By: Jennica Williams
DISCLAIMER: I am not using Star Trek for profit. Paramount owns the characters, the ships, the uniforms, the biogel packs, even Neelix's food, I'm just here playing around with the ideas running through my head. No copyright infringement is intended.
Prologue...
"Hurry Randy!! Let's go!! I can hear them coming!"
The one called Randy glanced over his shoulder for a minute. He heard something too, but not them. It was a tiny voice crying. There! About six meters down the corridor to his left he saw the source- a tiny little girl. He grabbed her in his arms quickly and kept running for fear they would catch him.
Sweat was pouring down Randy's face. He wasn't used to running the length of the ship for fear of his life. Reaching the shuttle bay his companions quickly jumped into the nearest shuttlecrafts. He followed Jack into the first one. Smacking controls as quickly as they could they burst through the shuttle bay doors without waiting for them to open. Behind them a second followed.
"Everyone ok over there?" Jack opened a comm link with the other shuttlecraft.
"Fine sir." Jones replied tensely.
"Who all is with you?"
"Just myself." Young Jones looked out at the distance of space through the veiwscreen.
Jack leaned over to Randy. "How's the girl?"
"Fine, just crying."
"You have the girl?" Jones asked. "That's the twenty-seconder's daughter."
"I don't care if she's the princess, we need to get away from here." Jack punched the controls and increased speed. He didn't even notice when young Jones' shuttlecraft separated from his and was forced to make an emergency landing on a nearby deserted planet. And when he did notice, it was too late.
Weeks later their shuttlecraft was also forced to land on a deserted planet.
A tiny insect scurried away from her piercing green eyes. She was bent down so she could see what it would do if she poked it with a stick. Sighing she straightened up and pushed back her jet black hair that was sticking to her face. In the distance the hills rose gracefully; she had only been past them a few times. She wasn't content to stay in one place, but past the hills were the deserts. She much preferred the caves and rivers of her own forest here. Whenever the chance rose she took the time to explore. In fact, once she had gone so far she had seen a great body of salty water. There had been more sand by it than by the regular streams and rivers here. It had been an exciting time for her. But she had yet to go back. It had taken her most of the spring to get there, then she had to come right back and found it to be late fall when she finally arrived. That winter had been horrible because she had not taken the time to store food. That had been her first winter alone also. Randy had died the previous spring, just before she had left. He had been like a father to her. Even now, 9 springs after his death, it hurt to think of him. She felt tears spring to her eyes and impatiently wiped them away. She had no time for tears.
Standing, she decided it was time to go back to the place she knew as her beginnings. The funny-looking building,..no...it wasn't a building....Randy had called it something different. She stared at it hoping the word would come to her....shuttle-something. It had great things in it. Treasures, she often thought. The things didn't work, after 20 years what did one expect, but she still loved to look at them and run her hand over them.
She wasn't interested in making them work again, instead she preferred the wild plants that grew around the strange structure. Bending down to touch a white flower she noticed something different. Something she had never seen before. It was a tiny blossom. Only about one centimeter long, but it was a deep blue with gold flecks in it. She made a mental note of it's location and appearance, she would be back later to check up on it. A shadow suddenly crossed over the grass by her feet.
Shielding her eyes she gazed up at one of the twin suns in the sky. There was something passing in front of it!! 'What could it be?' she wondered.
"Captain's log stardate 51494.2, B'Ellana has finished maintenance repairs, and I must say that I am happy to see a ship as well used as this one standing up so well. Harry has told me that scans of this region have revealed a binary star system with a couple of M-class planets. So we will be stopping by to see if they can replenish our food and energy supplies, also some of the crew may take shoreleave. End log."
Janeway stood up and stretched her arms over her head. She was tired. It was two in the morning and she was supposed to be off duty sleeping. But she was suffering from insomnia-again, she felt something big was about to happen and didn't want to be far from the bridge when it did. So instead she was in her ready room doing what ever she could. Looking over the items on her desk she saw that the crew schedule had already been made (a result of last night's insomnia), all of the crew reports had been read, and she was as caught up as she would ever be on all of her other duties.
Well, she was getting pretty tired. Maybe if she went to her quarters she could get some sleep, she reasoned making her way to the turbolift. Once in her quarters, she put on a nightgown and crawled into bed.
An hour later she was still tossing. It was no use. She felt like something big was about to happen, and she wanted to know what. Sitting up, she slumped against her head board letting it bang loudly on the wall; instantly, she regretted it. Just because she couldn't sleep was no reason to wake her first officer who had the unfortunate circumstances of sleeping on the other side of that wall.
"Chakotay to Janeway."
"I'm sorry Commander." she answered.
"Having trouble sleeping?"
"Yes."
"Me too. My spirit guide was very peculiar tonight. I think something is about to happen."
"Come on over commander." she sighed reaching for her robe.
The commander sat up and grinned. If he couldn't sleep, then at least he'd get to spend some time with the most wonderful woman on the ship. Reaching for his robe he made a beeline for her quarters.
Sitting together on the couch in the dim light they sat and just looked out at the stars.
"What did your spirit guide say?" Kathryn asked.
He looked to her face. A shadow was cast on half of it, but the other half was illuminated by the passing stars. "She didn't give me a clue really." he began. "But she was looking around like we were being watched, or she was expecting something. Then she did tell me to be careful."
