Chapter 44
The reign of One of Many, née Annika Hansen; Queen of Borg.
Year 01, Month 02, Day 00, Hour 12, Minute 15.
The Senior Staff of Unimatrix 01 had a staff meeting twice a week to discuss the state of affairs on Unimatrix 01. But two times per month this staff meeting was different. Then Seven and B'Elanna would join the meeting and the things discussed were not just about the ship but could be about all things Borg. Seven valued the input of her Senior Staff and even without joining the Senior Staff meetings, Seven often called on one or more of them individually to give her their opinion on certain issues. One could say that over the last year the Senior Staff had also become Seven's unofficial advisors.
Captain Wolkav was the person that sat in the chair at the head of the table. He was the one that led the meeting. But the Senior Staff meetings had always been loose and people could speak up to ask questions or give opinions. Common courtesy and, if needed, Wolkav's guiding presence assured that everyone got the chance to present their report without too much interruption. At the same time everyone got their chance to ask the questions they wanted to ask on reports of others. This didn't change as such on those times that Seven and B'Elanna were present. The only thing different was that mostly it was Seven that made the final decision on matters concerning the Borg in general, while Wolkav made the final decisions on things that concerned only Unimatrix 01.
"And lastly, now that we have so many of the Sill in the Collective and therefore a much wider spectrum, I'm glad to announce that the situation didn't change," Doctor Lonika stated happily. "We now have members of every class in the Collective and with all of them the implants hold. The only thing the body fights are the nanoprobes, but we knew that. We merely tested it to see if this was the case with every class; it is. But as far as the other implants are concerned we are only sometimes hampered by body build, but we are working on that."
"As you know, in the beginning the neck implant didn't hold with the Siill warriors," Anidan spoke up. Though this was also part of her report, she mentioned it now because she felt it fitting to add this bit of information while talking about the Siill warriors. "But I think I have managed to adapt it so that we now have a version that does hold with the Siill warriors. Two hundred of them are testing it as we speak and none of them has reported any problem. I think that I'll be able to report with the next meeting that we did it, but I can't guarantee that now. I'm certain, but I just can't give you a guarantee yet."
"We do not want a guarantee from you," Seven assured. "We get guarantees from testing, from you an 'I'm pretty sure it will work' is all we need."
"Well, as I said, I think I managed to adapt it. So yeah, I'm pretty sure. Though, if you want to get technical you can't really call it a neck implant anymore since with the Siill warriors it's actually located at the front right under the throat. Of course this means that we'll have to adapt the different kinds of 'vests' to make sure that the connection is actually at the front. But seeing that the vests have to be changed anyway to fit the Siill warrior body physique this won't be much of a problem."
The 'vests' that Anidan was talking about were the name that had become normal use under the Individualist drones for the contraptions that could either be put on like a vest, or strapped to the body. Then a connector, to be able to control the different parts of the vests, could be plugged into the neck implant so that the Drone's cranial implant could control the vest, just as if they had been implants that had been part of the Drone's actual body.
"I'm glad to hear that," Chief of Security Lachakivediras spoke up. "I've something to discuss concerning the Siill warriors, but it can wait until it's my turn to give my report."
"Do you have anything else to add, Lonika?" Wolkav asked, remembering that the doctor had said 'and lastly.'
"No, I'm done, thank you for asking."
"Alright, then Lach, go ahead," Wolkav said, using the much shorter name that the Senior Staff normally used to address second officer Lachakivediras Horchakanven of security.
"Thank you. As I was saying, I'm glad to hear that an implant is ready that enables the Siill warriors to wear the vests. There have been Siill warriors in security for two months now, and I've been using them in different ways to see where the best potential lies. I found that the best potential actually lies in a Siill/Zamonan combination. They're both warriors so they can understand and appreciate each other's mentality. The main difference between them is that the Siill warriors don't want to be in a commanding position, because they are not Ruler class. They want to get orders and then fulfill them. The Zamonan on the other hand are very independent and have a tendency for liking to be in control, especially their warriors. I've found that those two work extremely well together if you put one Zamonan in command of a group of ten to twenty Siill warriors. Both sides really like that situation. I think we should make use of that. Leave security generally as it is, with members of almost all Borg species serving in it, but on top of that have special security details existing out of this Zamonan/Siill mix. Those teams would them be specially trained and be used in insecure situations or other special situations."
