds and the pounding of the rain seemed to have fallen silent as the she was pulled forward. Her stomach rolled, and her breathing felt labored as her head pounded, but the building was the flame, and she was the moth. When she entered her first sight was Captain Janeway who's expression immediately sent Annika into a panic. "What's wrong? Where's B'Elanna?" Kathryn Janeway placed a hand on Annika's forearm. "She's inside. she's been hurt. Right before this cycle started she was placed on an assimilation table to complete the process." Annika's expression mixed confusion with her panic.
"Assimilation, but she has several days before the process should be completed." Her voice had no trace of her command, but instead was the voice of her mentor, and her friend. "Axum sold us out to the Collective. We thought he simply gave the Collective access to Unimatrix Zero in exchange for sparing himself and his followers, but apparently they agreed to do him a favor and bump up B'Elanna's assimilation." If she had been pale in the cargo bay she was deathly so now. It was to the point Janeway reached out to steady her. "But the timing is crucial, at this point assimilation could prove fatal." "What?" Annika took a deep breath, but as she spoke her voice still trembled.
"The earlier stages of assimilation prepare a drone for the later ones. The implants reinforce organic systems as well as providing interfaces for later implants. Right now the interfaces are still healing." Janeway's command resolve had returned. "Then it is all the more important you end this cycle and tell Chakotay to begin the attack. Tuvok has been making slight alterations to his cycles and is ready to lower the cube's defenses. We need Voyager." Annika nodded, but the tortured expression was obvious, and Janeway's command mask slipped slightly. "She wants to see you to, go to her, but please, make it brief." Annika followed the captain's gesture and quickly made her way to the door, but had to take a deep breath as she pushed open the door.
While B'Elanna had not lost any of her size she seemed smaller curled up as she was, and the pain in B'Elanna's eyes when she looked up became Annika's pain. Yet the woman didn't move, speak, and barely seemed to breathe. She just looked at her with eyes on the brink of tears. Yet it spoke to Annika louder then any words and she crossed the room in a run that ended as she sat down next to B'Elanna and took her into her arms. Torres clung to her desperately and wept, sobbed, her whole body shaking as Annika held her and whispered of her love for her, her caring, that she would make it ok. While she didn't know how she would find a way.
~~~
Chakotay was in the captain's ready room as the hail came over the commsystem. "Seven of Nine to Commander Chakotay, we must attack the tactical cube immediately." While her tone was unusual Chakotay felt the need to get details before he took the ship into battle prematurely. "Chakotay here, what happened?" He was shocked to hear anger in the woman's voice as she replied. "I will explain later, we must attack the Borg at once." He took a breath, but knew she must have information that justified the attack, and while the emotion in her voice unsettled him he still thought it better to get ready. "Meet me on the bridge." He then sent out a wider hail to prepare the rest of the crew. A second, secured channel was opened between Seven, the Doctor and himself, which carried the former drone's voice.
"Lieutenant Torres is undergoing the final step of assimilation." The Doctor's voice started, but was cut off mid-sentence by Seven. "It's too early." "I know, but unless we get there immediately it will continue, and most likely kill her." He took the final step through the doors of the ready room as Seven stepped from the turbolift, and he began giving commands. "Ok people its happening now. Paris, lock in coordinates and engage. Kim, get scanning for their life signs. Tuvok will be active; Janeway will be regenerating. as will B'Elanna." The rest of the crew seemed to notice his pause, but didn't comment, what they didn't notice was the pained expression that crossed Seven of Nine's face.
Chakotay did however and wondered. He had known B'Elanna for years, and knew that the reason Seven was always able to get to her was because B'Elanna only cared about those she cared for. Now he found himself wondering about the reasons Seven seemed to go to such great lengths to rile Torres up. "ETA to the cube 46 minutes." Harry Kim's announcement caused a look to cross Seven's face that could only be called one thing. desperation.