He leaned back watching the captain. She was biting her lower lip, Chakotay wondered if she even knew she was doing that, probably not, he decided.
She caught his eyes watching her. "Commander?" Watching his cheeks redden in color was a new experience for her. She smiled when she saw it. "Should I ask what you were thinking?"
"You were biting your lip" he said softly reaching his hand to touch the object of his thoughts. She froze under his touch. "I'm sorry, Captain." He said pulling back.
"No..I.." she couldn't make a coherent sentence, so instead she reached for his hand.
He gazed into her eyes, the reflection of the stars passing by gazed back at him. Slowly he leaned down and brushed her lips with his. When she responded, he dropped her hands and pulled her into his embrace. Finally, Janeway pulled away and snuggled her face into Chakotay's shoulder.
Janeway's chronometer went off at 0600 hours waking both of them up. She was startled to find herself on her couch in her living room, and even more surprised to find her first officer with his arms wrapped around her.
"Chakotay,"
"Mmhhp...."
"Chakotay, wake up." she gently pushed on his chest.
"Mmmmmmhhhppp......" he pulled her more tightly against him.
She groaned. "When the crew finds out where you spent the night, the rumors are going to be flying."
His eyes flew open as he dropped her on the floor. "Kathryn, I'm sorry!" he gasped when he saw what he'd done.
She shook her head. Actually, she was shaking. He knelt beside her concerned that something was wrong.
"Are you ok? Look at me.."
She finally did look at him as a bubble of laughter erupted from her throat. "What a way to wake up!" she laughed.
Relieved that she wasn't hurt he began to laugh too. "Let me help you up." he reached for her hands. She allowed him to pull her up and then was instantly silenced as she found herself pinned against his chest wrapped in his embrace again.
Smiling, she gently pushed away. "We have to get to the bridge, Commander."
He looked down at her, wanting nothing more than to kiss her at that moment. Reluctantly he turned her loose and watched as she fled to her bedroom to get ready. He then left for his own quarters.
"Captain, there is an M-class planet coming just into scanning range."
"Any lifesigns?" she asked quickly.
"Nothing more than plants and some small animals. Wait....I'm picking up one isolated scan in the northern hemisphere of the planet, right where all of the best vegetation is." Harry reported.
Janeway acknowledged the find. "Ok, one person. We'll beam down, but try to keep quiet so they don't notice us. Commander, set up a few away teams to help Neelix gather supplies."
"Aye Captain." He grinned and quickly went about making preparations for the teams.
An hour later Tom, Chakotay, and B'Elanna, were beamed down to the planet with Neelix and a bunch of officers to gather food supplies. Neelix took charge and explained what he was looking for. As he gave his lengthy speech, the trio of senior bridge officers strayed away, they were in no mood for a lecture on the different kinds of roots in this sector.
Soon, the beeping of tricorders was the only sound as the crew members fanned out to poke through the underbrush. Chakotay stepped over a fallen log to get a better look at a type of mushroom. He remembered seeing some that were similar to the one before him, but he didn't know where. Suddenly, out of no where, an arrow shot past him, barely missing his head as it embedded itself in the tree not four feet behind him. Chakotay gave a shout and ducked just in time to be missed by the next arrow that came from the dense thicket of the trees.
Tom and B'Elanna heard his shouts and dashed over to where he was lying on the ground panting. With a roar he leapt from his hiding position and charged off in the direction of his assassin. Tom and B'Elanna exchanged confused looks before following him.
There she was! About 20 meters in front of him! Man!, she could run fast! Chakotay was already breathing hard and the girl in front of him showed no signs of slowing down. All of a sudden, the girl fell and disappeared from sight just as a sickening crack was heard. Chakotay slowed down as he came upon her still body. She didn't move as he knelt to feel her pulse, one hand still on his phaser. A vine, he noticed, was the object that had tripped her. And from her head, a slow stream of blood was beginning to appear from where she'd hit her head on the tree.
Tom and B'Elanna crashed through the underbrush and nearly stumbled over the same root as they skid to a halt.
"What happened?!" Tom demanded already scanning for injuries.
"The root." Chakotay answered. "She must have tripped over it and hit her head."
"That would explain the concussion." Tom replied wryly. "We need to get her back to the ship.....ahhh, commander......" he paused staring at the data his tricorder was sending back. "From these readings I would suspect that she is fully human."
"Human?" Torres scoffed. "That's impossible!"
"Here, then you tell me what it says!"
"Um, while you two argue it out, I think I'm going to transport her up to sickbay and let the doc tell us." Chakotay tapped his comm badge. "Two to beam directly to sick bay."
Harry Kim stepped onto the bridge a few hours later. He'd barely had time to eat lunch before the red alert klaxons had sounded calling him from other tasks. On the screen, four alien ships were coming towards them. Quickly he stepped over to his console to read what was going on.
"Report." The captain barked turning to face Harry.
"They are powering weapons, captain." He answered immediately. "And they are superior to our ship, but not faster."
"Tom, see if you can plot a course away from here. I'd like to avoid any unnecessary skirmishes."
"Negative captain, they have us penned in."
"Captain, they are hailing us." Tuvok announced.
She nodded at him, then turned to the view screen. "I am Captain Janeway of the Federation Starship Voyager. To whom am I speaking?"
The gray/blue man with a black beard and hair glared at her. "I am K'ounesic of the Dregisons. You will surrender your ship."