"You mean things like normal ship or planet security would be done by normal members of security. But if someone were for instance able to overtake a Borg ship we would send in these Zamonan/Siill special teams to retake the ship?" Wolkav asked.
"Yes," Lachakivediras agreed. "Situations like that. Or if Seven and B'Elanna go somewhere and more than the Royal Guard is needed to secure the place, then one or more of these teams would be sent in."
"Which would make being a member of these special teams a high-risk position," Pagsha noted.
"It would," Lachakivediras fully agreed. "But that high risk is something that actually appeals to both the Siill and the Zamonan. I think that if we were to create such teams without having the Siill and Zamonan in mind, that they would still be the first to apply for it."
"What do you think, Si'zaG?" Seven asked, only to add with a small amused smile, "I think it is safe to say that you are our Siill expert here."
"Well, talking about our warriors, I can assure you that they will love it. They want to do things like that; guard and if needed take the fight to the enemy. I think that the only problem there is that you have to make sure that the Zamonan that are teamed up with them aren't of the 'kick ass first and only then take names' mentality. Or else they won't be able to control the warriors and instead be pulled into their wanting to fight the enemy. But if the Zamonan are mentally strong enough, then they can hold our warriors in check and they would be excellent teams. Our warriors want to be told what to do, even if they are told to stand down and merely guard. They won't resent that order or the order giver, for they know that this too is needed. It might not be what they prefer to hear, but they will still like the fact that they have gotten a clear order and can fulfill it."
Si'zaG glanced up to the person who was leaning against the wall in a corner of the room. "Except for Katzi, who I know because she is a friend of mine, I don't know any of the Zamonan personally. But I do know from regenerating that about twenty percent of the Zamonan warriors would not be suited for leading a Siill warrior team; the Zamonan themselves would be too eager to fight. But if they have anything near the mentality that Katzi has they would be perfect to command a Siill warrior team."
"We could set up a test program that also tests the things that would normally be filtered out as irrelevant when regenerating," Lonika suggested. "If Zamonan want to join those special security details they have to agree to undergo such scanning. If they pass they can be put in charge of such a team but if they fail they can still opt to join one of the other security details, just not one of these special teams."
"On what timescale would you estimate that these teams could be ready?" B'Elanna asked.
"The teams I used to test how well they work together are basically already ready for these kinds of special duties," Lachakivediras said thoughtfully. "They'll only be out of operation for the day that it will take the Siill warriors to receive the implant so that they can wear the vests. But in general, when starting with a new team, I would say that it can be ready in one month. After that I would prefer if they train together for some time yet so that the Siill and the Zamonan become comfortable with each other and truly become one team. But that can be done on location."
Seven nodded. "As Katzi's training is proving; training over long distance is very doable. We can send such teams already to location, like you suggest. A benefit of that would also be that during the time they are being trained they also have time to get to know the area they have to work in."
"Seven?" Katzi said softly. She preferred to speak up like this if need be. By speaking softly she was also telling Seven that it was about something that Seven could ignore for the moment if she wanted to. Seven had done that on a few occasions where the ongoing conversation felt more important. But though Seven might not react, she would never forget, and before the day was over she had always asked Katzi what she had wanted to say. If it was more important, Katzi would become more vocal while speaking up. It was a simple system that they never talked about. It had simply developed.
"Yes?" Seven asked.
"My long distance training works, yes. But it's not doable on a large scale. One subspace transceiver is taken up for every master that trains me on the holodeck. I guess that Anidan could work on it so that it won't take up the full transmitter ability, but it will never be doable on a large enough scale to train teams on a regular basis. Plus, even if you could manage to do that, there are only so many trainers to go around. Even if long distance training would take up nothing more than the bandwidth of a subspace message. You are still stuck with the fact that one trainer can only train one group."
