Chapters 11 to 13
Disclaimer: Paramount is god and I'm the devil just messing with his toys. :) Loving relationship between women yada, yada. Character death of several major characters and is really depressing (made myself cry). Be forewarned. Okay enough is enough.
The story is T/7. Rating PG13.
Comments to letterx
Chapter 12 Chapter 13
Part 11
"Report." For a second there Harry had to do a double take from his chair to make sure Kathryn Janeway didn't come back to life.
"We seem to be picking up some strange readings from the space directly ahead of us. It looks like space fairing vessels but the computer's having a hard time trying to figure out exactly what type of ships they may be. All of our information comes back garbled. We can't figure out the size of the ship, the shape, the origin, or even how far away they are. It also may be that we are too far away for any good readings to begin with, so I ordered Voyager to move in closer at a non-threatening pace," Kim reported to Seven as she took the captain's chair.
"All stop, Lt. Kayla," Seven ordered as she looked over the most current readings from the console on the arm of her chair. The commander was eyeing the captain curiously when suddenly Seven's eyes grew wide.
"Raise shields! Red Alert!" The ex-drone managed to yell out right before a volley of torpedoes impacted the ship. The ship rocked and bounced as all hell broke loose, again.
"Lt. Harris return fire. Kayla, evasive maneuvers. Keep us out of the line of fire. All hands battle stations," the commander called out over the comm as the ship continued to pitch and rock. "No effect, Commander. The computer can't seem to get a lock on their ships so that I can fire at them. I don't even know how many ships are out there," Harris yelled above the chaos with a slightly panicked voice. How was he suppose to attack a ship he can't even see or detect? That's when Seven got out of her command chair and headed over toward helm control.
"Lieutenant, bring us into this nebula here." The captain pointed out the course she wanted Voyager to follow as she leaned over the pilot. Kayla nodded her head and did just that. Within a few minutes, Voyager had flown into the gas cloud and the attack seemed to stop. Looking back over the command deck, the captain saw that it was a few minutes too late. The entire deck was a mess again. Consoles destroyed, debris lying about. It reminded her of that fateful encounter between Voyager and the Grendali. The only difference here was that Seven managed to react in time to prevent any of her crew from becoming seriously injured. The ship was another story. "What the hell was that?" Keller asked from his station at ops.
"I didn't even see them coming."
"That, Mr. Keller, is because they didn't want you to see them coming. Species 3785. Advanced weaponry which can penetrate most shielding, advanced cloaking technology which can 'garble' sensor readings. A species that you may consider 'roving bandits'. They seek out unsuspecting targets, destroy their shields and weapons, then board the ship to strip it of anything of value while murdering the entire crew. They travel in packs, a group of at least 4 or 5 ships, therefore easily out numbering their intended targets."
"If they're so advanced then how come they don't come in here and finish the job?" Coty asked with quite a bit of contempt for the species in his voice.
"Because, lieutenant, although them may have advanced weapons and a cloaking device, their shields leave something to be desired. They are highly sensitive to any form of gas and, with the gas in this nebula, it would destroy their shields and render their cloaking devise inoperative. They will not risk it. Instead they will wait for us to come out of hiding which we must do eventually as our shields are affected by the gases as well. Once we do, then they will 'finish the job'. Commander, I have only delayed the fight therefore we must convene for a staff meeting and discuss possible courses of action. Have all the department heads do a quick survey of the damage done and have them meet in conference room one in 30 minutes."
"Aye captain." Harry said as he began to follow captain's orders.
Thirty minutes later and the staff meeting was ready to begin.
"Lt. Torres, how extensive is the damage done to the ship?" "Well, considering that my engineering crew had all systems operating at 120 percent of capacity, as a way to say sorry to for what happened in engineering, we aren't as bad off as we could have been. Don't get me wrong, we still are bad off but it is a good kinda of bad off. Okay, this whole optimism thing isn't working for me. Here's the deal. Weapons are completely off line as that was the first target of this species. Shields aren't much better and are functioning at 35 percent of normal. Unfortunately because of that, we are going to have to leave this nebula within the next hour or else the gases will start to penetrate the hull.
