A/N: I loved the way the story started. I loved the way it was meant to go but I was in too much of a hurry to get it there. So while I do my Hermione and Bella stories I am relooking at this one and since I now have kids the age Desyn is supposed to be I decided it needed to be rewritten. Desyn's character will undergo an important, yet needed change and I believe Sypher will have a bigger role in the chapters to come than she did in the original. If you read the original and are reading the rewrite I thank you from the bottom of my heart. Because it took me so long with the first and because I stopped for I think two years I am going to post the rest of the story after I've written every chapter. I'll only post this chapter to see if people like the changes. If you read this and have thought of pairing the Queen and Seven or Seven and the Captain in your own story I encourage you to share it. I haven't found near enough for my reading pleasure and I'd love to read it. Just a note because this will be rated m…I don't do sex. I can't write sex so if you're looking for a story with some hot scenes all my sexy scenes will probably be lacking. My gf says I am a prude. She is always right…..

Discord

Captain Kathryn Janeway stared out of her quarter's port side window. In her younger years she found the view to be quite stunning, stars swirling by, each likely supporting a system that could potentially support life. There had been a sense of amazement, the feeling that you are small and the universe big but that you could reach out and touch it because Star Fleet gave you the ability to do it. She was too old and jaded now to appreciate it. Star Fleet had indeed given her the ability to reach out and explore the known galaxy…..on her first mission she over reached and stranded herself and the Maqui crew in the unexplored Delta Quadrant. It was going to take them a little less than half a decade to get home….and that was if they even made it that long. The quadrant was full of unknown and mostly hostile new races. And everywhere she turned the Borg seemed to pop up.

She missed the Alpha Quadrant. She hated the paper pushing and the debriefing with higher command but she'd give anything to get her crew home and back to the monotony of the explored universe. Outwardly she sighed, she'd have to stop revisiting her past mistakes. The array had to be destroyed for the sake of the Ocampa, if they hadn't been a new crew, if they'd had the experience under their belts that they had now they might have been able to defeat the Kazon and go home. But that hadn't been the case. This crew, both of them, had become a family if her choice had been any different nothing they had accomplished here in the Delta quadrant would have happened. Neelix, Kess, Icheb and the Borg children, none of them would have ever had the chance to bored Voyager, and in some cases they may not have survived. Even the Maqui crew members would have fared poorly, they'd have been incarcerated and Tom Paris likely would have gone back to his self-depreciating ways.

There was also the most important accomplishment. A least in Janeway's personal opinion. The liberation of Seven of Nine was the best thing she'd done since being stranded in the quadrant. Surely some of the crew would disagree with her, hell Star Fleet may even give her examples of things she'd done better from her own reports, but she'd have none of it. Seven was the reason this crew was going to make it home. Not only for her expertise in astrometrics, she had invaluable knowledge, knowledge from the Borg itself, of the species in the quadrant. Without her they'd never have been able to avoid conflict with so many, Neelix was an amazing ambassador and he did a very good job of helping them out in diplomatic situations where contact was peaceful but in conflict with races that he'd avoided as an individual, situations where Voyager could not slip by unnoticed as his small trade ship had, it had been Seven that had helped with tactical advice. Often even using Borg knowledge to boost ship efficiency and keep casualties to a minimum on both sides.

As intelligent and effective as the Borg was she was also beautiful. Many times Janeway had refused her a spot on away teams, mostly on planet where they resembled the human species. Seven got kidnapped enough for other reasons without adding her physical appearance to the list. She'd already been taken to fight in an illegal fighting ring, she'd been taken by the Borg Queen, by the humanoids in the area of space where photonics were illegal….the list seemed to go on and on. It was a very discerning thought. She'd always managed to save her, and the Borg Queen had been the most difficult one to date, but it was always in the back of her mind that she might fail one day. And she couldn't ask the crew to go on suicide missions to retrieve her every time. The most logical choice had been to deny Seven missions that might put her in unwelcome spot lights. Keep her from races that might try illicit means of obtaining her for her Borg physiology, her intelligence or her appearance. Especially around species like those of the think tank and the Borg Queen, both had used threats against Voyager and its crew to obtain her. Janeway knew Seven would give up her own freedom and individuality for her chosen family. It wasn't a comforting thought.