"That's a good point," B'Elanna agreed. "I'm making huge strides in my martial arts training simply because Katzi is training me one on one. She catches every little mistake I make and corrects me. But could she do the same if she is training a hundred people at once? Let alone if those hundred people are actually in five different places. No, quality will suffer."
Lachakivediras nodded. "I must agree, long range training is not possible for a large scale. Not if we want one on one quality training. So training on location is not possible after all. Not until we have a large enough number of trainers that is."
"But do you even need that personalized training?" Katzi asked. "I know that it sounds good, and it also sounds like something you would like to offer to people. To be trained so directly by masters sounds by definition like an honor. But is it really needed? You have to keep in mind that you are starting out with Zamonan warriors that are already trained, and the Siill warriors are basically born with fighting abilities in their genes. They don't really need the kind of training I'm getting. They don't need guidance. What they need is someone to show them that something is possible, and then show them how to do it. You could record the trainings of the first teams in a holoprogram and then create hologram trainers from that. After all, each team gets the same training, right?"
"That's the plan," Lachakivediras agreed.
"But wouldn't that still leave the problem?" Pagsha asked. "Only that you now shifted it from a limit of trainers to a limit of holodecks. Unless you want to build a holodeck big enough for group training on every location where such a team is sent to."
"Not if we keep in mind that people actually have to get to their location," B'Elanna pointed out. "Those teams will be transported to their location by a Borg cube. They can use the holodeck on the cube while on route. And once there the cube can stick around for a while if the training isn't finished yet."
"We can try that," Seven agreed while looking at Lachakivediras to see if he agreed as well.
The Chief of Security nodded before continuing with his original report. "Because the Sill as well as the Zamonan are only part of the Borg as Individualist species, I would actually prefer to use that fact; have the teams be not linked to the Collective. Except for when they regenerate of course. During this month of training the entire team can also be instructed in how to use different kinds of vests the best way. The hard part there will be to get the Siill warriors to where they use weapons instead of just running at the enemy and taking them on in close combat. I want the teams to be able to fight at a distance as well, but that they excel even more in close combat."
"What about the rest?" Si'zaG asked. "Let me use an educated guess and say that there are two million Zamonan in the Collective that are suited to lead and would like to do the job. But because half of my species is coming here we are talking about billions of Siill. We already have over 250 million Siill warriors in the Collective as we speak. That alone is a mix of one Zamonan on 125 Siill warriors. But you were talking about having teams of one Zamonan on ten to twenty of our warriors, so, what about the rest?"
"A very good question," Seven agreed, indicating that she was also very curious about the answer.
"Despite the size of the Collective, situations where such special security details are needed are limited," Lachakivediras said. "I believe that two million of these special security details spread throughout Borg space will be enough. So we'll have enough Zamonan to lead these teams, but that's not my reason for the suggested number of teams. More of these special teams won't be needed because in other situations normal security will be more than enough. I would say that the Siill warriors that aren't part of these teams would best be suited for guarding ships, starbases, and planets that are located on the border of Borg space. Places where we sometimes have to suffer attacks and raiding from people that think that the Borg are either an evil that has to be defeated, or by people that believe that if they're able to get away that the Borg won't care much about their raids."
"That, and on the new colonies we establish," Pagsha suggested. "Since only Individualist drones are settling there at the moment, they can use some mental security. It's a very nice feeling to be part of the Borg Collective and knowing what can come to your aid if needed, but still. It would be very comforting to this new colony to know that there are, say two thousand Siill warriors stationed in the colony."
Pagsha hesitated before continuing. "You all know how my species lived before we were assimilated. When brought back to Individualist stage, a lot of women from my species would still want strong warriors around to be sure that they are protected. Protected not only from outside forces, but also from people that want to bring the woman's status back once more to being considered property. It's nice to know that the Borg wouldn't allow this, but it would be very comforting to see the Siill warriors walking through the colony, to know that help is nothing but a shout away."