"I will do no such thing." Janeway stated evenly.
"You are one against four. You will be boarded, and then destroyed. But your ship will remain with us." K'ounesic said something to someone behind him and the transmission was cut off.
"Tom, be prepared to go to warp the instant I say go. Tuvok, find a weak spot in their defense."
The ship rocked suddenly as red phasers burst from the alien ship and cut through the shields. Voyager shot out a blast of blue phasers and hit one of the ships. Harry grabbed hold of the console and was just barely kept from being tossed to the floor.
"I think I can get through that opening!" Tom exclaimed. "Thank you Tuvok."
"Do it!" Janeway shouted as the ship took another hit, this time throwing her to the floor. Chakotay was instantly over her.
"You ok?" he asked as the ship leapt to warp. The bridge was still shuddering under the phaser bursts from the Dregisons.
"Fine Commander." He helped her stand up. "Status?"
"Decks fourteen and six are without power." Harry replied quickly. "B'Elanna already has teams responding. And it looks like they hit our main power grid."
Janeway nodded. "Have B'Elanna take care of it. Since we can't go back to the planet, I think we'll need to have a talk with our visitor. Did she wake up when you brought her on board, commander?"
"No, captain. The doctor said he could wake her if needed, but he preferred to let her body repair itself."
"Ok, you have the bridge Tuvok. Commander, you're with me."
Most of the bridge crew watched out of the corners of their eyes as the captain and commander made their way to the turbolift. They knew something was up between the two.
"Good! It's about time someone came down here to check up on this patient!" the doctor greeted them the instant they stepped in the door.
"What have you learned?" Janeway asked stepping forward and eyeing the child curiously.
"She is about twenty two years old, fully human, and extremely curious. Give that back. You can't play with it." The doctor pried the hypospray from her hands. "I'm tempted to give her a sedative if someone doesn't take her off my hands."
"Why can't I see it? I'm a fast learner."
"That's what I'm afraid of." The doctor grumbled taking his instruments into his office. "I left her still in a coma while I was in my office. I came out, and she had not only woken up, but had started investigating my computers. Captain, you have to do something."
"You!" the young woman suddenly saw Chakotay standing behind the captain. "Why did you bring me here? I was fine in my home!"
"I had to," he tried to explain. "You fell over that root and would have died from a concussion that serious."
The doctor glared at Chakotay, "I seriously doubt anything could kill this one, Commander."
"Take me back! Bring me back to my home!!" she lunged forward at Chakotay nearly toppling him off balance. He grabbed her by her forearms and hauled her onto a biobed.
"I need for you to answer some questions." Janeway came forward.
"I don't have to answer anything I don't want to!" the girl shrieked.
"Where did you come from?" Janeway began. The girl remained silent and wouldn't look at them. "Who raised you?.....Are there anymore people down there?..."
"Allison Errington, you will answer my questions."
The girl whipped her head around as Chakotay stared wide eyed at the captain.
"How did you know my name?!" she demanded.
"Is that important?"
She furrowed her eyebrows together. "Fine....I'm Allison Errington, I came from no where in particular, Randy, and no."
Janeway was a little surprised at the speed at which she answered her questions, and in the correct order too.
"Where is Randy from? Is he your father?"
"He was from some ship called the Raven, one of the scientists off of it. And no, he saved me when we were attacked by the mechanical men."
"The mechanical men?" Chakotay leaned forward.
"Yes, and don't ask me anything about them. I was only a baby when we were attacked." Allison pushed herself off the biobed and started pacing. "Randy was around until my thirteenth year. Then he died."
"And you've been alone since?" Janeway asked.
"Yes." She shrugged like it was no big deal. "I can take care of myself quite nicely."
Walking over to the side of the biobed she began pressing buttons.
"Don't do that." The doctor was at her elbow almost immediately pushing her hands away. "Have you no respect for equipment you know nothing of, child?"
Her black eyes flashed and she was about to give back a retort, but the captain interrupted her first.
"If she's fine, doctor, we'll take her off your hands."
"Absolutely healthy. Get her out of my sick bay. I have real work to do instead of playing babysitter."
Janeway led the way with the spit fire of a young woman following her, and Chakotay bringing up the back. "We can't take you back, there are a people back there who are hostile. They will attack and kill us."
"You had no right to take me from there, you will take me back."
Janeway spun around and faced the girl so her face was mere inches from the other's. "I am the captain of this ship. I give the orders, and I expect you to follow them whether you like them or not. Is that clear?" she asked low and steady while glaring at the young woman.
Allison refused to speak, so Janeway continued. "I know that being torn from the only home you've known is hard. It will take some adjusting. But I will not allow you to disrespect me or any member of my crew. You will do your fair share of work on this ship."