She rubbed her temples in an effort to rub away her frown. Thinking of Seven had taken up a lot of her time lately and she wished she could say it was in a more pleasant light. The blonde was a constant distraction, it was getting difficult for Janeway to focus on the rest of her duties when it seemed like her mind was constantly thinking of ways to keep the ex-Borg drone safe. It was ridiculous, Janeway knew Seven didn't need her to keep her safe, she was perfectly capable of protecting herself. Still, there were many nights she'd woken up in a cold sweat and asked the computer for the woman's location, fearful she'd jumped ship or that saving her had been the dream. Often she dreamed of the woman at the mercy of the Queen. That mission had always confused her. She'd expected to liberate Seven of Nine the drone. Instead she found the Queen conversing with her and attempting to persuade her to do as she asked. It wasn't behavior she'd expected from the Borg, no matter how unique Seven appeared to them.

Seven had given a highly detailed report of her time aboard the structure. Janeway was shocked the Queen had given her so much leeway, had made adjustments for Seven's obviously human reservations. She'd let a ship go, allowed her to repair the ship instead of assist in assimilation. And she'd been, what Janeway could only describe as, enamored with Seven's physical appearance despite her outspoken displeasure with them removing her implants. From Seven's own report the Queen had touched her constantly when they were together and told her repeatedly that she belonged to her. It had infuriated the Captain, by the time she'd read to where she came in she couldn't read any more of it. Seven didn't belong to the Queen just because she was a drone, and it was irresponsible of her to get so angry at the claim the Queen had made on a member of her crew but it didn't change the fact that she had been livid enough to throw the data pad against the wall.

Thinking back on it now Janeway decided she'd been jealous. She'd ignored her feelings for Seven from day one, decided they were inappropriate and forced herself into the blondes life as a mentor. The best she could offer she'd told herself. But even since then she'd made changes to the ship's policies. She'd become more lax with in house relationships and the only reason she had to deny herself now was the fact that she was the Captain and forced to set an example. Often she forgot just what kind of example she was supposed to be setting, the crew wouldn't care if she decided to enter into a romantic relationship, in fact they'd probably love to gossip about it. But something always seemed to be holding her back. It would likely take fifty years or more to reach home, depending on what they encounter along the way. Could she really choose to be alone for that entire time. It was logical to assume one day someone would have to take her place, she was already over forty. It could even be Naomi Wildman. But what if by that time, by the time she was free of the obligation of Captain, what if it was too late to act on her feelings?

She shook her head to dislodge the thought and moved to her replicator. "Coffee, black." It was lukewarm as always, she scowled at it and sipped from the cup. She still had no idea what to do about her feelings. She had no idea if her feelings were reciprocated. All she knew was that every day that passed it was harder and harder for her to resist the temptation of touching her liberated Borg. Seven respected her and considered her a friend, but that didn't mean the woman would encourage anything more than what they already had. It had been so long since she'd been single and free to date Janeway wasn't sure how she'd handle rejection if she took a chance and things didn't work out. Or how she'd handle things if they did work out, she was out of practice and she'd never even considered dating a woman.

She sat down on her couch and continued to gaze out at the stars flying by while they travelled at half their max warp speed. Thankfully her romantic problems could be shelved for a while. Seven hadn't shown interest in any of the crew only in helping Icheb and Naomi with their studies. And the Doctor had let it slip that she had opted to skip the dating portion of their social lessons as she felt they were irrelevant to her at the time. In any case it meant she wasn't looking for someone at the moment and Janeway had a while yet to gather her thoughts.

Suddenly the stars stopped their streaking and came into focus as Voyager dropped out of warp, the ship jerked with the sudden decrease in speed and knocked her off her seat into the coffee table. She rubbed her head where she imagined a bruise would appear and tapped her com badge. "Report."

Tom's voice filled her cabin. "We've lost warp, Captain. I'm not sure what happened."

"All senior staff report to the bridge. I'm on my way Mr. Paris, B'Elana you get to engineering and give me a reason for this sudden failure."