~~~
While on the cube in question; in the midst of absolute order and the perfection it brings there was an aberration. Drone after drone moved from task to task. Even the rogue tactical drone Lieutenant Tuvok carried out his sabotage in the same efficient way, but one drone deviated. In an assimilation chamber, in the midst of an assimilation two drones worked to keep the drone they were assimilating active. As they catalogued each misfiring neuron, each ruptured artery, they catalogued another anomaly. Even in the midst of a regeneration process the drone's eyes were open, and staring sightlessly as the ceiling.
~~~
"We can't leave you like this!" Picard had to shout his reply to Janeway over the roar of the storm and the screams of the dying. "Just get me to the eye, I can disrupt Axum's access there!" The battle had been raging through the day, into the night, and was still going strong as the sun began to rise. At least they thought it was the sun, as the black sky became a deep gray. The ground should have been splattered with blood and covered with the bodies of the fallen, but as they died they vanished, only to rise again when they began a new regeneration cycle. The key was to kill more of Axum's people then they lost, but the Collective seemed to be reinitializing Axum's people and reinitiating their regeneration cycles.
It was only by the valor of the citizens of Unimatrix Zero that they were managing to hold their own, but even their slight margin of greater numbers had vanished. Picard pulled Janeway close so he did not have to shout. "We need to get around them. If I manage to disrupt Axum I can disrupt his peoples access as well." Janeway nodded and the two captains began to attempt a stealthy approach. The elder captain took the point position not because of a slight margin of field experience, but because he was simply more familiar with the territory.
The two armed themselves with available weapons; in this case material salvaged from the Unimatrix Zero buildings. Since the technology inside Unimatrix Zero was at a rudimentary level the weapons technology was as well. Which left the citizens to arm themselves with what they could find, disassembling entire buildings in order to prepare for the upcoming battle. Janeway found it horrific, but she could tell everyone did. This was not 24th century battle where you dispatched your opponent in the flash of a phaser or the explosion of a photon. Quite to the contrary this harkened back to the primal battles of primitive beings beating each other to death with what ever was at hand.
Yet even as the screams of the dying echoed in her ears it felt all too familiar. It may be a glorified club in her hands instead of a phaser rifle it was all too familiar. Perhaps that was the heart of it; no matter how refined the technique the act of taking a life was always a brutal affair, and even as she hated having to do it she was glad it was still difficult. Because no matter how bad the guilt, she feared the day it would be easy to kill.
Chapter 10
-
Seven of Nine forced herself to focus on her console. Using all the focus that resulted from growing up inside the Collective she tried to turn all of her worry and panic into determination, but she found even the Collective's conditioning did not compare to the depth of the feelings she had for Lieutenant Torres. The dull gleam of the console reflected off of the metal bands encircling her left hand and she flexed it. Her mind's eye bringing back the image of countless drones having their limbs severed and discarded. She herself had fit countless drones with prosthetic limbs, but this was different. This was B'Elanna. It would be one of those firm, sure hands that would be removed. One of those brown, emotion-laden eyes would be plucked from her head, and she couldn't remove that image from her mind no matter what she tried.
"Seven?" Her head snapped up and focused on the source of the inquiry, Ensign Harry Kim. She always found Ensign Kim refreshingly predictable in the sea of chaotic, confused humanity she was adrift in. Right now the concern on his face was helpful, both in the fact that it gave her a grounding in the emotions that tossed and turned inside her. The image itself gave her something to focus on instead of the memories of all the previous assimilations, and picturing B'Elanna going through them. The confusion was also apparent, both on his face, and in his voice as he whispered from his position to hers. "What's wrong?" She directed her gaze back to focus on her own console, but replied in a similar whisper, even though her was tight with emotion. "I am worried about B'Elanna, and I feel responsible for her being on the Borg vessel."
