Star Trek Voyager: Disunity

Star Trek Voyager: Disunity (Chapter 5)

Seven opened her eyes as the electrical static of the transport faded and saw that she was standing in a small sub-section of the cube, used for regeneration. As drones brushed nonchalantly past her deeper into the green tinted shadows, a sickening fear grasped her brain and squeezed, every rational thought fleeing her mind as she struggled to control her panic. Leaning heavily against an alcove control panel she took several deep breaths, what had she done? She didn’t have a plan; she had followed Chakotay in a bout of emotion she now knew to be reckless. They were now both trapped in the cube and any rescue parties from Voyager would now think of her as well as Chakotay, reducing their chances of success. No, another part of her brain argued with these pessimistic thoughts, you’re not trapped, they are not aware of your presence and as for a plan you must think of one! Seven clung to these positive thoughts and looked around again, which only proved her initial assessment that she would need to leave the anonymity of this small room and venture deeper into the heart of the cube. Bracing her shoulders she began to walk, careful not to activate anything that would make the drones see her as a threat. New unease crept up her back as she made her way on the most direct route to the cube; surely they knew by now that it was not Zina who had beamed abroad, why were they not reacting? She got her answer as soon as she turned the corner, what stood before her made her stop in her tracks in shock and horror.

The Doctor settled down in his office chair, ready to start some new experiments with his voice since at the moment there was no call for his duties. He was just deciding whether to sing from Tosca or The Marriage of Figaro when Icheb and his friend from the Cooperative, what was her name...Zina appeared. She was clutching her head in obvious pain and Icheb was looking more agitated than he had ever seen him. “What’s wrong?” he asked Icheb in concern.

“Zina must be disconnected from the Cooperative as soon as possible.” There was an anxious tightness to Icheb’s voice that the Doctor had never heard before.

“Of course.” He said professionally. “Have you asked the Captain for asylum?” Zina, barely able to control herself as the voices tried to take her over, shook her head. “Don’t worry, no doubt you’ll be allowed to stay here.” He guided her to a biobed and laid her down, beginning his scans. “This should be a quick procedure; Andorian physiology is quite similar to humans. If you want me to remove your implants I can do that too.”

“Perhaps later…time is imperative at the moment.” Zina responded before allowing the Doctor to inject her with the sedative and begin the procedure.

As he worked the Doctor couldn’t help noticing Icheb pacing nervously, a pensive expression on his face. He smiled down at the young girl, a Borg love connection perhaps? “She’s going to be fine Icheb. Where’s Seven by the way? Didn’t you consult her about this?”

“It was her suggestion but she cannot be here.” The Doctor saw Icheb tense up even more at the mention of Seven, his face cagey and he was biting his lips. The Doctor began to sense a secret.

“What’s she doing that’s more important than helping Zina through this?” asked the Doctor incredulously.

“What Seven is doing is irrelevant!” snapped Icheb.

The Doctor stared at him as he finished with Zina and woke her. “No voices…” murmured Zina.

“You’re an individual now.” The Doctor told her pleased with his work before turning back to Icheb. “Are you going to tell me what Seven’s done or not?”

“I can’t…”

Suddenly the Captain’s voice surged through the comm. system. “Red alert! All crew report to their posts!”

The Doctor felt a bad feeling creep up his back and tapped his comm. badge. “What’s happened Captain?”

“Chakotay and Seven aren’t on board! There were some unreported transports to the Borg cube…”

The Doctor shot both Icheb and Zina death stares. “Icheb, Zina and I will come to the Bridge; I think they have the answers.

Seven’s first instinct was to flee what she saw before her but something rooted her feet to the spot, she couldn’t even tear her eyes away, so sickeningly riveting was the sight before her. He moved more robotically than she would have thought possible for the agile man she knew…no it couldn’t be him! She wanted to scream but it caught in her throat and became a desperate pleading whisper, “Chakotay…” His face remained frozen in a white expressionless mask, already patched with steadily forming implants. He and the nameless mass behind him closed mercilessly in on her, his once warm, compassionate eyes fixed on her and yet far away. A strange sense of relief passed over her for a nanosecond, he still had both his eyes, optical implant had yet to form, he wasn’t fully assimilated.

Every rational inkling in her mind ordered her to fight this situation but the strange paralysis persisted until he was right beside her and in desperation she looked directly into his face. It was then that the ability to move returned just as the realisation hit her that there would be no going back for him, he was Borg, emotion was unknown to him. He would assimilate her as easily as anyone else. When the bloodless hand seized her forearm in an iron grip she fully expected reassimilation and even mentally prepared herself for it, so it was a shock when he only began pulling her alongside him up towards the centre of the cube. She couldn’t understand why they were not assimilating her; it was far more effective than any form of humanoid interrogation. As her enhanced eye showed the room before her she made out Riley’s outline and remembered that it was not entirely Borg motives which governed this Collective.

Icheb and Zina were met with a frantic Captain as soon as they entered the Bridge. “What in God’s name is going on?” she asked angrily, her eyes flicking furiously between the two of them.

Loyalty to Seven kept Icheb silent but Zina spoke. “Your First Officer and Seven of Nine are on the lead Cube.”

“Why?” The one word question was uttered as a hiss but Zina was undaunted.

“Riley trapped Seven in her alcove and assimilated the Commander. When we freed her she used my access code to beam aboard the Cube in attempt to salvage him.”

It took a few seconds before shock released its control of the Captain’s mouth. “What? Why didn’t she come to us and we could have saved him! Icheb, how could you not say anything?”

“She asked me not to. She didn’t want the crew put at risk.” Replied Icheb quietly.

“If she asked you to jump off a bridge would you do it?” Her sarcastic rebuke was of course met with clueless expressions from the two former Borg. “What was she planning to do?”

“I am unsure…she was not acting with her typical rationality…” said Icheb unhappily.

The Captain swallowed hard and turned to Zina. “What can we do? You know them.”

“To board the Cube would mean certain assimilation or death.”

“What about attacking it?”

“The shield harmonics constantly change, we would need to know the exact frequency…” Zina paused, an idea hitting her. “Doctor do you think Icheb and I could link with Seven?”

“I don’t see why not, I know her unique code, why?”

Icheb, cottoning on to Zina’s idea spoke. “Seven is in the Cube if she can tell us what the frequency is then…”

“Do it.” Ordered the Captain.