Chapter 20
"Please, this way," Seven said as she led the group to one of the five doors that were in the back wall of the bridge.
They had come onto the bridge through one of the two doors at the left side. Combined with two more doors at the right side this resulted in there being an impressive nine doors onto the bridge. Several in the group wondered about the large number of doors, but it was Harry's ship designing mind that finally made him ask.
"You have to remember that Unimatrix 01 is a lot bigger than Voyager," B'Elanna answered. "There's a lot more located on this deck than only the bridge. Behind those doors you'll find a conference room, a break room, the combined Captain and First Officer's ready room. Then there are two turbolifts... or better said the Borg equivalent of them. Two corridors that lead to main corridors that run through the ship like arteries through a body, we entered the bridge through one of those. Lastly we have a small holodeck that is sometimes used in Senior staff meetings, and this door here, which leads to the Royal Quarters."
This last was said as they walked through said door.
As they walked through a spacious corridor, B'Elanna pointed to the different doors they came across. "These are the quarters of our Captain. These are the quarters of the First Officer. Behind this door is another corridor that leads to the quarters of the rest of the Senior Staff. And on this side is a corridor that leads to the quarters of the Royal Advisor, and then on to the rest of the ship; allowing us to use that corridor to come here without having to go through the bridge."
B'Elanna pointed to two doors on either side of the corridor. "These four quarters here are the quarters of the Royal Guards. You met them already; the four drones that were with us on Voyager are the Royal Guards. More drones are added if needed, but those four are the only ones that have our protection as their sole duty. Of course, one of these quarters should be empty at the moment because Katzi is now no longer living there. We decided to use the opportunity and asked Katzi if she objected to us loaning out her 'job quarters' to our nanny. Since she didn't object, our nanny now lives there."
B'Elanna stopped at the end of the corridor and turned around to face the group. "And these are the Royal quarters; our home. Though all of Unimatrix 01 is our home now, these quarters are truly 'home' to us. So, welcome to our home."
B'Elanna and Seven stepped up to the door at the same time, opening their home to their guests.
The first thing that caught Janeway's eye upon entering a very spacious living room, was a huge insectoid that had to be three heads taller than Janeway herself. It was holding a young toddler against its body with two arms while picking up a stuffed toy from the floor with one of it's other four arms...or was it two other arms and were the lower limbs a second pair of legs...? No, they were arms... At least Janeway guessed.
"May I introduce," Seven said as she stepped up to the insectoid and took the child out of its arms. "This is our nanny, Zizirk. I will not try to pronounce the last name since I never do it justice, and Zizirk's species have a saying, 'pronounce your friend's name right, or do not pronounce it at all.' Zizirk, this is the senior staff of Voyager, the people you heard us talk about so often."
"A good day to you all," Zizirk said, though Janeway wondered how... it... could speak since she didn't see any lips moving. In fact, she didn't see any lips at all around its mouth. Though its head was roughly shaped like a human's, no part of the head seemed to move while it was talking. Its eyes were set as far apart as possible in a relatively standard shaped humanoid head. Even though the eyes were quickly covered from time to time with blinking eyelids, the eyes themselves clearly existed out of thousands of small eyes.
Janeway shamefully admitted to herself, though she would never say so to someone else, that if she had a child she would never entrust it to this creature. A creature that seemed to have escaped directly out of a holodeck horror story.
"Was she a good girl?" B'Elanna asked Zizirk as she joined Seven, ready to introduce their pride and joy to the Voyager crew.
"She was a perfect little girl; didn't give me any trouble at all."
"Damn, you're a good liar," B'Elanna grinned. "I'm so impressed that you can actually say that with a straight face."
'Straight face?' Janeway repeated to herself. Wondering how it could be possible to actually see facial expressions on a face formed from the armor plating of an external skeleton. But then she saw the smaller plates around the creature's mouth move, forming something even Janeway could recognize as a smile... of sorts.
"I did have a year of practice, my Princess."