While her previous observations of Harry Kim told her he would try to make reassuring comments she found she was relieved when he stayed predictable. "She's a big girl, and I don't think we could have kept her from going once she made her mind up. Is something wrong with B'Elanna? Is that why were are attacking early?" She simply nodded, taking a deep breath as if she did not trust herself to speak. "Don't worry Seven, she's tougher then anyone. She fought off the phage, well her klingon half did. If it weren't for her I probably never would have dragged myself out of the Ocampan city after the Caretaker experimented on us." He turned from his console to face her, as his voice stayed quiet, but got deeper, and softer. "If anyone can make it through, it's B'Elanna. I mean heck, she's been dating Tom Paris, that would have broken most people by now." He had raised his voice slightly at the last part as he grinned at the helmsman, but as Tom Paris looked back they both noticed that Seven was not smiling. Which caused them to stop as well.
~~~
B'Elanna had tried to get it together several times now. She would take deep calming breaths, force herself back to her feet, and then start shaking uncontrollably. She SWORE she could feel the probes entering her body, and the blades cutting away the frail human flesh. It seemed better when Annika was there. Somehow she radiated a calm, a strength that wrapped around B'Elanna like a blanket even as she had clung to the woman and wept. Even the few stolen moments had done wonder, and were the only reasons he was able to even consider trying to pull it together. Annika's parting words lingered in her head. "If I could bear the pain for you I would, just hold on."
That's what she was trying to do. She found that it calmed her to think of Seven. When she thought of how bull headed she was with her she knew that the Cavalry was on its way, and one former drone would be sounding the horn. It just had to be soon, the screams seemed to be lingering inside her, waiting for her to drop her guard. She just wanted to be home, have the Doctor fix her, and then crawl into bed and wrap herself around that beautiful blonde's body, and die in her arms. It seemed sad, at this moment she was having her first thoughts about Tom, but her she couldn't lie. In many ways it was like the Barge of the Dead. It responded to you as much as you responded to it. However it was not the you that you like to show, it was. what was at the very heart of a person.
Unimatrix Zero was made of the pieces of the lost souls that have been claimed by the Collective. While it may be concerned with designations, and information, and assimilation in Unimatrix Zero your core was all that was left, and her core could only think of . she'd have to straighten this whole name thing out, and soon. Maybe she would just think of a pet name. The last thought caused her to giggle, but it had an edge to it even she could hear. She sat on the floor with her back to the wall and hugged her knees. Her mind focusing on one thought. "Just hold on, Seven will be here. Just hold on." At that point she didn't care if the Doctor could fix her or not, bed or alcove, as long as Seven was there. Then the very last words she heard as Annika vanished and Seven awoke echoed through out her. "I love you B'Elanna Torres." While her response was a silent look of joy she knew that was the moment she was able to give her trust over to another.
~~~
Janeway knew they were on the right track as the storm turned into a rain, and then a drizzle. While the quiet of the storm was reassuring the quiet itself was unsettling. They had left the sounds of battle behind almost fifteen minutes ago. That meant that their forces were not gaining any ground, but if she remembered the lay of the land correctly they were not loosing any either. She put such thoughts out of her mind and focused on the mission, if they succeeded then the battle would be won by default, and if they failed things like battle lines wouldn't matter. The face of her companion was an unusual calm. It was not the focused gaze of a trained military officer. In fact she couldn't quite identify it.
It appeared that Axum didn't have any tactical experience, and anything that the Collective gave him must have not had enough personal reference for the man because the sentries posted were few and far between. That in itself seemed odd because one would have to assume he had drones that were former military officers in his camp, but then again he had shown he wasn't very good at listening to others. Of course most officers worthy of their ranks would not side with a traitor. As they closed on the border of the camp they could see Axum might not have worried himself with the safety of his camp, but he made sure of his own personal safety.
The largest building had the most guards, and while the situation seemed obvious enough both officers knew that it should not be taken at face value, especially with a man who had proven himself so adept at treachery. As they circled the encampment they found the outlying areas vacant. When they drew close to the headquarters their eyes both widened in alarm. "Yeah, Axum is going after the little half-breed himself. Says he wants to tell her the details of assimilation while he watches her scream." Neither had to say a word as they slipped from the headquarters and made their way into the forest, but they did have to restrain the urge to run until they cleared the radius of the sentries. As they did they took up a stride that allowed them to move as fast as possible while minimizing the chance of tripping in the undergrowth.
