Chapter 24
The reign of One of Many, née Annika Hansen; Queen of Borg.
Year 00, Month 03, Week 00, Hour 14, Minute 36.
"That looks great; it's as if we designed it ourselves... Well, you know what I mean, since obviously we can't design something as wonderful as this," B'Elanna said as she looked at the final design of their living quarters. To say that she was happy about the layout would have been an understatement. She loved it, with the exception of just one thing.
She looked up from the PADD to look at the man sitting across the table, who was actually waving his hands a little in excitement. "It's just that..." B'Elanna cringed mentally when she saw the hands stop moving. Now she knew why her beloved coward of a Mate had disappeared saying that she had some 'important Borg business' to take care of.
"Don't you like the design? You said you did. I worked so hard on it..." Was that a tear forming, B'Elanna wondered.
"No, no," B'Elanna quickly assured. "The design is great. I, Seven and I, really are amazed with how you are able to come up with these designs. Until now you have always exactly designed things how we wanted them."
"Until now. So you don't like it!"
"No ZAn, we really do," B'Elanna assured once more. "The only thing we aren't that comfortable with is all the green." There, she had said it, and mentally she sighed with relief when ZAn didn't start crying.
"Oh, that," ZAn said, waving his hand dismissively. "We can work with that."
Then he leaned slightly across the table and whispered as if sharing a huge secret with B'Elanna. "To tell you the truth, I wasn't that thrilled about the green either."
"Then why use it in such abundance?"
"Well, helloooo, it 'is' the color of the Borg. I mean, really, you can't turn a corner on this ship without seeing green, green, and more green."
"Yeah, we know," B'Elanna agreed. "And really, Seven and I don't mind the color. We actually kinda like the fact of how the color adds to the whole of Borg. Just that... we think that it can be toned down a little. Use some green, but use it in those accents you so excel at. Come up with some other colors that will work well with green accents. Light, soft, warm, colors. Colors that make a home truly a home, and then throw in some green accents to keep the green theme going, you know?"
"Oh... I know exactly what you mean," ZAn assured.
And B'Elanna felt that he did. What B'Elanna had said was true. ZAn did always manage to come up with designs that fit B'Elanna and Seven's taste perfectly. And just as important, his designs were actually functional. It was just that sometimes he needed a little tweaking in the right direction, which was unfortunately quite a task to accomplish with the finicky designer. But that's what you got for working with the most famous interior designer of ONvt prime.
"Tell me, are the drones that were assigned as your helpers to your satisfaction?"
"Oh, they are wonderful, just wonderful." ZAn sighed happily before going on. "You know, I can't tell you how happy I am to have such quiet workers. I mean, at home, I have the workers put something here... it doesn't look right. So I have them put it over there... it also doesn't look right. You know what I mean? So I have them put it back... still doesn't look right... so I have them... And they just moan and groan, complain, complain, complain, I tell you. I mean, sure I do know that I can be fussy, I really do. But the workers at home just don't seem to understand that sometimes you have to look at something four or five times before you can make up your mind. But those drones? They just move it around, and move it, and move it."
Another happy sigh. "They are a designer's dream come true."
Yes, B'Elanna silently agreed. Sometimes it did have its advantages to have Borg drones as helpers. Especially since those Borg drones were still linked to the Collective and couldn't care less if they had to move a couch two, or two-thousand, times.
"So when do you think Seven and I can move in to our new quarters?"
"Oh, honey, I'll have that little old color scheme changed in no time. How about tonight I'll have it ready for you and Her Majesty to move in?"
"That would be great," B'Elanna said with a grin. Yes, the temporary quarters had worked out. But they really wanted to move into their new quarters, to start their life in their new home without being surrounded by things that reminded them of Voyager all the time. Not their private possessions, no, it was the thing they had liked so much in the beginning; how when you stepped into the quarters that they looked just like you walked onto Voyager. In the beginning this was nice, but over the weeks it had started to feel wrong. Now Unimatrix 01 was their home, not Voyager, and it was time to start their life in their new home.
"What kind of colors were you thinking of?" B'Elanna asked to be sure.
"How about some soft yellow, cream white, light blue... stuff like that, and of course just enough green to keep the scheme going."
"Sounds great," B'Elanna agreed, knowing that ZAn would get it right this time. He normally always did.
"So... now that the last of the original projects are almost finished, have you thought about our offer? I mean, I know that we would be keeping you away from your home planet and that they'd miss out on your wonderful designing skills..." B'Elanna had learned very early on that a few nice words would get you a long way with ZAn. "...But we could really use your touch here."
