Chapter 50
The reign of One of Many, née Annika Hansen; Queen of Borg.
Year 01, Month 05, Day 29, Hour 17, Minute 02.
"I mean, don't get me wrong, I love it as a designer; there's so much I can do here. But that's the point; we should do something here. It's just such a waste to leave it like this," ZAn said as he put his hands on the railing of the bridge he was standing on. He looked over it with a dramatic sigh before turning around and looking at the other people that were with him.
He, Seven, B'Elanna, Pagsha, and Katzi, had spent the last two hours looking at different places on Unimatrix 01 and discussing some of ZAn's ideas. ZAn had left the vast expanse, as he liked to call it, for last before they would meet up with some of the architects and designers that were by now working for ZAn. The changes on Unimatrix 01 had grown to the size that it was simply too much for one single person to coordinate. Because of this ZAn had set up a team of helpers and reluctantly handed off some of his tight control over the modification.
He made a show of looking around him. "To the left, the right, up, and down, in all four direction just empty space that goes on so far that you don't see the end; you just see the walls kinda melting into each other. The only other things you see close by are some of these bridges and the second wall over there, about thirty meters away. Such a waste of space. I could place literally hundreds of thousands of large family size living quarters in here alone. You know? The kind that has four bedrooms and two bathrooms? It's so far down that I could just jump off this bridge and I would simply float in the air because the artificial gravity plates are so far down that I would be outside their reach. And this is just one of these areas. There are many more. Maybe not all formed exactly like this, but all having pretty much just as much unused space. Now I know why the Borg were so willing to give you that huge room beside your living quarters to create the Royal Holodeck. Compared with all the rest of the room that's left, that holodeck is negligible."
"There is actually a reason for all this extra room," Seven assured. "Once the Borg assimilated the technology of having partitioned spaceships they started to use that technology. They liked the fact that a space ship could exist out of several parts so that even if one part is damaged in battle, that this part can be jettisoned and the other parts could still survive. The reason why you see nothing but bridges between these two parts is because this is actually a 'break line'. It is one of the places where, if ever needed, two parts of Unimatrix 01 can separate. It is however obviously a truly last resort situation because it is designed for separation more than docking. There is a great risk that trying to put the parts back together again will damage them. Therefore it is only something to be done when you know for sure that not doing it will result in more damage than doing it might result in."
ZAn looked at the area around him once more, only now seeing that the bridges were actually a lot thicker than needed for mere bridges. After all, as ZAn had just noted, the bridges were not subjected to gravitational pull; the artificial gravity that kept the group standing on the bridge was actually created by the gravity plates on top of the bridge.
"Ah, now I see. So these bridges also house the connectors that hold the parts of Unimatrix 01 together? Huge metal beams I guess, and this area between these two walls is so that these parts can disconnect without also causing damage wall to wall when separating. Still, I can work with this," ZAn assured after thinking about it for a moment.
"But why work with it anyway?" Katzi asked. "On the scale that is Unimatrix 01 only a little part has been changed. There are billions of Individualist drones in the Collective now, but not all of them live on Unimatrix 01. The biggest percentage of drones on this ship are still normal drones instead of Individualist. So why be interested in these places when there's still so much to change in the rest of the ship? Why change this?"
"Because we can," ZAn said with a huff while putting his hands on his hips and looking up to the woman who was towering over him. When Katzi took a breath to speak he waved her off.
"Just kidding hon. It's simple really. Yes, there's still a lot of Unimatrix 01 to change. But we've already set up plans for the main layout of the entire ship and now it's down to work sector for sector. At the moment my team has three sectors more planned than where we are with the actual restructuring. So, I have some time. I could go planning the next sector already, but I really want to give my team some rest... once this meeting we're going to is over. Their idea of relaxing is to do nothing for a time, have a little vacation. Maybe visit one of the Zamonan vacation planets. But, my way of relaxing is to design."
He stretched out his arms and turned in a circle once to indicate the vast expanse of room around them. "And playing with places like this will keep me happy for weeks! I'll be happy, my team gets a few weeks of rest from me driving them crazy with my perfectionist streak... everyone will be happy. And in a month the modifying of sectors has caught up with where we are with the planning and we can go on with fresh minds."
