Star Trek Voyager: The Loving Game

Star Trek Voyager: The Loving Game (Chapter 36)

The lightheaded sensation of transport faded and Seven felt her feet connect with the hard, cold surface of a floor, the fog of white static clearing from her eyes to once again to reveal that she was once again on a Borg ship, a huge Cube this time. “Our tactics were correct, you have returned to us.” The Queen’s voice echoed eerily, bouncing off the interior of the daunting expanse and slamming into Seven’s dazed ears as she caught sight of the silent bundle surrounded by the Queen’s scarred arms and she lurched violently forward, a gasping shriek rushing from her.

“Let go of her!” she demanded in a shrill snarl, stumbling to a halt as a drone appeared at the Queen’s shoulder, slim assimilation tubes extended from his gnarled fist. “No…” Seven choked out in a petrified hiss, forcing back nausea and tears as the Queen’s grip perceptively tightened around the baby and Celeste whimpered weakly. “Please…” Seven begged, desperation draining all the fight from her as she was faced with her worst nightmare.

A thin smile pulled at the Queen’s mouth, perhaps enjoying her former subordinate’s pain, but it was more likely, since the Borg felt no emotion, to be only a momentary undercurrent of satisfaction running through the Collective of which she was the ultimate embodiment. “You have altered a great deal since you were taken from us Seven, you should know that all members of the family are perfectly safe here.”

Seven grimaced, using all her mental control to keep herself still, rational, unthreatening to the Collective, even as her arms ached to reach out for her child and her legs longed to flee. “She doesn’t belong here, it would be inefficient to keep her, of what use is an infant to you?” She argued, drawing on every appeal she could think of, her voice crackling with the fire of selfless protectiveness.

The Queen smirked knowingly, “Of enough use to lure you back to us.”

“You have me!” Seven cried out. “Whatever plan you have for me, she has no part in it! Leave her, as you originally intended…”

“Perhaps.” The Queen conceded, gliding over to where Seven stood and staring hard at her. “This development was unexpected when we left you with Voyager…  An understanding of the maternal bond may elevate our level of perfection, if it is one of your weaknesses, perhaps we can exploit it with all humanity…”

Seven felt chills begin to shake her frame as the implications of her words but pushed the fear back. “You have a…willing subject in me, but return the infant to Voyager.” She clamped down on her lips to stop them shuddering and jerked her head up to keep Celeste out of her eye line as the traitorous, but necessary words left her.

The Queen blinked. “We do not understand. In the Collective, she would be safe with us, never apart from you…” A single tear slid down Seven’s face and the Queen ran her spear like finger down it’s pale track as she whispered near her captive’s ear, “It would be a simple matter to bring your lover to us too, you will…miss him otherwise, isn’t that the human expression?”

Seven’s self control caved in and she jerked back, glaring at the woman before gulping as Celeste began to cry in warning, “He is irrelevant to me.” She stated as icily as she could, “Our…liaison was a trick of circumstance, nothing more.” Burying her emotions as deep as possible, she pushed on, “His and the child’s inclusion…would adversely affect our…perfection.” A sob shook her, “Le…Leave them for Janeway… to deal with.”

“We trust your judgement Seven of Nine.” The Queen intoned triumphantly as she observed the woman’s sprit being slowly broken just as the Collective required. Slowly she laid the human infant on the floor at her feet and met Seven’s uneven gaze. “A gesture of goodwill, to welcome you home.” She murmured and with those words Celeste disappeared in a flash of green light. Seven’s body buckled over in relief she couldn’t disguise but as she stared at the empty section of floor, the thought that they may not have sent her back to Voyager stabbed her heart. The Queen laughed, as if reading her thoughts, it occurred to Seven that maybe she was as she lifted her head to meet the strangely dead eyes of the Queen, who jeered, “You may confirm that she has been returned via that console if you wish.”

Seven moved in the jerky, robotic movements of shock as she stumbled to the console, reading the scan in the millisecond before the ship surged away at warp and collapsing on the console with strangled sobs of relief and gratitude, blood dripping from her bitten lips and savaged palms where her nails had suppressed the urge to scream, self-inflicted wounds of restraint.

“No Seven!” Chakotay shouted in horror, just as the transporter dragged her away, his head wheeling around frantically in the fruitless search for her and their daughter.

“Where did she go?” The Captain asked Harry desperately, who was staring in disbelief at the space where Seven had been just seconds before.

“The…the Borg Cube…” He choked out in reply as he read the scans.

“What Borg Cube?” She asked in exasperation.

B’Elanna pointed a shaking finger at the viewscreen where the image of the Queen had been moments before. “That Cube Captain…”

The Captain now saw that where there had minutes before only been a damaged Sphere, there was now also a Cube which dwarfed both its sister vessel and Voyager in size by at least ten times. Her lips parted in shock, “Oh God…”

Chakotay, his skin a disturbing shade of grey, stared at the viewscreen with clenched fists and violently chattering teeth before his eyes, dark and cold as granite, shifted accusingly over the crew. “Was…was a piece of Borg scrap worth their lives?” He snarled, his hysterical anger building in him as he was met with a heavy silence. “Was it?” He launched himself forward blindly and only Tom tackling him from behind stopped him from injuring himself or anyone else.

“Chakotay, calm down! It won’t help…” Tom began to tell him breathlessly until a blinding flash of green light illuminated the Bridge and familiar wails began to rattle their ears.

Chakotay sank to his knees as he slowly registered Celeste’s small form lying on his chair and grasped her shivering body to him, shaky sobs escaping him in his relief. Harry smiled weakly at the scene but he then voiced a new, intensely troubling thought, “What do you think Seven had to do to get them to send her back?”

“Nothing good.” Tom muttered darkly in reply, just as Cube jolted into warp and disappeared from sight.

A/n: I can’t say that I’m particularly proud of this chapter, I probably could have done it better but PLEASE REVIEW! :D