B'Elanna grinned at Zizirk a last time before turning to face the Voyager crew. "And this little terror here is Vasha Borg. Vasha, say hi to our friends."
"Hi," The toddler repeated dutifully.
Looking at the young girl, Janeway could clearly see her parenting. She had Seven's blue eyes and blonde hair, and B'Elanna's head ridges. Janeway was smart enough not to ask how this was possible, knowing that nature would never have created the girl like that without a little help. At the very least B'Elanna's brown eyes would have genetically dominated over Seven's blue ones. But Janeway had to admit that the little girl looked absolutely adorable. Janeway was so focused on the little girl that the girl's name didn't register at first, but before she could ask about the name, she head the girl say a very nice 'hi.'
"Well hi there little one," Janeway said as she stepped closer.
"Would you like to hold her?" Seven asked, already handing over her one-year-old daughter.
"She already knows you all, with the exception of Perizn and Gazec, from several holo-recordings we showed her that we had from our time on Voyager."
Before Janeway could form a polite reason not to take the girl, she was already holding Vasha in her arms. Looking down she saw the child looking up with a serious expression on her face, yet the smallest of smiles playing on her lips.
"I would ask you all to take a seat," Seven said in a tone that sounded a little apologetic. "But as you can see, we really do not have enough places to sit ten people. In a moment, we can go to the holodeck where there is more than enough room. There we will answer some more of your questions before we tell you what happened to us in the last two years. Not the least of which is that little treasure you are holding there, Captain."
"Capt?" Vasha asked. "You Kathryn, not Capt. Wolkav is Capt, not you."
"Vasha, honey," B'Elanna said patiently. "Wolkav is Captain of our ship; Kathryn is Captain of Voyager, the ship we once served on. She was our Captain for years and we're kinda used to addressing her as Captain."
"Oh. Good. I like Wolkav, want him to be Capt," Vasha said, as if she wanted it to be very clear that she didn't think of Janeway as the commander of the ship, which indeed she didn't.
"It's amazing that she can talk like that, she can't be much older than a year," Janeway said, taking into account that neither of the two women was pregnant when they left, so at the very least the girl could only have been born nine months later.
"Her birthday is in two weeks," Seven agreed. "As for why Vasha can already talk like this, Vasha said her first word when she was two months old. It is again one of those things that you will not like, Kathryn, but Vasha is genetically manipulated to incorporate the best of traits B'Elanna's and my genes could give her. Apparently my IQ level was mine from nature and not given to me by the Borg. Our doctor told us that translated to the scale used in the Federation, Vasha has an IQ level of two hundred seventy-six. Since it is normal for an IQ level to drop a little when children get older the doctor expects that Vasha will end with the same IQ level as I have, which is two hundred fifty-seven."
"And you allowed that manipulation?" Janeway asked, before looking back down at the girl. Looking closer she saw something just below the child's skin that made her close her eyes for a moment. "Implants? She has implants?"
"Kathryn, may I remind you of in whose home you are?" Seven asked, her voice becoming a lot cooler. "I realize that you may not like some of the things on this ship, but be assured that there are reasons for it. Some are because it truly is for the best of all involved, and others are the result of a compromise between us and the Hive mind."
Janeway narrowed her eyes at Seven before realizing that this was no longer the Seven she had known. True, the person was still the same, but this Seven was the Borg Queen, someone that had to think about more than just one hundred and fifty people.
"My apologies," Janeway said with a short nod. "But Seven, implants?"
Hearing the changed tone was enough for Seven and she was just about to answer when her daughter beat her to it. "What wrong with my implants, momma?"
Janeway looked down at the girl that was now looking at Seven with a look of confusion on her face.
"Yes, Kathryn," Seven said, thinking that her daughter's question had gone right to the heart of the matter, "Just what exactly is wrong with my daughter's implants?"
Vasha now looked back at Janeway for an answer. Janeway looked at the little girl in her arm for a moment. How to explain to her that implants were wrong? She had a feeling that 'because it is' wouldn't work with this particular child. She also couldn't simply say that implants were just wrong, because she could just as easily say that weapons were wrong. Yet Voyager itself boasted some of the most impressive weapons they had yet come across in the Delta Quadrant. Those weapons had saved their lives numerous times, and at those times those weapons sure were the right thing to have.
