"I'm fine, Doctor." Captain Kathryn Janeway said as she slid off the biobed. "It was just a slight headache, nothing more."
The Doctor eyed his patient with guarded eyes. He knew the Captain well enough to tell when she was lying and this was one of those times. "Just a headache, hm?" He took out his tricorder and ran it over it around her head. "The Commander seemed to think otherwise, Captain. Or he wouldn't have called me." He informed her as he studied the readings. "He said that you seemed preoccupied."
Kathryn fought the urge to roll her eyes. "As I said, it was just a slight headache. I meant to stop and get a pain reliever before my shift but I forgot."
"Has the headache gotten any better since you've been in sickbay?" The Doctor asked as he loaded a hypospray with the correct medicine to treat her headache.
"It's almost completely gone." Kathryn lied, smoothly. "Chakotay overreacted, Doctor." She used her best command voice, hoping to discourage him from asking anymore questions.
The Doctor raised an eyebrow as he pressed the hypo to the Captain's neck and administered the medicine. "He also said that he saw you stumble twice. Once when you first arrived on the bridge and again when you entered your ready room."
Kathryn felt her patience wavering. "I'm fine." She stressed as she leaned back against the biobed she just slid from.
"These readings say otherwise." The Doctor motioned to the tricorder now laying beside the console he was standing at. "I'm reading something usual, a signal, resinating from your brain." He looked up at her. "Are you sure you feel fine?"
"I am." Kathryn clenched her teeth as he continued to pry then felt herself go still at his news. "A signal? What kind of a signal?" She moved over to the console to see for herself. "That's coming from me?" Reaching up, she delicately touched her head.
The Doctor nodded, grimly. "It is. According to these readings, it's a Borg signal."
Kathryn turned her head quickly. "Borg?!" Her eyes widened slightly before her Captain's mask slid, firmly, into place. "You assured me that you removed all the Borg devices from our time assimilated."
"I did!" The Doctor defended as he studied the readings some more. He pointed to a region of her brain that looked odd. "I don't know what that is but I can tell you that the signal is coming from it."
"Has Tuvok or B'Elanna been in complaining of headaches?" Kathryn demanded to know as her eyes moved over the screen and the information on it.
The Doctor frowned then his eyes widened ever so slightly. "As a matter of fact..." He trailed off and called up the patient lists for the last several weeks. "There." He pointed to B'Elanna's name. "Lieutenant Torres was treated for a headache twice last week. I didn't think much of it because she said she had been putting in long hours in Engineering."
Kathryn frowned. "And Tuvok? Has he been treated for anything in the past month?"
Scanning the lists of patients, the Doctor shook his head. "Commander Tuvok seems to be in perfect health. As a matter of fact, I just gave him his annual physical just yesterday."
"Why now?" Kathryn asked more to herself than the Doctor.
The Doctor eyed the Captain. "You did say that you felt a sense of...glee...coming from the collective when you were assimilated. Could the Queen have done something? A failsafe, perhaps? Or maybe a backup?"
Kathryn sighed, suddenly feeling tired. "It's possible, I suppose." She reached up and began to fiddle with her commbadge. "When I first woke up after..." She cleared her throat. "I could hear the collective." She admitted. "It was very faint and it faded within a minute, but I could hear them none the less." Grey eyes went vacant as she faded out. There, in the back of her mind, she could hear faint whispers. It was almost a soothing sound and she felt drawn to them.
"Captain?" The Doctor snapped his fingers in front of the Captain's face and when she didn't respond, he ran the tricorder over her once again. "Sickbay to the bridge!" He took a step back and erected a level ten force field around the console. "Sickbay to the bridge, please respond!" He was growing frantic now. His eyes darted over the prone figure of his Captain. "You must fight it, Captain!"
Fight it, why would she want to do that? Kathryn slowly felt herself drawn to the whispers and as she got closer, she could hear them more clearly. They all seemed to be calling to her. And as suddenly as it happened, it was gone and she was blinking, confused. "Doctor?" She questioned as she pinched the bridge of her nose.
The Doctor breathed a sigh of relief. "Captain, I've lost contact with the bridge. I fear that B'Elanna might have something to do with it. She might not be herself."
Kathryn blinked again. The whispers were still there but they seemed so far away. "B'Elanna?" Shaking her head, she sighed. "I'm sure you're letting your imagination run away with you, Doctor." She went to move but felt the static of a force field. "Is this really necessary?"
"I think it is." The Doctor assured her with a frantic nod of his head. "I think you and Lieutenant Torres are being reassimilated somehow. And until I can figure out how that is happening, I must insist that you remain here." He tilted his head to the side when he heard the doors to sickbay swoosh open and closed. "Ah, Lieutenant Torres, just the person I wanted to see." He greeted her cheerfully and inserted himself between her and the Captain.
"Really?" Lieutenant B'Elanna Torres asked then observed the fuming Captain. "Uh, Doc?" She motioned towards the Captain. "Care to share?"
"He thinks we're being reassimilated." Kathryn explained, calmly, arms crossed over her chest. "Apparently you're the reason why he can't contact the bridge."
B'Elanna blinked then rolled her eyes. "The commsystem is down ship wide due to a systems check." She then turned to the nearest console on the wall and began checking the Doctor's program. "It looks like there is a malfunction in his data processing subroutines." She typed something in and turned towards the Doctor. "How do you feel, Doctor?"
The Doctor blinked. "Great, actually." He deactivated the force field holding the Captain. "I am sorry, Captain, Lieutenant." He apologized. "Computer, deactivate EMH." He shimmered then disappeared.
Kathryn raised an eyebrow. "That was easy." She patted B'Elanna on the shoulder as she stepped out of sickbay and started down the hall. "Anything on Tuvok?"
"No, he's been disconnected, throughly." B'Elanna answered, somewhat sadly, as she fell in step beside her Captain. "Have you sent the message?"
"I have." Kathryn answered as she pressed the button for the turbolift. "The bridge?" She asked as they waited.
B'Elanna shrugged. "Taken care of. Chakotay didn't give up easily but I prevailed in the end."
Kathryn nodded and stepped into the newly arrived turbolift. "Engineering." She commanded. "Does anyone suspect?"
"Nope." B'Elanna stared straight ahead at the closed doors. "Noone suspects anything, not even Tom."
"Good." Kathryn felt the pull of the whispers and a glance at her companion told her that she wasn't alone. "Resistance is Futile." She whispered, mechanical, finally giving in to her urge to embrace the whispers. In doing so, she felt a cold, shiver, crawl up the skin on her neck and face.
B'Elanna eyed the Captain. "Voyager's biological and technological distinctiveness will be added to our own." Her voice echoed the Captain's as she too gave into the whispers. Unnoticed by her or the Captain, a metallic starburst appeared on her hand.
By the time the turbolift reached Engineering, the two occupants inside were already more Borg than anything else. This did not bode well for Voyager and her one hundred and forty some crew because before long they all would join the collective.
Resistance is Futile, after all.