"If they cannot be part of the special security details. the warriors of my species would like to have positions where they feel truly needed," Si'zaG agreed. "Security on a ship might be needed, but it still might not give a personal feeling of being personally needed. Our warriors would prefer positions where they feel that they make a difference there. They would like to be the security in a situation like Pagsha just said. To be walking through a village knowing that it's secure because of them. Not because they are Borg, but because they, Siill warriors, are there and making it secure."
"Very well, Lach, you can start creating and training these special teams," Seven approved. "And for the reason Si'zaG just pointed out, try to find 'interesting places' to station the remaining Siill warriors. Si'zaG, do you see any potential problems with any of the other Siill classes?"
"Not really," Si'zaG said after a moment of thought. "With the other classes I think that the normal way that the Borg assign drones will fit here as well. The Ruler class will be very suited to be in command obviously, so you might see them being suggested for command over colonies, planets, ships, or even whole sectors. The same with the other classes. Maintainers like me will automatically drift to positions where they can do just that; maintain. You did say that you wanted to implement the Maintenance department as a standard all over the Borg territory; that you'll always find an Engineering department working besides a Maintenance department. I think that you might want to leave some room for people there. Our Maintainers will love that position and I think the Borg will like them there because they are extremely suited for those positions. Basically it will be the same with the other classes as well. They'll prefer to do work in a specific direction, and the Hive will find that those drones are very suited for... work in that specific direction."
"Thank you," Seven said with a nod. "I will have a talk with F'loR later on and see which positions he thinks the other classes would best be suited for."
Si'zaG smiled. She really liked how Seven kept Si'zaG's preferences in mind. How her friend knew only too well just what the limit was of what Si'zaG was comfortable with deciding on. Saying that the others of her class would really like to work in Maintenance was not hard, and it was obvious that the warriors of her species would like to feel needed wherever they were assigned. But deciding on what the other classes would probably like was something else entirely. For that the input of her brother F'loR, someone of the Ruler class, would be much more beneficial.
"Alright, Lach, since we were with you, anything else you want to bring up?" Wolkav asked and started to move the meeting along again.
~~~~~~~~~~{}~~~~~~~~~~
The reign of One of Many, née Annika Hansen; Queen of Borg.
Year 01, Month 03, Day 21, Hour 11, Minute 08.
{Unspecific designations should not be encouraged.}
{Unspecific designations lead to inexact recordings of situations.}
{Inexact, yet clear.}
{Allowances have to be made for unlinked drones.}
{Unspecific designations should be allowed if the designation is meant as a reference, and not meant as a precise recording of which drone did what.}
{This discussion is irrelevant, we are already using unspecific designations for millennia.}
The Hive did not immediately respond to that, so the voice that had spoken up last explained.
{If a cube of the First Fleet is destroyed, do we not still call it the First fleet, even though this designation no longer reflects the group makeup we gave that designation to, and therefore it is no longer correct according to the argument of this discussion?}
{If three drones join the Collective, they are called One, Two, or Three of three, if the first drone dies, do we not still call the second drone Two of Three?}
{Unspecific designations are being used more than specific designations according to that argument.}
{Then the discussion should not be if we should allow general use of them, but on how we can use them and still keep proper track of all things Borg.}
{For this argument it has been accepted that unspecific designations are being used and that we will accept the continuing use of them.}
{We could monitor... One of Many has joined the Hive mind.}
"Unspecific designations?" Seven asked as the recorded parts of the discussions going on at the moment were uploaded so that she could join them and know what had been discussed and what points had already been conceded, at least for the discussion. Of course, this was only one of several million conversations that were going on in the Hive at that time, she just reacted to it because it was the most interesting one.
At the moment Seven's body was in her quarters, in the regeneration room. Ever since B'Elanna had started to regenerate as well occasionally, even though for her chosen implants it wasn't strictly needed, they had decided to add a small room that was connected to the bedroom that had several regeneration alcoves. This so that Seven, B'Elanna, and Vasha, could all regenerate at the same time if they wanted. Of course, Seven didn't strictly need the alcove since she could also regenerate consciously with the tubes that connected to her back. But she did use the alcove when B'Elanna regenerated. It somehow turned regenerating into a family affair.
