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I am Borg - Part 3 - Chapter 8
By Kudara
Disclaimer: Star Trek Voyager and all who sail in her belong to
Paramount/Viacom and no infringement of copyright/trade marks is
intended.
Rating: PG
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: 08/02/05
Summary: AU Equinox encounter continues.
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The Captain froze for a moment then cocked her head to the side
slightly and regarded her Chief Engineer steadily for a second
from her chair. Then placing her hands deliberately on her desk,
she rose to her feet, stood, and refocused her attention on the
woman standing in front of her.
In a low, deliberately calm voice she asked, “What causes you to
think that Lieutenant?”
B’Elanna replied with a question “You read my report on their
engine modifications?”
Janeway nodded silently, came around the desk and leaned back
against it, standing closer to B’Elanna, while she continued
speaking.
“I asked Commander Burke about the Equinox’s engine
modifications. The question sent his physiological readings the
roof, heart rate, eye dilation, pore size and skin flush levels
all increased suddenly. All consistent with high levels of
stress, but he didn’t look stressed, and he told me that it was
an experiment they had tried that didn’t work.” B’Elanna paused.
“But you don’t believe that,” Janeway said, and it was more of a
statement than a question.
“No Captain, I don’t. One, I know what things look like when
their in the middle of being worked upon. Granted their engine
room isn’t in the best shape but nothing was taken apart,
nothing showed any signs that they had been working on it at
all. If I could figure out what they were using for fuel I bet I
could get that engine working.” B’Elanna paused again then asked
Janeway, “And two, who tries unproven engine modifications in
the middle of an attack? His explanation doesn’t make any
sense.”
Janeway nodded looking thoughtful, “Maybe he just didn’t want to
admit they had made such a poor judgment?” she asked.
B’Elanna hesitated, she didn’t want to accept that answer, but
she couldn’t argue that it might be true. “Maybe, but…” she
trailed off, shaking her head.
“Was Seven present as well?” asked Janeway.
“Yes Captain.” B’Elanna replied.
“Did she agree with your interpretation of his reaction?”
Janeway asked beginning to slowly pace.
“She concurred,” B’Elanna assured Janeway and then groaned as
she caught the small smile on the Captain’s face at her use of
Seven’s mode of speaking.
Janeway’s lips twitched, then she grew somber again. Looking at
directly into B’Elanna’s eyes she said, “People can react
intensely to a question for reason’s other than their lying, so
it’s not quite enough for me to accuse them of hiding something.
But your suspicions are certainly enough to make me cautious.
I’ll inform Chakotay and Tuvok to look for any discrepancies in
the information they are giving us.”
“And the ship’s systems?” asked B’Elanna.
“That will be harder, but I think we can do a few things to make
sure they don’t abuse their welcome.” said Janeway with a
reassuring look.
B’Elanna stilled as Seven contacted her with information from
the most recent shield scans. “Damn.” she breathed out.
Janeway stopped her slow pacing and gave her a sharp frown.
Before Janeway could rebuke her for her language B’Elanna said
“The aliens have begun attacking our shields.”
Janeway’s communicator activated, “Seven to Captain Janeway,”
Janeway stared at B’Elanna for a second then replied in an even
tone. She listened as Seven informed her of the situation with
the shields, never letting on that she already knew. “I’ll be
right there, Seven.”
The Captain cut off the communicator channel and was silent for
a moment. When she started speaking again her voice was quick
and decisive “You’re supposed to be over on Equinox, go ahead
and transport over. Be discrete, but look for anything which
might tell you why they modified their engines.” Janeway
commanded, then before B’Elanna could turn and leave, she
suggested with a level look, “Maybe you should start by seeing
if the computer core is recoverable.”
B’Elanna grinned fiercely back at her, “I’ll do that Captain.”
Seven finished informing the Captain of her findings careful to
not reveal that she was aware the Captain already knew due to
B’Elanna’s presence. Commander Tuvok was aware of the interlink,
but Commander Burke was also present in Astrometrics, so
maintaining the deception was necessary. Seven completed her
preparations and initiated continuous thermographic scans of
Voyager’s shields while simultaneously listening to the
conversation between B’Elanna and Kathryn.
