The Captain’s eyes struggled to focus on the cube, drones being sucked out into space through the gaping wound Voyager’s torpedoes had inflicted on its side. Was Seven one of them? Tom’s awestruck voice brought her back to reality. “Why aren’t the other cubes returning fire?”
Zina answered as she stood behind Icheb, who was still searching for Seven. “They are confused. The Cooperative’s link has been disrupted somehow, probably by Riley’s deactivation.”
“How much time do we have to look for Seven?” asked the Captain.
Before Zina could reply Icheb spoke, his voice laden with emotion. “We have her. I’m beaming her to Sickbay.”
The Captain felt all her breath leave her in a relieved exhale just as one of the intact cubes hit Voyager in a direct shot. B’Elanna’s voice echoed urgently through the comm. system. “Captain, one more hit like that one and we’ll be down to impulse!”
Janeway’s fists clenched with unexpressed anger but after seven years she knew when to withdraw. “You heard her Tom. No reason to hang around here, warp nine.”
“Yes Captain!” Tom responded with enthusiasm and within a minute the cubes only had Voyager’s warp trail to fire on.
“Will they follow us?” asked Harry anxiously.
“That is not typical Borg tactics.” Zina replied.
“No offence Zina but the Cooperative weren’t my idea of typical Borg.”
Zina’s lips curled up. “No, I suppose not.”
The Captain put a motherly hand on Zina’s shoulder. “It doesn’t matter now. We can all put this behind us.”
Zina shifted awkwardly and Icheb looked down, unsure of where to look. “I don’t think it will be that simple Captain.” Icheb finally replied.
Why not? What have they done to them? These and many more questions sprang to the Captain’s lips but she held them back when she saw Icheb and Zina’s distinctly depressed expressions. Perhaps she didn’t want to know. “It never is.” She murmured to both of them and they slowly nodded in unison as she tapped her comm. badge. “What’s the situation Doctor?”
A heavy sigh the Doctor couldn’t fully mask even through the comm. line worried the Captain but he spoke before she could barrage him with questions. “Difficult Captain, send Lieutenant Paris I need his help. I’ll debrief you on their condition when they’re both stable.” Tom was out of his chair before the Captain even uttered the order and she smiled gratefully at him, getting a quick nod in return before rushing to Sickbay.
The Captain rubbed her forehead and looked to Tuvok at Tactical, steady as always. “You have the Bridge Mr Tuvok; I’ll be in my ready room.”
“Yes Captain.” He said evenly and she retreated into her ready room with barely a backward glance. I’m not sure if even black coffee will relieve this headache, she thought despondently as the doors closed behind her.
It was several hours before the Doctor ended the wait and called her to Sickbay, she used the offer immediately but the shock she got made her wish she had stayed sequestered in her ready room, safe from hard reality. The biobed closest to the doorway absorbed all her attention the moment she entered, for a moment she longed to believe that they’d beamed up an anonymous drone, but even this mangled body revealed one identifying characteristic she would have known anywhere, the detailed blue paths of a single tattoo above one eye, even more stark against unnaturally pale skin. “They…assimilated him…” she whispered, no other words capable of formation in her mouth.
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Star Trek Voyager: Disunity
FanfictionJust as Seven and Chakotay are getting closer, Riley, his ex-Borg ex-girlfriend, reappears! Does she really need Voyager's help or, as Seven suspects, does she want Chakotay for herself? C/7 and Icheb/OC