Even the engines managed to take some damage. They're still operational but I wouldn't recommend going to warp any time soon. Other than those three areas everything else was pretty much left alone and not targeted. We still have communications, transporters, life support, and sensors, though I'm not sure how much good those things will do given our current situation.""Doctor were there any severe injuries reported?" "None, Captain. Just a few minor bumps and bruises this time."
"All right then. You have all read my report on species 3785. Any suggestions?" The room suddenly erupted in chaos. Thanks to Borg enhanced hearing, Seven was able to sort through most of the suggestions being suggested all at once. Raising her hands, she called for order again.
"Lt. Harris, although I am confident in your skills at being able to manually fire weapons at the cloaked ships, it will be impossible to fire without any weapons to speak of."
"But Torres could do some repairs to the weapons and then we could come out firing."
"Possibly, but you forget our time constraint, our low shielding, and the fact that there are at least four other ships out there as well. Fighting our was out may not be the best option here." "So how about we come out flying? Engines weren't that badly damaged. We could push the engines as far as they'll go and make a run for it," Kayla suggested.
"I don't think that the engines are up or that kind of stress. We could end up over heating the core and cause a core breach," Torres interjected.
"But if we could do some minor repairs to the engines and perhaps reinforce them. It might be able to work. I don't think any thing else will." Harry added his thought on the matter. "But, Commander, we will have less then an hour to complete whatever repairs we can and do the reinforcements. It's just not enough time." The engineer argued her point. "Lieutenant, I believe that it is our only option here. We cannot fight back, nor can we stay here and wait for help to arrive. I will send the commander to help out in engineering so that the two of you may complete what ever repairs can be completed. You and your engineering staff will get top priority for the next 45 minutes. Once the time is up it will be up to you and Kim to make sure the warp core does not breach. I will monitor the situation from the bridge and as soon as we are clear from danger, will cut the engines," Seven said, but B'Elanna still looked like she was going to argue.
"Lieutenant, I think we could do this. With the command team monitoring things, what can go wrong?" Davis spoke up for the first time since the meeting began.
"Command team?!" Lanna asked surprised at the title.
"Well, yeah. You three 'are' the command team. It's what everyone calls you. The three of you can do anything together and accomplish whatever your goals are. You can even put this ship back together when it breaks into a million pieces. You can do this, too. We believe in 'your' talents." And that was what convinced Lanna that maybe they could pull this off. It wasn't going to be easy but when was anything in the Delta Quadrant easy?
"Alright, alright. Let's do this then."
"Very well. You each know what must be done. Dismissed." And with that, the staff filed out of the room all praying to avoid yet another harrowing experience.
Forty-five minutes later and Seven was standing on the bridge in front of her chair.
"Engineering reports all stations ready," Coty Keller reported from ops. 'I just hope they were able do get enough of the repairs done in time.'
"Ms. Kayla, Are you ready?" Seven asked of her pilot.
"As I'll ever be."
"Good. Battle stations everyone." Seven announced over the comm. "On my mark, Lieutenant."
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Part 12
"On my mark, Lieutenant," the captain said as she stood in the middle of the command deck emanating an aura of power that some only thought Janeway possible of.
Commander Harry Kim, on the other hand, sat nervously in his chair awaiting for the command to engage the warp drive. His job was to sit there and watch the power fluctuations of the warp core while B'Elanna did everything in her power to coax the engines into giving her everything they got. He was suppose to be the go between for the captain and engineer and let either one know if the engines are overheating or if they get clear of danger, which ever came first. His money was on the engines overheating. It's bad enough that the engines were damaged and not functioning at peak efficiency but now they would have to jump to warp immediately. No time to warm up the engines or slowly allow them to go from impulse to warp as would normally happen. 'Instead we have to go from 0 to warp 4 in sixty seconds. I wonder how many miles per hour that is,' Harry irrelevantly wondered.
"Now, as soon as we are clear from the gas cloud the ships will have quite a bit of time to aim and fire upon Voyager. It will be a 'bumpy ride' and we will suffer some more damage before we distance ourselves from them. But after those initial few moments, we will have gained enough distance between us and the bandits. They will not be able to pursue due to a lack of advanced warp technology and after we are out of danger I will immediately power down the warp drive. We should then have sufficient time to repair most of the damage before species 3785 catches up to us. Is everyone prepared?" Seven informed her bridge crew one last time of what to expect in the next few minutes. After receiving slight nods from everybody the captain turned towards the view screen.