‘Be careful,’ she instructed B’Elanna as she transported over to
the Equinox.
‘There’s more Voyager crew over here than Equinox, I’ll be fine.
And if they did object to me poking around for answers in their
computer core we would pretty much confirm that they had
something to hide.’ commented B’Elanna.
‘True,’ acknowledged Seven. The slight noise of opening doors
caught her attention and she glanced toward them. She was
momentarily surprised to see Captain Ransom enter with Captain
Janeway, but controlled her reaction and hid it quickly. Seven
was not sure what the Captain was planning, but she knew that
Kathryn was more than capable of investigating their suspicions
while appearing to trust the Equinox officers completely.
During their regular morning briefing they had gone over the
information Captain Ransom and Commander Burke had provided them
on the aliens. I had not been as much as Seven had hoped, but it
had included bio-scans of the aliens.
The bio-scans indicated that the aliens could not live for long
outside of their own space. They had also given Seven the
information she needed to modify the shield scans she had been
conducting to include thermographic data. What the information
from the Equinox had not answered was the one question they had
been most interested in, why the aliens had been attacking the
Equinox in the first place.
Nodding to the two Captains Seven began briefing them on her
findings. In the ensuing discussion Seven brought up the alien’s
inability to remain in their space thinking that if they could
find some way to hold them for a few seconds that they might be
discouraged from attacking them.
As soon as she mentioned the possibility she noticed definite
physiological changes in the two Equinox officers. A look passed
between Captain Ransom and Commander Burke and Seven wondered if
the tightness of Ransom’s jaw indicated he was angry, as it did
with Janeway.
Burke turned away from his Captain, and Seven noted he appeared
to be even more tense than before, though anyone without
enhanced senses would be hard pressed to noted the minute
changes. “You use a net.” he offered.
Seven looked at him curiously waiting for him to continue.
He hesitated for a slight second, and his eyes flickered over
toward his Captain, but he did not look directly at Captain
Ransom, who was standing over to the side staring steadily at
him. “A multiphasic force field to be exact, we wanted to see
what we were up against so we built a small chamber that could
keep one of them trapped for several minutes.” Oddly enough the
man relaxed after saying it, as if speaking it had relieved
whatever internal stress he had been under.
“If we build on that we might be able to create a lattice work
of multiphasic fields around each ship.” said Janeway, her voice
revealing her excitement.
Burke glanced at his Captain and Seven’s senses sharpened as she
detected renewed signs of stress just before he asked the man
inquiringly, “Rudy?”
Seven was surprised, Captain Janeway only permitted a few people
to call her by her first name, and that was permitted only in
private settings.
“That’s up to Captain Janeway,” the man replied.
Seven looked back at her Captain, who was watching the
proceedings with a calm face. “We need to look at that chamber.”
Burke opened his mouth as if to speak but a sudden movement by
Captain Ransom drew everyone’s attention. Looking directly into
his First Officer’s eyes he said, “That won’t be possible,” his
eyes flicked back to Captain Janeway, “It’s in the research lab
and that area of the ship was flooded by thermionic radiation
during the last attack. It will be days before anyone can go in
there.”
Indeed, thought Seven quietly to herself, noting the man’s
steadily increasing tension level. ‘B’Elanna, Captain Ransom
states that their research lab was flooded with thermionic
radiation approximately 45 hours ago. Can you verify this?’ Left
unspoken but understood between them was the question of whether
or not B’Elanna could do this without raising any suspicions.
There was a long moment of silence then B’Elanna replied,
‘Wouldn’t it be easier to do it from Voyager?’
‘Not while Captain Ransom and Commander Burke are present,’
replied Seven with a touch of humor.
‘I’ll see what I can do. But you may just have to wait until
they are gone. It would be pretty obvious if I left what I was
doing to go take readings outside the research lab right now.’
B’Elanna answered.
Seven sent back her acknowledgement, not bothering with putting
it into discrete words, and knowing that B’Elanna would
understand.
His eyes flitting back and forth between the two Captains, Burke
looked uneasy but offered, “The design schematics should be in
our auxiliary database.”