Allison's face remained emotionless, but sh>
Seven had heard of the young woman they had found on the planet. In fact, the captain had called her to her ready room to specifically tell her. She didn't see what the disturbance was all about. Allison was just another crew member that they had picked up; what did it matter that she had come from Seven's ship? Pasts were irrelevant. "You will work with her." Torres repeated wondering if all of her time was going to be spent arguing with the newest member of Voyager's crew. She was worse than Seven, at least the former Borg did the work without complaining-even if she 'altered' the assignment. Allison would sit in front of a console, and learn how the whole thing worked before she would do a simple task. "I do not want to work with a machine." Allison stuck her already prominent chin out. "I am not a machine." Seven stated clearly coming up behind them. "I was Borg, but I am now a part of this crew. If you can not accept it, then I suggest you take it up with me, not any other member of the crew." Allison spun on her. "You are still machine. You do not know what it is to experience feelings." "You are wrong. I have experienced feelings." Seven replied remembering the time she had gone back to The Raven. "Just because active Borg do not have feelings does not mean that a former Borg would not. Now, I suggest that we work on that console or else we will be here past shift." Seven moved back to the console she'd been working on with Harry. "We're going to have to manually reroute all of the power cells in here." He muttered ripping out a few segments. "It's a mess from those Dregisons." Seven gave Harry a slight push to move him over and joined in the task of pulling out power chips to fix. She turned and looked over her shoulder. "Your assistance is not required here, Allison, you can help the doctor if you prefer." Allison immediately knelt beside the two and began helping. Harry grinned at Seven , "Where did you ever get that idea?" he leaned over and asked her very softly close to her ear. She looked up at him. "The captain." She mouthed back knowing that speaking aloud at that point would not be good for Allison to hear. The two shared a hesitant smile and then went back to their work. "There, that's the last chip." Harry leaned back on his heels and viewed what had taken them two hours to do. Pulling all the old power chips and rerouting new ones was no easy task. "Satisfactory." Seven added standing up. "Well, our shift is about over...would you like to join Seven and I for dinner, Allison?" Harry asked. "I prefer to eat alone." The young woman replied. "It's much more enjoyable to eat as a group." Harry told her. "Seven and I usually eat together, sometimes with Tom and B'Elanna too. You'll need to make some friends on board, now is as good of time as any." She finally acquiesced. "I will join you for dinner." The meal was eaten in almost total silence. Seven didn't talk much during her meals, Harry knew, but Allison was downright silent. "So,..." Harry was eager to end this utter stillness. Seven read the discomfort in Harry's face. She was not concerned about the lack of conversation at a meal, that was irrelevant to the purpose, but she would not sit and watch him stare at the walls in order to avoid making a fool of himself. "What was your life like, Allison?" Seven finally asked. "After the assimilation of the Raven." Allison's piercing glare met Seven's hard one. Harry wondered if there would be an argument. "It was peaceful. No menial tasks. Everything was done for a purpose. It was pleasant. No unnecessary questions." Seven put down her fork. "So was being Borg. Your mother was assimilated. Designation Four of Nine. She was in my classification. Her knowledge was useful to the Collective. Especially in the assimilation of her home planet." Allison's head snapped up and she stared sharply at Seven. "My planet was assimilated?" "Species 576. Descendants of the human race, brought to the Delta Quadrant in the year 2198 through an unstable wormhole. They fought amongst themselves and divided. They established a warrior nation, your mother left and joined the crew of the Raven just after you were born. Unstable society, but efficient in hard manual labor once assimilated." Seven recited tipping her head to the right slightly. "You assimilated my home.." Allison stated flatly. Then with a shout she leapt out of her chair and at Seven. "You machine!" she shouted. "You cold, uncaring, unfeeling mechanical animal!!!" Seven still sat in her chair as she fought off the wild woman. Harry jumped up and pulled Allison off of Seven. "Are you ok, Seven?" "I am undamaged." She answered calmly. Then he proceeded to drag the newest member of the crew from the mess hall. Seven watched them go. He would undoubtedly take her to the brig. She turned back to her meal, calmly aware that the crew's eyes were on her. When she was finished, she carried the three trays back to the replicator to dispose of them, and then headed down to engineering.
Harry led Allison back to her quarters. "Is everything ok now?" he asked her. They had indeed gone to the brig. Tuvok had given her a stern lecture, but only a warning. And he'd been instructed to take her back to her quarters. She glared at him. They reached her quarters and he punched in the codes. The door closed behind them. "Why are you here?" Allison asked coolly. "Because you need a friend." He dropped onto her sofa in the tiny sitting room. "When Seven came aboard, she was convinced that she didn't need a friend, but she did. And I believe you do too." "I can make my own way, thank you very much." "Can you? You've never been on board a star ship before. You have no idea what to expect in the next 70 years-" "Seventy years?!?" "Yes. We were drawn here by a stellar phenomena. It's been destroyed. It will take about 70 years to get home. And that is where we're headed." Harry shifted as Allison took a seat in a chair across from him. "I want to be dropped off at the next planet." "We don't past that many M-class planets." Harry warned her. "It's unlikely we'll find one you can stay on in a short amount of time." Allison turned away to hide a tear. She could not break down in front of this man. No! But he saw it slide down her cheek. "We'll figure out something Allison." Harry said taking pity on her. "After all, you may find that once you adjust to life here, you'll like it." "Like it here? Cramped up in a metal box?? No, I don't believe so Ensign." Harry grinned. "This metal box is my home. I love it on Voyager. Anyone who tried to take me away would be very sorry. If you had some friends on board, maybe you'd find it tolerable. For a little while at