"All hands this is the captain. Prepare to go to warp. Lt. Kayla...... Engage." No sooner did she give the order then the ship start to shake violently. The stress on the hull caused from the sudden jump to warp almost destroyed what was left of the shields. Then the ship began to rock and pitch once again.
"Captain, we have cleared the nebula and the ships are firing on us. Shields down to 20 percent, 15, 10. Shields are gone," Harris reported from tactile trying his best to read the readings that were shaking in front of him.
"We have hull breaches. Decks 6 and 15 have been sealed off." Keller yelled from ops.
"The distance between us and the bandits is now 4 light years, 6, 10. We've cleared the distance of their weapon's range. Engineering reporting minor hull fracture all over the ship. The engines have begun to overheat and we are getting reports from all sections reporting injured. Engineering has taken quite a hit and systems down there are failing. Engines will approach critical in five minutes. Plasma leaks have also been detected. Those areas are now being sealed off. Three minutes to engine auto shut down. Overriding auto shut down now. Four minutes to warp core breach. Heavy casualties reported in engineering. Dispatching back up crews. Two minutes to warp core breach. Captain?!" Harry questioned as he gave his report on what was going on down in engineering.
"There is still not enough distance between us. Hold her steady, Lieutenant," Seven ordered watching the piloting console to monitor their distance and course.
"60 seconds to warp core breach." Kim gave one last report.
"All stop. Shut down the engines and secure all stations. Send emergency crews into engineering now," Seven finally said ending their dangerous flight. The ship lurched and the metal creaked under the pressure of the abrupt stop but a few moments later and everything was eerily quiet.
"The warp core has been successfully shut down," the commander reported and shortly thereafter the entire bridge erupted in cheers. Yet another potentially fatal disaster avoided. "Congratulations, Captain. You helped us survive yet another close encounter of the Delta Quadrant kind."
Seven nodded her head and gave an almost imperceptible smile. "Bridge to engineering. Report."
"Captain, we sustained heavy damage to the engine systems but repairs are already under way. The plasm leaks have been contained. The hull breaches are sealed and the engines are now cooling down. We also have several injured and a few casualties."
"Vorik, where is Lt. Torres," Seven asked as her tone chilled perceptibly.
"Lt. Torres was one of the injured. She was directly in front of a console when it blew. I am currently in charge of engineering as she was taken to sickbay to be treated."
"Acknowledged. Keep me informed of the repairs. Bridge out. Lt. Keller make sure you monitor the surrounding space for sensor readings that come back garbled," Seven ordered as soon as the channel with engineering was cut. And now she was just standing in front of her command chair not knowing what else needed to be done. They were out of danger and all that they needed to do now was to make sure the bandits don't follow them and that repairs get started. Neither of which Seven could help with. Besides, even if she was able to keep busy, Seven doubted she could keep her mind from worrying about one Klingon engineer currently residing in sickbay.
"Go to her." Harry ordered. "There's not much else to do now and I think I could handle the bridge for a little while. You need to make sure she's okay or else you won't be much good to us anyway. Go."
After a few moments of indecision Seven took a look around the bridge only to see the sympathetic looks the others offered to her. They all knew of the special relationship between their chief engineer and their captain and could understand Seven's desire to go check on the woman.
"Thank you," The ex-drone said as she turned to leave the bridge.
Walking down the corridor towards sickbay, Seven could see the injured being assisted into the room and the healed walking out. As she neared the entrance, she could feel her heart pounding furiously inside her chest. All of the worst scenarios played out in her head and she tried valiantly to keep the tears in check. She walked on. Her hands began to shake and she thought now was as good a time to try out what humans call praying.
"Whoever's listening, please don't let me lose her. The ship needs her. We can't take one more loss. I cannot take one more loss. I need her so much. I love her."