"I am open to suggestions for these spaces, as long as the use is done with safety in mind," Seven said to prompt ZAn to share what he was thinking of.
"Actually," Katzi spoke up, "If you are thinking of using these areas I would suggest that you leave one. Preferably one as large as this, but a little wider."
Katzi pointed from wall to wall to indicate the relative small space of thirty meters. "Then gravity plates could be mounted on one of the walls and the other wall would become the ceiling."
"But why?" ZAn asked, not at all pleased that Katzi was suggesting taking away some of his playing options.
"Training," Katzi started to explain.
"Oh, come on," ZAn interrupted as he moved closer to Katzi.
The tall woman only looked down on him and growled, making the lithe designer back up again.
"Um, right," ZAn said from the relative safety of a few steps away. "I mean, come on, Prime Holodeck 1 has already been reserved for trainings of any kind. That holodeck is even bigger than the Royal holodeck."
"Exactly, training of any kind," Katzi repeated. "At any time of the day that holodeck is used by different groups doing different things. While they can be separated by throwing up holographic walls, that doesn't stop the senses of the Siill warriors. Every single Siill is a telepath, and on top of that the Siill warriors can sense the body heat of anyone that's within a ten meter radius and that isn't coldblooded. Holographic walls don't stop that. A holodeck can make it look like two Siill warriors are ten kilometers apart, but they will feel that they are actually standing right besides each other. The only thing we know of that actually stops all their senses are Crachian crystals. Those crystals are easy to obtain, we can even grow them in the recently created Resource Department, and they are just as easily turned into a coating that can be sprayed onto walls. But none of the holodeck technology we have can create them in such a pure degree that they truly stop the Siill senses when they are only holographic creations. You need the real thing for that."
"From what you say I gather that you are thinking of having that large place reserved for training of the Siill warriors only," Seven surmised.
"Pretty much," Katzi agreed. "I was thinking of all telepaths that would need physical training. Crachian crystals seem to be a general mental blocker. As far as I know we don't have any telepathic species in the Collective that can get through them. But yes, I was mainly thinking of the Siill, and for training of groups where the Siill are somehow involved in the training. As I said, we could put the gravity plates covered with Crachian crystals on the side, turning the sides into a floor and a ceiling. That way the Siill warriors wouldn't sense anyone that is on the other side of those walls doing their normal thing on Unimatrix 01. They would be able to train in an environment where they don't have to ignore their senses because they are picking up people that aren't part of the training."
"That's a good point," B'Elanna agreed.
"I have to tell you, being a warrior myself," Katzi went on, "I wouldn't want to think about having to train with such a big part of me not being used. I mean, sure in certain situations it's actually good. They should also train situations in which their telepathic sense are of no use to them. But in general? It's like saying to me that I can train all I want, but from now on I can't use my sword anymore. Remember how much I hated it when I thought I had to give it up now that I was a Royal Guard? But no, you actually felt that it was good that I know how to use the sword, you encouraged me to keep my abilities up. Same for the Siill. Instead of learning to ignore their sense permanently they would be able to use those senses, to hone and train them even better. When you paired the Siill warriors up with the Zamonan you created the Advanced Tactical Security Details. While those Siill warriors do get a lot of knowledge they never had before when they regenerate, they still need to train to keep their stamina up, to hone their senses, to train without the use of Borg technology so that they are still at their best if the Borg technology fails for some reason. Besides, let's not forget, for the Siill warriors training is their life. They want to train; they don't want to sit back and wait for when they might be needed. With an area of this size you could give them all that."
"You have very valid points," Seven agreed. "The ATSDs are our elite units and if they are not on a mission their job is to train to be ready. To do so they should have access to a vast area where several teams can train at once without coming into their own senses range, or where several teams can practice coordinated actions. I believe that the area between sectors nine and ten would be best suited for this. It has actually more than two times as much room between the sections; one hundred meters. We could add holographic generators to the ceiling so that all kinds of environments can be created to train in. Their senses might tell them that nothing in the forest they are in is real, but the holographic trees will still obscure their normal vision, and will still prevent them from walking in a straight line."