least." He was offering his friendship, that she could see. If she had him as a friend, and he had other friends, maybe they could become her friends. No, she didn't want that. But the only other choice was to be stuck among people who hated her. She sighed a little. "I will try to become....friends." He grinned at her again. "This is a big step for you, Allison. I know you won't regret it." Harry stood up. "I need to get back to engineering. Seven and I are supposed to go over some warp core modifications with B'Elanna before the morning crew gets there. I'll see you tomorrow." "Where have you been?" Seven asked without turning from her console. "I had to help Allison." Harry said. "Where's B'Elanna?" Seven turned to look at him, unsure of what this emotion in her was. Not fear. She knew that from her visit to the Raven. It was something else. She would have to take it up with the captain later. Right now, they had a job to do. "She left me to finish. I have studied the magnetic constrictors. I believe if we decrease the power flow by four point five percent, the deuterium will react slower, thus more efficiently." "But won't that affect the amount going into the EPS taps? If we decrease it by too much, we won't be outputting much power." "I have considered that." Seven replied. "It will be a decrease in power by point oh oh four two six percent. Hardly detectable. But doing this would give Voyager another two months before we have to look for new power supplies. And if we did come upon a situation where more power was necessary, adjustments could be made by accessing the energy flow from jeffries tube alpha 17." Harry nodded. She had obviously thought it all out. "Let's do it." "Thank you for your approval after the Chief of Engineering gave it." Harry gave her an odd look, sarcasm was not normal for Seven. She ignored his look. Seven was in Sandrines talking with a group of ensigns from engineering when she saw Harry and Allison stroll inside. "Seven?...Wilner to Seven..." the ensign waved her hand in front of Seven's face trying to get her attention. "What? Oh, I'm sorry Ensign Wilner." Seven said quickly dragging her attention back to the group before her. "Uh oh..." Andrea grinned knowingly at her friends. "Seven likes someone." Seven rose from the table. "This conversation is irrelevant." With a quick turn she left them. "Seven!" Harry waved from across the room. "Come join us." She walked over to where Harry sat with Allison. "What do you need?" Harry frowned. "Is everything ok?" he asked. Allison watched the two, "I think I see a...friend..over there. I'm going to go talk to them." She quickly vacated her chair and left. Seven started to follow, but Harry grabbed her arm. "What's wrong with you lately?" he asked. "You've barely said two words to me since last week and you've been avoiding me at meal times. That's not your standard behavior." "I am fine." She replied coolly. He dropped her arm. "No, you're not. But I can't force you to tell me what's bothering you. You know where my quarters are if you need me." Harry weaved through the tables quickly hoping to get out of the program before he went crazy. Breathing a sigh of relief, he made his way through the corridors of Voyager. Seven and he were good friends, at least he'd thought so. So why would she act like this?
The former borg stood staring after Ensign Kim. Quickly, she followed him out of the program, though she had no intentions of finding him. She was looking for someone else. "Computer, locate Captain Janeway." "Captain Janeway is in holodeck 1." The De Vinci program was running, she could see. Since the privacy lock was not engaged, Seven allowed herself to enter. Janeway was so intent on her sculpture of a terran animal, that she didn't notice Seven standing before her for several minutes. When she did finally glance up, she gasped in surprise and dropped a lump of clay. "I am sorry for startling you captain." Seven said quickly retrieving the clay ball that had rolled across the floor. Janeway wiped her forehead with the back of her hand which resulted in a gray streak being left across her already smeared face. "Quite all right Seven. What can I do for you?" "I am unsure of an emotion I seem to be experiencing." Seven said slowly staring resolutely at the piece of work before her. "What is that?" Janeway smiled at her bluntness. "A dog. A golden retriever to be exact." "Oh.r el>
"You can download some pictures of them from the databanks if you want to see what a normal one looks like." Janeway told her. "Now, what is this emotion like?" "I am unsure of how to describe it." Seven rolled the piece of clay around in her fingers for a moment. "Why don't you tell me the circumstances that surround the emotion." Seven pondered it for a moment. "The first time I remember it was when Ensign Kim was late last week. We were supposed to meet Lt. Torres in engineering that evening to go over some modifications to the warp core. He was late because Allison had attacked me and he'd taken her to the brig and then back to her quarters. "Were you angry at him?" "I don't know. I've never experienced anger." "I'm sure you have...." Janeway cocked her head to the side and thought for a moment. "How would you have felt toward the Dregisons if they had destroyed Voyager?" "I would not have felt anything, I would be dead." Janeway closed her eyes. "How would you feel if you were able to?" Seven looked out a window as she mulled over the possibility. Finally, she turned back. "I would want for them to pay for what they did." "That's anger." Janeway made an adjustment to the dog's nose. "Now, did you feel like you wanted Harry to pay for being late?" "No. I wanted Allison to pay." Janeway's head snapped up. "It does not please you when Harry and Allison spend time together?" "No." If possible, the answer was more venomant. Janeway smiled, she couldn't help herself. "You're jealous." "Jealous?" "Do you have feelings toward Harry that you don't have toward anyone else on this ship?" "What kind of feelings?" This was going to be a harder one. "Do you want to protect him more than you would any other member of this crew...are you happiest in his company? "Like you and the commander?" Janeway's eyes grew wide and her cheeks flushed. "Let's not bring the commander and myself into this." Seven contemplated her previous words. "Yes, I think I do have...feelings...for him." Janeway sighed to herself in relief. She didn't want to bring her relationship with Chakotay into this. "I'd say you've found it. You're falling in love with him."
Over the next few days, Seven thought of almost nothing else. She was finding it hard to work with him because his nearness was making her unable to concentrate.
