Chapter 13

Disclaimers: See Chapter 1.

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Chapter 13

Meanwhile on board the ship of Empress Shadeen.

"Thank you for joining us so quickly, my Eminence," Shadeen said while she turned around from one of the monitors on the Bridge, satisfied that everything was in order in the Empire.

"Of course, my Empress," Danzoc said while bowing slightly. "When I heard that you had cleared my ship to travel at warp twenty point one I knew this had to be important so I came right away. Now, my Empress, if I may ask, what is so important?"

"Screen." Shadeen said shortly and a second later the image of Voyager filled the viewscreen. "I assume that you have detected that ship when arriving?"

"Yes, a Federation ship. Is that why you summoned me here?"

"It is." Shadeen pointed to a screen on one of the consoles and Danzoc quickly read the text speeding by. "As you said yourself, we don't really know what we are looking for, but all of that indicates that one of the people on that ship might just be the one we are looking for. But since we don't have any real clues this also might just be wishful thinking on our part. So Zerisan and Carizon here both agreed with me that we should bring you in on this. You, as the keeper of the holy texts, should be best suitable to interpret the clues we might find."

Hearing their names spoken was enough for Zerisan and Carizon to leave their posts in the capable hands of the people standing by for that very occasion, and join the conversation. "As you can see," Zerisan said when Danzoc finished reading. "There is nothing that we can point to as a clear sign, everything is explainable using simple logic. Yet overall, it has a certain feeling about it. Something that tells us that the chosen one must be on that ship."

Danzoc closed the file down and nodded in agreement. "Yes, I too get the feeling that whoever we are looking for is on that ship. But from this I cannot point to a certain person, there are several that could be a possibility. And as you know from our history, sometimes the ones that don't seem like a possibility at all are the ones we are looking for. So if the chosen one is on board that ship, identification will have to be done through conversation. It is absolutely certain that if the chosen is on the ship that The Traveler will have left behind the obvious clues..."

"Obvious only to you, my Eminence," Carizon interrupted. "And that is why you are here. The obvious clues, as you call it, are only described in the holy texts, and thereby only known to you."

"True," Danzoc agreed. "However, you will also recognize these clues. They are easy to understand, it is just kept secret in the holy text to prevent impostors from pretending to be a chosen one."

Empress Shadeen made a gesture to one side of the bridge, where the door to the conference room was located, indicating that she wanted to take the conversation to that conference room. "As you know," Shadeen started again after everybody was seated. "I usually don't ask about details concerning the closed parts of the holy text. But now I have to know, just how certain is it that nobody knows these clues?"

"Absolutely certain , my Empress. The books themselves are protected by The Traveler, nobody but the spiritual leader, his or her Eminence, can even touch them without dying. And as you know, never in all of our history has a spiritual leader broken his or her vow to serve The Traveler."

"Very well," Shadeen said, leaning back in the chair. "In that case we will treat this as a standard ship based meeting, with the exception that you, my Eminence, will be present during the meeting. We still have thirty minutes before our guests arrive. Does anyone have something to add?"

"My Empress." Both Zerisan and Danzoc started at the same time. "Please continue, my Lady." Danzoc then said with a polite smile, giving the first word to the Lady of the Empire.

Zerisan made a small nod of acknowledgment before starting to talk. "My Empress, from what I read in those files, their standard behavior during first contact will mean that they will bring Seven of Nine with them as a 'expert' on our race. So we have to beam them into sickbay when we bring them on board. With your permission, I will welcome them and after everything is in order, I will bring them to the secondary bridge."

"Very well." Shadeen agreed, seeing that Zerisan had something more to say but needed to close that subject first.

"And also, my wife," Zerisan continued, calling Empress Shadeen her wife to indicate that she was asking on a personal basis. "You know how I dislike the dry talking of negotiations. So with your permission, when the first meeting is over and the negotiations start with the second meeting, I would like to take the opportunity to get to know the Klingon. Somehow I have the feeling that she will dislike those negotiations just as much. Perfect opportunity to spend some time with her, talking."

Shadeen spent a moment thinking about that, and also thinking about the information she had gotten on B'Elanna Torres from the files she read. She realized that her wife was right and there was no real reason to torture either one of them with meetings they both would probably not like. "Very well. After the first meeting is over and we agree on the next meeting to do the negotiations, you will be excused from them." Then Shadeen looked to his Eminence and prompted, "My Eminence?"

