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Deadlier than a Scorpion’s Sting – Chapter
9
By Kudara
Disclaimer: Star Trek Voyager and crew
belong to Paramount/Viacom and no infringement of
copyright/trade marks is intended. The only thing I lay claim
to is the solar system I created for Pegasi 51, the background
and culture of the Pegasian’s, and the original character Alexa
Nikoleon.
Note: This story diverges from the canon
storyline during the events of Scorpion II, and thus is
essentially an AU story.
Rating: Mature
Feedback: Always welcome, feedback is what
encourages me to keep writing. Please let me know what you like
and what you dislike about the story.
Revision History: 2/10/07
Summary: Alexa awakes, the Captain makes
plans, and Alexa makes sure Seven gets quarters.
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Stardate 51015.6
(Sun, 06 Jan 2374 16:30 GMT)
Alexa felt a surge of fear as she recovered
consciousness; the last thing she remembered was the cavern
shaking from an attack, and pieces of the ceiling falling. She
had raised her arm to protect her head, a rock had struck her,
there had been nauseating pain and she knew her arm was broken
then nothing. Confused from the sedative, she wasn’t certain
where she was, or what was happening.
“Welcome back Lieutenant,” the distinctive
warm husky tones of the Captain pulled her further into the
present.
With a gasp Alexa opened her eyes,
immediately recognizing that she was in Voyager’s sickbay. She
reached out mentally, instinctively searching for Seven, needing
to know where the other woman was, and if she was safe.
Information flooded her mind: Seven’s complete physical status,
the time she had been regenerating, and the remaining time of
this regeneration cycle. If she concentrated, she could hear
what Seven was hearing, sense everything that was happening at
this moment in Cargo Bay 2 where her friend was regenerating.
The sheer amount and level of detail of the
information stunned her, something was very different, and it
only took her another fraction of a second to realize what
exactly was different. “My cortical node’s been completed,”
Alexa exclaimed in disbelief. She closed her eyes knowing just
what Seven had risked for her, “Oh, Seven,” she breathed.
“Seven had to in order to save your life,”
the Captain’s voice was regretful.
The Pegasian opened her eyes, and turned
her head enough to meet the Captain’s grey gaze, “It’s not that,
I understand why she had to Captain,” Alexa clarified, dismayed
at Captain Janeway’s interpretation of her comment. “It’s what
she risked. If I had died with her connected directly to my
cortical node it would have destabilized her own cortical node,
killing her.”
Janeway was silent for a long moment,
absorbing this information, “Seven didn’t mention that,” she
remarked quietly.
Alexa couldn’t help but smile, “She
wouldn’t have, it was in the past and she succeeded, so the
risks no longer had any relevance.” She closed her eyes against
the brightness of the sickbay lights, she was sore all over, her
head hurt, she was weary and unreasonably frustrated that Seven
wasn’t here to answer her questions. What exactly had happened
while she was unconscious? The thought seemed to be all Alexa’s
cortical node needed as an instruction.
The attack, the falling ceiling of the
cavern, the rock that struck her arm and then the one that she
did not see, the one that struck her in the head. The
perspective was wrong, and Alexa realized these were Seven’s
memories, not hers: Seven lunging desperately across the cavern,
covering the Pegasian before the large piece of ceiling fell,
the one that would have crushed Alexa if not for Seven
protecting her. Seven telling the Captain what had happened, of
her injuries, the Borg’s decision to attempt to save Alexa’s
life no matter what the risk, and Seven’s last words before she
connected to Alexa’s cortical node.
‘Thank you,’ Alexa sent her earnest
gratitude along the neural link. She didn’t expect a reply as
Seven was regenerating, but she knew the Borg was aware of the
fact she was now conscious, and aware of her thoughts,
especially those directed toward her.
“How are you feeling Lieutenant?” the
Doctor inquired, coming into her field of vision as she opened
her eyes.
Alexa took a mental inventory, “Sore all
over, tired and a headache, but quite frankly I’m thankful I’m
here,” she finished.
The Doctor nodded, “You have Seven to thank
for that, by the time we got to you the brain damage would have
been irreversible.”