"Seven is what??" Chakotay stared at Kathryn in disbelief. "Shhh!" she placed a hand over his mouth. "You heard me. She's falling in love." They were sharing coffee in her ready room at the end of their shift. He pulled her hand away from his face and then managed to pull her onto his lap. "I guess I didn't expect it to happen to her." "She is becoming more and more human everyday." Kathryn reminded him. "Well, she's not the only one who's fallen in love." Chakotay smiled up at her. She leaned down to kiss him then, but never was allowed the pleasure. Instead, she was jolted out of his arms and onto the floor as the ship was hit. The moment forgotten, both rushed to the bridge. "Red alert!" Janeway burst out the instant her feet landed on the bridge. It was hardly necessary for her to say anything, for the ship's klaxons had already gone off. "Who are they?" "The Dregisons, captain." Harry answered quickly. "Three ships." The ship rocked against another phaser blast from the ship on the far port side. "Fire at will." She ordered. "Tom, can you get us out of here?" He never had the chance to reply. A Dregison solider chose that instant to beam over with a swarm of his comrades. They made a sweeping motion with his phaser, but luckily they was much taller than the humanoids and they were well out of his range. The leader looked around the bridge, and then taking in the crew, he motioned for them to follow. "All of you, this way." He gruffly belted out. The crew looked to their captain, Janeway held her head high as she marched out, Chakotay following her. The rest of the crew followed as they were led to a cargo bay to join the rest of the crew members from various parts of the ship. The Dregisons locked them in and then left them. The bridge officers gathered together on a pile of crates to discuss possibilities. "If we had more power, we could escape the other three ships, and then beam these on board straight to another cargo bay." B'Elanna stated quickly. Janeway didn't miss the exchange of looks between Harry and Seven. "Do you know of something?" she asked the two. "We made some modifications to the warp core last week." Seven said. "It is possible to access more power by changing the energy flow from jeffries tube alpha 17." "See if you can get out of here and get over there. B'Elanna, you and Tuvok try to get to engineering and get some systems up. Be prepared to work together and run back and forth. I don't' know if the comm signals will work. I'm going to see if I can access the weapon lockers." "I'll go with you." Chakotay said quickly. "You'll need someone to watch your back." She nodded tersely. "Meet back here in two hours if you don't hear from the other teams. Tom, try to keep the crew calm." The six officers scurried to a hatch in the cargo bay wall that had hopefully been over looked. Surprisingly, the door came off with no effort and there was no forcefeild in place. They climbed in and quickly spilt up as they crawled through the jeffries tubes in the ship. B'Elanna and Tuvok crawled along on their hands and knees hurrying toward engineering. She reached the hatch and paused. Carefully, Torres opened it a few centimeters to peer inside and see if it was swarming with Dregisions. It was. She pulled the hatch cover back into place and sank backwards. "They're everywhere in there." She reported dejectedly. Tapping her comm badge, she was surprised to be able to open a link with the captain. Quickly, she informed Janeway of the situation in engineering. "We'll try to create a diversion over here that will allow you entry." "And how do you intend to do that?" Chakotay asked her after the link was closed. "We're going to fire on our ship." She stated matter of factly as she shoved a phaser rifle in his arms. "You go down one level, and I'll go up one. Open a hatch, and fire in the corridor. Then move as quickly as you can to another. See if you can injure some of these bastards who've taken our ship. And whatever happens, see if you can keep them running." She started to turn away. "Kathryn...." Chakotay's voice halted her. She turned back. "You have your orders, Commander." She said. Then she pressed her mouth against his. "Be careful, Chakotay. I want you back." He nodded. "You be careful too..no unnecessary risks." She only grinned at him before grasping the rung of the ladder to the upper deck. The minute she landed on the next deck, she opened a hatch and peeked into the corridor. It was empty, except for a computer console. Begging B'Elanna to forgive her, she set the rifle on the lowest power setting and fired at the computer. Instantly red alert klaxons blared through out the ship. Seven stopped short in her crawl as the klaxons began to blare. "Keep going." Harry instructed. "If we stop, we may never make it." She resumed the crawl. A few minutes later, they reached the last hatch they would have to get through. The panel was in the tube so it would be relatively easy to make the adjustments. Seven began tapping controls as soon as she had the gray panel off the wall. "I require your assistance, Ensign Kim." She said gripping a thick wire. "We need to pull this wire out and connect it to the upper coupling." Harry placed his hands over hers. The borg implants pricked his palms, but he held them. Together they pulled on the electrical conductor. It snapped out of the coupling causing the ship to plunge into darkness. "Was it supposed to do that?" Harry asked concerned. He couldn't see Seven, and she was only a few inches from him. "No." She felt the edge of the panel knowing that her borg exoskeleton could withstand a shock if she wasn't careful, but she didn't want to have to experience it. "Please move back, Ensign. If I touch an energy current, I don't' want for the shock to be passed on to you." "If you- what?!?" Harry exclaimed. "Seven! Get back! Don't touch it!" She turned her face towards where she knew he was. "Harry, my borg exoskeleton can withstand the shock, but yours can not. If we are going to have power back on the ship, I must reconnect the wires." She paused, realizing what she had called him. "Forgive me for calling you by your first name." "It's fine,.." he said. "I..uh, I...actually kind of like you calling me Harry." There was a funny feeling in her rib cage. It felt very awkward. "Please move back." Seven said softly. She didn't continue her work until she felt Harry move back. "Be careful." He whispered. She had the couplings and wires back together in no time. Power flowed through the thick cord and the lights returned. "We can now return to the others." Seven said closing the panel. Harry turned to open the hatch. He pulled on it