"We could also set up a motorized system that moves walls around," B'Elanna suggested. "With the holodecks holographic walls separate the big holodecks in several parts so that different holo-programs can be run at the same time. With the training area we could instead have division walls from real wall plating that is covered with Crachian crystals. That way we can have the walls up so that more teams can train in separated areas without being able to sense the other teams, or we can lower the dividing walls to have a huge area that is used for coordinated training actions."
"I like that suggestion," Seven agreed. "ZAn, could you put someone from your team on that once they have had their vacation?"
ZAn sighed dramatically before relenting. "Fine, alright, so I can see that a training area is needed for the ATSDs. I'll take care of it myself when I'm going over those other areas anyway, assuming that I'll be going over those other areas of course."
"Thank you. You could get together with Anidan to look into a motorized wall system as B'Elanna suggested. I want it to be able to block Siill senses, yet be stable enough to withstand any kind of impact one could expect, within reason, during training."
"I'm sure we can come up with something," ZAn assured. "Maybe some thin plating that is covered by the Crachian crystals, and has a force field structure over it. That way the force field can be switched off and the thin plating can be rolled up; it's only hundred meters up after all. And about the other places?"
Seven thought about it for a moment. Though the pause was mostly to tweak her impatient friend a little instead of actually needing the time to think. "You said that you could work with the fact that these are actually 'break lines'. Tell me how you think you can do this and if I am satisfied with the answer, I will allow you to work with these places."
"Ah!" ZAn said happily. "It's so easy. I'm thinking of having a huge block build in here. Basically a set of quarters on the left, and a set of quarters on the right, with a corridor in the middle. Every so often there would be a turbolift, and then we simply fill up the place from down there to up there."
The 'there' and 'there' had been accompanied by ZAn first pointing over the rail and down, and then up. "With decks that have pretty much the same layout stacked on top of each other to fill the space. To keep in mind that this area is supposed to be something of an empty buffer so that the separate parts of the ship won't touch when drifting apart, I would suggest that these new quarters are set up as a crush structure. Meaning, good enough to live in, but certainly not as strong in structure as the other ship parts. So if the ship parts drift together in an area while drifting apart, these quarters will be crushed without the ship parts being damaged."
"People will just love that," B'Elanna said amused. "Who knows what they're doing at the moment they're beamed out because the separation sequence has started."
"I don't think that this will be much of a problem," Pagsha spoke up. "Separating the ship parts is a last resort action. By the time that happens we will be in a battle and everyone will be at battle stations. And even if not, I think that people will take any potential humiliation over drifting off into space unprotected when the ship parts separate. I think that ZAn has a point. These areas are a waste of space. Yes, they are part of an emergency system, but that system has never been used in all those thousands of years that Unimatrix 01 now exists. I think that quarters could easily be placed here. The chance of these quarters being destroyed when the ship parts separate from each other is about a million times smaller than the chance of quarters on any other Borg ship being destroyed in a battle."
"Very well, ZAn, you can proceed with your planning," Seven agreed.
ZAn looked around the area again, this time with a look that the others knew he always got when he was calculating things. "Thanks, I'll be having some fun with this."
Then he looked back at them. "Making an educated guess, I think we'll be creating room for about half a billion extra drones when all is said and done. Do you have the people to actually fill those extra quarters?" ZAn wondered.
"Seven and I were talking about adding more drones to Unimatrix 01 as it is," B'Elanna assured. "Before we started to change things on Unimatrix 01 the ship was designed to be populated with half a billion drones, and room to take on three times as many in case Unimatrix 01 had to be used to flee a superior force and start creating a new Collective somewhere else. But as you can see, a lot of room in Unimatrix 01 is not used, and I'm not only talking about areas like this. For instance, there are places that could easily be serviced with a Jefferies tube kind of construction, yet they created an extra full corridor for it. As you know from the sectors we already changed, when we're done redesigning and putting in structures we want, we actually have more room than before."