"Nothing is wrong with implants by themselves, it's just that they can be used wrong," Janeway finally said.
"Indeed," Seven agreed, deciding to let Janeway off the hook. "Which is why Vasha's implants are temporary, mainly to monitor her vital signs. When she gets older, she will get other implants. All of which are temporary and removable. When she reaches the age of eighteen, she herself will choose which implants she wants to have. At that point she can also choose to have implants that cannot be removed, like the new abdominal implant. But that will be her sole choice to make. You have to realize that she 'is' Borg, and it would be plain stupid not to use implants that can assure her wellbeing."
"As for us 'allowing' the genetic manipulation," B'Elanna continued when Seven stopped talking. "It's more a case of 'alright but.' The Borg wanted our... especially Seven's... 'biological distinctiveness' to be ensured. Seven and I talked about it and decided that we wouldn't mind having a child. If the Borg wanted our 'biological distinctiveness' to be ensured then they had to be satisfied with it being ensured by the fact that we were going to have a baby. The Borg agreed, but reminded us that by merging our DNA into a child some specific traits would be lost. They would be satisfied with us having a child if in return they were allowed to ensure that the child had the best genetic traits of the both of us. We agreed to that, but in return we wanted to raise our child in the normal way; no Borg maturation chamber for our baby. They agreed, and here we have the result of that; our pride and joy, Vasha."
"Besides," Seven added. "Even though genetic manipulation is a convenient explanation, I have a feeling that most of Vasha's brilliance is simply Vasha being Vasha. Yes, she has my IQ level, and yes, that level is almost twice as high as the normal human's IQ level. But unlike our daughter, I could not talk at her age. In fact, from the little that I can remember from my time before the Borg, I was just an average girl. The only thing that could prove any different was the fact that I could actually understand the scientific reports my parents were writing."
"I apologize for jumping to conclusions without having all the information," Janeway said. Though she still didn't agree, she could understand why Seven and B'Elanna had agreed to the deal. "But if you don't mind me asking, why do you have to make deals with the Borg? I thought that the Queen was in total control of the Hive? And talking about Borg, the last name of your daughter is... Borg?"
"Normally, yes, the Queen is in total control of the Hive," Seven agreed as she took her daughter back. "And I could have had that total control by now. However, that would not have changed the Borg in the long run. As we said before, if I had taken that control unconditionally, then any changes we might have made could just as easily have been changed back by a new Queen in the future. We want to change the Borg to the point that the changes cannot be changed by a single person, even if that person is the Queen. This is why we are moving the Borg to how most monarchies are normally run. Having a Royal family, the descendants of which pass on the title of Queen to their daughter, and having Ministers be in control of a governmental body that runs the Borg on a daily basis. We knew this already when our daughter was born. Knowing that the last name we gave her would be the name that the Borg Queen would carry generation after generation, we decided that it should be something else than Hansen, a name that means absolutely nothing to me, or Torres, a name that has no Klingon history. We decided to give Vasha the last name of Borg so that in generations to come the Borg Queen is an individual character, yet clearly connected to the Borg. More so because, interestingly enough, besides Vasha now there was not a single person inside the Borg Collective that has the last name of Borg. So 'Borg' is now the Royal name in the Borg Collective."
"You want to bring the position of Borg Queen back to a ceremonial position only?" Janeway asked to clarify.
"Partially," Seven said, not fully agreeing with the statement. "After all, there are also monarchies in which the Queen is the one that truly is in control of all, like the Zamonan monarchy for instance. We are striving for something in between. A check and balance system, so to speak. Where the Queen is the one in control of the Borg, but where the daily running of the Borg is done by Ministers. For instance, if the Borg come across a new species, it will be the Queen that negotiates in the name of the Borg. The Queen and the Ministers will have equal control over the Borg, just that the Queen is the central person of the Borg, something the Borg need."