ZAn once again leaned closer and whispered. "There are other designers on ONvt Prime, let them work with those fussy customers that think they know more about design than I do." He sat back and waved his hand again. "I really like the way you let me do my thing. You just tell me what you want and I can do my thing. I love it, just love it."
"So you're staying?" B'Elanna asked to clarify.
"I'm staying," ZAn said with a short nod and a resolute crossing of his arms. It would have looked quite determined, if it hadn't been slightly ruined by ZAn's giggling.
"Great, I'm glad to hear that," B'Elanna said with a grin.
But then she frowned when she thought of something. They had indeed given ZAn free reign with the things he designed until now, but in the future that might be a problem.
"Um, I think it's only fair if I warn you though. There are things we would like you to work on that do have to operate in a certain way. Depending on what the project is, your say in the matter might be severely limited."
Yet another wave. "Don't worry about it hon. I do know how to step back when it's needed. I just don't see why I should take a step back when designing things like a house. But, well, I also helped designing the new flagship of my Homeworld. In engineering, where things had to be like the engineers needed them, my contribution was limited to the color scheme and where the snack replicator was placed. And even those I did keeping in mind that it was engineers that had to look at it day after day. Listen, as long as you let me do my thing where it's possible, I'm more than willing to step back where it isn't possible. I'll be more than happy to only give suggestions to the technical designers then, and if they can't use my suggestions for whatever reason... they can't. As simple as that."
"I'm glad to hear that."
"In fact," ZAn added. "I already kept technical situations in mind when I designed your new home."
"How so?" B'Elanna wondered.
"Why, I made the layout in such a way that you can walk straight on to the holodeck from your kitchen."
B'Elanna laughed. "Oh, that's right; Seven and I had similar plans when the Borg first suggested that that storage space could be used as a holodeck. I don't know if we'll actually do that though."
"Why not?" ZAn asked bewildered. "I think it's a wonderful idea. That huge place isn't used unless drones are stored there in case Unimatrix 01 ever needs to run, so normally the place is a total waste of space. The best thing is, if you use it as a holodeck, it can still be used for that storage because simply by switching off the holodeck the space is free again."
"Good point," B'Elanna had to agree. "But, for now we have other things to do. Since you decided to stay, let me inform you of a few projects Seven and I have been thinking about."
~~~~~~~~~~{}~~~~~~~~~~
Seven looked at the Borg drone in front of her. She didn't have to come here, of course. She could have requested the presence of the drone and the drone would have come to her. But, it had been the perfect excuse to leave B'Elanna to tell ZAn that some changes needed to be made to his design.
Besides, Seven had come to like walking through the corridors of Unimatrix 01. It was one thing to throw ideas back and forth with B'Elanna, but sometimes she just needed to simply think about a problem. She had also discovered, strangely enough, that she thought better while walking through the corridors of Unimatrix 01, than when just sitting somewhere looking at a wall or at a PADD.
There was also another factor at play. If Seven wanted, she could have every single thing done for her by the Borg. Seven wanted to prevent that she would become someone that did nothing else than watch others doing things for her; she wanted some basic hands-on activity at times... like actually going to see a drone instead of ordering the drone come to her.
"Tactical drone 56,674 of 6,411,247, you have been selected for Individualist status."
The reaction to Seven's words was the opening of an eye that looked at her with great confusion.
"Do you understand the definition of Individualist status?"
"We are... We are an individual... we should address ourselves as I."
Seven was very pleased with the reaction of the drone. Thinking back to how rude her awakening had been, how she had felt when she realized that she was an individual, Seven decided that this drone was actually doing extremely well. But then, maybe that was because the drone knew that she wasn't forever disconnected from the Hive.
"Do you understand the definition of an Individualist drone?" Seven repeated.
"I do... my Queen."
That last was a surprise to Seven; she had expected 'One of Many.' Seven had to admit that she actually liked the way 'my Queen' sounded a lot more than 'One of Many.'
"Tactical drone 56,674 of 6,411,247, before you were added to the Collective your designation was Pagsha Yahif. Your new designation is Pagsha Yahif, Individualist drone one."
"What is my task, my Queen?" Pagsha asked confused. Normally she would get a task to perform; now all she got was a new designation.
"Your new task is to be the designated assistant to Two of Many and me."
"Assistant?" Pagsha merely repeated.
"Yes, Two of Many and I have discovered that while the Borg link can be convenient, sometimes you need a physical presence to oversee or judge something. We decided that we needed to have an assistant. More so because we are now starting the stage of bringing more drones into Individualist status."
Pagsha frowned while going over Seven's words. "If we... I, understand you correctly, I will be performing several different tasks without knowing up front what my new task will be."