"How come?" Katzi asked, before adding a bit sheepishly. "Sorry, designing is really not my thing. So I don't normally listen to the stuff you talk about in such meetings unless certain key words register."
ZAn was the one to take that question. "Well, an uninformed person like yourself might say that quarters, and especially big work places like engineering locations, would take up more room than the original Borg design. After all, they didn't have rooms for people to live in but instead simply had regeneration alcoves lined along the walls in pretty cramped corridors. But looks can be deceiving. Yes, the Borg had a design where even a single corridor could be lined with a hundred alcoves. But we focus more on having bigger corridors, about double the size of an old Borg corridor. But because we have those big corridors we can actually remove six of the smaller ones for every big one we create. It seems that when Unimatrix 01 was changed to the layout we now know, the Borg believed in creating a lot of corridors that bring you directly from point A to point B instead of having the drones walk twenty meters extra to get to a main corridor. So while they did indeed have corridors filled with alcoves, they had a multitude of those corridors with no alcoves in it at all, which on top of that were rarely used. Some corridors were only used by one or maybe two drones in a week."
"So, you are actually creating more room by taking out corridors?" Katzi asked.
"Right," ZAn agreed. "Like I said; corridors to get directly from point A to point B. And as stated before, places where a Jefferies tube would be more than enough. Rearranging some conduits to where two or even three things can be reached from the same corridor or Jefferies tube instead of all having their own corridor."
"Seven estimates that by the time we're truly finished with Unimatrix 01, that we'll have quarters for four billion people," B'Elanna added. "Four and a half if you count this latest idea. We fully plan to actually take that many people onto Unimatrix 01."
"Why?" Katzi asked. "Just because you have the room doesn't mean you have to use it; as the previous Borg approach proved."
"True," Seven spoke up. "However, we plan for that influx of people to exist out of Individualist drones and for them we want to create a pleasant living environment. We want there to be enough people on the ship that there are always some people walking through the corridors to get to some place they are going to in their off duty time. We do not want people to walk through a corridor and get the feeling that they are on a proverbial ghost ship because they do not see anybody else. We also want people to actually use those public places we are creating, for people to actually enjoy that vast park that ZAn designed for sector 93 of deck 785. We believe that with a number between four and five billion people living in Unimatrix 01, that you will get the same feeling of being part of a group, as people get on a Federation Galaxy class space ship."
"Also, let us not forget that we actually need more people on Unimatrix 01 now," B'Elanna reminded. "Before a drone worked 48 hours before regenerating for 8 hours and then going back to work again. One can say that proverbially speaking they worked around the clock. Individualist drones only work one third of every day; 10 hours out of the standard 30 hour Borg day. So just to keep up the same level of work we would need to increase the number of drones to 1.5 billion. And since we're now adding recreational activities that need drones as well, like running restaurants, you can add at least another half billion for that. So once the transformation of Unimatrix 01 is complete we'll need a minimum of two billion drones on this ship. But we'll actually need more than that because we're also adding positions to the ship that the Borg didn't have before, like for instance the people that will work in Unimatrix Zero."
Katzi nodded her head to indicate that she understood. She had been present when Seven and B'Elanna had shown ZAn several Federation starships to indicate to him a general idea of a feel that they wanted for certain areas of the ship. The USS Voyager had been used as example for places that had to be relatively small, yet still very functional. Like the single person living quarters or the Jefferies tubes. Areas that took up quite some room on an Intrepid size space ship, but that could almost literally be tucked away in many of the unused corners of Unimatrix 01.
The USS Enterprise D had been used to indicate relatively bigger areas. The family size living quarters were a good example of that. As were the sick wards, of which one was to be created in every sector of newly designed Unimatrix 01. This so that people could visit those for small cuts and whatnot and therefore didn't have to visit the sickbays. That way those sickbays could then concentrate on the bigger tasks like replacing the old implants with new ones with drones that were brought into the Individualist drone status. The councilor's offices were also created according to Enterprise D designs. Just like the research areas and recreational areas like the, in comparison to the size of Unimatrix 01, small parks of which also one was to be created in every sector.