"I just wanted to remind you that if the chosen is on board of the ship this person will have to be tested in the usual way."

"Ah, yes. The tests. We did talk about that before your arrival. And have already planned a way of carrying them out once the chosen is known."

"It is lucky for whoever the chosen is that the tests are not about strength or endurance," Carizon said looking at a padd and going over Voyager's crew manifest. "Some of the races represented on that ship are so... weak. On our Homeworld, half of them wouldn't be able to walk around the palace without the gravity becoming too much for them and they having to crawl on hand and knees. And none of them would stand a chance in a hand to hand fight with a Follower."

"Most races we know wouldn't stand a chance against a Follower," Danzoc reminded. "That is why the tests have never been about that. The tests are there to show whether or not the chosen is worthy of being adopted into our race. If the chosen is worthy of that, then this person doesn't have to be strong, after all, we protect our own."

"That we do, my Eminence, that we do," Shadeen interrupted thereby bringing the focus to herself again. "Well, it is almost time and..."

Empress Shadeen herself was interrupted by the sound of her communicator. "Speak." She ordered after activating the device.

{My Empress, your presence is required on the secondary bridge. The Borg are on their way to one of our new protectives.}

"On my way," Shadeen said before closing the channel. Knowing that this minor problem could only be because the Borg did not yet know that the Empire protected their destination. But that would change. "I'll take care of this, Zerisan, bring our guests to the secondary bridge whenever they are ready. My Eminence, I would appreciate your presence from the very beginning. If you would also join us on the secondary bridge."

"Of course."

"Very well." Shadeen said shortly while standing up and starting for the door.


***

When Janeway, Tuvok, B'Elanna, and Seven materialized on the Empress's ship they were surprised to find themselves in something that was obviously a sickbay.

The woman that had been sitting beside the Empress during the conversation over the viewscreen stepped closer and thereby gathered their attention. "Welcome on board, Captain, Lt. Commander, Lieutenant, Seven of Nine. I am Zerisan, personal aid to Empress Shadeen." The tall woman said, indicating that she knew all of their ranks and that further introductions were not really needed. Janeway noticed that the woman deliberately was keeping a small distance, probably so that she didn't tower over them. The woman had to be at least two meter and ten centimeters (seven feet).

Then another Follower standing a little bit to the side cleared his throat quietly. Obviously some kind of signal that he was ready for something because Zerisan then looked directly at Seven. "Would you please step over here for a moment so that the doctor can scan the signature of your implants," She asked while she walked the few steps toward the other Follower. But when she noticed that Seven wasn't moving, she explained why this was necessary. "We like to be prepared. And just in case the impossible happens and Borg drones somehow manage to get onto the ship, we have systems on board the ships that would kill you before you reach the end of the first corridor. The doctor will scan the signature of your implants, which is unique for every drone, and then put that information into the ship's computer so that the security systems know that you are not a Borg intruder and that you are allowed on the ship. This will not harm you in any way."

Seven inclined her head to indicate that she understood and accepted an explanation. Then after quickly glancing to Janeway and B'Elanna to see if they also agreed with this, she walked to where the doctor was waiting with some kind of scanning device. "You could have gained this information during the transport to this ship. Why did you wait until now?"

"As you already know." Zerisan said, and then looked to the others briefly, indicating that she was talking to all of them. "The scan we made of your ship also immediately downloads all the information in your computer system, which also includes the medical files. And we could also have scanned you all during the transport. However, we believe that one's body is the most private thing one possesses. All information about it should be given freely, not taken. This is well established in our society and constitution; we like to give others the same courtesy. Of course, we have to be careful. So the medical files of your entire crew were indeed checked to see if there was something that could cause a problem. But this was done by one of our doctors and as long as there's nothing that could be a threat to us this information will stay only with that doctor. You could compare this to doctor/patient confidentiality. Nobody else has seen those records, nor will anybody else see those records as long as there is no threat to us. But since we already know about Borg signatures, and that they are certainly not a threat to us we did not scan you for it. After all, we know you have one. It is up to you if you want to share that information about your body with us."

"The information has been uploaded." The doctor interrupted before speaking directly to Seven. "It is now safe for you to be on the other parts of the ship."

"Well then, allow me to escort you to Empress Shadeen." The tall woman said while she walked past them to the door.