Alexa snorted, replying grimly, “I need to
thank her twice. I wasn’t near her when the first pieces of the
ceiling fell. She couldn’t get to me before the one that stuck
my head, but I would have been crushed by the last bolder that
fell from the ceiling if she hadn’t been protecting me with her
own body.” Belatedly she became aware of their startled
silence, “I guess Seven didn’t mention that either,” the
Pegasian quietly commented.
“I guess that’s when she was injured,”
observed the Doctor.
It took Alexa a moment to realize what
injury he was referring to, “Yes.” She fell silent, there had
been many times while they were together that she had wished
Seven didn’t have body armor. Yet without it Seven would not
have survived the impact of the falling rock, the armor had
saved both their lives.
“Lieutenant,” the Captain’s voice summoned
her from her thoughts.
Focusing on the auburn haired woman, Alexa
replied, “Yes, Captain?”
Janeway hesitated, her jaw tightened and
she sighed, “I know you’re tired Lieutenant, but I need to know
what happened between the Borg and Species 8472.”
Alexa stared at her uncertainly, before
realizing that the Captain needed a briefing, “Of course
Captain,” Alexa tried to set up.
Janeway reached out and pressed her gently
back against the biobed, “Don’t try to sit up Lieutenant, let
the Doctor raise the bed.” The Captain looked expectantly at
the Doctor, who sighed in disapproval, but promptly raised the
back of the biobed.
Alexa began as soon as she was comfortable,
thinking back to her memories immediately after being
transported to the moon’s surface, “I believe I was sedated for
the first ten hours after my assimilation, I couldn’t initiate
any action, only respond to directives given to me.” She went
on to tell of the finding of the cave and the events following,
the other drones being ordered to draw Species 8472 away from
the cave, and how she and Seven had retreated further in and
blocked off the passageway to their hiding place. The steps
Seven had taken to prevent her from dying of hypothermia, and
being ordered to assist the other Borg with determining how to
complete her cortical node.
Solemnly she related the efforts of the
Collective to defend itself, the steadily updating losses of
ships and entire planets, the steadily approaching calculated
point of no return. “When all the calculations agreed that the
Borg could no longer defeat Species 8472 new directives were
issued. All vessels within 40 lightyears of Unimatrix 01 were
directed to new coordinates to participate in its defense. All
other vessels were directed to retreat to Sector 256 and
reassigned to Unimatrix 256.” A warm hand squeezing her arm
drew her attention, the Pegasian stopped speaking, realizing
belatedly how caught up in her grim memories she had been.
“Do you need something to drink,
Lieutenant,” the Captain inquired, her concerned grey eyes
examining her closely.
Alexa, realizing her throat was dry,
replied, “Yes, thank you Captain, chamomile tea with honey
please.” Janeway waited until she had swallowed almost half of
the tea before motioning for her to continue. “When the attack
upon Unimatrix 01 began,” she halted abruptly when the Captain
made a stop motion with her hand.
“Seven mentioned Unimatrix 01, but what
exactly is a Unimatrix, and is their any special significance to
Unimatrix 01?” Janeway asked.
Accessing her cortical node brought Alexa a
wealth of information, most of which she knew, was not the
answer the Captain wanted at the moment. “Each sector has…” she
paused a moment, then grimly corrected herself, “had a Unimatrix
which directed and coordinated all Borg vessels and drones
within that sector. Unimatrix 01, which was the Borg Queens
Unimatix, coordinated the activities of the sector Unimatrix’s,
and of the Collective itself, but I believe Unimatrix 01 wasn’t
where the Collective’s decisions were initially made, I think
the Borg Queen just decided how they were carried out.” Her
voice trailed off as she remembered the moment when the voice of
Borg Prime had controlled the Collective.
“Lieutenant,” Janeway’s smoky voice
requested, “If the Borg Queen didn’t make the decisions for the
Borg, then who do you think did?”
Alexa met her gaze bleakly, “What, Captain,
what did,” She paused for a moment re-gathering her thoughts.
“When Unimatrix 01 was destroyed, when the voice of the Queen
fell silent, there was a moment of… panic in the Collective.”