Of course, the Federation starships were not the only designs used for inspiration. Where designs from other species were more suited those had been used; like the overall area designs of species 3,675 that had been used as a base blueprint by ZAn because it had what was considered the perfect mix of facilities.
"I'll come up with something very suitable, and great looking," the designer assured confidently.
"And with that, I think it is time to move on to our meeting," Seven said, feeling that the discussion was over for now and that other design issues could wait until the meeting they were actually heading for. As they walked further over the bridge, they saw a group of five Siill warriors coming from the other side. Though they weren't actually speaking it was obvious that they were having a telepathic conversation, simply by the hand gestures they were making. As the warriors saw the other group they suddenly stopped and after a moment of more hand gestures one of them was being pushed, not so subtly, forward.
"My Queen," he said, knowing that Seven preferred verbal communication over telepathic.
Seven had to smile at the title. True, it was the title every Individualist drone used to address her, but still. Who would have ever guessed mere months before that Seven would be looking up at a Siill warrior who was clearly nervous and addressing her as 'my' Queen?
"Yes..." A moment went by where Seven compared the Siill warrior's face to a database. "...Kli'lo'? I am going to a meeting, so..."
"Of course, forgive me for interrupting you, my Queen," Kli'lo' said and started to move away slightly.
"I am not brushing you off," Seven said amused. "I do however have to be somewhere. Please walk with me, and once we have reached my destination, then I will brush you off."
"Yes, my Queen," Kli'lo' said, only belatedly realizing that Seven had been joking. "My Queen. My friends and I were talking. You honored us warriors by the positions we will be allowed to fulfill. Especially the Advanced Tactical Security Details. The warriors that have been selected for those teams are already seen as examples. Something to strive for; to become so good one is selected to be an ATSD member."
"Go ahead," Seven said as she pointed in the direction she had been walking before. At one and the same time telling Kli'lo' to continue with what he was saying, and walk with them to Seven's destination. A look behind her made sure that the rest of the group was following. She knew that they would, of course, but she also knew that by this simple check she was making it clear to them that she hadn't forgotten about them. It was a small thing, but she noticed that it made a lot of difference. A lot of small things did, and she wondered if Pagsha, who Seven had copied these small behavior details from, had any idea how big her part was in making Seven such an admired Queen. Seven decided that she would tell her sometime in the near future. Pagsha deserved to know.
"My Queen," Kli'lo' started, "I do not know if you realized this when regenerating, but just as we were divided over who wanted to leave Fluidic space and who not, we warriors are also divided over what we want as warriors. About half want to be ground troops, they would all love to become a member of an ATSD team. For others, like me, becoming an ATSD member would be a great honor, but it wouldn't be my ultimate goal. I'm a pilot, and if I had to choose between being an ATSD member, or being allowed to fly, I would choose flying."
"I did not know that," Seven admitted. "I guess that the Borg consider it irrelevant information because whether or not you want to actually be a ATSD team member is part of the scan. But if you do not want to be such a member, then the why not is irrelevant; the only relevant part would be that you would not be suited because it is not what you want. However, I do not see why this is important. There are plenty of opportunities for you to serve the Borg by being a pilot."
"Yes, my Queen, there are. But that would not compare to the honor one achieves if one is selected to become an ATSD member. I would be just a pilot; nothing that sets me apart from any other pilot with the exception of the fact that I happen to be a Siill warrior. My Queen, we warriors that love to fly would really like it if there was something we could strive for. Something that shows that if we are selected that we are the best, even amongst the other Siill warriors."
"Very ambitious," Seven said thoughtfully as she stopped by a door; clearly the destination she was heading for. However, since it was an interesting subject she waited with entering and the rest of the group waited along with them as if it was the most normal of things to have the Borg Queen, the Borg Princess, a First Officer, a Royal Guard, and a Chief Designer all standing around in a corridor talking to a Siill warrior.
"However, ambition often leads to a 'no matter what' mentality. If we were to create a certain prime position for Siill pilots then soon healthy rivalry will result in backstabbing and cheap tricks."
"Between Siill warriors?" Katzi asked in disbelief.