"But the Ministers would have the power to contradict any order given by the Queen, if they wanted to?" Chakotay asked.
"Indeed," Seven agreed. "Just like the Queen will have the power to contradict any order given by the Ministers if she wants to. This could theoretically result in a stalemate between the two, but in reality, because the Borg and the Queen are connected through the Hive mind and therefore the sincerity and concerns of their points of views are known to each other, any disagreements are worked out long before any problems can occur. It is just that we want that security in place, just in case. We want following Queens to act like I am now, to set a general course for the Borg but that they have to negotiate with the Hive to achieve what they want. Sometimes not getting what they want, sometimes getting exactly what they want, but mostly getting something in between."
"Why are you only talking about a Borg Queen?" Neelix asked. "Vasha's first born could just as easily be a boy."
"No it can't," B'Elanna said, and it was clear to all that what she was going to say next was hard for her to say. "When the time comes, Vasha's child will also be genetically enhanced to ensure that the best of her 'biological distinctiveness' continues to exist. At that time, her nanoprobes will make sure that the embryo in her body will evolve into a girl for several reasons. The simplest one being the fact that in both Human and Klingon races the women live on average ten years longer than the men. But there are about fifteen other reasons as well. It's because of this that we also already know that her daughter will have blue eyes, unless her partner has green eyes. In that case their child will have green eyes. Again, there are several reasons for that. Knowing that generations of coming Queens would have to go through their children being genetically altered is something we did take into account when we made our choice, but it is still hard. We just hope that it'll become so normal for at least the Royal family that it's something not even really thought about. That it's just the way things are done."
"Not all choices we made were easy," Seven added as she looked down at her daughter who was becoming a bit restless in her arms. "One moment please," She said to the Voyager crew before addressing her daughter. "Vasha, do you mind spending some more time with Zizirk? Mamma and I will be busy for the next couple of hours."
"What would you do if she says yes?" Tom asked amused.
"If she says yes, then I am afraid that we will have to postpone this conversation until tomorrow. B'Elanna and I promised her that we would spend tonight with her, but that was before we found out that our presence was required here. Unless absolutely necessary, we try to keep our promises to our daughter."
"Alright, momma. Momma, can Zizirk and I go fly then?"
Seven looked over at the insectoid that had moved out of the way of the group and lifted an eyebrow a little in question. Zizirk nodded a little as answer and Seven smiled down at her daughter. "Very well, but only in the holodeck with the safety setting set to maximum."
"Mommaaaa."
"Do not mommaaaa me, young lady," Seven countered. "You have too much of your mamma in you. You want to go fly, then those are the stipulations."
"Alright momma."
"Good girl," B'Elanna said, placing a kiss on the girl's forehead. Smiling because of Seven's comment that their child was too much like B'Elanna sometimes; which was very true.
"Tomorrow we three will spend the afternoon alone, alright little terror?"
"No talking to them?" Vasha asked, meaning the Voyager crew.
"No talking to them, not in the afternoon at least. Just us. But we could ask Pagsha and Katzi to join us if you want."
"Yes! We all go fly then?"
B'Elanna laughed and looked over at Zizirk before answering. "Honey. Zizirk is strong, but Zizirk really can't carry us while flying. Just special little girls. Now get."
"Alright mamma," Vasha said while reaching out for Zizirk who had come closer to take the girl. "Love you mamma, love you momma," Vasha added over Zizirk's shoulder as the insectoid started to walk out of the room through a different door than the one the Voyager crew had entered through.
Janeway saw a totally unguarded look of total joy coming over the faces of Seven and B'Elanna, and she could only wonder what it must have felt like for the women to hear their daughter tell them that she loved them.
Only when the door had closed behind the insectoid and the child did Seven and B'Elanna turn back to the group. "Sorry about that," B'Elanna apologized with a smile. "Vasha loves it when Zizirk takes her flying. I fear the day that we have to say no because Zizirk can't carry her anymore."