Immediately upon entering the hallway they noticed that they were obviously on a military ship. The halls were wide, without a doubt constructed with the thought of moving a huge number of people quickly through the ship. The group was quiet as they walked through the halls, knowing that the real conversation would only start in the presence of the Empress. It was Seven who first noticed the decorations on the wall. But it was Janeway who saw the true craftsmanship. By the third wall painting they came across all of them slowed down to look. It was a beautiful nature scene, from floor to ceiling and more than six body lengths long, showing a beautiful sunrise over a peaceful beach and two people that were obviously lovers sitting in the sand looking at that sunset. The painting seemed so real that it looked as if it was a window that you could step through and be on the beach. It seemed so real even that Janeway just had to touch it. "What..." Was all that Janeway could ask. Somehow something as beautiful as that didn't seem to fit on a warship.

"Our history." Zerisan explained. "You will find paintings like this throughout the ship, throughout the fleet. As The Traveler once said: 'Surround yourself with your history and you can never forget it.' This is part of our history."

"What does it depict?" Seven asked. Somewhere in the back of her mind, the scene seemed so familiar to her. As if she knew that beach.

"That is the beginning of our race. Almost sixty thousand years ago, there was a war going on. Two races were fighting each other for nothing more than the 'sport' of beating each other. Never realizing that if they united themselves they could be unstoppable. One day two troop transporters met in space and a battle began. Within minutes, both transporters had to make emergency landings on a beautiful, but uninhabited, planet. There were more than a thousand of each race on each transporter. So the first thing they did after surviving the crash was start fighting each other for the planet. Any excuse would do. Just when the first drop of blood hit the ground a person suddenly appeared and said to them that fighting for the planet would be of no use since they could never own it. It was his and only he would decide who was worthy of living there. So both sides started fighting for that. Thinking that if they would beat the other they would be worthy of living there.

"But in all the people that survived the crash, only one hundred of each side wished to live together, thinking that might be the way to survive this ordeal as the stranger had suggested. So those two hundred people settled somewhere far away from the others. Those who stayed behind continued fighting until every one of them was dead. However, the survivors continued living together, building a society and over time the blood of the two races mingled and a third, combined, race appeared. They were the perfect combination of all of the strong points of the two separate races and so the Followers were born. The two lovers you see there were of two different races, but they were the parents of the first Follower."

Tuvok was the first to reply. "Interesting."

Zerisan nodded her head a little bit and then made a hand gesture down the corridor "Please, follow me."

When they started walking again, B'Elanna lingered behind a couple steps, taking one last look at the wall painting. Somehow it seems so familiar to her, but she couldn't place it. Just that she had a feeling that she knew that place.

"Thank you for sharing that with us," Janeway said after another moment of silence. "I realize that we didn't make the best first impression. So I'm glad you invited us. I must admit that during our conversation there were moments where I was not so sure about whether or not you would agree to meet with us."

They reached a turbolift and after getting in, Zerisan gave the destination of 'second bridge' before answering Janeway. "That is because our initial talk was to see whether or not you would be worthy enough for a second talk."

"Than I'm glad that we proved worthy enough that the Empress decided that she would see us," Janeway replied, not entirely able to hide what she thought about being 'worthy enough' to be granted a second conversation.

"Actually, Captain, the Empress was leaning towards sending you away. That you are here now is because the Empress is doing me a favor. One of my hobbies is keeping up with other warrior cultures in the Galaxy. The fact that you had a Klingon hybrid on board..." Zerisan's eyes quickly darted to B'Elanna for a second, "... was really the deciding factor. My Empress wants to give me the opportunity to talk to her."

"It would be my pleasure." B'Elanna replied immediately. Even if she wouldn't have wanted to talk with Zerisan she would have done so simply because she realized that if the Empress was doing this woman a favor then this woman could be a powerful ally in the quest to get home. But surprisingly enough that thought didn't even really cross B'Elanna's mind. It was something she realized, but also something that wasn't of importance. She simply wanted to get to know this tall woman a little bit more. She seemed so fascinating, so civilized, and polite, yet without a doubt, there was a warrior aura around the woman. Even if you were not a warrior yourself, you could easily see that Zerisan was. B'Elanna got the impression that the woman was at complete ease with herself. Knowing what she was, knowing her capabilities, and knowing her limitations. The Klingon could not remember ever encountering that before. The Klingon race was always proving what tough warriors they were. Most often they were proving that to themselves instead of others. But B'Elanna suspected that Zerisan, or her race in general for that matter, didn't need to prove what they were. Everybody knew, including themselves.