"Isn't ambition the root of the system we created?" Pagsha asked at almost the same time. She looked at her lover for a moment and when she saw that Katzi didn't add more to what she had said, Pagsha continued. "We deliberately added positions that are differently named so that people can strive to become that. So that becoming a Captain can be a life ambition. We make sure that individuals don't act in an improper way by scanning their minds and seeing if they have ulterior motives. Why should it be any different for Siill warriors? They are warriors from mere hours after birth. Let's give them the opportunity to strive to become an ATSD member, or a pilot of some team we still have to set up."
"Well," Katzi continued when her lover was finished talking. "I agree with my Mate. But I do think that there should be something that makes it even more special. This will, interesting enough, also address your concern about backstabbing. As you know, it was my life's ambition to become a Royal Guard. But you don't just become a Royal Guard by being good. As much training as I did, that was no guarantee that I would have become a Zamonan Royal Guard. Royal Guards are hand-picked, and while they have to pass certain training every year to continue to be a Royal Guard, you can say that once you are picked the position is yours until you either die, or become too old to pass the yearly training and test. I personally like that system. It clearly shows who 'are' the best warriors amongst us Zamonan, and not just who were the best at one time when being selected. You prove that you are the best year after year. But what I like just as much is that while we have tests to see if Royal Guards can stay Royal Guards, we actually don't have any tests to become a Royal Guard."
Katzi hesitated for a moment. "What I mean is, I couldn't go and sign up for becoming a Royal Guard. My name would have to be brought up through other ways. A trainer writing to a Regent, who writes to a District Regent, who writes to the Commander of the Royal Guards. I could not apply, so can you imagine how wonderful I would have felt when suddenly someone told me one day that I could become a Royal Guard if I wanted?"
She smiled. "Can you imagine how much you made my life, not just my day, but my life, when you allowed me to become a Royal Guard to the Borg Queen? There has been only one event in my entire life that was better than that moment."
Seven saw how Katzi had placed a hand on her Mate's shoulder and had a feeling that asking what that moment was would be a waste of words.
Meanwhile the Zamonan continued. "But from the other side, let's just say that I could have applied and was not picked. Can you imagine how it would have felt for me if I had applied to become a Royal Guard and every year I was turned down for some reason that nobody ever told me? I would have suffered a mental blow every year; 'apparently I'm not as good as I think I am; I've been rejected again'."
"A note of acceptation can feel as a reward all by itself, while a rejection can feel as a punishment," Seven said in understanding.
"Right," Katzi agreed. "Maybe a similar approach would be good here. The ATSD members were selected; they didn't apply. Yes, they were selected because it was a new program and people were needed for it 'now', but the fact remains that they were picked. Your Royal Guards were selected; they didn't apply... Well, I did, but I wasn't picked because I applied. I was picked because the Borg themselves thought that I would be a good choice. I would suggest that you leave it that way for those groups and create a similar privileged position for the Siill warriors that prefer to be pilots. Positions that you can never apply for, but can always be picked for... if you are good enough and there's room. It will give people something to dream about. Besides, if you have positions that people are selected to without actually applying for them, it will give a lot of people that aren't Siill an initiative as well."
"What do you mean?" B'Elanna asked.
"Well, it doesn't really matter which species they are, everyone has a chance to be picked as long as they are so good that they are at the top of the list. That means that someone that would normally never apply to be an ATSD member because they know that they would never be able to last in the trainings Siill warriors only consider warm-ups, can still try in a different way. They'll know that they won't be a match physically, but if for instance they are sooo good at, say, Engineering and creative thinking, that they might still be picked because such people are also needed in certain ATSD teams."
Katzi hesitated while thinking of an example. "I mean, take Maindi. She's only one and a half meters tall. Zamonan or not, she's not what would come to mind when thinking of an ATSD team member. Just think how that must have felt for her; to be one of the Zamonan picked to be an ATSD member. Even if people realistically think they can never be part of such a team, they can still dream about it, still fantasize about it. It will drive them to do even better in daily life, just because there really is that small chance that their dream will become reality."