to no avail. "It won't open." He muttered. "What?" Seven pushed him back in disbelief. "It has to open." Harry watched as she pulled and pried on the door. He was right, it was stuck. Both slumped against the sides of the jeffries tubes. B'Elanna halted in mid stance as the power shut off. "Please proceed forward while we have the cover of darkness." Tuvok said quickly giving her a very unvulcan-like push. She felt her way straight to one of the consoles. Nothing was lit up on it. "I can't do anything until we have power." She muttered leaning against it. Tuvok held up a hand for silence, though she couldn't see it, she felt the need to be quiet all of a sudden. "There is one Dregison in here." He whispered very softly, almost too soft for her to hear. "It is by the door. I want for you to override the doors and lock them when the power comes back on, I will take care of our 'friend'." B'Elanna was not happy about being given the more peaceful of the two tasks, but she recognized Tuvok's authority as they slipped through the darkness to attack the alien. Only a few seconds after they were in position, engineering came to life as the power was restored. She manually shut the doors and keyed in the lock sequence. Tuvok had sprung on the Dregison as it had come after her. B'Elanna was surprised that the Vulcan nerve pinch worked so nicely on such a huge beast. Now they only had one very unconscience alien to deal with. Torres ran back to the console. "Torres to Janeway. I've got power now. We can attempt to reroute helm control down to engineering and then see if we can out run them, but the aliens will probably be down here within minutes to retake the ship." "Prepare to reroute helm control on my mark. Chakotay and I will get down to engineering as quickly as we can with weapons. Janeway out." Torres went from panel to panel. She was going to get as much power to the shields and warp engines as possible before the escape time came.
"Janeway to Paris." "Paris here captain." Tom couldn't remember another time he'd been so grateful to hear her voice. "I need for you to set up some teams to get phasers and rifles from the weapon lockers. B'Elanna is about to set the plan in motion, so it's going to be a bit bumpy. I want for you to be able to defend our little holding cell if it comes to that. And I'd also like to station some teams around the ship so we can all attack at once. Get them in place just outside of the bridge, and along the most probable route to engineering." "Aye Captain." He replied as she closed the comm link. Turning to the crew members he said, "Ok guys, it's time for the fight."
Chakotay dropped down one level when he saw Kathryn below. He caught her by the waist and pulled her into his arms so he could kiss her. She eagerly returned the kiss. "Thank goodness you're ok." He finally whispered against her hair. "I'm fine Chakotay. We need to get to engineering though. B'Elanna is about ready to start." He kissed her brow quickly before turning her loose so they could crawl through the ship.
Allison sat with her arms wrapped around her knees and she rocked back and forth in the cargo bay. She was shaking, Tom noticed. He quickly made his way over to her. "You going to be ok, Allison?" he asked. She lifted fearful eyes to his. "I've never been treated like this. Until I was taken by Voyager, I'd never seen another person besides Jack and Randy. Much less been ordered around by one." Tom kneeled down to her level. "Being taken hostage on your own ship can be a frightening time, but we're going to get through this. Trust me. Captain Janeway always has a back up plan if something goes wrong. We'll be free in just a few hours." He fervently hoped he was telling the truth. Some of the fear was gone, replaced by trust, but not all. Tom knew that she would be better doing something than sitting here shaking. "Why don't you come with me?" he suggested. "I'll have to get down to engineering to take helm control from Torres before she steers us into an asteroid or something. The captain disapproves of one person away missions, and with aliens swarming us, this qualifies as a time when we need each other watching our backs." Allison nodded jerkily. "Ok. I'll do the best I can." "That's all I ask." Tom said encouragingly as he handed her a phaser. B'Elanna looked up surprised when the hatch to the jeffries tube flipped open and the captain and commander tumbled out. Janeway tossed Torres a phaser rifle and then tapped her comm badge. "Tom, is everyone in place?" "Yes captain." "Janeway to Seven and Harry. Are you with Tom?" "Negative captain." Harry answered. "The hatch is jammed. We can't get out, but at least no one can get in." "Understood. We are going to take helm control, so it will probably get a bit bumpy when B'Elanna breaks us free. Brace for impact. Janeway out." "Janeway to all hands, do it." B'Elanna's hands flew over the console as she rerouted helm control to engineering and then locked in the command. "We are ready to leave captain. I have a feeling they'll try to destroy us rather than let us go." "We'll have to risk it. I'm sure someone is on the way down here already to stop us." B'Elanna made some adjustments to the console. She was finally piloting the ship instead of the aliens. Seven was thrown into a wall as the first hits rocked Voyager. "Are you okay, Seven?" Harry asked quickly bracing his feet against the opposite side of the jeffries tube for stability. "I am undamaged." She muttered trying to sit up straight, but it was nigh impossible with all of the fire that was going on outside of the ship. When she landed against him, he grabbed her around the waist and held on as he braced his feet. Seven took in a sharp breath, more from the fact that Harry's arms were around her than from the force of which he held her pinned against his chest. The discovery that she liked being held against him startled her even more. Harry's nerves were on edge. He had Seven in a bear hug, something he'd dreamed about, but he had no idea if she was feeling anything more than that he was a stable object to which she was attached so she wouldn't fly down the jeffries tube. The past week had been pure torture for him. He didn't know if she was mad at him, or had figured out he was interested in her and was avoiding him for that reason. The blond hair in front of his face that had come loose during the crawls through the ship was tickling his nose. He wanted to bury his face in it to ease the itch, but he didn't dare. If she didn't return any feelings, he'd probably be assimilated! Well, maybe not assimilated. She was now more human than borg, but she'd still be pretty mad.