"Correct. We do not know what we require of you until tasks arise which we can hand to you. Is this a problem for you?"
That was one disadvantage of bringing drones back into individuality, there was always a chance that they could not cope by themselves with the task you needed doing.
"No, my Queen. I believe I will like the uncertain aspect of my new task."
"Good," Seven slowly started to walk down the corridor, stopping when she noticed that Pagsha wasn't following. "Unless you do not have a task to perform, or are off duty, you are expected to be in the vicinity of me and Two of Many. You will get quarters assigned close to our new quarters."
"Quarters?" Pagsha asked surprised as she started to follow Seven at a couple of steps distance.
"You are welcome to walk beside me," Seven said, looking to her side where mere seconds later Pagsha did indeed appear. "You did say that you understood the definition of an Individualist drone."
"I do," Pagsha assured. "I just didn't know that I would get quarters. That is a detail that was not added to the general Hive memory."
"I apologize; a slight oversight on my part. I forgot that this is information that does not get added to the Collective Hive memory."
On request of the Borg themselves, a layer had been added to the Hive mind; a filter of sorts. While drones still joined the entire Collective whenever they regenerated, certain information would not be added to the Hive mind. When a drone started to regenerate, that drone's memory would be scanned for information and only information deemed indeed relevant would be added to the Hive memory.
"The fact that Individualist drones get quarters assigned, instead of merely an alcove, is information that is not added to the entire Collective because it is irrelevant information for the Collective as a whole," Seven explained.
"For a normal drone quarters are irrelevant," Pagsha said, mostly to indicate that she understood the logic of it. "So what's the use in adding the fact that Individualist drones have quarters to the Hive mind? It's not like a normal drone would suddenly want quarters as well. In fact, mere minutes ago I would have said that quarters are irrelevant."
"Indeed," Seven agreed. "And now?"
"Now? I think I like the fact that I will get private quarters. Are there more things I do not know about being an Individualist drone?" Pagsha asked, wondering if more things had been filtered out as irrelevant.
The fact that the Hive could so easily select what kind of information it could filter out had been a surprise for Seven, despite her having been a part of the Borg herself for so long. True, first information had to be evaluated to see if it was relevant information to be added to the full Hive mind. However, once something had been deemed irrelevant that information could be filtered out in the future before being uploaded to the Hive mind. B'Elanna had guessed that the Borg had come up with this so that they wouldn't waste time over and over again on filtering out what had already been filtered out before.
What also had been a surprise for Seven was that drones would actually still have all their memory fully intact if they had not been connected to the Hive for too long. True, the Borg scanned the memory of every single drone added to the Collective and then the Hive mind discarded all things deemed not relevant. But the point was that this information was still in the mind of the drone. Only if the drone had been connected to the Hive for many years was new information slowly stored over the old information. But even then all was not lost. After all, Seven herself had been able to remember things from her childhood.
Once Seven and B'Elanna had found out these two facts; that the Borg could filter out information at the individual drone level, and that memories were not removed from a drone's mind, merely marked as irrelevant and potential areas to store new information, they had been quick to come up with a way to use this for their 'Individualist drone' status. The drones would keep their own memory, yet important information, and only important information would also be added to the Collective.
The part that had helped convince the Hive mind of the fact that Individualist drones were a possibility, was the fact that the drone might have spent some time as an Individualist drone, but as soon as the drone hooked up to the Collective again, all things experienced and learned during that time would also be added to the Collective... if it was relevant information. As B'Elanna had rather forcefully pointed out; she would be damned before she would let the Collective peek in on just exactly what she and Seven had done in their bed.
And so they and the Borg Collective had come to their first big agreement that had been reached by a lengthy negotiation session. Individualist drones would be completely severed from the Collective... unless they themselves initiated the link to request information or communicate with other drones. Individualist drones would keep their memory fully intact, no matter how long they stayed in the Collective... but their memory was scanned every time they rejoined the Hive. However, in doing so, all personal information would be filtered out... unless it was actually relevant information.
That last had actually been something they had been 'arguing' about for over half an hour, if you could call disagreeing with a disembodied voice arguing. B'Elanna had been unwavering in her position that 'all' private information should be kept private. That was until the Borg had gotten her in her weak spot. The Borg had pointed out that a plan to kill the Borg Queen, Seven, would also be private information unless shared with others. It was after that, that B'Elanna agreed that yes, some private things should be reported to the Hive mind.
"There are a few more things, but they are not of importance right now," Seven said. She was actually curious about something else. "Pagsha, besides you being extremely well suited for the task assistant, there is another reason why you were selected as the first Individualist drone. From the day you were assimilated two years ago, you had a strong sense of wanting to stay in the Borg. Normally people do not want to be assimilated, but the last individual feeling recorded from you was a sense of freedom... why?"