"The Hive is gossiping about us?"
{The Hive is discussing the recompense of unspecific designations.}
{The designation of First Family was merely a trigger since it is a designation which refers to something that should be known, but is not.}
{The indicator of First Family clearly points to One, Two, and Three of Many, yet it has been made clear that the name should be used to indicate the group the First Family is traveling with.}
{It is a contradiction; the First Family is traveling with the First Family.}
"That is actually a valid point," Seven was forced to admit. "However, we felt that the First Family had more value as a designation to indicate the group. For instance, if we visit a planet then the group exists out of us, people we selected for that trip because we think they can advise us on the subjects we are going to discuss, security, potential aids, and several other people. It is easier to indicate that this whole group is mobile, for instance by saying that the First Family is now planet side. We felt that this was acceptable because if the Hive truly wants to indicate only me and B'Elanna, or me, B'Elanna, and Vasha, then the Hive can refer to us as the First Two or the First Three."
{Then the designation First Family should not be used to actually indicate the First Family.}
{This is a contradiction.}
"It is not," Seven disagreed. "After all, this group is only referred to as the First Family if the First Family is actually traveling with this group. So the designation of First Family is valid, just that the argument that the designation is not precise enough is also valid. I would suggest to do as I just indicated; to use the title of First Family to indicate the group, and to use the title of 'the First Two', or 'the First three', if you want to truly indicate me and B'Elanna or us and our daughter."
{Acceptable.}
{However, the First Family was merely an example used.}
{The discussion on whether unspecific designations should be used is still not settled.}
"True," Seven agreed. "And while that discussion is ongoing, allow me to start a new one."
She waited for a moment as strings of thought shifted in the Hive. The discussion on designations became merely one of millions going on while a new line of discussion was created. "I came here today to introduce,"
"Lo," A new voice spoke up, interrupting Seven.
But then, this was Seven's own fault since she had decided to join an ongoing discussion for a moment instead of keeping the agreed upon time in mind.
{Unauthorized identity detected.}
{Initiate Purging procedure.}
"Belay that," Seven interrupted. "This identity has authorization to be here. Hive, allow me to introduce my daughter to you. This is Vasha Borg; Three of Many."
For the first time since... well, ever as far as Seven could remember, a hush fell over the Hive. For a few seconds not a single discussion was being held. Then slowly the discussions started again. But Seven could feel that the discussions continued because they were important to the Hive, but that at the same time all of those drones were also monitoring several other discussions going on; and every single one of them was monitoring the new discussion Seven had started.
{Two of Many has joined the Hive,} One of the many voices noted.
"Did our little terror already shock them into silence?" B'Elanna asked when she noticed that the Hive was a lot quieter than normal. Quieter being a relative description with millions of discussions going on of course. "Sorry for not being here earlier, but I wanted to make sure that Vasha was truly alright body wise before I joined."
"I believe that the Hive was not expecting to hear from her for several years yet," Seven noted. Then she explained to the Hive, "Vasha already has the ability to follow discussions, though her ability to reply is still very limited at this point."
"Of course, the fact that a three month old baby can reply at all is a huge feat," B'Elanna pointed out amused. "At least for a Human or a Klingon. Seven and I discussed at just what time we should let her join the Hive for the first time. Then we decided that age really isn't the factor. No matter what, connecting to the Hive for a first time will be an onslaught. I mean, just look at the new drones that connect. It takes them months to get comfortable, and only a hand full of them start their own discussions in those first months. So we decided that we would approach it from the other side. Vasha will from now on join us when we regenerate and join the Hive. But we've put a filter on the device that allows her to connect. For the moment she can only follow this discussion. Once she becomes comfortable with following one discussion in the Hive mind, we'll open a second channel on the filter, and so on. We'll ease her into the Hive one discussion at a time, so to speak."
{I wouldn't have minded that,} One of the billions of listening voices spoke up softly.