When Tom and Allison staggered out of the hatch, they were horrified to find four phaser rifles aimed at them. "Hey! Watch where you point those things!" Tom exclaimed lifting his hands up. "Sorry Tom." Chakotay said. "I crawl across the ship so I can make sure that someone who knows absolutely nothing about helm control doesn't take us into a black hole, and this is the welcome I get." Tom grumbled giving B'Elanna a small push. She stood her ground. His eyes met hers. The fire between them sparkled. "Later B'Ela." He whispered. Ugh!, he wanted to kiss her so bad but didn't dare with all of his COs eyeing them. "Captain, we've just cleared the last of the three vessels." Tom announced. "Just in time, because we've got company." Janeway stood on one side of the door with Chakotay facing her. They burst into the hall with Tuvok following them. Four Dregisons were outside preparing to break down the door. Starfleet and Maquis together fired instantly. Chakotay imitated their style of making a sweep. The wall became scorched in places, but the four aliens dropped to the deck injured critically. "Open channel to all crew hands." Janeway told the computer before giving a one word order. "Attack." Instantly, fire erupted all over the ship.
Seven's eyes grew wide. She could hear phasers being fired from every direction. But where they Starfleet or Dregison? About that instant, she realized that the ship was no longer being tossed about the stars. Conscience of her position, Seven eased herself out of Harry's arms. "Thank you Ensign....for securing me during the fire." He felt a light blush creep up his cheeks. "It was nothing." He muttered looking away. She leaned back against the panel. After the captain was sure all of the Dregisons were cleared out, she would see to it that the hatch door was fixed. Then they would be out of the predicament. She would be free to move back to a comfortable position of watching Allison and Harry, a thought which made her stomach feel funny for some reason. Harry stole a glance at the former borg, and then quickly looked away. She was deep in thought about something. He'd love to know what about. Well, they had nothing to do for a while, might as well try it. "Penny for your thoughts." "Pardon me?" Seven asked confused. "Penny for your thoughts. It's an old earth expression that kind of means, what are you thinking about?" he explained. "Oh." She hesitated. "The cord should not have disrupted all of the power on the ship. I am wondering what the cause of it could have been." "Oh." He said somewhat disappointed. He was hoping to learn something about Seven, not the ship. He looked down at the hatch for a minute. It was killing him, he had to know. Why not just ask! "Seven, why were you avoiding me?" Seven hesitated. He had asked this once before. Logic! Think logically! She told herself. "The captain told me I was in love with you and I did not want to disturb your friendship with Allison." She answered as borg-like as she could manage. Harry stared. Had she said what he had heard? "Are you in love with me?" he nearly squeaked. She looked him in the eye. "I have never been in love, so I do not know." He had to know. He just had to. "How do you feel when you think of me? Does it feel like what you've heard love described as?" Seven considered his question. "I enjoy spending time in your company. The captain asked if I felt any protection towards you, and I answered yes..." she paused for a moment. "While we were being attacked and you were keeping me from being tossed about the jeffries tube, I felt more than just thankfulness at your holding on to me." She had said too much. Her borg nature had taken over and she had spoken everything bluntly. Harry was considering everything she had said. Slowly, he crawled over closer to her. Placing a hand on her cheek he looked into her eyes for a minute, then leaned closer until their lips met. She was stiff. He could feel her nervousness. Suddenly, she pulled away. "I do not want to cause problems with you and Allison." Seven said quickly not looking at him. His mouth opened slightly in disbelief. "You thought that Allison and I....?" Realization dawned on his face. "You were avoiding me because you thought I was interested in her...right?" She nodded without looking at him. Gone was the borg, the drone had been replaced by a woman who was truly nervous and terrified at the prospect of her heart being exposed as it was. Harry's hand came under her chin forcing her to look at him. "I have absolutely no feelings for Allison that go beyond friendship. You, on the other hand, I have too many feels for to begin describing them." He was terrified at what he wanted to say next, but knowing how she felt and that she wouldn't make the first move in this relationship made him decide to go forward. "I am in love with you, Seven." She felt tears welling up in her eyes. Not the first tears for her, but certainly some of the most memorable. "I think I love you, Harry...." she whispered as salty paths began to form on her cheeks. He gathered her into his arms and held her while wiping away some of the tears. This time he did bury his face into her hair. "Janeway to Kim and Seven." Darn, she really knew how to interrupt, Kim thought to himself. "Kim here Captain." He answered covering Seven's mouth with his hand. He didn't want the captain to hear Seven in tears, that would only bring on more questions. "The Dregisons are in the cargo bay. We should have you and Seven out in just a little bit. Hang on for just a little bit longer." "Aye Captain. Kim out." He was relieved to be able to stay holding Seven for a few more minutes. "Thank you." She twisted in his arms and offered him a small smile before burying her face just under his chin. He readjusted her until his mouth met hers. This time, Seven responded with all the love she was beginning to realize was confined inside of her human nature. ~ * =/\=* ~