She walked into sickbay and immediately saw that the room was quite congested. Two of the Doctors trainees were out and about administering hypo sprays. Doing a quick scan of the room, Seven thankfully noticed that most of the injures were minor. That's when she spotted the Doctor leaning across a biobed. She couldn't see who the Doctor was treating because he was in the way but she could tell it wasn't good. The tricorder picked up the patient's heart flatlining. After a few moments of frantic work the Doctor gave up realizing that this patient was beyond his medical expertise. The flatline continued until he closed the tricorder and set it down. With slumped shoulders and a deep sigh of regret, the Doctor stepped back and reached over to pull up the sheet to cover the patient's face. That's when Seven finally saw where B'Elanna was.
"Nnnnnooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!"
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Part 13
Seven screamed as she fell to her knees, doubled over from a pain far from anything on the physical plane. The sight of her beloved being covered by a sheet was now burned into her eyes and, even though they had closed, she could still see the lifeless body of B'Elanna Torres just laying there. Tears came unbidden and sobs racked her body as the arms she knew were coming, held her tight. But something seemed off. They were not the muscular arms that she would have expected from the Doctor but rather they were more feminine in nature.
"Seven?" A familiar voice questioned with an extremely worried tone. This was definitely not the voice of the Doctor.
"Kathryn?!" Seven asked as she looked up into the grey blue eyes of her former friend, mentor, and captain.
"Yes, it's me Seven. Are you okay?" Janeway asked letting the fact that the ex-borg had called her by her first name go. For now.
Seven took a look around her, noticing that she was no longer in sickbay, but rather in cargo bay 2 collapsed on her knees in front of her alcove being held by Voyager's former captain. Scanning the room further, the blonde noticed that the Doctor was there as well, scanning her with a medical tricorder. Tuvok was also in attendance, standing off to the side observing the situation.
"Well, she seems to be no worse for wear and perfectly healthy, but I'd like to take her down to sickbay for further tests." The Doctor said after conducting his scans.
"Agreed. Seven, do you think you can walk or should we beam you directly into sickbay?"
"I can walk," the drone answered automatically as it seemed that the rest of her higher functions were too busy trying to comprehend what was going on.
The walk from the cargo bay to sickbay was made in total utter silence. Seven noted off-handedly that she must have been in shock. Janeway was too concerned for the drone to figure out anything worth while to say and the Doctor was pouring over his latest scans.
When they had arrived in sickbay, it was completely empty. There was no sign of the previous chaos that Seven had walked in on earlier. One thought suddenly became clear in the Borg's mind above all others.
"Is Lanna okay?" Seven asked in such a whisper that if Janeway wasn't standing right next to her she would have missed the question completely.
"Lanna? B'Elanna's fine Seven. She's down in engineering completing her duty shift. It's you I am more worried about. Are you sure you're okay?" 'Lanna? Since when did Seven start calling her Lanna?' Captain Janeway wondered as she directed the woman next to her to sit up on a biobed.
"I am functioning within acceptable parameters. Explain your presence. Who are you and what do you want with Voyager." Seven began to regain some composure, albeit Borg composure, but composure nonetheless.
"Seven what's the last thing you remember?" the Doctor asked trying to bring control to the conversation again. Seven considered the question before answering but answered it as she felt it posed no danger or hidden meaning.
"I was in sickbay checking on my crew after an attack by species 3785."
"Your crew? Species 3785? Seven what's that suppose to mean? Doctor?" The captain looked to him for answers.
"I believe I understand now. Seven, do you remember the Grendali?" The other two present in the room noticed the young woman uncharacteristically flinch at the mention of the species that killed so many of her friends.
"Yes, after our initial meeting with them, they attacked Voyager nearly destroying us to serve as a warning against entering their space again. As further warning they killed our captain, first officer, chief pilot, chef and moral officer, our chief tactical officer, and a security officer. We were spared because of some pity for our situation of being so far from home."
"Seven, that never happened. Yes, Janeway went on a diplomatic mission bringing Chakotay, Neelix and the rest with her but the meetings were cut short," the Doctor tried to explain but only received wide yet disbelieving eyes and silence in return. He continued. "I think you were dreaming. Well, probably having a nightmare might be more appropriate from what it sounds. Yes, we did meet with the Grendali, but they turned out to be a nice race. Much different then our usual run-ins with Delta Quadrant species."