{Such a filter could be used to let new drones get acquainted with the Hive.}
{It would prevent new voices from being overwhelmed and therefore staying silent.}
{New drones are not like Three of Many; they need all the Borg information at once.}
{New drones start off by being eased into the Collective, such a filter could be part of this procedure.}
{Certain decision channels could be active and be the first channels that new drones contact to, channels that will answer questions they always have.}
{It would cut back on the same questions being asked time and again in other discussions where they should not be asked at that moment.}
"And that's actually a good point to discuss in a new discussion channel," B'Elanna interrupted. "Why don't we stick to Vasha here?"
Apparently the hive agreed, and the discussion about being eased into the Hive continued, just on another channel where the information was now part of the background noise for Seven and B'Elanna. They still knew what was being discussed, still heard every argument. Just that now it was more part of the subconscious. Just like a conversation someone once had long ago and only happened to remember at that point.
"Vasha, meet the Hive," Seven introduced. As she did so she noticed a shift in the voices. Though communication in the Hive existed only out of voices, and no visual input, it almost felt as if millions of voices were shifting closer for a 'look' while millions of others shifted away. Seven realized that a few years ago she would have been one of the last. Before she got to know and interact with Naomi, Seven had always felt that interacting with young voices was irrelevant. They simply had to do as they were told. And now, mere years later, hearing a young voice say a single word could be her greatest delight.
"Lo," Vasha said again.
"Her vocabulary is very limited," Seven pointed out. "B'Elanna and I will interpret her replies for you. 'Lo' leans hello."
{Hello my Princess,} One of the more daring voices spoke up. {Welcome to the Hive.}
{Has Three of Many joined to monitor the communications?} Another voice asked.
"She does not," Seven assured. "We merely want her to start connecting to the hive at a young age so that it will feel perfectly normal to her; a part of her."
"Though, you might find that Vasha is very inquisitive," B'Elanna added. "The answer to one question often leads to another question."
"Wha Hiv?" Vasha spoke up.
"And that is the question that brought us here now," Seven explained. "We were talking about the Hive and Vasha asked us what the Hive was; wha Hiv, meaning, what is the Hive. We decided that instead of merely explaining it, we would show her."
{We are the Hive,} One of the voices said, stating the obvious. To them the Hive needed no explaining; the Hive merely was.
When Vasha didn't reply to that, another voice tried. {The Hive exists out of the trusted voices in the Collective.}
{In the Hive information is shared, orders are given, data is analyzed.}
{After some changes proposed by our Queen, the Hive is now also the place where voices communicate with voices in other areas of the Collective.}
{Where friends go to meet with each other if they cannot do so in person,} another voice added with some hesitation. It knew that the explanation would explain things, but it almost sounded as if it was unsure if this new angle to the Hive should be discussed so openly.
"Which we promote," Seven added. "There is no limit on bandwidth in the Hive, so why not allow for these extra communications? As long as the personal chatter is kept separate from the core workings of the Hive."
"Wha Colv?"
"What is the Collective," Seven translated.
{The Collective is all things Borg.}
"Colv Hiv?"
"So the Collective is the Hive?" B'Elanna spoke up. It hadn't taken much work to interpret the last question since it was pretty much the same question that came to her mind after hearing the two explanations. The only difference was that she knew the answer.
{The Collective is not the Hive.}
{The Hive is part of the Collective.}
"That is confusing," B'Elanna warned.
There was a moment of silence, on that discussion channel, and finally one of the more daring voices spoke up, trying to explain.
{The Hive exists only out of the trusted voices in the Collective, therefore it is part of the Collective but it is not the Collective as a whole.}
{The Collective is all things Borg.}
{A planet is part of the Collective.}
{The Royal Family is part of the Collective.}
{A cube is part of the Collective.}
{Nanoprobes are part of the Collective.}
{The Hive is part of the Collective.}
{It is because of this that we consider a hostile act to a single Drone a hostile act against the entire Collective.}
{Drones are part of the Collective, and their thoughts when they regenerate are part of the Hive.}
{The Hive does not exist as a physical place, with the exception of transmitters, receivers, and other communication technology.}
{Yet it exists because the Collective exists and the Drones in that collective regenerate and join the Hive like you are now.}
Vasha was quiet for a moment while absorbing this. During that time the Hive made several other examples of the difference between the Collective and the Hive. Suddenly she asked, "Trust, no all?"