"My Queen, don't you know where I was when I was assimilated?"
"Your location, as well as the reason why you did not mind being assimilated, were all removed as irrelevant information. You still know it because it is stored in your memory, but the Hive mind, nor I, know the reason," Seven merely said.
But the short conversation she had with Pagsha until now already made it clear to Seven that she was really going to like the 'relevant information' filter. While every single Borg drone would still have the entire knowledge of the Borg Collective, all the Individualist drones would also have a private side. Information about themselves that was interesting to hear, but what the Hive mind in general considered irrelevant.
"My Queen, I was in a prison cell, more a dungeon, where I was awaiting my sentence the next day; death by torture. When the Borg came and assimilated me, they freed me from my cell, but more than that, they took me into a Collective where my crime was considered irrelevant. Where I wasn't judged because of my tendencies, but where I simply had to do a job, just like trillions of other drones."
This was the last thing that Seven had expected to hear. When scanning for a suitable drone that could be used as an assistant, Pagsha had been one of the top five drones. Her character traits had been listed as 'pragmatic pacifistic but unyielding protector, docile but determined.' All in all the scan had given the impression of someone that would prefer to prevent any conflict, but would stick with you 'till the end. A trait Seven and B'Elanna had liked, and surprisingly, the Borg had liked as well. But then the Borg had pointed out that Pagsha enjoyed being part of the Borg, which meant that she would, even as an individual, stick with the Borg no matter what.
"Why were you sentenced to death?"
Pagsha bit her lower lip in a very un-Borg like manner and looked up into the eyes of the taller Seven. She didn't want to risk loosing her status as Individualist drone, but... but considering who the Queen's Mate was, maybe it wasn't as wrong as they had always said on her Homeworld. "My Queen, it was discovered that I have interests that were deemed evil."
Nothing but the lifting of an eyebrow.
"I like the company of women," Pagsha explained.
Seven frowned. "You were sentenced to death, a cruel death at that, because you prefer women as a sexual partner?" Seven asked to clarify. "This was considered an illegal act? Were you caught in said act?"
"My Queen, I never got to that stage. When it was discovered that I had 'evil interests' I was sentenced to death. I have never been with anyone in a sexual way."
Seven let her eyes drift down and back up Pagsha's body. Seven, having spent eighteen years of her life in Borg body armor, had no problem with taking in Pagsha's shapely form despite the body armor. "Now that, I consider a crime."
Seven smiled, wanting it to be very clear that she was only teasing. Considering the fact that this woman was going to spend a lot of time around her and B'Elanna, Seven wanted Pagsha to be comfortable with them. Seeing Pagsha smile back made it clear to Seven that she had been effective in using one of the small jokes B'Elanna had used not so long ago.
With a little bit more serious tone, she added, "That is something I can promise you, Pagsha, in the Borg Collective you will never be judged on your sexual preference."
"I am glad to hear that, my Queen. I am also glad that I will have the chance to work directly for you and my Princess. It will be interesting to see how a couple consisting of two women interacts with each other."
"Are you planning on studying us?" Seven asked amused. She knew that poor B'Elanna would have a fit is she found out that her 'mating rituals' were studied; again.
"Study... no. Observe... yes. I am wondering if there will be a great difference between your interaction and the interaction of a man and a woman."
"I can already answer that for you. Differences in relationships are not driven by gender, but by character traits. The fact that Two of Many is a half Klingon adds a lot more to her behavior than the fact that she is a woman. If you really want to learn about a relationship, I would suggest that you find yourself a partner so that you can experience a relationship first hand."
"Where would I find a partner?" Pagsha merely asked. "I'm in the middle of Unimatrix 01."
"A place that will slowly, but surely, change to a place where more and more drones will have the status of Individualist drone," Seven pointed out. "And also, since you are my assistant, you will accompany me and Two of Many when we go meet people that are not part of the Borg. I am certain that you will soon enough find someone that will interest you."
"Of course," Seven added, deciding that a dose or realism might be in order. "The fact that you will meet people does not mean that you will automatically find someone you might be interested in in a romantic way. I am merely pointing out that there are opportunities. Do not consider a relationship impossible simply because you happen to be on Unimatrix 01."
They stopped walking and Seven indicated a drone with a small nod of her head. Wanting to test her new assistant she asked, "Why would he be an interesting candidate for Individualist status?"