She used the hand that she had placed on Pagsha's shoulder before to pull the Ghdibrian a little closer to her. "Can you imagine what a woman that is from my beloved Mate's species would feel like if she is contacted to let her know that she had been selected, and that if she wants that she can become an ATSD member? The honor and privilege would be immeasurable for such a person. That's stuff to dream about right there. And the best thing is that at the same time you don't have any hurt feelings since nobody could apply and therefore nobody was rejected. These privileged positions will always only be something to dream about, nothing more... until that day that you are selected."
"You included the Royal Guards in this list of privileged positions," Seven noted. "Do you feel that you are treated differently than if you were not a Royal Guard?"
"Absolutely," Katzi confirmed. "Just two days ago Pagsha and I went to our favorite restaurant to eat. It was busy, and I admit that I forgot to check if there was room. There was none. Yet when some people found out that Pagsha and I were about to be declined entry they gave up their table. Saying that they were done and they headed out before we could even decline, wishing us a pleasant dinner while heading out. That wasn't done because Pagsha is a First Officer. No, that was done because I'm a Royal Guard. One of only four people in the entire Collective, one of only four people between trillions whose sole task is it to keep the Royal Family safe."
Now Katzi smiled, "And because I'm the only person out of trillions that has the extreme honor of her on-duty task existing even on Unimatrix 01 of being close to the Queen even more than my Mate, your Personal Assistant, is. Pagsha sometimes has other things to do that take her away from you. But I'm at your side almost every minute of my on-duty time."
"And almost just as much of your off-duty time," Seven added, realizing how such a position would, at least by the Individualist drones, be seen as extremely privileged. "Do not let it go to your head though."
"I won't," Katzi assured with a grin. "The regenerating makes sure of that. Yes, I take much pride in the fact that I'm privileged with the task of being a Royal Guard, but whenever I regenerate I join the others. Then I'm just one of many, and I see that there are people that deserve admiration much more than I do. What is it that I do? Nothing, I just wait for that one time where I can place myself between you and a threat. But others like Doctor Lonika or Anidan, they deserve true admiration for they work miracles every single day."
Katzi indicated the Siill warrior that was patiently standing by. "That will be the same for him, if he is good enough to be picked as one of those pilots if you decide to have some special division for pilots. They will feel honored to be in such position, but with regenerating they still become one of many, they will realize just how much respect a simple counselor deserves for being able to bring a traumatized drone back into Individualist status."
"Well, since I'm not needed for this anymore, and since it's time, I think I'll go in and tell my team that you will be there in a moment," ZAn interrupted. He waited on approval of Seven and after she dipped her head he entered the room, leaving the corridor only a little less crowded.
"There's a difference between creating an ATSD team and having a team of pilots," B'Elanna noted. "An ATSD team exists out of 21 members, but is still one team, but 21 pilots with each having their own ship could be considered a fleet."
"True, if we indeed create such special positions then the distribution should be different," Seven said before turning to the Siill and asking, "Kli'lo', being a pilot yourself, do you have any suggestions?"
"My Queen, it just so happens that my friends and I were talking about that when we met you. My Princess is correct; a team of pilots is different than an ATSD team. An ATSD is one unit, while a single pilot and his ship is one unit as well. My Queen, over all we warriors are there for protection. It is what the Planner created us for; to be able to fight and protect. We would be greatly honored if we could do so."
"Protect," Seven said, singling out the key word. "So being a pilot of a cube for instance would not be what you want. You want to have a ship and be outside and protect that cube."
"Yes, my Queen."
"Bioships aren't that big in comparison to a Borg cube," B'Elanna noted. "Yet now that the Bioships have been upgraded with the new shields, a Bioship is actually more powerful than a cube. Wouldn't it be kinda interesting if every cube had an Auxiliary Fleet of one or two Bioships, more for bigger ships? That would give you that position to strive for. Not just be a pilot, no, to become a pilot that's honored with the position of being an Auxiliary Fleet pilot. Someone that's called upon to protect the cube they're stationed on. Someone that protects their direct home; the cube they live on."
"I hate to point this out, but cubes don't really need protection normally," Pagsha said. "The Siill were actually the last ones that posed a real threat to the Borg. Wouldn't it make more sense to have the bioships protect smaller ships or new settlements and colonies?"
