Star Trek: The Ranger Part 1

Chapter 2

II

Four Days Later, Near the Romulan Border

The Phantom and the La Sirena rendezvoused as scheduled, just outside of Romulan space. Picard welcoming Janeway and her crew onboard. After being introduced, Picard and Janeway got down to business in Picard's quarters.

"I regret, Kathryn, that I missed the signs from Seven that she was going to do precisely what she ended up doing."

"How so, Jean-Luc?"

"She had asked me if I had ever regained all of my humanity after being severed from the Collective. I didn't hesitate. I said no, but I told her that both of us were working on that very thing. She replied, 'Every damn day.' Yet the question itself should have warned me that she wasn't going to listen to her humanity after leaving the ship." He gave a sad, sorrowful frown. "I'm deeply sorry for my failure."

Janeway shook her head. "The failure isn't yours, Jean-Luc. It's squarely falls on Seven's shoulders." She took a sip of the coffee Picard had prepared for her, while he sipped at his standard Earl Gray. "A lot happened to Seven after we returned from the Delta Quadrant. Starfleet wanted her to be a prisoner, along with Icheb and our Mark I Doctor. Our friendship disintegrated, which was mostly my fault; her husband died eight years after we returned."

That was news to Picard. "Her husband? Seven was married?"

Kathryn nodded, sweeping away the fleeting pain that entered her mind. "Yes, she married my former First Officer, Chakotay, a year after we returned. After his death, she pretty much vanished off the grid."

"That is a lot to go through, Admiral Janeway", Picard observed.

Kathryn smiled. "Just call me Kathryn, Jean-Luc." She nodded her head out toward the bridge where Rios, Tom, B'Elanna and Raffi presently were. "Those two clowns have given me the rank of Captain again." She turned serious. "And, yes, it was a lot, even for you and me. But for someone who was still trying to find her humanity after eighteen years with the Collective? It was impossible for her."

She took another sip of the caffeinated liquid. "After Chakotay died-well, that was the time that Starfleet and The Federation started to fall firmly under the grasp of the hard-liners, and Seven, like many of us, wanted nothing to do with it, especially since she was aware that The Federation, and Section 31, were after her."

"Section 31", Picard muttered crossly under his breath. "Those damnable bastards."

"When I heard she had joined the Rangers, and knowing something about that group, I had hoped she would be able to...modify the worst of their behavior. When she found Icheb", Janeway shuddered, "cut to pieces, begging to die, she obviously snapped.

"She stayed off the grid as far as I know until this incident on Freecloud. Now? Now I'm worried that she's back in the news, and...certain forces will be gunning for her-literally."

"I do wish, my dear Kathryn, that I could assist in that endeavor. Seven has become important to me over the years. We have-or maybe I should say, had-a special kinship because of The Borg. But I have urgent business elsewhere."

"I understand, Jean-Luc", she said sincerely. "Seven and I, at one time, had a special relationship as well." She couldn't meet Picard's eyes at that moment, but unable to put her old command mask on."

Picard could read people as well as anyone, and his eyebrows raised at Janeway's statement about her relationship with one Annika Hansen. He filed that away for later.