Pagsha frowned, having no idea; which was exactly one of the things Seven had wanted. She wanted to make it clear to Individualist drones that being brought back into a state of individual thinking still didn't mean that a link to the vast knowledge of the Hive mind was a bad thing. That in fact, it could be a very handy thing to have at times.
"You can use the access point beside his alcove," Seven pointed out.
Pagsha did so and quickly found the drone and the information about him. "1 of 2, medical drone 5,702,843. His addition to the Collective greatly increased the Borg's medical knowledge."
Removing her assimilation tubes from the access point, Pagsha added, "Impressive, considering what the Collective already knew about the medical field. As an Individualist drone he could be of great value because he could think about, and research, new medical knowledge instead of merely adding what he knew to the Collective. Since he already added his knowledge when he was assimilated, that particular value is now gone. Now he is merely one of many medical drones. But as an Individualist drone, with an independent thinking mind, he could still be of extreme value to the Collective."
"Indeed," Seven agreed. "He is someone that has found cures to plagues, eradicated hereditary diseases, found cures to painful illnesses... You can easily say that he is one of the greatest medical minds in the entire Delta Quadrant, if not 'the' greatest medical mind. Yet here he stands as nothing more than one of many medical drones because his knowledge has already been added to the Collective. He will be the second Individualist drone."
"My Queen, there must be many more drones like him. Drones that excelled at something, and that could once more excel at that thing if they were brought back into individual status."
Seven smiled at the comment. "And you just proved why you are very well suited to be the assistant to me and Two of Many. After being an Individualist drone for less than half an hour, you already noticed something that the Borg apparently thought irrelevant; someone can also think of something important after they have joined the Collective. But to do so they need to be able to think individually. Two of Many and I noticed the same thing shortly after joining the Borg. We believe that the Borg must have realized this themselves as well at some point, but that they must have decided not to have free thinking Individuals because they found the harmony of the Hive mind more important than single voices."
"But they never tried the middle way that you are now introducing," Pagsha said. "Have those Individuals that can think freely, and still have that united Borg Collective. After all, the information of that drone has already been added to the Collective; it won't be lost if the drone is an individual for seventy-two hours."
"Indeed," Seven agreed, glad that Pagsha saw the same potential she and B'Elanna had seen. "Or even less than seventy-two hours. It will be up the Individualist drones to decide what they do with their off-duty time. If they prefer they can join the Collective then as well."
A drone came walking towards them and unlike the many drones that had already passed them during their walk, this one stopped in front of Seven.
"He will be the third Individualist drone," Seven said before looking back to Pagsha. "He was an expert on armor. In fact, his armor configuration is now being applied to every new Borg ship built. Yet again, he now is nothing more than a tactical drone because his knowledge is already added to the Collective. What the Collective seems to forget is that he was able to create an armor that could delay the Borg, while he was stationed on a moon with barely any resources. I can only imagine what he will be able to come up with if he has access to all the Borg resources."
"If he was creating armor against the Borg, I don't think that he'll be a part of the Borg as happily as I am, or as he is..." The last was said with a finger pointed at the medical drone. "From the information I got about him, it was clear that even as an Individualist drone he would be more than happy to be part of the Borg Collective."
"He will be," Seven agreed. "As will this drone. He is one of those kinds of scientists who like to do their job, no matter for whom they are doing said job. The reason why he was fighting the Borg was because his job was to find a way to stop the Borg. And not to forget, the Collective simply assimilated his species, never giving anyone the chance to actually say that they would like to work for the Borg. That is something we want to offer; that people can work for the Borg if they want to, and be left alone if they want that."
"Which might result in the Collective not getting what it wants," Pagsha pointed out.
Seven gave a short nod of agreement. Yes, Pagsha would be very suited as an assistant. Seven and B'Elanna didn't merely want someone that would mindlessly do whatever they were told to do. No, they wanted someone that would actually think along with them; give views and opinions.
"It is something we took into consideration. However, as B'Elanna pointed out to me, true, a government might choose not to do business with us, but there will almost always be individuals from that species that will want to sell information to us and trade with us. Even if the government does not want to. The government will see this and also start to do business with us because they do not want to be overtaken by those that do deal with us. We will get what we want. It may not be a nice way of doing things. But it is politics, and I am more than willing to use politics to get what we want or need, rather than the way that the Borg have been using until now; the total assimilation of entire species."
Pagsha looked back to the drone that was still standing in front of them. "My Queen, may I ask why you need a drone with armor knowledge so early on in the Individualist stage?"
Seven started walking down the corridor again and Pagsha followed, this time in her turn followed by the two drones that were still fully linked to the Collective. "The first thing I want for him to do is to design new body armor."