Once again it was quiet for a moment while they moved out of the turbolift and down another corridor. When they reached the door that was at the end of the corridor, Zerisan once again turned to speak to the others. "We are about to enter what we call 'the secondary bridge'. This serves the dual purpose of being the reception hall where people traditionally meet the Empress in person for the first time, and it is also the command center of the Empire if the Empress is away from home. After the first introduction is over we will move to a conference room. This first introduction is always done this way to make people truly realize that they are not just meeting a mere representative of our race; they are meeting the Empire itself for the Emperor or Empress IS the Empire."

Zerisan was about to step up to the sensor which would open the doors to the secondary bridge when B'Elanna's eyes fell on another wall-painting a little bit further down the corridor. She couldn't help herself and stepped closer to take another look. This was nothing like the other paintings they had seen. It depicted a group of Followers laughing cruelly while killing persons by using long blood-covered knives. Once again the others also came closer to take a look and now that they were standing in front of the painting the vision of exactly what was depicted was gruesomely obvious. The Followers in the painting were not just killing people, they were killing children of another race. Young children. And on the edge of the painting sat what had to be the parents begging and pleading. Four pairs of eyes went to Zerisan and she started to explain.

"As The Traveler said in that same speech about history; 'Never distort the facts. How can your children learn from your mistakes if you don't honestly tell them what those mistakes were?' We are proud of our past. We think we did well. But that doesn't mean that in the sixty thousand years that our race exists no mistakes were made. A little more than twenty thousand years ago we started to expand our Empire and we found that all the races we encountered were weak; incredibly weak. Therefore, we quickly became predators, robbing, and plundering whole words, using the inhabitants as our slaves. This continued and gradually became worse until eventually a new form of entertainment was created. We would capture people, kill, or torture their children in front of their eyes and broadcast the parent's reactions as entertainment throughout the Empire. We may have become an advanced race compared to others, but that doesn't mean that this advancement was flawless. We made mistakes, and we learned from them."

The others were quiet for a moment. Never had they met a race so open about their past. B'Elanna thought about how different this was from Klingons. With Klingons, it was a well-known fact that history was always rewritten by the victor. This rewriting of the facts often happened even before the last battle was won. This race however obviously didn't believe in distorting their history. The Voyager crewmembers could see that the tall woman wasn't coloring even the most gruesome facts, or that she was making it sound as if it was unimportant. She was simply stating the facts about what was shown in the wall painting. "So, what happened to change... this?" Janeway finally asked, gesturing to the wall painting to indicate what she meant with 'this.'

"What happened is that the old Imperial family was overthrown and the Shadeen family was elected to take control of the empire. Ever since, an heir of the Shadeen family has ruled the throne. It was a difficult time in the beginning, especially for the first two Emperors. They had a hard time keeping the throne. Each Emperor brought about rigorous changes and the Empire had a hard time adjusting so quickly and willingly. But things changed. Within a hundred years we went from being the barbarian bullies to being people which one could do business with. Almost to the day those hundred years later, the planet we terrorized the most, willingly and freely became a member of the slowly growing Empire. And of course much came after that, but the Empress is waiting. If you would please follow me?" Zerisan once again stepped up to the door, but this time close enough so that it would open.

They walked into a square room of at least twenty by twenty meters (sixty by sixty feet) that was lined on both sides with batteries of workstations. But unlike the standard formation of consoles of Federation ships, the workstations were not facing the wall or even worked into the walls, instead they were placed in such a manner that the operators would be facing the room instead of the wall. Thereby, it gave them a clear view of what was happening in the room. The space between the workstations was big enough to give the operators easy access to the center of the room should it be needed. All in all it was very clear that these people also functioned as a guard for the Empress who was sitting in a rather modest throne, rather a comfortable looking chair, against the far back wall of the room. Zerisan led them closer to the Empress until she finally stopped several steps away from the throne.

Janeway's eyes quickly darted to the two men standing beside the Empress, one on each side, and then her eyes went back to the woman herself. Empress Shadeen sat back in the throne comfortably, looking at them as if she was studying them. Janeway was almost biting her tongue so that she wouldn't start talking. She was so used to opening conversations, telling everybody just exactly who she was. The stretching quietness was quickly getting on her nerves and she wanted to change that. But she knew that this time she was at the mercy of others, this time she had to wait until spoken to.