Burke and Ransom exchanged a quick look, then Ransom looked at
Janeway, “We can go over now and see if its there, if you would
like to accompany me.”
Janeway gave Ransom a brilliant smile, “That would be
wonderful,” and nodded toward him. Just before they cleared the
doorway Janeway turned back and said to Tuvok, “As soon as I get
back I’ll go over last weeks security review.” She gave him one
of her lopsided smiles, “I’ve got some concerns about your
proposed suggestions, so please don’t implement any of your
defense improvements before we have a chance to discuss them.”
Tuvok stood absolutely still for a moment, “I would not
Captain.” He replied carefully.
Janeway stopped smiling, stepped back into the lab and touched
his arm lightly, ignoring the fact that the Equinox officers
were watching her curiously. “I’m sorry Tuvok, I know you
wouldn’t. I was just teasing you. You’re always very thorough in
your suggestions, and I think some of those went all the way
back to Devore space.”
Tuvok raised an eyebrow at the Captain then inclined his head.
“I took no offense Captain.”
Janeway stared at him for a moment intently, then nodded and
turned to follow Captain Ransom out.
Seven suppressed a sigh of relief, estimating a 95% probability
that Janeway had just successfully informed Tuvok that she
suspected the Equinox officers were attempting to deceive them,
and that he was not to reveal any details of Voyager’s defenses.
The Devore comment would be a clear reference to Janeway’s
deception of Inspector Kashyk, the Devore inspector who had
attempted to trick Captain Janeway into telling him the location
of a wormhole that telepathic refugees were using to escape
detention by his government. Instead, he had found himself to be
one deceived by Captain Janeway, and the refugees sheltering on
Voyager had gotten away safely.
Seven found herself admiring the Captain’s quick thinking and
Tuvok's calm reaction to her statement. Though Tuvok did turn in
daily security reports, Seven doubted there was a weekly
security report, or if there was it probably didn’t contain any
defensive suggestions. Recalling Janeway’s skilled deception of
Inspector Kashyk, Seven almost felt sorry for the Equinox
officers…almost.
Seven’s attention was drawn away from her thoughts by Tuvok
speaking, “I must attend to some security matters, I will return
as soon as I am able.”
Seven nodded silently in reply and as he left the room she
returned to monitoring the progress of the latest set of shield
scans. Commander Burke remained in the room and from what she
could tell he was examining the Astrometrics lab with great
interest.
‘Their right this place is flooded with thermionic radiation,
I’m reading 97.898 Sieverts of radiation, and I’ve got to move I
can hear someone headed this way.’ B’Elanna’s mental voice
intruded then faded quickly.
Seven noted the information and sent back wordless thanks.
Returning her attention to her console she began analyzing the
information from the latest set of scans, ignoring for the
moment the presence of Commander Burke, and wondering how long
it would be before Captain Janeway and Captain Ransom recovered
the information on the multiphasic chamber Equinox had
developed.
Seven was not particularly patient by nature, and the
combination of possibly getting access to information that would
allow her to protect Voyager, while having to wait for said
information left her feeling rather irritable.
‘Quit pacing,’ B’Elanna’s mental voice almost caused her to
physically jump in surprise.
Seven was confused, ‘I am not pacing, I am analyzing the current
shield scans.’
‘You feel like your pacing, it’s very distracting.’ replied
B’Elanna, and Seven could clearly sense overtones of amusement
in the communication.
‘I am sorry,’ Seven hesitated then admitted. ‘I am awaiting
information from Kathryn.’ Seven proceeded to relate to her wife
all that had happened since she had informed the Captain of the
alien’s attacks on Voyagers shields.
‘Damn, she’s good,’ B’Elanna’s admiration was clear as she
responded to Seven’s relating of the conversation between the
Captain and Tuvok. ‘Now I understand why you wanted me to verify
that the research lab was actually flooded with radiation.
Captain Ransom certainly didn’t seem to like Max telling us
about that multiphasic chamber did he.’
‘That was my conclusion as well,’ agreed Seven. The unmistakable
feeling of being stared at drew Seven’s attention and she
glanced over at Commander Burke. He was staring at her
curiously, and upon noticing that she had noticed, he flushed
slightly.