"Aye Ma'am." She knew B'Elana was supposed to be resting in her quarters but she was the best and if something was wrong with their warp drive she'd need the best to get it back online.

It wasn't far from her quarters to the bridge, Tom, Tuvok and Harry were the only senior officers that had made it, she was still expecting Chokotay and Seven despite the fact that the Borg wasn't actually a member of the staff. She looked at the view screen but there wasn't anything to see, just endless stars. At least there were no discernable threats but it didn't look good if the failure was due to the warp drive. They would need a way to repair whatever the damage was, without civilization or at least a good source of dilithium they could be stuck at ftl for the foreseeable future.

"Captain, I have the commander in sick bay. It seems he didn't fare as well as most in the sudden stop." The Doctors voice filled the bride, his usual sardonic tone letting her know it wasn't too serious just that the commander wouldn't be able to follow her order to the bridge at the time.

"What's the damage, Doctor?"

"Bumps and bruises for most of the crew, only the Commander seemed to receive a concussion to go along with it. So far his has been the worse of the reported injuries."

"Keep me posted." He didn't reply, finishing their conversation and letting her focus on the more important problem. She was thankful a concussion was the worse so far, though a little irritated that it had to be Chokotay, she wondered what he was doing that caused that. She felt her own forehead where a large bump was forming. She likely had a concussion as well if the headache forming behind her eyes was any indication, she wasn't going to sick bay for it though she had work to do.

"Captain, our warp drive is fully functional. We should be able to go back to warp now."

Janeway was surprised. "Fast work, lieutenant, what was the problem?"

B'Elana hesitated slightly. "I'm not finding anything wrong with it, Captain, it seems to have reinitialized itself. Almost as if it was….turned off for something and then turned back on again. I'm sorry I don't have another explanation."

Janeway's brow crinkled in confusion. To her knowledge that had never happened before, they didn't usually get so lucky that the problems fixed themselves. "Are we picking up anything on scanners?" She asked.

"No ma'am." She turned around at Harry's voice and looked around for Seven.

"Where is Seven?"

"She was regenerating when I was in cargo bay 2 less than an hour ago." Tuvok explained. He too looked slightly worried. Even if Seven was regenerating she would have known something was wrong with the ship. She hadn't reported in and she was apparently ignoring an order to the bridge, it wasn't like her.

"Captain to Icheb."

"Yes Captain?" His young voice sounded slightly winded.

"Are you alright, Icheb?"

She could almost see his grimace, he was much like his surrogate mother he didn't like for people to know when something was wrong. "I….fell, Captain, I am undamaged just…."he fumbled for an adequate word, "embarrassed."

She chuckled despite her worries, "I fell too Icheb, no worries. Is Seven with you?"

She could hear the hesitation in his voice. "No….I am in astrometrics…..she was regenerating. Is something wrong?"

"No. But I'll send someone to check on her anyway." She nodded to Tuvok and he immediately headed for the turbo lift followed closely by an ensign.

"I volunteer…"

She cut him off. "No, I need you to man her post at astrometrics for me, you're the most qualified aside from her. Run continuous scans until we go back to warp. We haven't found the reason we dropped yet and I'd like to be sure it wasn't a hostile race we haven't found on sensors yet."

"Yes Captain." He sounded proud of himself. It pleased her, he should be proud of himself he worked very hard for the praise he was given and he'd managed to set goals for himself. He wanted a commission with Star Fleet, she was going to do everything in her power to see that he got one.

"Captain, we have arrived at cargo bay two, it would appear we have an intruder." Tuvok's words made her chest constrict. An intruder in cargo bay two, Seven would have reported it immediately if she'd been able. "Seven of Nine is incapacitated. Likely because of our sudden deceleration and not from the intruder."

"Take the intruder to the brig and get Seven to sick bay I'm on my way." She hadn't thought the drop of warp was for her ship to be boarded. "Scan for more intruders Harry. Let me know if you find any."

He fiddled with the console before she could get off the bridge and looked toward her in confusion. "I'm not picking up any, not even the one Tuvok mentioned."

"Captain, I must protest sending our…intruder to the brig."