Finally the eyes of Empress Shadeen came to rest on Seven of Nine and after yet again a moment of continued silence, she suddenly stood up and started to walk towards Seven like a predator stalking its prey. Shadeen walked around Seven until she was standing so close behind the blonde that their bodies were almost touching. "I'm disappointed in you, Borg. No shaking, no almost fainting at the mere sight of me. So disappointing. It is always amusing to see emotional drones. They are so rare."

Seven turned around at the words and looked up into the eyes of the Empress. "I am over my initial reaction to you, triggered by nothing more than Borg memories. The Borg may fear you. But I am no longer Borg." Seven squared her shoulders and let her well-known cool defiance take over. "I am NOT afraid of you."

Janeway groaned inwardly at the words, here she thought she was making progress, and then Seven had to go and be, well, Seven. However, when she heard how the Empress started laughing she realized that for some strange reason normal diplomacy did not work on these people. *But then again,* She thought, being honest with herself. *I don't have the best track record when it comes to dealing with any kind of warrior race.*

Empress Shadeen strolled back to her throne but did not sit down. Instead she turned around and looked at Seven with her amusement clearly showing on her face. "Good. I like that attitude a lot more than the one I observed before. Contrary to what the Borg might believe; I don't enjoy people cowering in front of me." Suddenly Shadeen became serious and her tone of voice could be best described as deadly. "People know soon enough when they should fear me." Then she looked at Janeway and added, "But I do expect people to remember exactly what I represent. I am not to be spoken to as a Starfleet cadet reporting to their Captain. I AM the one in charge here. Remember that and we might actually get along."

Janeway slightly dipped her head indicating that she understood and acknowledged that. "I most certainly understand that. And I think I would have acknowledged this sooner. It's just that, well, as you probably already know from reading our files, most of the species we have dealt with only acknowledged me when I asserted myself as in charge. If you didn't act bigger and tougher than them, they tried to take advantage of you if not out right kill you. To then meet a species such as yourself who doesn't tolerate being treated that way, who go so far as to question decisions I've made? Well it took me some time to adapt to that, but I think I have succeeded in doing so."

"Well, it sure sounds as if you found your diplomatic side again. However, I don't like diplomats very much. So if you just tone down your stubbornness you should be fine."

Janeway was about to react to that when she realized she almost proved Shadeen's point. Instead, she allowed a smile to form on her lips. "I will try to do that."

"Good, in that case, follow me and we can continue this conversation in the conference room."


***

Once in the conference room(COMMA) Danzoc and Carizon were quickly introduced before talks began. For almost two hours they talked, getting to know each other better. And it was agreed upon that Voyager would be brought to the Followers Homeworld for a short shore leave while it would be decided if, how, and how much, the Followers would help the Voyager crew in getting home. It was the decision on exactly how to get Voyager to the Follower's Homeworld that really brought to light signs that Shadeen and the others were looking for.

"No, Captain Janeway," Empress Shadeen disagreed. "Having you go to our Homeworld on your own is not really feasible. Our Homeworld is pretty much centered in the middle of the Empire, so it would take you at least ten years to get there. And also..." Now Shadeen smiled. "It would do exactly what we are trying to prevent. Give you ten years of opportunity to stick your noses into things that do not concern you."

"We have two simple options to resolve this," Carizon spoke up. "Either we take your spaceship in a tractor beam and tow it behind one of our ships while we travel at Trans warp, the tractor beam itself would then protect your ship from being destroyed by the forces of Trans warp travel. After all, it is designed that way. But if you, for some reason, object to this we could get a cargo ship and transport your spaceship in one of its cargo bays. Whichever you prefer."

B'Elanna knew that Janeway's suggestion of having Voyager travel by itself was just done so that they wouldn't look too eager. After all, the Klingon could do the math. If the Homeworld was centered in the middle of their Empire it would also mean that it would be half of the journey through that Empire. So when the time came for Voyager to leave, the Followers would either have to bring Voyager back to its original position or closer to the Federation. And since the distance would then be pretty much the same, it would be a small thing to bring them closer to the Federation. No, being invited to the Homeworld made it pretty much a certainty that they would at least help Voyager through the vast expanse of the Empire, if not the entire way home to the Alpha Quadrant. Unless of course they would do something stupid enough to get themselves killed. But the Chief Engineer found it her duty to remind the others of the problem they had been having for the last couple of months. "If a tractor beam was used, there would be a possibility that the viruses that have been plaguing us could travel down the tractor beam's carrier wave and infect your systems. So a cargo ship seems like the better option."