“I’m sorry I was just curious about…” he paused obviously
searching for what term to use.
“My exoskeleton,” Seven replied calmly.
Burke blinked once, and Seven got the impression he was
surprised by the term.
“Oh,” He paused again. “I thought it was…” he looked
uncomfortable.
Seven raised a metal encircled brow inquisitively.
“A tattoo, actually.” he seemed to regain his confidence. “It’s
very beautiful by the way.”
“Thank you,” Seven replied politely and turned back to her work
then waited patiently wondering how long it would take him to
ask her for more information. After a few seconds of continued
silence Seven noticed him start to shift uneasily as he stared
at her. After 46.79 seconds of silence Burke finally spoke, but
it was not to ask her any more questions about her appearance.
“How long will it be before the latest scans are complete?” he
inquired.
Seven hesitated for a moment, computing the amount of time until
the scans completed and the time she would need to complete her
analysis. “One hour thirty-seven minutes Commander.”
He rubbed his hands together and Seven noticed he looked rather
pleased, “I think I’ll go visit your mess hall in that case.
We’ve been on emergency rations for the past few months and the
thought of eating actual food…”
Seven considered warning the Commander for a fraction of a
second. Neelix’s culinary creations had certainly become more
palatable with her assistance, but that simply meant the
majority of the meals served were now edible. It only took a
moment for Seven to decide that she would not speak unfavorably
about Neelix with this man, especially as she suspected he was
deceiving them. “Enjoy your meal Commander,” she said politely
with a nod in his direction. He nodded in return and exited the
lab.
Seven waited two minutes and then verified that he was on his
way to the mess hall. She wanted to scan the Equinox research
lab, but she knew that it would slow the current scan of
Voyager’s shields. Uncertain whether or not to do so, she turned
to her wife for guidance, ‘B’Elanna I am alone now and can scan
the Equinox’s research lab, but doing so will delay the current
shield scan by 15.34 minutes. I am uncertain whether I should
proceed or ask the Captain.’
Seven could feel her wife weighing the possible outcomes of each
decision exactly as she had done earlier, and wondered whether
or not she would come to the same conclusion.
B’Elanna replied after a few moments ‘The Captain needs to make
that decision.’
Seven sighed in relief; ever since they had begun their abridged
version of command school she had gained valuable insights into
the duties and responsibilities of Captain Janeway. It had made
her much more sympathetic and understanding as to why many
decisions needed to be made by the petite Captain.
During one of their discussions, Janeway had stated it quite
bluntly one night, “If I’m going to be court-marshaled for a
poor decision, I would like to at least have been the one who
made it.”
‘We are in agreement then,’ Seven responded to B’Elanna and in
reply received a quick
flash of amusement and affection from the half-Klingon.
‘Speak of the devil,’ B’Elanna’s mental voice was low and Seven
had the impression she was distracted. ‘She’s right here, I’ll
see if I can’t get her away from Captain Ransom long enough to
ask, or at least let her know she needs to contact you.’
Seven was momentarily occupied with deciphering the meaning of
the colloquialism B’Elanna had used. She was fairly certain that
B’Elanna was not inferring that Kathryn was either evil, or a
supernatural being. From her wife’s usage of the phrase it
seemed to refer to the fact that Captain Janeway had appeared
shortly after they had been speaking about talking to her.
Satisfied that she had correctly deciphered the meaning of the
colloquialism Seven noted the phrase and usage in the
linguistics portion of her cortical node database and awaited
further communications.
While she waited, Seven continued analyzing the data from the
thermographic scan currently in progress. Seven was pleased to
see that the information indicated that the alien’s attacks had
not increased in intensity and that Voyager’s shield’s were not
degrading any faster than the first scan had indicated.
‘She says to go ahead.’ B’Elanna’s message interrupted into
Seven’s concentration.
Seven responded ‘Understood,’ and promptly diverted some of
Astrometrics resources from scanning Voyager’s shields. One
minute and 15.8 seconds later Seven began receiving information
from her scans of the Equinox. Puzzled she inquired of B’Elanna,
‘You were standing by the research laboratory door when you
scanned for thermionic radiation?’