She met the Captain’s eyes, “then the voice of Borg Prime,” she
hesitated, remembering the moment, “reordered the Collective,
took… absolute control of it. Borg Prime was not like the
Queen, there was no inflection to its cadence, it was like
Voyager’s computer voice.” She met the Captain’s gaze directly,
“I think a computer controlled the Borg.” she finished.
Janeway recoiled from her words then stared
at her consideringly. “Why do you think that,” she asked
finally.
“Because the last thing the Collective sent
to Unimatrix 256 was the specifications for a data processing
unit that could override any command Unimatrix 256 issued, and
that would prevent the Borg from questioning whether or not
perfection could actually be obtained by assimilating others, or
even what the perfection they were seeking was.” Alexa stated
with equal parts of anger and sorrow, she closed her eyes
feeling tears slip out of her control, frustration and futility
filling her, and the overriding question of ‘Why?’ for both her
own sake, and Seven’s.
*****************************************************
Stardate 51016.0
(Sun, 06 Jan 2374 20:30 GMT)
“Alexa?” William Chapman’s concerned voice
woke her.
The Pegasian opened her eyes; her four best
friends were clustered about her biobed, staring at her with
varying mixtures of concern and dismay. “Hey guys, it’s good to
see you.”
“Why hasn’t the Doctor taken those things
out of you?” asked Marie, staring at the starburst implant on
her face.
Alexa frowned, slowly she answered,
“Because he’s not sure they can be removed without killing me.”
“Due to the alterations Seven
of Nine made to your implants due to your head injury?” asked Vorik curiously.
Alexa glanced over at her Vulcan friend,
“Yes, my implants are pretty unique, definitely not Borg
standard anymore,” she replied with wry amusement.
“If that Borg had never assimilated you
none of that would have ever happened, I can’t understand why
the Captain’s letting it stay after what it did to you,” burst
out Marie angrily.
All the warmth drained out of Alexa’s face
and she stared back at Marie coldly, ignoring for the moment her
other three friends who were watching the two of them in
dismay. “I guess it’s a damn good thing I was transported off
Voyager before I did anything as a drone, since obviously if I
had the Captain should have just left me on that moon to die.”
Marie blanched, “I didn’t say that!” she
exclaimed.
“Yes you did,” corrected Alexa firmly, “If
Seven’s to blame for her actions as a drone then obviously I
would have been as well. And don’t think that I wouldn’t have
helped them assimilate this ship and everyone on it, I would
have done it without hesitation, without question, because
that’s what it means to be a Borg drone.”
“But…,” protested Marie.
“No, no buts,” Alexa interrupted, then
continued more softly, “There’s no heroic struggle, no trying to
fight it, there’s not even an inglorious mewl of protest. It’s
more like your entire brain is instantly overlaid with an AI
that has access to all your memories.” She let that sink in,
“Blaming Seven for anything she did while a part of the
Collective makes about as much sense as putting the phaser used
in a crime on trial.”
Marie’s shoulders slumped, “I’m sorry.”
Alexa sighed, “I know you want someone to
blame for what happened to me Marie, but Seven is as much a
victim in all this as I, she doesn’t deserve your anger. And I
would prefer it if you weren’t angry with her, because she’s
also my friend and I’m going to do everything I can to protect
her and help her figure out how to be an individual.”
“What? When did this happen?” asked Susan,
eyeing her closely.
Alexa returned the look, stare for stare.
She wasn’t going to announce that she and Seven were lovers, but
she wasn’t going to hide it either, and she knew that of her
four friends Susan was the most likely to see how close their
relationship actually was, for Susan had been the first to
realize she was a lesbian. “Voyager rescued us two days after
we regained our individuality, with a neural link you can
discuss quite a few things in that time, and get to know each
other pretty well.”
Alexa hesitated uncertain how to get her
friends to see Seven as more than just a Borg, “Seven was
assimilated so young the few memories she has are fragmented
images of her parents and her birthday cake from when she was
six, she doesn’t even remember her own name.” Looking around
she could see that her words were having an effect on her
friends. “She has so little understanding of what it means to
be an individual, to have feelings and emotions. One of the
first things I had to help her with was being scared because she
was experiencing fear for the first time in eighteen years.”