Shadeen brought up the results of the Voyager scan on the padd lying in front of her and quickly went over them once more. "Viruses? I assume you're talking about computer viruses? There are no indications of any kind of viruses on board your ship. Our scan would have picked that up."

Seven looked a bit uncomfortable while offering her suggestion on why the viruses may not have showed up. "Perhaps your scan did not find the viruses since they are hidden by Borg encryption codes. However, there are still several hundred viruses unaccounted for and also several hundred that we have found and bypassed to 'pacify' them. It is..." Suddenly, Seven stopped her explanation abruptly.

"What?" Janeway prompted when Seven didn't continue.

"Captain, I just realized. We did not have any more trouble with those viruses from the moment we encountered the Follower scout ship."

"Maybe their scan somehow neutralized the viruses?" Janeway offered.

The way Danzoc leaned forward upon hearing this indicated to Empress Shadeen that this subject needed more attention so she spoke up. "That is not possible. Our scanning system has been designed in a way to prevent such a thing from happening. We scan and download information. We don't want to change systems or programs running on said systems. Even if a program were designed in such a way to stop working when being scanned, our scan would then override this. In other words, except for information being downloaded, your systems would not react to our scan, even if they were designed to do so."

It was then that Danzoc spoke up for the first time after being introduced. "Tell us more about these viruses. Tell us about what they do, and how it came that your ship was infected with them."

And so Janeway started to explain about the strange circumstances that led up to their ship being infected like that. About how a traveler came on board Voyager for a short time and what happened after that. How it became obvious that this traveler had somehow been able to make them do things and believe things they normally never would. She stopped explaining when she saw how the four Followers were looking at each other.

"Please, describe this traveler for us in a little more detail. What did he look like?"

Not really knowing what Danzoc was getting at, Janeway started her description. "Well, he was tall, about the same height as you, Empress. Let's see, slender, his shoulder- width even less than mine. Reptile skin, green/bluish and scales. Crooked walk, more..."

"That is incorrect."

"Seven?" Janeway asked, surprised to be interrupted by the ex-drone.

Seven didn't understand why Janeway was giving a wrong description, but she did know Janeway well enough by now to know that she was not trying to deceive these people. She truly believed in her description. "Your description of this traveler is incorrect. Except for the height. But he did not have a narrow shoulder width, nor did he have reptile skin."

"No, Seven," B'Elanna disagreed. "He did look the way the Captain is describing him."

Tuvok, who had been pretty much quiet up to now, letting his Captain do the talking and only giving a suggestion here or there when he was asked for it or thought it prudent to mention something, was the one who brought up the most simplest of questions. Wondering why humans always wanted to disagree instead of finding out all angles. "Then please describe this individual the way you saw him."

"He looked like..." Suddenly Seven's eyes went wide and darted back and forth between the Followers. "I did not realize until this moment that the traveler shares characteristics with your race. Yet I do not believe he was of your race."

"No!" Carizon suddenly interrupted with a loud voice, only to be silenced by the Empress raising her hand slightly.

"Not of our race?" Danzoc asked.

"It is hard to explain. He looked similar; yet different... his features seemed smoother. One could say that he looked genetically less advanced..."

Danzoc nodded his head slightly. "As if we were descendents of his?"

"Exactly."

"No!" Carizon once again interrupted.

"Carizon." Empress Shadeen quietly warned.

"No, my Empress. She is Borg. An enemy! I will not allow this!"

Empress Shadeen looked at Carizon quietly for several seconds and even the Voyager crew had no trouble understanding the look in her eyes. Finally she spoke. Quietly, deadly. "And 'I' will not allow a behavior like this. But, unlike you, I can do something about what is bothering me. Act in a way your function requires of you. Or... suffer the consequences."

The Voyager crew could easily see that Carizon realized that he had gone too far. He looked at Seven for a second with hatred clearly visible in his eyes before looking back to Empress Shadeen. "Of course, my Empress. I apologize. This will not happen again, I was just surprised by this turn of events."

"Very well. See that it indeed doesn't happen again. You are warned." Then Shadeen ignored Carizon as if nothing had happened and spoke to Danzoc, however immediately making it very clear that this interruption was certainly not forgotten. "My Eminence. Even though my adviser chose his words rather poorly, is there anything else you would like to ask before we explain to our guests what this is all about?"