‘Yes, why?’ B’Elanna responded with prompt inquisitiveness.
Seven glanced over the data again verifying it, ‘Because I now
read 98.187 Sievens. I will attempt to ascertain why the
radiation is increasing instead of decreasing as would be
expected from the information Captain Ransom gave.’
B’Elanna did not reply, but Seven sensed a sharp curiosity from
her as she waited for Seven to gather more information.
Seven narrowed the focus of her scans, attempting to ascertain
the reason for the increased radiation. Analyzing the incoming
information Seven felt a cold sensation settle in her middle,
and noted absently that she was having an adrenal response to
what she had just found. ‘Three EPS conduits have been rerouted
to Equinox’s research laboratory; I believe they are the reason
for the increasing thermionic radiation.’
There was absolute silence from B’Elanna for a full second, then
a rush of anger, ‘I can’t believe it, we run into another
Federation ship and they turn out to be honorless p’taqs.
Kathless, but Kathryn isn’t going to like hearing this.’
Seven could only agree with the last statement, ‘No, she isn’t,’
being well aware of Kathryn’s dislike of being lied to. Hearing
the doors open behind her Seven identified the person entering
the lab before she completed her movement to clear the
information from the Equinox scan. Seven glanced over at the
Captain verifying that she was alone.
‘The Captain is here, I will show her the information now.’
Seven informed B’Elanna.
Before Seven could speak Janeway held up a PADD she was
carrying, “The information on the multiphasic chamber.” she
announced.
Seven stepped back from the console slightly, and accepted the
PADD from Janeway. She didn’t look it immediately, instead she
said in a low voice, “Three EPS conduits on the Equinox have
been rerouted to their research laboratory, I believe they are
the source of the thermionic radiation.” Seven indicated the
console displaying the information and Janeway promptly stepped
over to scan over the data herself.
After a few seconds she looked back up, but not to look at
Seven, instead she stared blankly at a readout on the wall, her
face tight and Seven heard a small minute sound she would swear
were the Captain’s teeth grinding together. No, the Captain did
not like hearing this news at all, but then they had known she
wouldn’t.
Janeway turned abruptly toward Seven, “Make the shield
modifications your top priority. I’ll get B’Elanna back over
here to work on it as well, we need those modifications as soon
as possible.” The Captain’s voice was sharp and abrupt,
betraying her anger. “Encrypt all of the information from your
scans of the Equinox and send it my Ready Room.”
Seven had straightened almost instinctually, at the tone of
Janeway’s voice and clasped her hands behind her back, “Yes,
Captain,” Seven replied.
The Captain turned and headed for the doors.
“I am sorry,” Seven said in a low uncertain voice to her
retreating back, feeling troubled about being the source of the
information that had made Kathryn so angry.
The petite red haired woman stopped abruptly and turned to look
over her shoulder with a puzzled expression. Then noting the
Borg like stance, which had become so unusual for Seven after
what had happened on Mulara, and realizing what Seven was
apologizing for, she turned around and walked back to the
ex-Borg. Her face softened and she placed a comforting hand on
the taller woman’s arm. “You have nothing to be sorry about. You
and B’Elanna were absolutely right to bring your suspicions to
me. I’m not angry with you, I’m angry at them for lying and
hiding something from us.” She squeezed Seven’s arm under her
hand gently and waited.
Seven’s face cleared and she nodded her understanding, realizing
in dismay how she was standing, Seven flushed slightly and
dropped her hands to her sides.
Kathryn decided to just ignore the obvious change in Seven’s
stance, not wishing her to feel any more uncomfortable than the
blond woman already was. “I need to brief Tuvok and Chakotay,”
she said, still gripping Seven’s arm lightly.
“I’ll transfer the information now, Captain.” Seven assured her,
feeling more confident now that she understood the source of
Kathryn’s upset.
Kathryn nodded, gripped the arm she still held reassuringly one
last time then released it and turned briskly. Seven saw her
command mask settle over her face and watched as Captain Kathryn
Janeway exited the lab.
As she encrypted the data from the Equinox and forwarded it to
Janeway’s terminal in her Ready Room, Seven contacted B’Elanna
and informed her about everything that had occurred in the past
few minutes.