Chapman made a dismayed sound.
“Yes,” agreed Alexa, “She essentially grew
up in a culture that’s completely alien to ours. She’s got a
long, difficult way ahead of her trying to learn how to be a
part of ours, and I’ve promised to help her in whatever way I
can.” She took in a deep breath, “And it would mean a lot to me
if all of you would help me with that.”
“You can count on me,” Chapman offered
immediately.
Vorik followed, “I will assist you as well,
indeed considering her past she may find it easier to comprehend
Vulcan logic than Human emotionalism.”
Alexa chuckled, “Oh, no indeed on that, she
certainly will.”
Susan Nicoletti had her head cocked to the
side watching everything intently, when the Pegasian met her
eyes she straightened, “I’ll be happy to help in any way I can
as well.”
Everyone turned to the last person around
the bed who had not yet spoken, “Oh all right,” Marie sighed, “I
don’t know how much help I can be, but I’ll do what I can.”
“That’s all I can ask,” Alexa looked at
them thankfully.
****************************************************
Stardate 51017.5
(Mon, 07 Jan 2374 09:30 GMT)
Standing at the head of the conference room
table, both hands placed firmly upon its surface, the Captain
finished, “So, that’s what we now know about the Borg.” She
looked around the table at each of her senior officer’s faces,
judging their reactions to the information she had just given
them.
As she had expected Tuvok looked intrigued,
Kim, Parris and B’Elanna Torres appeared to be struggling with
the information, probably trying to fit it into what they had
thought they knew about the Borg. And Chakotay, Janeway
considered him for a moment trying to figure out the odd
expression; he looked rather as if he had eaten something that
disagreed with him, she finally decided with satisfaction.
Nothing less than what he deserved for making assumptions and
then refusing to re-examine them, she thought, a very bad trait
in a Starfleet officer, hopefully he would learn something from
this.
“We have just entered Borg space; it
extends for thousands of light years ahead of us. Lt. Nikoleon
informed me that the Borg use collections of endpoint fixed
transwarp conduits or hubs to travel in Borg space. The closest
entrance to this transwarp conduit system is the Borg Sector 12
entrance, fifteen lightyears from our current position. The
Sector 12 conduit’s endpoint is in Borg Sector 01.” She raised
a hand, silencing the questions she knew were about to begin.
“Specifically the end point is at Borg Prime’s transwarp conduit
hub, one of the six transwarp hubs the Borg use to move their
ships around our galaxy. These hubs connect thousands of
transwarp corridors. If it wasn’t too severely damaged in the
attack on Unimatrix 01, we can use the hub to travel to the
Alpha Quadrant.”
Before anyone could interrupt her, the
Captain continued, “But I don’t feel comfortable with leaving
here until we determine the current situation with Species
8472. They threatened to destroy all life forms in this
quadrant, and as far as I know we possess the only means with
which they can be defeated if they are currently carrying out
that threat.” Janeway paused, giving time for her statement to
sink in. “Both Seven and Lt. Nikoleon estimated that there were
at least 130 bioships involved in the destruction of Borg
Prime. We know that Species 8472 did not return to fluidic
space after destroying Borg Prime as there were three bioships
waiting for us to exit the nebula. What we need to determine is
what they are doing now, and if they are still in our galaxy
what is their intent,” she finished.
******************************************************
Stardate 51018.5
(Mon, 07 Jan 2374 18:30 GMT)
Alexa looked up curiously from her padd as
she heard the sickbay doors open, upon seeing her friends enter
she smiled warmly, “Hey, how are you all doing?” she asked.
“Isn’t that supposed to be our question,”
Susan Nicoletti teased her.
The Pegasian chuckled lightly, “Yea, I
guess so, I’m doing better.” Her hand went to her head and the
new dark brown hair there, “Finally persuaded the Doc to grow my
hair back.”
Chapman offered sincerely, “You didn’t look
bad without it.”
Alexa stared at him surprised, then
grinned, “I’ll consider it if I ever get tired of my hair, but
right now I’m glad to have it back.”