"As a matter-of-fact, there is." He then looked back across the table to the Voyager crew. "You have described to us just how much of a nuisance these viruses have been to the entire crew. But has any of the crew in some way benefited from these viruses? Or from any of the events they cost?"

Janeway was about to say 'no' when B'Elanna spoke up. "Seven has."

Janeway beat the Empress to what she was about to say, but only because at that moment the Captain did not have to bother with a polite 'please' before saying: "Explain."

B'Elanna had seen that Seven was not going to mention the incident with the alcove. And she wondered if that was because the ex-drone felt that she didn't deserve to be the only one benefiting from what others were suffering from, or because she didn't want to share her secret with the rest of the group. Probably both, the Klingon realized. Yet this was too important not to mention. "By freak chance, one of the viruses changed the programming of Seven's Borg alcove in such a way that now it is possible for her to dream while regenerating."

"And why was that not brought to my attention?" Janeway asked, clearly not enjoying that she was left in the dark about this.

"In the beginning, Seven told nobody because she was afraid that the alcove would get 'fixed' and she would no longer be able to dream. She didn't want to lose what she thought she could only have in her dreams." The small blush that the Klingon was sprouting was obvious enough and therefore nobody asked exactly what Seven had dreamt of in those dreams that she didn't want to lose. "And after she told me I checked the alcove myself. I checked it once or twice extra just to be certain..." Now a small much saying smile formed on B'Elanna's lips that made everybody understand that 'once or twice' was a gross understatement. "...but I found absolutely nothing wrong except for the fact that the alcove somehow even worked better now than what we always assumed as peak efficiency. I wanted to tell you later, Captain, when I could also assure you that we did not have to change this, and that Seven really was safe. But with every thing that happened next, I just... forgot about it."

"This, however, is not the only benefit I had from these viruses," Seven said hesitantly. "Looking back, B'Elanna nor I personally ever had any problems at all because of these viruses. From then on, we did however spend almost every minute of the day together repairing the damage done by the viruses, or the viruses themselves. One could say that we are now engaged purely because we got to know each other during the great amount of time we were together while taking care of the viruses."

"Yes, one could," B'Elanna agreed, not really liking what Seven was saying. "But one could also say that this was simply bound to happen and we would have ended up together anyhow."

Seven turned to B'Elanna and looked her in the eyes. She wanted her fianc�e to understand. "I agree, Kyamo, that we were bound to be together. And eventually that would have happened. I am sure of that. But how many weeks, months, or even years would it have been before we realized this? How much longer would it have been before we acted upon our feelings? The first civil conversation we had several months ago, where you said it was possible I could be your friend, happened also while you were trying to repair something of which we discovered later was one of the viruses. I know you do not like this, Kyamo. But I truly think that we are together NOW because of those viruses. I... we both, have gained so much because of those viruses."

A sound from somewhere around the table made B'Elanna and Seven break their eye contact and look once more at the people sitting around the table. B'Elanna wanted to apologize for what obviously had been a private moment that did not belong on a meeting like that, but it was Zerisan who spoke first while looking up from the padd in front of her. "Interesting. I have been going over the scan results one more time and there are indeed several hundred places where there are Borg encryption codes that serve no purpose whatsoever. It does look, however, as if they were indeed placed to hide something. But that 'something' has disappeared."

"Which fits perfectly." Danzoc agreed before explaining. "If our assumption is right then those viruses have now served their purpose and they disappeared to make it absolutely clear that this is not just coincidence. This is the Divine One leaving us a message." Then his Eminence went from explaining to asking the Voyager crew a question. "I have one more simple question for you. Could you tell me the name this person went by?"

There was a strange moment of silence while the Voyager crew looked at each other and even Tuvok seemed a bit uncomfortable, if that was possible for a Vulcan. "Um, it never occurred to us to ask." Janeway finally admitted. "It just seemed natural to call him 'the traveler' whenever we referred to him in third person. We still do as a matter-of-fact. We traded goods with him. So an obvious name would then be 'the trader' yet somehow we kept calling him 'the traveler' even now. As if that was his name. The Traveler. Just like the person Zerisan here has already referred to on... several... occasions... and... Oh, boy. That would explain the earth coffee."

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Continued in Chapter 14


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