‘I’ll put Vorik in charge over here and come right over,’
B’Elanna replied and Seven caught overtones of intense curiosity
from her lover.
Seven smiled to herself in the empty lab, knowing that B’Elanna
was anticipating the challenge of modifying the chamber design
from Equinox as much as she was. Even though it was a necessity
that they complete this task quickly, both of them looked
forward to the mental stimulation of solving a complex problem
together.
Once B’Elanna had informed Vorik that he was now in charge of
the Equinox repair effort she continued, ‘I don’t think we are
going to be able to get any information from their computer
core. It’s just too damaged. Right now it can’t do much more
than run basic ships functions.’ Seven noted the frustration in
her wife’s mental voice with concern. ‘It would have been so
much easier if I could have found out what they were hiding from
it.’ B’Elanna finished, her disappointment strong through the
interlink.
Seven could not think of anything to say that would make her
B’enal not feel disappointed. It frustrated her, as she
understood completely why the half-Klingon was upset, since she
reacted in the same manner when circumstances caused her to not
be able to fulfill the Captain’s wishes. Finally, she did the
only thing she could, send her feelings of support through their
interlink, and let her wife know that she understood.
While she was waiting for B’Elanna to arrive, Seven started
loading the information obtained from the Equinox into Voyagers
computers. Choosing one of the side consoles she displayed the
information obtained on it, and then went over to view it. Just
as she was beginning to examine the energy field data, B’Elanna
entered the Astrometrics lab with Commander Burke.
“The latest shield scan should be done,” Burke was saying as he
entered Astrometrics.
As B’Elanna stepped around the main console to join Seven he
stepped up to the main console and examined the readouts. Burke
switched his gaze from the console to Seven and said in a
puzzled tone, “I thought you said the scans would be completed
by now?”
Seven felt a flutter in her stomach and recognized it as fear,
as she wondered how to explain why the scans were just finishing
instead of being completed. Taking a breath to calm herself,
Seven searched her memory for past events that had caused
similar delays. “A power diversion has delayed the completion of
the current scan, it should be finished in two minutes.” she
stated and was pleased to hear her voice remain steady and calm.
‘Good save,’ B’Elanna’s mental voice was warm and reassuring,
and felt remarkably like a brief hug.
“Oh.” Burke replied briefly. Something passed over his face, and
Seven thought he was looking at her a little more coldly, and
perhaps suspiciously, but she was not certain.
“Yea, sometimes someone thinks that just because she has an in
to the Chief Engineer that Astrometrics can have all the extra
power available.” B’Elanna interrupted in a teasing tone,
smiling at Seven, and drawing Burke’s attention away from her.
‘I know you don’t, but go with it. He looked suspicious.’
B’Elanna instructed silently, as she made the statement aloud.
Along with the unspoken words was a mental image of what
B’Elanna wanted Seven to do in reaction to what she had just
said.
Following the instructions, Seven raised an eyebrow at her wife,
expelled her breath in a low huff, and turned back to the data
on the multiphasic chamber, acting as if she were now ignoring
the half-Klingon.
A short bark of laughter from behind her let her know that she
had succeeded in eliciting the reaction from Commander Burke
that B’Elanna had desired.
“Nice energy matrix, who developed it?” B’Elanna turned and
looked inquiringly at Max, keeping her tone and gaze light, as
she checked to make sure he no longer looked suspicious.
Burke hesitated a moment, “Gillmore and I did.”
“Not a bad job, Max. Maybe you’re a better engineer than you
thought.” B’Elanna grinned at Equinox’s First Officer teasingly.
Burke snorted and placed his hands on his hips as he regarded
the half-Klingon, “Not good enough. I thought about creating a
lattice work of multiphasic force fields to cover Equinox, but I
couldn’t figure out how to get it to work.”
B’Elanna nodded and turned back to the console to examine the
data from the Equinox. She tapped one fingernail against the
metal edge of the console as she examined the information trying
to figure out what about it seemed familiar.