As they passed one of the conflict spots Picard grabbed one of their people with out breaking stride and told the. Janeway had not seen the species before so she refrained from making any observations, but he told the individual to find Tuvok and have him bring a unit to their base camp. The two captains continued their run, but it's end was worse then either had imagined. The storm seemed centered around the main building that was now filled with people, and none that they recognized as their own. The sounds of a door being battered down filled their ears, and they immediately knew that B'Elanna Torres was huddled behind that door. Their bodies were both tensed to attack, but they had a realistic look on the situation. Instead of a futile charge they were trying to find a weakness to exploit.
It never came, but one was made as they heard the sounds of troops charging into the clearing. Tuvok was in the lead and had forgone the use of a weapon at this point, but he didn't appear to need one. His body was his weapon, and it was striking true, each blow seeming to fell an opponent or at least setting them up for a following strike that finished them off. Janeway was the first to call out to Tuvok as both of the Starfleet captain's joined the battle, but Picard was the first to strike, and his intentions were obvious as he made his way towards the building's doorway. "Tuvok, we have to get inside, they are trying to get B'Elanna!" The Vulcan simply nodded and his efforts seemed to redouble. Janeway made her own charge right after Picard, but found the resistance minimal after them being driven apart by the elder captain.
The scene as she made her way through the door was a bizarre one. The door to B'Elanna's room was in splinters and the woman herself was sitting on the floor near by, but she was not alone. The room was strewn with Axum's men who seemed to have fallen from something similar to what had her engineer sprawled out on the floor. It was in the center of the room she saw a sight that she could not look away from. There was Axum and Jean Luc Picard grappling hand in hand, both men looking as if they were attempting to end each other's life with nothing more then their bare hands. More then that a wind was starting around them. Axum seemed to be surrounded by a maelstrom that was spinning around himself and driving Janeway back as it had the other occupants in the room.
As the winds started to obscure the forms of the two combatants she suddenly realized that it was in sequence with the storm raging outside, but it was not the only one. There seemed to be another gale force that was twisting around the men as well, but it was moving opposite to Axum's and as it picked up speed Janeway found that she could move again. She shouted to B'Elanna Torres and crossed the room. As the woman was looking up to see who had spoke to her Janeway had managed to cross the room and pull her to her feet. They may have a lull in the storm, but she knew it would not last. Tuvok's gaze automatically snapped to them as they broke free from the building. She looked to him and shouted over the winds to try to reach everyone.
"We have to clear the area!" Yet even as the words left her lips there was en explosion that consumed the building utterly. The flash of life that heralded the building's destruction continued outward as it moved it washed over everyone, some being left unharmed, but others vanishing into nothingness, but all were knocked to the ground by its force. As they stood and started to take account of what happened they saw that all of Axum's forces had vanished. When they turned towards the building they saw Axum had as well. All that was left was Captain Jean Luc Picard who calmly straightened his uniform's tunic.
~~~
Even with six years of experience Harry Kim still had times he felt utterly overwhelmed, and this was one of them. Talking with Seven let him know that B'Elanna was in trouble, but now the Doctor sent exact coordinates to beam her to. While he knew they were in sickbay he assumed that they were for an exact spot where the Doctor had set up equipment to treat her. As always when he thought of B'Elanna he thought of Tom, but when he was fair about it, it was because the helmsman tended to butt in when ever it suited him. When he pushed beyond his pushy friend he remembered all the times like when they were caught in sickbay with a bomb-possessed EMH. Or all the times they worked together in engineering, it was there Seven seemed to suddenly enter the picture, but instead of pushing like Paris she just seemed to be there.