Commenting upon the padd in her lap, Vorik
said, “Lt. Torres is acting upon the suggestions you made for
upgrades to the shields, we are currently in the process of
upgrading the EPS conduits in Decks 6 and 8 to support the
modified shield generators. I was curious if you knew more
about the race that developed this technology, the Opani.”
“Yes I do,” Alexa nodded, “Actually it’s
actually pretty old technology, the Borg assimilated them 178
years ago,” she sighed sadly, “since there were no known
colonies I have to assume none of them escaped. The Opani were
given the Borg Species Number of 361, and I doubt any of them
still exist in the Collective; their average lifespan was only
90 years. I was troubled about using the technology until I
asked myself what if every human was assimilated, and then 200
years after someone escaped from the Borg and used our
technology, would I mind?”
“No,” answered Marie for her.
Alexa smiled at her, “That was my answer
too, and unless someone was just very selfish, I don’t see than
any of them would mind us using whatever technology we could to
protect ourselves.”
Pulling another padd from the stack on the
biobed she handed it to Susan, “Can you take a look at this and
tell me how feasible you think it is? I’ve been trying to
figure out a way to modify our EPS system to supply Seven’s
alcove so we can move her to proper crew quarters. I don’t like
what’s been going on in the Cargo Bay, and I want to get her
moved out of there as soon as possible. The Doctor’s letting me
go today, and Seven’s coming out of her regeneration cycle
tomorrow. I need to help the Doctor with removing her armor and
external implants, so I won’t have a lot of time to help with
installing an alcove.”
Susan held the padd so that Vorik and
William could look at it also, after a few minutes she replied,
“Sure we can do this, just tell us which quarters to put it in.”
Alexa’s eyes narrowed, “I’m working on
that, there seems to be one major impediment in my way, but I’ve
got an idea on how to get around that,” she said determinedly.
******************************************************
Stardate 51020.2
(Tue, 08 Jan 2374 09:00 GMT)
“Captain, Commander,” Lt. Nikoleon’s voice
came from behind the two officers. They paused, and waited for
the Lieutenant to catch up to them. Captain Janeway wasn’t
surprised by the Pegasian’s appearance; she had expected the
Lieutenant would want to be present when Seven came out of her
regeneration period.
The Doctor released Alexa from sickbay
yesterday. He had had decreased the amount nanoprobes in her
body allowing her natural olive skin tone to return, and
stimulated the hair follicles to re-grown her dark brown hair.
But had decided not to remove any of her implants as yet,
wanting to consult with Seven before deciding which, if any,
could safely be removed.
“Commander have you had time to assign
Seven quarters yet?” Lt. Nikoleon asked, “With the EPS
modifications we are doing on Decks 6 and 8 to power the shield
generator upgrades, this would be a convenient time to run the
necessary EPS conduit to supply an alcove if her quarters were
on either of those decks. I’ve already figured out exactly what
needs to be done to safely attach her alcove once the conduit is
run to her quarters.”
Janeway glanced at her First Officer
expectantly, personnel issues, such as assigning quarters, were
his responsibility.
“I saw your question earlier Lieutenant,
but there are no quarters on those decks currently available.
Seven will have to stay in the Cargo Bay for now,” the Commander
stated tightly, not appreciative of the fact that the Lieutenant
had just tried to push the issue in front of the Captain.
Lt. Nikoleon shot him an incredulous look,
“Sir?” she questioned. Her jaw firmed, “Then we will be putting
up privacy partitions so people can’t stare at, and make
comments about her while she’s regenerating, like they have been
doing,” she commented in a razor sharp tone.
“Lieutenant,” barked Chakotay, initially
hearing only the insubordination in the comment.
“What?” asked the Captain, appalled, and
Chakotay froze, suddenly comprehending the entirety of the
Lieutenants statement. “Whose been staring at her, and what
comments have they been making?” Captain Janeway demanded.
The Lieutenant gave the Commander one last
disgusted look before turning to the Captain, “People who come
to the cargo bay for items often stay longer than necessary to
stare at her, and a few make comments about her before leaving.