It was at that moment that the true meaning of flying registered with Janeway. "You mean flying flying, as in Zizirk can physically fly and carries Vasha while doing so?"
"Yeah," B'Elanna agreed. "Zizirk is a true sight to behold with wings unfolded. Zizirk's wingspan is a walloping seven meters (23 ft.) I still haven't figured out how Zizirk is able to fold all of that under the armor plating on the back."
"She... he... is a sight to be hold without wings as well," Harry said, saying what Janeway had wanted to.
Seeing a perfect opening, Janeway asked, "How did Zizirk become your nanny? She, he, really doesn't seem like a logical first choice."
"Careful Captain, don't go judging on looks," B'Elanna said, and Janeway could clearly hear a hint of protectiveness in her voice. "By the way, Zizirk is an 'it'; genderless. We normally simply use Zizirk's name where one would normally use the gender, though I have to admit that even we still slip up from time to time. As for how Zizirk became our nanny... Well, I stink at it, but Seven really excels at searching the Hive mind. She can make it look as easy as looking through a Federation database. Anyway, Seven simply looked over the character traits; searching for the most gentlest, most caring, most patient, and not to forget, long living, drone in the Collective and Zizirk topped the list."
"Long living?" Chakotay asked.
Now it was Seven that answered. "Yes. B'Elanna and I know that because of our position we will not be able to spend as much family time with our daughter as we want. We wanted to make sure that through her life Vasha has a person that is there for her every minute she needs this person. We wanted to prevent our daughter having to go through nanny after nanny. If all goes as we would like it to go, Zizirk will be the only nanny Vasha ever knows. And when she reaches the age that she no longer needs a nanny, then Zizirk will become a housekeeper to the Royal quarters. A housekeeper that becomes Vasha's housekeeper when she moves out into her own quarters next door."
"You have her quarters already selected?" Tom asked amused. "When do you want her to move out, tomorrow?"
"I would like Vasha to live here until she is at least thirty-five years old," Seven said with a serious face, before giving Tom a little smile. "But B'Elanna told me that this is not realistic. Actually, the reason why Vasha's quarters are already known is because several connecting quarters have been set aside for the coming Royal family. B'Elanna likes to call it the 'Royal wing' even though it obviously is not a wing of a building. There are enough quarters for several generations to live comfortably. Just as with a lot of what B'Elanna and I do, we are preparing things for the next generation of Borg Queen. B'Elanna and I see what we do as a transition to the new style of Queen. Vasha will be that new style Queen. Just like she will be the first Queen to have the last name of Borg, Vasha Borg will also be the first Queen to live in the Royal wing."
"Come on," B'Elanna spoke up. "We were going to move this party to the holodeck. We have to go through the kitchen."
"The holodeck is connected to your kitchen?" Harry asked surprised.
"Sure," B'Elanna grinned as she started to walk to the next room. "Got to be some perks to being Boss of Borg, don't you think?"
"Yeah, I guess," Harry agreed. "But I'm just surprised that all of these important things are located so close together. I mean, you have the bridge right beside the Royal quarters, which are right beside the holodeck that the Royal family uses when they aren't on the bridge or in their quarters. Just one well placed shot could destroy it all."
B'Elanna shook her head a little at the question. "It seems that you are too used to working on a Federation starship. There's no way that Unimatrix 01 will ever land or even enter a planet's gravitational field. Because of that, we don't need the bridge in a place where you can look out of a window."
B'Elanna walked to the door that she had pointed at before and stood in the doorframe. "The reason that all of this is so close together is because they're positioned in the safest place on Unimatrix 01 that they could be if the ship were to take damage. This very door here is actually almost the exact geometrical center of Unimatrix 01. We know of no weapon that could do so much damage that it would destroy enough of Unimatrix 01 that we would be in danger here."
"This really 'is' your home," Chakotay noticed when he heard the little undertone in B'Elanna's voice; the true pride of someone talking about the great things of their new home. "Even if the Borg would allow you to go, you would stay."