"Why?" Came the simple question. Borg body armor had always fulfilled its requirements.
"Pagsha, you said that you like women. Would you at one point like to make love to a woman?"
"Well, yes. I sure hope that this will happen."
"And just how would you have sex? Or more to the point, how would she have sex with you?"
Looking down her body... a body that was covered with Borg armor... armor that was attached to the body, Pagsha understood what Seven meant. "That would be kinda hard."
"Body armor is a part of the Borg Collective, and B'Elanna and I agreed with the Borg that having drones without armor would be an unacceptable weakening of the Borg. Besides, it would be foolish to ignore all the knowledge the Borg have on the subject of body armor. So we came to an agreement; on duty Individualist drones would wear body armor, but off duty the choice would be up to the drone."
Seven indicated the drone behind them. "I want to give him three stipulations for body armor, and then have him come up with something. Give him free reign over all resources that the Borg have, with the limitation that there be enough resources to make the new body armor so that every Individualist drone can wear one. The three stipulations for the creation of the body armor will be that it actually has to be better than the existing body armor, that it is a body armor that can be removed and put on when the drone wants with no help being needed to put it on, and lastly that it looks like a uniform of some sort."
"A uniform?"
"Yes. While we do want drones to have an Individualist status, we also want to create an atmosphere where those drones are proud to be a part of the Borg Collective. Throughout history, uniforms have proven to be a very effective tool at creating a feeling of being part of a larger whole. While being linked to the Collective will of course give that to a drone, we also want to give that feeling to the Individualist drones. They are not 'just' Borg drones; they are Individualist drones. Drones that are changing the Borg Collective in ways that nobody would ever have imagined the Collective could change."
"I think that you have a good combination going there, my Queen. You offer people quarters; a physical home. You also offer people to be part of something bigger; you offer them an emotional home. They will no longer be alone, no longer weak, no longer have to fear."
"I do hope that people will see it that way and freely join the Borg," Seven agreed. "Because one of the things I want to do most, is to eradicate forced assimilation."
Pagsha was about to ask another question when she saw Seven looking down a side corridor. Mere seconds later she saw her Princess coming down that corridor. "My Princess," Pagsha greeted as soon as B'Elanna had joined them.
"My Princess?" B'Elanna repeated.
"She calls me 'my Queen' and apparently you 'my Princess," Seven explained. "I did not correct her and tell her to use One of Many and Two of Many because I actually prefer the way 'my Queen' sounds."
"Well, she, and all the others can call me 'my Princess' all they want, and you 'my Queen' all they want. But you'll still be my Princess to me, Princess."
"And I would not want to have it any other way," Seven assured. Looking to her side and seeing how Pagsha was looking at their interaction with clear interest, Seven could only smile.
"How did the meeting with ZAn go?" Seven asked before B'Elanna could ask her why she was smiling. She was going to fill B'Elanna in about Pagsha's interest later, when they were alone and she could needle the poor Klingon mercilessly with it.
"Great, you chicken. Running off to do 'Borg stuff'."
"I did do 'Borg Stuff,'" Seven reminded as she indicated the drones that were standing a little away and Pagsha.
"Hmm, guess you did," B'Elanna relented. "Come on; let's go collect the last drone that we need for the first stage."
As the group started to move down the corridor, B'Elanna continued, "You know, when I was coming here something occurred to me, this Borg environment really isn't that bad... if you don't have to fear it. If you can walk through these corridors without having to worry whether the next drone is going to grab you and assimilate you... it's alright. We just need to do something about the heat and the lights, especially the lights. This light makes me squint the entire time. And lights brings me nicely to ZAn. ZAn said that he is staying and it's that staying that pointed out a little problem that I think we should take care off."
"What problem?" Seven asked.
"The Borg designations. We have to come up with something that is clear, easy to understand, but also won't cause confusion for the Borg. I mean, ZAn is the first civilian to stay on Unimatrix 01 that won't be linked to the Collective. Yes, his mind was scanned to see if he had any 'harmful ideas,' but the thing is that he never actually joined the Collective. So when he sees a drone that is drone Whatever of Whatever, all ZAn knows is that it's a Borg drone. Also, we need something that places ZAn in a clear light for the rest of the Borg."
"I thought we had taken care of that problem by using the drone's original name, like Pagsha here," Seven said slightly confused.
"Oh we did... for the Borg," B'Elanna agreed. "But the thing is that this might work well for the Borg Collective that's used to stupendous designations that can reach into millions or billions. But how is an Individualist drone going to introduce itself if we reach that stage of having billions of individual drones? 'Hi, I'm B'Elanna, individual drone six-billion.' That doesn't mean much to the person the drone is being introduced to. It only tells someone that the drone is called B'Elanna. The six billion might just as well mean that there are six billion other B'Elanna's."