"A valid point. But scale of numbers dictate that not every bioship would be used for Auxiliary Fleet service," Seven reminded. "Those remaining bioships can be used for what you suggested. However, the need for a powerful auxiliary fleet should not be underestimated. As powerful as a cube is, you know that we still lose some of them in wars sometimes. In those situations a bioship would be a great asset because simply by launching the bioship the cube would double its firepower. More than that, no matter how powerful a cube is, it can still only be in one location at one time. But if it had a bioship on board, it could launch the bioship and actually be in two locations at once."
"Good point, B'Elanna agreed. Then she frowned. "Well, just 'Auxiliary Fleet' doesn't really set them apart though. A simple supply ship can be part of the auxiliary fleet as well. Maybe... ah, keeping it simple, they could be called the 'Prime Auxiliary Fleet' instead."
"If they are the Prime Auxiliary Fleet, does that mean that they have to do a lot of training, my Princess?" Kli'lo' asked hesitantly.
B'Elanna looked up at the three meter tall warrior for a moment before grinning, knowing only too well why he was asking. "Oh, I would say so. I would even say that they would have to spent every minute of on-duty time in their ship, training. Unless the cube is traveling at transwarp of course. After all, such highly trained pilots need to train every day to stay at the peak of their abilities."
If it had been in her nature to do so, Seven would have rolled her eyes at that point. Instead she said, "There are over four million cubes in the Collective. One bioship per cube, and more for bigger ships, including Unimatrix 01, I believe that in total we would need about five million bioships for prime auxiliary fleet service. Do you think that this would be enough?"
"It would," Kli'lo' assured right away. "In fact, a very good number, my Queen. More and the specialty of it would diminish, less and it would seem impossible because the chances to be selected become too small."
B'Elanna smirked before asking, "I wonder how many ships the Borg will think is a good number for Unimatrix 01. After all, they also loved the ATSD idea and thought that fifty thousand teams would be just enough to cover Unimatrix 01."
"I can see their logic," Katzi grinned. "With their Queen traveling all over it's good to have a little something in reserve."
"You just like the fact that whenever I leave Unimatrix 01, one million highly trained Siill warriors and fifty thousand Zamonan Commanders are automatically put on standby," Seven accused.
"Sure," Katzi happily agreed. "Only the best Royal Guards realize that they should wish every day that they are never needed. Because that means that the first line of defense did its job. If the last line of defense, the Royal Guards, are ever needed, then someone else already messed up."
Seven looked at Katzi for a moment, but knew that the tall Zamonan had outmaneuvered her. "Nicely done," She finally admitted. Then she looked back at Kli'lo'. "The time has come for me to 'brush you off'. Your suggestion will be worked out further by us and put before the Hive for their opinion. I think they will like it because it will add to the cause of integrating the Siill in the Borg Collective. Thank you for your suggestion."
The Siill dipped his head a little while starting to move back. "My Queen, you honored me by listening to the ramblings of a mere warrior."
Seven stepped closer and reached up to touch his face. "Nobody in the Borg Collective is just a mere warrior. We all have our special abilities, but nobody is just a 'mere' person to me."
Startled, the Siill warrior looked at Seven for a few seconds before taking a step back again, saying 'my Queen' once more, and then turning around and leaving.
B'Elanna stepped up to Seven and put her arm around the blonde. "You're truly a remarkable person, my Mate. Even if the Borg didn't need a Queen and you weren't already theirs, they would beg you to become theirs because you care so much for every single person in the Collective. You may not know most of them, but they're still your people; your responsibility. The other Queens never saw the drones as their people, merely as their tools. You, my Queen, are one remarkable person."
"And you, my Princess, have a perfect knack for exaggeration. I think it is time that we attend the meeting."
"It's not good for the Borg Collective if their Queen is in denial," Pagsha merely said before entering the room with Katzi only a step behind, leaving Seven and B'Elanna to look at each other.
Then B'Elanna grinned. "I think, my dear, that our Assistant just told you off."
Continued...