“Species 259,” Seven stated, and suddenly B’Elanna made the
connection that had been eluding her. Species 259 was an
omnicordial life form that inhabited Galactic Cluster 3. The
Borg had obtained the pattern duplication design used in their
autonomous regeneration sequencers from them. They had also
obtained quite a lot of other technology, one of which was an
unusual shield matrix whose individual units bore a close
resemblance to the one she was currently looking at.
“I believe it will be easier to modify Voyagers security grid
generators to emit multiphasic frequencies than to undertake
modifications to the shield generators.” Seven stated looking
over at B’Elanna who was standing almost shoulder to shoulder
with her.
B’Elanna considered this for a moment then nodded her head
abruptly once. Frowning slightly, she considered the problem
before them, and silently cursed Max’s presence behind them. She
really, really wanted to work on this problem with Seven through
their interlink. There, thoughts and images flowed rapidly back
and forth between them in a dance of intellect that B’Elanna
found almost as stimulating as their lovemaking.
Seven catching the overtones of her lover’s mood, if not the
actual thoughts, glared at the reflection of the person standing
behind them, wishing that the First Officer of the Equinox would
leave her alone with her B’enal.
“Species 259? I’ve never heard of them.” came the voice of Max
Burke from behind them.
Seven stated coolly, “Their Borg designation. Their designation
for themselves is impossible for a humanoid to produce, as they
do not communicate by utilizing sound, but by transferring
complex chemical structures between communicants. They are an
omnicordial life form inhabiting Galactic Cluster 3.”
“How do you know that?” asked Burke, surprise obvious in his
tone.
Surprised, B’Elanna turned around and looked at him realizing
belatedly that the Captain hadn’t already explained to the
Equinox crew that Seven had been severed from the Collective.
Glancing at her wife she thought she understood, it wasn’t as if
Seven wasn’t distinctive now, but with her new exoskeleton she
was no longer recognizable as having been Borg. B’Elanna thought
that Janeway had probably decided to leave it up to Seven
whether or not strangers needed to know her past.
Seven turned smartly and in a voice rather devoid of emotion
informed the Commander, “My parents were studying the Borg. They
and I were assimilated in 2355; Captain Janeway separated me
from the Collective on stardate 51004. On stardate 52668 I was
killed on the planet Mulara. Two days later I was revived by an
energy being revered by the Mularan’s as their goddess Mulara
with my exoskeleton and implants as they are now.”
‘Succinct, brutally succinct. I like it.’ B’Elanna informed
Seven, trying not to laugh out loud at the shocked look on Max’s
face. As the shock faded B’Elanna could tell that he was trying
to figure out what question he wanted to ask first about the
information Seven had just unloaded upon him.
Curious as to what he would ask B’Elanna waited while Seven
turned back to the data and began working again.
Burke’s attention focused upon B’Elanna, “And yours?”
“Also a gift from Mulara, she believes in equality in a
relationship so she gave me the same abilities and knowledge
Seven has.” B’Elanna replied calmly. Suddenly a sound caught her
attention and she stilled, feeling Seven do the same beside her
as she noted the sound as well. “Shit, are the shield
modifications failing?” she asked turning around and accessing
Voyager’s shield data from the console.
Seven who had already accessed the shield controls noted that
Tuvok and Harry were also interfacing with the controls and were
accessing the same information as she. “They are concentrating
their attack on the lateral shields. Ensign Kim is already
rerouting power back to those shields.”
“The auxiliary emitters couldn’t react fast enough,” B’Elanna
finished.
Both of them were currently ignoring the slightly wild eyed
Equinox First Officer holding Astrometrics emergency phaser
behind them.
“We have to figure out these modifications now,” B’Elanna
commented tersely, bringing back up the chamber specifications.
Seven stated simply “Agreed.” and began working with her.
After a few moments they both identified the sounds of Burke
reattaching the phaser in its holding brackets under the main
console. “I think I’ll see how the rest of my crew is doing
after that.” he stated from behind them, and his voice clearly
revealed the stress he was feeling.
B’Elanna turned her head long enough to meet his eyes for a
moment and nod an acknowledgement before turning back and
focusing on the equations Seven was working on to modify the
security energy grid to emit multiphasic frequencies. As soon as
the doors shut behind the departing Equinox First Officer,
B’Elanna said aloud, “Computer Seal Astrometrics doors,
authorization Torres one omega five one.” Then she murmured just
loud enough for Seven to hear, “Now lets get this done.”