Like some quiet observer, even when she was driving B'Elanna crazy. While he was willing to admit that he sometimes felt overwhelmed by it all a suddenly clarity shot through his mind. He looked over at Seven and could swear she was on the verge of tears, thought sadness or frustration seemed to be up to debate. Then he thought of B'Elanna, the way she would rant and rave about "That damn drone!" Her courtship with Tom seemed to be a human male with a human female. Her klingon side just dismissed as bitchiness. Seven seemed to bring out the klingon in Torres. Of course she brought of the klingon in Seven as well. He grinned at the look on B'Elanna's face as she sat in sickbay getting the love bite treated, but then he wondered. Perhaps B'Elanna did protest too much?
His pondering was cut short as the firmly built, read headed security officer spoke up from Tuvok's station. "Tactical Cube dead ahead, sensors read no power to engines, shields or weapons." Paris was the first to speak up from his console at the helm. "If this were a movie I would say it was too easy." Seven's angry tone responded. "Well it is not a movie, and as soon as we are picked up on their sensors they will being reinitializing their systems. We need to lock on to their signatures and beam them off the cube." Chakotay met the questioning eyes of Harry Kim and nodded his agreement with Seven. The command releasing him to act, and seeming to release him from his doubt as he sent every ships sensor to find three familiar signals among thousands.
"Jean Luc?" The Frenchman grinned at Janeway. "Kathryn?" "What happened?" He arched his brows and relaxed them as he let out a breath. "Unimatrix Zero is made up of thought, a shared hallucination, once you fully realize that, anything is possible." Tuvok arched his brow as his face took on a calm that failed to reach his eyes. "You have now realized it?" His face seemed to sober, but more in sympathy then anything. "Do you find that hard to believe?" The security chief's posture seemed to straighten further. "On the contrary, most of the Vulcan culture focuses on the transcendence of the mind." He smiled at them all. "You better get ready, your ride has just been picked up on the Collective's sensors." The entire group started at him blankly, at which he smiled.
"They infiltrated our system first, I simply felt it time to return the favor. Goodbye Captain Janeway, please give Annika my love. I will have to alter the frequency of Unimatrix Zero and it will be some time before I will be able to bring her back." He stepped up to Tuvok, but seemed careful not to get closer then the Vulcan was comfortable with. "The Vulcan balance is a delicate matter, and once you are returned to your normal state it will return as well." The words seemed to relax the coiled springs of the man's musculature. He then stood in front of B'Elanna and smiled. "Annika is a daughter to me, and I expect you to be one as well before too long." The young woman smiled shyly, even as a slight tremor shook her. The three's bodies suddenly felt the familiar pull of the transporter even as they knew they were clinically unconscious and were just feeling Unimatrix Zero adjust to their being disconnected. Janeway managed to get out one last sentence. "What will you do?" He grinned as the words reached through the dematerialization. "I'll think of something."
~~~
The voice from tactical was terse, but controlled. "The cube is still trying to being shields back online, but their weapons and engines are both powering up!" The first officer didn't turn to look at the operations officer as he spoke. "Lock on and beam our people to sickbay. Keep hitting the shields with our phasers and send a full spread of torpedoes when you detect their propulsion gaining power." Both officers responded nearly in unison. "Aye sir." Harry Kim was already sweating hard. He was looking for the proverbial needles in the haystack. He was having no luck with the bio-signatures. So he switched to trying to find drones carrying the Doctor's modifications.
His one hand was true on his console, but the other hand that was keeping him steady as Voyager twisted and turned nearly slipped as Voyager shook under its first volley of enemy fire. From tactical they heard. "Shields down to 83%." He suddenly realized that the information on his console was being augmented by a steady stream of information flowing from the console next to him that was being crewed by Seven of Nine. "I've got Tuvok!" The Vulcan's bio-signature was the only one was able to detect since they were supposedly immune to assimilation. Seven's voice sounded ragged from the station next to him. "Scan the assimilation chambers for Lieutenant Torres."