"There is only one B'Elanna," Seven said with a smile before adding, "Which is a good thing. I do not believe that the universe could handle six billion B'Elanna's."
"Funny, very funny, Princess," B'Elanna said with a grin.
"We could introduce ranks. That would take care of the problem," Seven suggested, coming back to the point they had been discussing. "True, the drone would still be drone six-billion, but the person the drone is introduced to would see right away that this drone is a Lieutenant, for instance. On Voyager people we encountered always knew right way that you were a Lieutenant."
"That might work but that doesn't take away the problem of the civilians like ZAn. If things go as planned we might get thousands or millions of those in the Collective. How do we tell them apart? And also, what if this civilian is from a civilization where they never had ranks like that? Then you once again get the whole 'what does it mean' concept. 'Lieutenant Torres you say? Hi, do you mind if I call you by your first name... Lieutenant'?"
"Why not simplify the system to the extreme?" Pagsha suddenly asked, and then bit her lower lip again when she realized that she had just interrupted a conversation between her Queen and her Princess.
B'Elanna looked at Pagsha and started to laugh. "Now that looks weird if I have ever seen weird. A Borg drone, full body armor, protruding eye piece, tubes coming out of the back of her head only to disappear again into her neck. The stuff Federation nightmares are made of... and she is biting her lip like a school girl that spoke up in class too quickly."
"Pagsha, do not be alarmed," Seven assured, while at the same time she realized that Pagsha looked quite cute, even while still looking like a Borg drone. Seven was certain that once Pagsha had shed the Borg body armor she had now, the combination of that cuteness, a very attractive body, and good looking facial features, would ensure that suitors would actually stand in line for the woman. She just hoped that Pagsha would find someone that would want her for her mind first, and besides that found the great body a very nice convenience.
"We do realize that you will have suggestions; that is also one of the reasons why we selected you as our assistant. We actually prefer to hear suggestions. Please go on."
Pagsha gave a hesitant nod. "Well, I was thinking... why don't you just make a few base classes to indicate what a drone does, and then have the rank be a number? Even if nobody has ever worked with ranks, it will be simple to explain to them that the higher, or lower, a number is... depending on which you want the highest rank to be... the more authority this person has."
"Meaning?" B'Elanna asked.
"Well, for instance, this ZAn you talk about. You create a class that is for civilians and make him 'First Civilian.' If you then have another civilian with the rank 'Second Civilian,' it is clear that the first civilian outranks the second one, or the other way around. All you need to make clear to people that don't know the Borg that well, is just which is higher. Is number one the highest number you can reach, like in a countdown, or is number one the lowest number because a two is more than a one. This would take care of the problem of people that aren't part of the Borg knowing who the drone is, and it would not interfere with the Borg designation system that much because a drone would also still have its full designation."
Pagsha nodded to B'Elanna. "To use the example my Princess used, the full designation would be 'First Civilian B'Elanna Torres, Individualist drone six billion.' The 'Individualist drone six billion' is the part that separates that one particular drone from all the others in the Collective, making sure that no designation exists twice. While the 'First Civilian' indicates to people how far up this person is in the ranks. Yes, there might be ten, or a thousand, or even a million 'First Civilians' but there is only one single 'First Civilian B'Elanna Torres, Individualist drone six billion' in the entire Collective. As my Princess pointed out, the long designation will not be a problem for the Borg, but it does give Individualist drones the opportunity to introduce themselves with a shortened designation; hi, I'm B'Elanna Torres, First Civilian."
"You know, that's actually a great idea," B'Elanna said enthusiastically. "Instead of ranks of Lieutenants and Captains, which will mean absolutely nothing to someone that doesn't have those ranks, we can simply have officers. Have one be the highest and simply go on. First Officer, followed by Second Officer... we could go down like that in ranks to even in the hundreds, which of course won't be needed. I mean, in the Federation the whole range from Crewman to Admiral is only eighteen ranks."
"We could do the same for politicians when we start bringing planets and sectors back to more localized control," Seven agreed. "We could have the class of Minister there, with First Minister being in control of an entire planet."
"Actually," Pagsha said thoughtfully. "I do know that I'm the one that just suggested having the classes and not change the names of the ranks, but... I think it might be a good thing to have something at the top that is called something different. It will give people a goal. I mean, I do realize that in the beginning when these ranks are introduced you'll simply appoint a certain rank to a suitable Individualist drone. But if you want to have individuals in the Borg that want to make a living out of being in the Borg, a career, it would give them something to aim for. I mean, if someone is Twelfth Officer, they are already an officer and the highest they can ever become is First Officer, which still sounds the same. But if there are, say, Captains, then this person can not just strive for being a better officer, no. If someone asks a child what they want to be when they grow up, they will say full of determination. 'I'm going to be a Captain.'"