Focusing on their interlink, B’Elanna accepted Seven’s offer of
full integration, for an instance it felt chaotic as she merged
with Seven’s consciousness. Then the chaos cleared as she
focused on the calculations which Seven was concentrating upon.
Unconsciously she wrapped one arm around Seven’s waist and drew
her physically close as well. Within nanoseconds she was
comfortable in their merged consciousness and their integrated
thoughts focused on their objective.
‘Wave pattern…Yea, that looks good…Lets modify the security grid
to emit multiphasic frequencies, I think this will work.’ For
over thirty minutes they traded ideas, discarded those that did
not seem promising and focused on those that seemed likely to
succeed.
The sound of the seal being overrode caught their attention for
a moment, long enough for them to realize, ‘Kathryn… the
Captain,’ and continue their work as the other woman entered.
Janeway had been surprised when she the doors to Astrometrics
had not opened when she approached them. Finding her Chief
Engineer’s seal on them had given her a moment of hesitation
before she looked left and right to make sure the corridor was
clear before she overrode it. When she entered the lab her first
response had been to reprimand the two women standing in a loose
embrace before one of the side consoles. Fortunately she caught
sight of the rapidly changing screen before she uttered even one
annoyed word.
Her breath caught in her throat as she realized what must be
going on, Seven had described how it felt to fully open herself
to their interlink, how wonderful it was for them to merge their
thoughts and work through a problem together. Watching the two
she realized that though they had one arm wrapped around the
other, each one’s free arm was busy entering data rapidly.
Quickly she resealed the doors with her command codes and walked
closer to the two figures.
Watching she found herself wondering how they managed to each
enter in data without one messing up what the other was
entering. Janeway focused on the view screen trying to figure
out how far they had gotten with developing a defense against
the aliens. After a few moments she realized they were currently
working out how to modify the security grid generators to emit
multiphasic frequencies.
Watching closely as the screen flickered and changed as the two
rapidly entered information, Janeway tried to keep up with the
modifications the two were working out. The screen changed and
focused in upon one grid and Janeway looked with interest upon
the equations detailing the frequency and energy emissions of
the security grid. The rapid data entry ceased for a moment and
Janeway tried to figure out what about the grid was giving them
problems.
‘Odd…?…There seems to be no exit from this field once the
interspacial rift completes.’ for a moment Seven contemplated
B’Elanna’s thoughts. ‘You are correct…’ there was a pause. ‘The
alien they said they captured died then, as it could not return
to it’s own space…Damn, question is did they mean to, and did
they use this before or after the aliens started attacking
them…I do not know, but if we modify the wave form in this
manner…Yes, that works, it will give them a way to go back to
their space.’
Slowly, carefully and with no little reluctance, the two
separated their thoughts and settled back into their own
individual minds, parting physically as well, though not moving
very far apart from one another.
As soon as she reoriented herself B’Elanna said tersely,
“Captain, we discovered something that may have something to do
with why the aliens are attacking.”
Seven pulled up the energy matrix of Equinox’s multiphasic
chamber while Janeway closed the short distance that remained
between them.
When she came up beside them B’Elanna continued while pointing
to the matrix, “There’s no way out, once the alien appears in
our space and is caught inside it can’t return.”
Seven continued, “Also, I can find no method of shutting down
the energy field without collapsing it, which would have the
side effect of killing whatever was held inside. We have
modified the energy field equation Voyager will be using to
allow them to exit back into their own space.” Seven brought up
the modified energy matrix on the next viewing screen.
Captain Janeway’s face tightened, betraying the anger that was
building inside, “Well now I understand why Ransom was not happy
Burke told us about this.” She directed a sharp look at Seven,
“We will be able to bring our security grid down normally even
with these modifications?”
“Yes, Captain. Bringing down one of the security grids will not
harm any humanoid or alien contained inside the energy field.”
Seven reassured her.
Janeway stood silently for a few moments then from the sudden
resolution on her face came to a decision. “I think it’s time we
got a few questions answered.” |
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