They think she’s unconscious and can’t hear them, but with her
aural implant she can, and with the neural link I’m always aware
of what their doing as well. She’s not familiar enough with
euphemisms to understand what their actually saying, but I am,
and quite frankly Captain I’m appalled by their behavior.” Her
eyes strayed back to Chakotay focusing on his Maquis insignia
with contempt before meeting his eyes challengingly, making it
only too clear who the majority of the perpetrators were. “The
only thing that’s stopped me from going to Commander Tuvok is
the fact that they don’t know about her aural implant and think
she can’t hear them, so it doesn’t quite constitute grounds for
harassment charges.”
Alexa looked back at the Captain, “But it
still doesn’t make what their doing right, and displaying her in
the Cargo Bay like that only encourages them to think of her as
less than a fellow human being. I’m sure they wouldn’t think it
was right to sneak into someone’s quarters and stare at them
while they were sleeping, but they don’t see anything wrong with
doing the equivalent of that to Seven.”
The Captain frowned, her face grim,
“Because their taking their cues from their senior officers, and
we’ve never quartered crewmembers or guests in our Cargo Bays,
therefore she must be neither.” Her eyes snapped to Commander
Chakotay, “I don’t care how much moving around you have to do
Commander. All members of this crew are assigned crew quarters,
and the newest member of our crew will not be treated any
differently, see to it Commander.” Her tone made it abundantly
clear this was an order.
Lt. Nikoleon cleared her throat uneasily,
drawing their attention, “I think Seven would feel more
comfortable if she wasn’t alone, she’s not used to it, and to be
honest the idea of it frightens her. I promised her I would
help her adapt, so I’d like to give up my single quarters on
Deck 8 and share quarters with her if at all possible.”
Feeling more than a little appalled
himself, and faced with two irate women who were staring at him
as if he were personally responsible for the offending
crewmembers behaviors, Chakotay replied quickly. “That will
certainly help, there’s another single junior officer quarters
on Deck 9 that’s empty, between the two I’m sure we can free up
a double occupancy quarter on Deck 6. Give me a day to
determine which quarters, and then another one to get everyone
coordinated and moved, then you can run the EPS conduits for her
alcove.”
Nodding thoughtfully, Alexa commented,
“That should be about right, she will probably be in sickbay or
regenerating for most of that time anyway.”
“What?” asked Captain Janeway, puzzled, “I
wasn’t aware she had made any medical decisions, and I know she
hasn’t discussed anything with the Doctor?”
Lt. Nikoleon glanced at the Captain
uncertainly, “She hasn’t, normally a drone regenerating is in a
purely receptive state, awaiting instructions or performing
analysis, but it didn’t take Seven long to realize that she
could change her current analysis to so that it was actually a
reply to my thoughts.”
“Ah,” the Captain replied, “clever.”
The Pegasian nodded, “She doesn’t like the
idea of losing all the protection her armor gives her, but she
understands that the chances of the crew accepting her while she
looks more Borg than Human are very low.” The Captain frowned,
and Alexa hurriedly continued, “And she wants to experience
things she can’t right now.”
Alexa held out her hands, palm up toward
the two senior officers and moved her thumb across her fingers
demonstratively,” I didn’t realize it until the Doctor reduced
the nanoprobes in my blood, but they deaden your sensitivity to
almost every sense but hearing and sight. Right now she can’t
feel, taste, or smell like we can.” She paused, letting what
she had said sink in, “And she wants to experience those things
like we can, what food tastes like, the scents in the
hydroponics bay, the feel of fabric or water or anything against
her skin,” she explained.
The Captain finally responded huskily, “I’m
certainly not going to object to any of that, Lt. Nikoleon; I
just wanted to make sure it was her choice.”
Alexa couldn’t help but blush, “Well I may
have replicated something, like chocolate ice cream…” she
trailed off trying not to think of later and what she had done
with the chocolate ice cream while thinking of Seven’s touch…and
Seven’s mouth…and chocolate ice cream in Seven’s mouth…
Janeway laughed a deep, low, rich laugh,
“Chocolate ice cream, and apparently a visit to the flowers in
the hydroponics bay. I don’t think you fight fair Lieutenant,”
she observed.
The Pegasian looked anywhere but the
Captain’s grey eyes, “Perhaps not,” she agreed.
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