"Goals to strive for do make people more determined to do their job well," Seven agreed.
"Well, yeah." B'Elanna stopped talking for a moment when they passed a bigger group of drones which resulted in both groups having to walk single file for a moment.
"Well, we could give the highest up some different names. After all, by the time a stranger reaches them that fact alone, that you have to go through layers of others, indicates that this other named rank is higher up than the people you have been in contact with... if that makes sense. We could have the officers thing, and then on top of that we could have Captains to indicate people in charge of a ship or actually a few ships. I mean, if you contact a ship and a Captain talks to you, you know that they're in charge even if you have no idea what a Captain is. And above the Captains we could have some Admirals, which would be the ones that set out the general policies. Same with the politicians. We have Ministers, and on top of that we have, say, Governors that are in command of planets, moons, or colonies, and Presidents that are in control of sectors of space which have several planets in it. Comparable to the Admirals, these Presidents then set out the general policies. With every class we think up we can have the two top positions indicated with different names, and the rest is all the same, just with different numbers."
"That could work," Seven agreed. "This system would not only give officers something to strive for; becoming a Captain. It would also give Captains something to strive for; becoming an Admiral."
Once again the group stopped at a drone. "Anidan Dubinak; an Engineer," Seven explained mostly for Pagsha. Of course, had Pagsha been connected to the Hive mind, she would have known who the person was, but at the moment the drone was just one of many drones to her.
"A great Engineer," B'Elanna corrected. She had no trouble at all with admitting that compared to this particular woman, her own Engineering skill could only be described as adequate, at best.
"She is the person that single handedly created the transwarp system the Borg now use. Before the Borg assimilated her species, and her, the Borg had to use transwarp corridors. But with the system she developed the Borg can now travel without those corridors. She was brilliant. Even though she is considered young for her species, thirty in a species with an average lifespan of two-hundred, she had over five hundred patents in her name when she was assimilated. Created three of the most commonly used technological systems on her planet... and then the Borg assimilated her... and now here she stands."
"She will be someone that will need convincing to stay," Seven added. "She did indeed resent the Borg for assimilating her, for destroying the good life she had. But we cannot afford to not at least try and get her to give her best, her Individualist best, to help us change the Borg. For instance, B'Elanna and I tried to develop a transmitter that would enable the individual drone to decide if they are linked to the Collective, and also enable the drone to end the connection if they no longer want to be connected. We did not succeed in coming up with a design that was fully to our satisfaction. We are almost certain that creating such a transmitter would be easily inside her engineering capabilities."
"I will try to persuade her to help us," Pagsha said.
"I did not tell you this to get you to offer," Seven pointed out.
"I know. But... my Queen, with all due respect, if you talk to her you will always be the Queen, if your Mate talks to her, she will still be the Borg Princess. But if I talk to her, I will only be another Borg drone trying to convince her that maybe being Borg isn't that bad, despite how she came to be Borg."
"You have a point," Seven agreed. "Maybe she will see the challenge in helping us change the Borg."
"Being able to change something like Unimatrix 01 around will water the mouth of any self respecting Engineer," B'Elanna added. "And that's 'just' one ship. Engineering solutions she creates might end up being used by every single Borg drone. Systems she makes might make it possible for us to speed up the changing of drones into Individualist drones. She could help us give trillions, not 'mere' billions, no, trillions, a real life again."
"I will be sure to mention it," Pagsha assured.
"Alright then," B'Elanna said. "Those are the drones needed for the first stage. Why don't we bring them to the rooms that are going to be their quarters? And first thing tomorrow we can work on bringing them into Individualist status. In the mean time our great assistant here can help us decorate our quarters so that we can move in tonight."
"Is that one of my new tasks?" Pagsha asked confused.
"No," B'Elanna said with a grin. "That's us letting you share in one of the greatest honors around; being allowed to help a friend move."
"I have helped several people move. I never considered it an honor; more like grunt work," Pagsha noted, but secretly she was thrilled about what her Princess had said. 'Helping a friend move.'
"You do of course realize, beloved," Seven pointed out, "That if Pagsha helps us move, we should help her with decorating her quarters as well. It is after all what friends do."
B'Elanna's only reaction was a fake growl of annoyance and a mumble about that at least with Pagsha everything would be new and directly beamed in from the maintenance replicator location.
Continued...