It took all of Harry's training not to respond, at least not openly, but he sent sensors driving into every corner of the cube. Finding and discarding assimilation chamber after assimilation chamber as Seven highlighted each potential site. Suddenly he found it, three Borg signatures, but the third one was unstable. While it scared him to realize the B'Elanna's life signs totally assimilated, but the scan was backed up by the detection of human/klingon tissue discarded to the side. The thought nauseated him, but he swallowed it down and beamed B'Elanna to the specified coordinates. He hadn't noticed the three previous strikes, or tactical saying. "Shields down to 46%." It did hit him as he raised his head to speak. "I've got B'Elanna!" He heard the gasp next to him, and saw the woman being to turn towards the turbolift. Only to stop, steel her spine, and turn back to the console.
Chakotay was on his feet and moving from console to console as Paris spoke. "Warp engines are stable but they are starting to damage the impulse drives." The former Maquis nodded. "Any signs of them powering up engines?" With no response he turned to tactical. "Ok, we need to get their fire off of us. Target their available weapons with the torpedoes load another set for their engines." No sooner was it said then it was done as the tactical cube's armor plating seemed to dent under Voyagers assault. The cube's weapons may have survived the assault, but its weapon ports did not as the fire eased up. Tactical again spoke. "Weapon systems down, but more are being brought online. The first officer nodded again as he turned to Harry, "Harry, we need the captain."
Harry nodded as well as he turned back to his console. It was the anomalous diversion of energy internally that alerted him. The Borg were creating a shielded area, and he found a human life sign being dragged towards it. He locked on, they were trying to get the Captain to a shielded area to keep her hostage, but he was not about to let that happen. "I've got the Captain!" Chakotay immediately turned towards the helm. "Tom, get us out of here." His gaze twisted back to tactical. "Fire torpedoes!" Another series of photon torpedoes screeched from Voyager and impacted the cube. The past six years of experience allowed him to feel the ship jumping to warp. He then picked up something on the sensors. "They are opening a transwarp conduit?" The rest of the bridge looked at the operations officer.
A rip in the otherwise pristine fabric of space opened, and it was one a straight line towards Voyager. The cube slipped inside and they all seemed to brace themselves as Chakotay issued another command to the helm. "Change our heading!" Yet they all knew it was too late, but nothing happened, no attack, no explosion, no impact. Paris seemed the first to regain his senses. "They overshot us?" The acting captain seemed to shake himself as he spoke once more. "All right I want a bunch or warp hops, I don't care where you take us. Just get us someplace to hole up. We will get pointed back towards Earth later. Paris, you report to sickbay. Seven you join him. The rest of us will get us to safety." Paris got from his console and moved towards the turbolift, but found he had to wait for another turbolift car because Seven had already made it inside and taken the first one.
~~~
Kathryn Janeway was making a deliberate effort not to notice her own appearance. She instead focused on those around her, but the looks on their faces when they thought she was not looking acted as a silent reminder of her current appearance. Except for Tuvok who not only did not care what he looked like, but also seemed relieved to be severed from the Collective. His carried himself like he was simply waiting to be treated for an injury instead of having his entire nervous system repaired. She found she could look into his eyes again. Yet they still held darkness, but this one she shared as they both looked over to the surgical bay occupied by Voyager's chief engineer and its two top medical staff. The one face that didn't flinch at her appearance was not even looking at her because it was turned to the same sight. She felt a presence over her shoulder and turned to face it. While her first officer quickly concealed his shock he still allowed his concern to shine through. "How is she?" "Alive, for the moment, anything beyond that is still up in the air. How's the ship?" "Better then the last time we went up against a tactical cube, Tuvok really did his job. It was just a shame he was not able to stay active to keep their systems down." Janeway shook her head. "We needed him in Unimatrix Zero. Axum was on the verge of taking over." The tattoo over Chakotay's eye crinkled. "Take over?" "Picard explained it to us. The Collective could not erase Unimatrix Zero with out irreparably damaging the hive mind. So it was attempting to rewrite the parameters from a retreat to another place drones would be forced to labor for the Collective. In exchange for his help Axum would be put in charge of keeping Unimatrix Zero productive and keeping the dreaming drones in line."