"But I do not dream." Seven interrupted.
"Normally I'd agree with you because your regeneration cycle doesn't allow your body to go into REM sleep therefore you can't dream. But this time was different. The night that Captain Janeway had left for the home world of the Grendali, we came across an electromagnetic gas cloud while traveling through their space. We must have come too close to the cloud because an electrical surge was able to strike Voyager. Nothing major would have happened except for a few burned out gel packs, but you just have that perfect sense of timing. Right at the exact moment of the surge, your regeneration cycle was ending. You were 'hit' during that stage of a few seconds that you are between the conscious state and unconscious state. You couldn't end your cycle yet you couldn't go back to regenerating. Your body as a response went into a dream like sleep where you had this dream of yours. I may not be a psychologist, but I can almost guarantee that the dream was a manifestation of your worst fears. Because you failed to give the captain any relevant information from your vast Borg knowledge regarding the Grendali, you had no idea of what to expect from them. Your mind probably just conjured up the worst possible scenario involving them and then played it out in a dream. I can assure you that it really didn't happen in reality."
"So, anything that I remember after the initial meeting with the Grendali was a 'dream'?"
"Precisely."
"How long have I been 'dreaming'?"
"Nine days now. We couldn't find a way to wake you up. No matter what we did, it wouldn't work. Right before you did wake up, we were about to have Tuvok try a mind meld with you. It was one of our last hopes. But then suddenly, it seemed like you were torn out of the dream. Like something so terrible had happened that your body had to wake itself up," the captain interjected for the Doc.
"So it is really you then, Captain? You did not die?" Seven asked as her eyes began to fill with unshed tears. "It was all a dream?"
"Just one bad dream," Kathryn said as she once again wrapped her arms around the young woman rocking her, comforting her.
Seven couldn't hold back anymore and for the second time in as many days, she wept like a baby. There were happy tears for the fact that her friends really weren't dead and that B'Elanna was alive as well. Tears of relief for no longer having to be captain and bearing the weight of that responsibility. And tears of sadness that what she had experienced with Lanna never really happened. The love that she had come to realize might not be returned.
It was four hours later and Seven had finally been completely checked out by the Doctor. She was also forced to promise the captain that she would talk to her later about all that had transpired in her 'dream,' but that promise required one in return. For right now, Seven had just wanted to be alone. To sort out her own thoughts and feelings by herself. She was told about everything that had transpired aboard Voyager in the past nine days, but assimilating that knowledge was a lot easier than trying to forget what had happened to her while she was captain. Could she just go back to a semi-friendship with B'Elanna Torres? Could she ever look at Ensign Gavens again without flinching? What about Lt. Paris? After all, he was still married to her Lanna. Could she keep her jealousy in check and not kill him?Seven wandered the halls of Voyager, not really knowing where she was going or what she was going to do. Unbeknownst to her, she ended up in engineering. Shocked at her location, she quickly did a survey of the room. Lt. Torres was no where insight. Although
a few crewmen gave her a second glance as she walked up to a console near the warp core, no one bothered to give her a second thought as she was always wandering in and out of engineering. No one even bothered to really 'look' at her or else they would have seen the haunted look contained in ice blue eyes that once held no emotions whatsoever.Standing in front of a console, not unlike the others laid out in the room, Seven caressed it as if it was what held all of her cherished memories from her dream. She wondered idly if this was the same console that had killed her beloved, then in turn waking her from a most wondrous dream. She wondered what would have happened in her dream had Lanna not died. 'Would we have moved in together? Would we have married and lived as a family with Naomi? Would we have had a little girl of our own?' Seven thought as a smile tempered with eyes filled with longing crossed her features.
"Seven?" the woman of her dreams questioned not more than two feet away. As if by it's own accord, Seven's right hand lifted up to caress the cheek of the Klingon standing in front of her just as lovingly as she had caressed the console a minute ago. And again, that smile appeared making the drone look so heavenly. But this time a matching smile lit up the features of the engineer as well as she leaned into the touch.
'I believe I am beginning to like surprises.'
THE END
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