She'd made it to the turbo lift and set her destination to sickbay. "What? Tuvok if they boarded our ship without our permission clearly they are acting in hostility."

"I ask that you decide their fate when you have seen them for yourself." She acknowledged irritably and changed her location to the deck that housed the cargo bay. She was desperately worried about Seven but Tuvok had not stated she was in any immediate danger, and it didn't seem as if he believed their stow away was a threat either. Still the part of her that had fallen in love with the Borg was urging her to do the irrational thing and ignore the intruder just so she could alleviate her fears by seeing the blonde first. The Captain part of her won out luckily because Seven hadn't been moved from her location on the cargo bay floor. It wasn't hard to see why either.

A young blonde curly haired child was draped over her prone figure crying her eyes out. Which also explained why Tuvok had not wanted to take her to the brig, still in these parts they could never be too sure what they were seeing was accurate to what was really going on. Heaven knows they had experience with that phenomenon, it had been their first actually, with the caretakers not being what they portrayed.

She looked away from Seven and the child and looked toward Tuvok, he appeared indecisive but determined to do whatever she asked of him. She didn't really know what to ask him. She stepped toward the little girl and kneeled down beside Seven, subtly checking her for any serious injuries. Other than her own bruise to the head and a little bit of blood running from out of the Borg's mouth she appeared to be undamaged. Janeway turned her attention instead to the child.

The girl didn't acknowledge any of them. She only continued to cry into the unconscious woman's biosuiit. She alternately clenched and unclenched her fists in the tight fabric and Janeway was surprised the girl had been able to grip enough of it without grabbing skin, she secretly thought the Borg spray painted the blasted thing on. She shook her head to clear her thoughts and reached to place a hand on the girl's shoulder. She didn't look up but her sobbing quieted slightly. The poor girl didn't look older than three or four but her hair was a beautiful golden blonde and perfectly curly, although it appeared to be a little mused likely from whatever wild ride she'd been on that landed her on Janeway's ship.

"Hello. Can you understand me?" The little girl looked up in surprise and Janeway found herself staring into bright blue eyes. She took a stab at the reasoning for the girl's obvious discomfort. "She's going to be alright," she checked Seven's breathing with her eyes to drive that fact home to herself as well, pleased to find it even and easy.

"She-she" the little girl sniffled and wiped her nose on the sleeve of her black sweater. Janeway also noticed she was wearing jeans but no shoes only bright white socks, whoever had dressed the girl had obviously done so quickly the socks were the same color but not a pair and her jeans hadn't been buttoned at the top. It was also plausible that whoever dressed her didn't know it needed to be buttoned, jeans weren't very common unless someone was going to accuracy in a hologram program. She forced her attention back to the girl and not on her attire. "She hurt herself. And said-said I'd be safe here. She won't wake up." She went back to crying into Seven's chest. "I want her to get up."

Janeway exchanged a confused look with Tuvok, she couldn't imagine why Seven would hurt herself or what circumstances led her to tell an intruder, no matter her apparent age, she'd be safe aboard Voyager. She attempted to pull the little girl away from Seven gently as she could, "Come on, little one, let's get you and Seven to sick bay and we can talk more, maybe even wake her up and get some answers." The toddler sniffled and latched onto Janeway's neck, a look from Tuvok made her acutely aware he didn't like the new situation. If the child was an enemy she'd just made herself extremely vulnerable to attack and she was sure she'd hear about it later. His pointed look clearly said so. She chose to ignore her security chief for the moment and managed to tap her com badge with the girl in her arms, it hadn't been too easy. "Doctor, we're bringing Seven in looks like Chokotay may have some competition for worse injury today."

"Is it an emergency?" His voice was a little more anxious than it had been on the bridge, he clearly valued Seven over Chokotay although she was sure he'd deny it.

"I don't believe so, but you should do a full work up on her regardless, she is unconscious." He acknowledged and she nodded for Tuvok and the ensign to get her up and going. They managed to sling her arms around their necks and each wrap an arm around her waist. She did not regain consciousness so they dragged her awkwardly to the turbo lift. Janeway and the child were right behind them.