Chakotay seemed distant as his mind pondered the implications, but the voice of his captain brought him back. "We managed to prevent that, and Picard unleashed a feedback pulse that lobotomized the part of the brain that allowed them access to Unimatrix Zero." Tuvok chose that moment to enter the conversation. "I doubt that will deter the Collective for long." Janeway simply nodded, and action she found hindered by the Borg body armor. "Yes, but like he said, he will think of something, and now we will be here to help him." A strange idea hit Chakotay, and Janeway seemed to read it in his face. "While I am having the Doctor remove the majority of the implants and restore my appearance, but I will keep the implants necessary to access Unimatrix Zero. We have a rebel band inside the Collective, and I will not have them die out because of a lack of support."
Her terminology hit Chakotay hard, and he nodded mutely. Tuvok seemed to be considering, and Janeway noticed him doing so. "I don't expect you to do the same Tuvok, this is a voluntary decision." While his brow was still hairless he arched it. "So was the initial decision to be assimilated. Your logic is impeccable, and I will support it." While her face barely seemed her own the expression of gratitude was all too familiar to Tuvok. Chakotay's voice dropped, as he seemed to pull the Captain closer. "What about Seven?" Her eyes looked directly into his. "There is nothing we can do there except clean up any fall out."
~~~
While Seven recognized the end of a regeneration cycle, but this one was different. First there was no voice informing her of the end of the regeneration cycle. The second thing was the fact she was laying prone instead of standing in an alcove. Of course both facts where attributable to the fact she was in sickbay instead of the cargo bay. She was using a portable regenerator provided by Icheb, and it gave her a sense of pride when she realized it was nearly identical to the one she made for him, but had to be left behind on the Brunali world. He had assimilated it right away, and then adapted it to the new situation. In fact the young man had shown some of his families propensity for biotechnology as he helped Seven to consult with the Doctor on B'Elanna's condition, and how they could adapt a portable regeneration unit to help B'Elanna's biological systems while she recovered from surgery.
Her heart ached at the thought. No matter how happy she was that B'Elanna was alive, B'Elanna was Borg. While she never blamed her, and surprisingly she wasn't even blaming herself. What was tearing at her was that it happened. That B'Elanna had been attacked, assaulted, mutilated. Her eyes opened, but the slight headache told her that her regeneration cycle had been interrupted. As her eyes opened she saw the helmsman and medical assistant Tom Paris who had stepped aside from the biobed. His voice was soft, mournful, but resigned. "She's asking for you." With out waiting for a response he turned and walked out of sickbay all together. While Seven was not as versed as most in the subtleties of human interaction she realized the extent of the Lieutenant's actions and realized what it meant, and her throat went dry at the thought.
The heart that had been aching suddenly seized up inside her chest as she looked at the biobed surrounded by monitors and sensors. While the biobed had originally had a uniform blanket, Seven had gotten the blankets from B'Elanna's quarters as soon as the Doctor allowed it. Now she got to see them over the Klingon's body. The Doctor had already managed to restore most of her appearance except for a patch over the left eye and the left arm that was currently concealed under the dark colored sheet. The one good eye had already locked on her approach. As she reached the bedside Borg conditioning battled with very human emotions. It was the pain and need in the one good eye that won out as she slid into the seat beside the biobed.
B'Elanna offered her right hand to Seven and she took it, but she also reached over and grabbed B'Elanna's left hand. While the Doctor had been able to reattach the eye that had been recovered in the transport the arm had been removed far earlier and was unsalvageable. Not it was much like her own except the skin tone was identical to B'Elanna's, and the metal bands were of black steel instead of the silver of Seven's. She rested both of the hands on the woman's chest and laid her enhanced hand on top of them. The other hand slowly, hesitantly moved up to cup B'Elanna's cheek. The one eye was opened, and gleamed with love even as it glistened with a tear. Which Seven leaned in and kissed it away.
The End