"Oh, boy," B'Elanna spoke up. "Seven, remind me to never get into an argument with her, and instead simply only say 'because I said so'."
Seven knew only too well what her lover was talking about and asked the question that both of them had understood. "Vasha asked, 'Why only 'trusted' voices, why not all voices? After all, all of them are part of the Collective, so they should also be part of the Hive when regenerating."
She hesitated for a moment before admitting, "I added some reasoning to the question. I am obviously not sure if she actually thought exactly that, but we are quickly learning not to underestimate her because she is a baby."
{Some voices cannot be trusted in the Hive because they would change the Hive.}
{Some voices are not advanced enough to be part of the Hive, since deductive reasoning is not part of their biological distinctiveness.}
"No good."
"I think that means more something like 'not fair', B'Elanna explained. "She doesn't see why voices should be excluded.
{Species 13,852.}
{Excellent tactical drones, extremely violent when not linked.}
{They want to kill all that are not part of their clan, including the rest of their species.}
{Adding their voices to the Hive would affect the Hive, make our thinking more violent instead of tactical.}
{Their thinking would affect us and make us more inclined to kill all living beings that are not Borg.}
{We would destroy ourselves over time because we would not be adding new drones, instead we would be killing all potential drones.}
{As linked drones they do not care about their violent tendencies so they make good drones, but we cannot add their voices to the Hive.}
{Species 9,629.}
{Excellent worker drones.}
{Physically the strongest drones in the Collective.}
{Long living; average lifespan 3,000 years.}
{Unsuited to be part of the Hive because they have no voices.}
{They have a humanoid form, but they do not register as sentient life by any standard of any species that was once added to the Collective.}
{It are the Borg implants that make them think rationally at all, yet even then that rationality is only enough to follow commands and do the most basic of work tasks.}
{Cleaning a building area falls inside their abilities, but cleaning a plasma conduit does not, not even when linked.}
{Their brain makeup is too basic.}
{They are incapable of complex thoughts.}
"No good," Vasha stated.
"I believe that this should be seen as a 'not fair'," Seven added. Then she explained to Vasha, "And I agree. However, those drones are part of the Collective so we must deal with them. But I agree with the Hive that they cannot be added to the Hive. Yet we also cannot simply let them go. Take species 9,629. When they have Borg implants that at least order their brain a little, they want to be part of the Borg and do appreciate the changes. Yet if they do not have those implants, being part of the Borg is the last thing they want. That includes drones that were linked and where the implants were turned off to see what the reaction was. The Hive and B'Elanna and I disagree on how to handle those species. The Hive wants to continue using them, we want to stop that today. We reached a compromise in which species like them will be phased out of the Collective. Meaning that the drones that are now part of the Collective will stay in the Collective, but no new drones from those species will be added."
"Now," B'Elanna spoke up, "We're actually here to introduce Vasha, and not to talk about the structure of the Collective. So, anyone want to come say hi directly instead of just talking as one of the voices of the Hive?"
Once again there was a shifting, and once again Seven couldn't really blame them. Before, before she was stranded on that starship and had to deal with that annoying child that wouldn't leave her alone, she too would have been one of the voices that were drifting further away. Far enough away to not really be noticed, yet close enough to still catch what was going on.
Kahless, as B'Elanna liked to say, that child had annoyed her. Had droned on and on with talking about stuff that nobody in their right mind should ever care about. Talk and talk and talk. Seven, who had been well used to hearing millions of voices at once had asked, or told, her to be silent so often that Seven had actually lost count. Yet the next day she would be back, acting like Seven was her best friend ever. Seven had contemplated assimilating her, locking her up in some room... maybe with food so that she wouldn't starve, maybe. She had even told her as much. But the child had merely laughed, said that it was a good joke. Had been back again to annoy her even more. Seven had often felt like killing her.
God, she missed Naomi.