"We would," Seven agreed. "The Borg have not been holding us against our will for a long time now. It is a decision we made, but we will tell you all about it in a moment. Please follow us to the holodeck."
Seven walked through the door together with B'Elanna, followed by the rest of the group. After walking through a large, but still homely kitchen, they reached another door and when they walked through that, they stepped onto a wooden porch that had several chairs, a table, and a two person porch-swing. Beyond the porch was a small grassy clearing before the huge trees of an ancient forest began.
"Wow," Tom said as he stepped onto the porch and looked around. "If I didn't know that we're on a spaceship, I would swear that this is real."
"That's because most of it is," B'Elanna said as she stepped off the porch. She sent a command to the central computer over her link, and suddenly a round table with seats for all was standing in the clearing. "Please take a seat."
Just when the last person was sitting down, a man stepped out of the woods and came walking to the table. "Sorry, this holodeck doesn't work with the normal verbal commands that you're used to. Just ask the waiter for whatever drinks you like. For the rest you can ignore him, he isn't real."
"You said that most of this is real?" Tom asked. Everyone knew that he loved to spend time on the holodeck. Though he had brought the time down to a normal level since he was married, and most of the time he did spent on the holodeck, he spent together with Perizn. But he still got excited thinking of spending time on a holodeck in which things were actually real.
"Yes," B'Elanna affirmed. "As I said, we used other technology than the Federation does. See, the thing is, replicating something costs more energy than creating a hologram of that thing. But, if you replicate something once, that thing exists and continues to exist, costing no more energy, with the exception of the energy needed to eventually remove it again. But a hologram takes continuous energy to keep creating the same thing. If an item exists for longer than thirty minutes, its going to use more energy than it would have taken to replicate the thing. So, with this holodeck technology, the base things that the computer is pretty sure up front will be there throughout the entire program, they are actually replicated and small things are holographic additions."
B'Elanna pointed at a couple of things as she explained, "The earth around you is real, so are the trees. This table is real, as are the drinks you are about to get... of course those are real because it's very convenient if you can actually drink your drink. But the birds in those trees aren't real, nor is the water streaming through that creek over there. Because those things move too much, they are only generated holographically. If you were to generate a house on the holodeck, then the house would be real because walls and floors don't move, and so on. Of course, the computer still monitors it all for safety reasons. If you fall out of one of these real trees and are about to hit one of those real lower branches, then the computer will register that you are about to impact with harming force. That branch will be removed, and you will drift to the ground, landing nicely on your feet."
"I like the scenery," Perizn noted.
"The woods you see here around you are the standard setting for the holodeck and it's always activated," B'Elanna explained. "If someone wants to run a different holo-program, part of the holodeck is simply divided off by holographic walls that will be seen as cliffs by anyone that is walking through the standard program; these woods. Or another option, the holodeck is divided over the vertical axis, I mean, really, looking up you won't see if the holographic sky is five kilometers up, or four, or three, or... well, even on a planet, rain clouds already form at one-and-a-half kilometers up. We could divide this holodeck up in hundreds of different ways and you would never know that someone else is on the holodeck as well. Case in point, Vasha and Zizirk are somewhere on this holodeck right now, but we don't see or hear them. The computer evaluates running programs and decides how to divide off some room to run a different holo-program. The computer also takes into account whether the running programs are open or private programs."
"You are talking about this holodeck as if others can use it as well; from what you said before I got the impression that it was only meant for you?" Tom asked.
"Not at all," B'Elanna said with a shake of her head. "This is called 'the Royal Holodeck,' and, yes, the use is limited. The Hive mind decided that though, not us. But we just felt it wrong that we would be the only ones that could use this huge holodeck, so we had another of those negotiations with the Hive and reached a compromise. Now this holodeck is also open for use by the Royal family, by the entire senior staff and their families or partners, and for the Royal guards and their families or partners, and any guests those people want to bring along."
"But what about the rest of the Borg Collective, don't the other 'individualist drones' as you call them use the holodeck as well?" Janeway asked.