~~~~~~~~~~{}~~~~~~~~~~
"Well that was interesting," B'Elanna said once they had finished regenerating and had put Vasha to bed. "What were you thinking about after that whole Hive Vs Collective discussion? You drifted off there for a moment and had your private link set to 'please don't disturb'."
Seven smiled and kissed her lover before moving into the kitchen. She loved those little messages B'Elanna had come up with. It had been somewhat of a game between Anidan and B'Elanna. Anidan had once again tweaked the Borg Communicators. Not much, but it had been an interesting change. After having been interrupted one too many times for something not really important to her but just important enough to contact her despite a privacy notice on the link, Anidan had added the feature of being able to create your own messages. Instead of privacy codes, which were still there and could be used if truly needed, a person could now add messages that people would automatically get if they tried to contact you.
"You know that does not count for you," Seven reminded. "For you there is only one message; most welcome."
B'Elanna shrugged. "I know, don't worry. But I figured that since I was busy anyhow, why bug you? And now that I'm not busy I'll bug you. So, where had you drifted off to?"
"Join me on the holodeck? We can stay on the porch, I just want to see some nature."
"Sure," B'Elanna agreed, knowing that the question wasn't an evasion of the topic.
Though they thought in the beginning that they might not even have the Royal Holodeck built, or if they did that they wouldn't use it much. Fact was, they did. They spent some time there almost every day. Though a lot of that time was simply sitting on the porch that was created outside the kitchen exit to the holodeck and which was part of the standard setting. Or they went there so that Katzi and B'Elanna could play... train... some.
Katzi took the challenge of training B'Elanna seriously, and because of that B'Elanna loved every minute of it. That they also had a lot of fun and that Seven and Pagsha teasingly called it playing didn't matter. After all, maybe it was. They had fun... so what was wrong with that? Fun was good, and in the meantime B'Elanna was becoming quite lethal with those blades.
"When I felt how the Hive interacted with Vasha, I thought back to the time when I had just joined Voyager. How Naomi was bugging me all the time."
B'Elanna sat down on the swing bench and chuckled. "She was like a pit-bull; grabbing on and not letting go. How long did it take her?"
"Pit-bull?" Seven asked while looking out into the woods.
"A dog from Earth. They were almost extinct at one point because they were made illegal to have and/or breed in most countries. That's before people got their act together and decided to let the dogs, that are sweet and gentle by nature, be and instead go after the assholes that kicked and beat them into wanting to bite everything. They were known back then for not letting go once they had bitten down. Just holding on. And they had a high jaw pressure too."
B'Elanna chuckled. "Of course, their ferocious image pretty much stopped once Humans came into contact with the first Targs and suddenly decided that pit-bulls were really nice doggies to have around. Anyway, the reference from back then still stands. Biting down, grabbing on, digging in, like a pit-bull simply means stubbornly holding on to something and not letting go."
"In that case Naomi would have made an excellent pit-bull. To answer your question, it took her two weeks before I begrudgingly admitted, but only to myself mind you, that it was not so bad to have her around. Two months more before I considered her a friend. I remember one night just before regenerating. It suddenly hit me then; I had a friend. The first friend in my entire life. Even before I was assimilated I did not have friends since my parents felt it more important to chase after the Borg. I miss her. I miss all my friends. It is good to hear through the Paris family that they are alright. Yet, I miss them and I wonder if I will ever see them again."
"We'll see them again one day," B'Elanna promised.
She held out her hand and then pulled Seven down beside her once the blonde had taken it. She winked. "Can you imagine Naomi with Vasha? Vasha's mind, and Naomi tall enough to reach pretty much all a grownup can reach? Unimatrix 01 would be under lockdown within an hour."
"Doubtful," Seven disagreed, then she smiled, her Mate having been very capable of getting her out of one of her rare fits of gloominess. "Two hours."
"What? Are you kidding me? No way." B'Elanna made a show of closing her eyes and trying to picture the scene. "Now, Naomi would come in to see Vasha. Then Vasha would talk and suggest that Naomi pick her up... just to hold her of course. And well, once out of that crib she would suggest..."
Continued...