"They do," B'Elanna assured, "just not this one. This isn't the only holodeck on Unimatrix 01. You have to remember that you only saw a very, very small part of Unimatrix 01. We didn't show you a single of the three hundred restaurants we have in the already changed part of Unimatrix 01 for instance. Or any of the recreation places, or any of the fitness areas, or any... well, any of the other holodecks. At the moment, keeping in mind that we are far from being finished with making changes to Unimatrix 01, there are five more holodecks of this size that are for public use, and two hundred holodecks about the size of Voyager's holodeck one. We make sure the designers keep about the same level of recreation as you would find on any Federation starbase as they change more and more on Unimatrix 01. We also make sure that these places are conveniently located throughout the ship so that they are within walking distance of individualist drones."
"Which will cause them to only stay in a certain part of the ship during their off duty time," Tuvok noted.
"True," Seven agreed. "However, as far as that is concerned you have to see Unimatrix 01 more as a city than a starship, simply because of its size. On Vulcan, someone living in the northern sector of Shi'Kahr city will not walk to the southern sector simply to see if they can find someone they want to share a drink with. They would only go to the southern sector if they have a specific reason to go there. The same here. People will mainly stay in the part of Unimatrix 01 that they live in, unless they work in a different part, or if they are going to visit someone that they know from work. But you must not forget, these individuals that live on different sides of Unimatrix 01 still join the united Hive mind whenever they regenerate, and at those moments distance does not exist. In fact, it is not uncommon for individuals to 'get to know each other' while connected to the Hive mind, and then go and spend time together physically when they find out that they are stationed on Unimatrix 01 as well."
"Alright," Janeway said. "Now that our curiosity about the changes we saw is a little satisfied, how about telling us what happened to you?"
"Very well," Seven agreed. "Do you remember when the Borg came for me, how B'Elanna and I left on the shuttle?"
~~~~~~~~~~{}~~~~~~~~~~
Two years earlier.
"Alright, here we go," B'Elanna said as they drifted out of Voyager's shuttle bay. "Shields are holding, all systems looking good. We're almost out of Voyager's maneuver range."
"B'Elanna, I can see the readouts as well," Seven gently reminded.
"Sorry, I guess I'm a bit," B'Elanna was interrupted by a slight shaking of the ship. "A tractor-beam," She guessed even without needing the confirmation of the instruments.
"And a dampening field," Seven added. "We lost all contact with Voyager. All sensors are off line as well."
"Probably don't want Voyager to blow you up," B'Elanna guessed. "I just hope that they leave Voyager be."
"I believe they will. They know that I am more likely to do as they want if Voyager is left alone."
~~~~~~~~~~{}~~~~~~~~~~
"I'm surprised that they're ignoring me after all," B'Elanna said as she and Seven followed one of the Borg drones who was leading them to... somewhere.
"I assume that since I am on board you are once again considered irrelevant to them," Seven guessed.
"I never knew there would come a time where I would be glad to be considered irrelevant," B'Elanna replied as she nervously looked at the drones they were passing all the time, wondering which was going to be the one that would suddenly grab her.
They entered an area about the same size as Voyager's cargo bay 2. It was totally bare with the exception of a single device that looked remotely like a regeneration alcove. The device was placed against one wall, and about twenty drones were standing against the other walls.
{Seven of Nine, You will now join the Collective,} The disembodied voice of the Hive mind said.
"What is that thing?" B'Elanna asked as Seven started to move towards the alcove.
"That is the Queen's alcove. Captain Janeway was right, once I enter that alcove I will be linked to the entire Borg Collective."
B'Elanna nodded her head. "Alright, remember, the Doctor's modifications give you thirty seconds, he hopes. If you weren't able to..." B'Elanna only barely stopped herself from saying what she wanted to, remembering only at the last moment that all those drones around them had Borg enhanced hearing.
"If your weren't able to, you know... by then, you step out of that damn thing."
"Do not worry, I remember the plan," Seven assured as she slowly walked to the alcove and stepped in with great reluctance.
Unlike the alcove Seven was used to, tubes shot out of the alcove's back and bored themselves through Seven's biosuit to connect to the back of Seven's abdominal implant on places where even Seven didn't know there were connections. Subconsciously Seven realized that this was so that the Borg Queen could still walk around the room while regenerating at the same time. But consciously Seven didn't have time to think about that. She prepared to release the virus... when slowly the voices of the Borg started to seep through the block that the Doctor had installed. It was at that point that she realized that she couldn't release the virus.
Looking at B'Elanna with tears in her eyes she managed to say, "I am sorry beloved."
And then Seven was gone.
"No! Seven, fight it!"
{Seven of Nine has rejoined the Collective. The new designation of Seven of Nine is One of Many.}
"No! Damn it, you said that she would be an individual!" B'Elanna shouted frustrated.
{Individual B'Elanna Torres is allowed to leave Unimatrix 01.}
{Her unharmed departure will entice One of Many to stay on Unimatrix 01 as an individual.}
"You call that individual?" B'Elanna asked, pointing at Seven who was looking straight forward, apparently totally oblivious to all that was going on.
{One of Many has rejoined the Collective until we are certain that she is ready to fulfill her task as required.}
"Damn it, you aren't changing a damn thing by taking her back in the Collective. Once you give her back her individuality she still won't want to be your damn Queen!"
A drone came closer and the united voice of the Borg spoke up again. {B'Elanna Torres will now leave Unimatrix 01.}
"If you think I'm just leaving Seven behind, you got another think coming. Damn it, why? Why can't you just let her be? She came here; you got what you wanted now just let her be."
{One of Many is still a risk to the Collective. She first needs to adapt.}
"Yeah? You want to know risk?" B'Elanna asked, suddenly seeing a chance to still use the old plan... just in a different way.
"Risk you say? I give you risk. Seven has a computer virus implanted in her cranial implant. If she had wanted, if the INDIVIDUAL Seven of Nine had wanted, you would all have lost your connection to the Hive mind. She could have destroyed the Hive as you know it, turning you all back into single individuals. Seven, the INDIVIDUAL didn't do that."
It was quiet for a moment before the united voice spoke up again. {Viral threat found.}
{Virus has been neutralized.}
"Damn it all, that's not the point!" B'Elanna shouted as the drone grabbed her and started to pull her away. "The point is that you wanted Seven here, she's here. You wanted Seven to be an individual; she has made an individual choice that already now saved the entire Borg Collective. Don't you think that you should show your future Queen at least some trust?"
{Individuality is preferred.}
{Individuality creates risks for the Collective.}
{Individuality is needed for the continued existence of the Borg.}
{One of Many cannot yet be trusted as an individual.}
{There is no opportunity to train One of Many further without One of Many being an individual.}
Hearing the united voice of the Borg arguing with itself, B'Elanna spoke up just as she was being pulled out of the room.
"No wonder you need Seven, you can't even decide something as simple as if you want to trust the person you want as your Queen. How could you ever make a choice on something as important as whether or not you should enter a sector of space if you can't even decide to trust your leader?"
To B'Elanna's utmost surprise the drone suddenly let her go and she took the opportunity to run back to Seven's side. Seeing that Seven was still standing in a totally comatose state, B'Elanna pressed on.
"How can you ever trust Seven to make individual choices when you don't even trust her to make the most basic of choices of staying here? Even though you damn well know that there is no freaking chance that she can ever get off this damn scrapheap without you allowing it. It sounds to me like you don't really want an individual as your new Queen. So make your choice, do you want Seven do be an individual? If not, if you want her to be just another drone, then she might as well go back to voyager since she isn't bringing anything to the Collective that you don't already have. In fact, the only thing you don't have 'is' her individuality. So, make a choice, want do you want?"
After almost a full minute of tense silence the united voice of the Borg finally spoke up. {The individuality of One of Many is needed.}
Suddenly a shudder went through Seven and she moved her head to look at B'Elanna. "Beloved, what have you done?"
Continued...