Retribution
by Christina and Sara

Summary: It's been a year since Voyager defeated the Borg. They are a problem that won't go away.

This is a violent story—but the bulk of the violence happens offstage. This story deals with rape.

Prologue
One year earlier

General Stuit of the Soman Democratic Union Military High Command hated late night summons. They were always bad news: a military raid by Imperial troops, or a full out attack on one of the Rebel bases. Just once he'd like to be awakened and told that the firamenta flowers were in bloom. He was still buttoning his jacket as he rushed into the tactical room of his ship. He looked around expectantly. The single ensign standing duty looked up.

"Sir?"

"High Commander Molán just contacted me. Why aren't we at Vigil Status?"

"I was not so informed. Sir, should I initiate the alert?"

"Relax," a new voice said. The six foot tall Soman entered. High Commander Molán was shorter than many of their species, but he still managed to ooze power. "I didn't mean to startle you." He motioned for the ensign to leave.

Stuit accepted the apology, even without believing it. "What is it, sir?"

"A surprise." Molán smiled. "Our agents found it several days ago. Most exciting." Stuit shook his head, but looked at the data screen.

"I don't understand. We're heading away from the rendezvous site."

"That we are, General." Molán walked further into the room. "I've changed my mind. We will not negotiate with the Emperor. We will be able to win this war and reclaim what is rightfully ours."

"Sir?" Stuit wondered how Molán could forget the threat that had brought these negotiations on. He was wondering just what Molán had found, when the sensors beeped. Stuit gritted his teeth as he read the information.. "Sir, there's a Borg cube straight ahead." They had to leave before the Borg noticed them or they would be captured. He would be held responsible if the High Commander was assimilated. "We MUST leave, sir." He started to reach for the alarm even as he wondered why they had come here in the first place.

Molán laughed and placed a hand on Stuit's shoulder. "Isn't it exciting. And it's ours. Don't worry, all the Borg on it are dead."

"Dead? Excellent." Stuit finally had something to smile about. The Borg had only recently made their way to Soman space. Their threat had been enough to bring the two warring factions to the negotiating table. "We must return to the rendezvous. The knowledge of how this thing was destroyed must be shared."

"You don't get it...but you will. Go back to bed and dream of my ascension to power." Molán smiled. "I'll explain everything. Until tomorrow, General."

The high commissioner left, leaving General Stuit alone. He stared at the Borg cube. The fear of these new aliens had been enough to bring about a truce in the Soman one-hundred year old civil war.

Now it looked that the Borg threat had somehow been neutralized, which was good news, except for the fact that they were once more heading back to a state of open war. Stuit sighed, then frowned.

Six months earlier, he'd arrived three days after the Borg had attacked the colony world of Donoce. The memory of what he'd seen and heard as they'd investigated still brought nightmares. The few survivors told a grisly story of these monsters and a process called assimilation.

Molán was a direct descendant of the first Emperor, and had every right to claim the throne. But did that right include using technology from a Borg ship? There was no other explanation that fit Molán's interest in the cube.

Could he, Stuit, justify using such horrific weaponry against his own people?

The present

"Exiting slipstream in five, four, three, two, one." The ship shuddered, and the Voyager glided back into real space. Their two minute journey was done.

"All stop," Janeway said. "Maintain yellow alert."

"Aye, Captain," Tuvok said.

She hated this part. It would be several minutes before the scanners would work reliably. And about an hour before the rest of the ship's systems were restored to their previous status. Fortunately, they weren't defenseless. Since their first attempt at slipstream had seen them exit completely blind and vulnerable, they'd since worked out a way of ensuring they'd be able to keep weapons and shields at full power. However, it was at the expense of multiple secondary systems and even some primary ones.

"Captain," Harry said a minute later. "I'm detecting a ship straight ahead."

"On screen," Chakotay said. The image of a small cruiser appeared. It had clearly sustained heavy damage and was just drifting in space.

"Captain," Tuvok said, "It appears that most of the alien's systems are not operational. And their life support appears to be failing. However, since the ship is of unknown design, they could be using a technology to mask their biosigns."

"Hail them!" Janeway said. Every time they used the slipstream, they found themselves in an unfamiliar area of the Delta Quadrant, complete with unfamiliar aliens. Though this was the first time they'd met someone after their jump.

"No response," Harry responded. "Trying alternate frequencies." There was a short pause, before the lieutenant spoke again. "Still no response. "

"Life-signs?" Chakotay asked as he returned the Captain's glance.

"Negative," Harry said. "Sensors show eleven bodies...humanoid. Wait. I am detecting one weak life-sign-female."

Janeway hesitated. She should send an away team, but with many of Voyager's systems down for another hour, she didn't want to risk any of her crew. "Beam her directly to Sickbay." Janeway stood to face her Vulcan security-chief. "Commander, have a security team meet our guest. Scan the area. Someone had attacked that ship, and I have no intention of being surprised."

Chakotay placed a hand on hers, "Are there any other ships in the area?"

"I'm detecting..." Harry sounded perplexed. "Captain, the energy discharges and scorings on the hull are almost a perfect match for Borg weapons' signature."

She walked over. "Almost?" She stopped to look at his console. "I see what you mean. It could look like someone is using modified Borg phasers." She swore softly.

"Borg?" Tom said, "We haven't run into any signs of them for a very long time."

Harry responded, "Not since we faced off against the Queen's armada nearly a year ago."

"I'll be in Sickbay," Janeway said. "Maybe our guest can tell us more." She paused and turned back to Chakotay. "You have the bridge."

She and Tuvok exited the bridge together. Neither spoke as they made their way to Sickbay. Ayala stood guard outside. He nodded and watched them silently. Kathryn got the distinct impression he did not want to follow them into the room.

Entering Sickbay she noticed that two more security-guards, Rollins and Murphy, were on the far side of the room, looking pretty miserable as well. "Report?" Even the doctor looked shocked. "Doctor?"

"She is unconscious..."

Janeway acknowledged the fact with a nod, "Can you wake her? We need to find out what happened."

The doctor picked up a tricorder. "My patient has suffered severe trauma and blood loss. It is not in her best interest to be woken." Janeway glanced at the patient, a young female alien with long mauve hair. The doctor continued to work. Janeway could see bruises on the girl's face, and what was probably blood seeping through the blanket covering her.

She hated to ask, but had no choice. They needed answers. "Doctor, it is imperative that we speak to her."

He shook his head. "Aside from the injuries you can see for yourself, there is also severe bruising and lacerations indicative of forced sexual penetration."

"Spirits...Will she survive?

"She will recover, physically. I'd like permission to beam over one of the bodies on board-to perform an autopsy. Her physiology appears to be similar to humans, but I would like to perform an autopsy on one of the other victims. It would also help determine just what happened on that ship."

For the first time, Janeway really looked at the young alien female. She didn't look very old and by human standards was attractive. "Do it Doctor." She looked down at the metal devices and tubing now attached to where there had been hands. "Doctor, her hands?"

"They were severed," he motioned for Ensign Gallagher to come over. "Ensign, prepare a hypo of solurobenditol. Captain, I will keep you informed of her condition.

She left quickly. Tuvok followed. He stopped to give orders to his second, Ayala, who nodded silently.

"Captain, are you all right?" Tuvok asked quietly as they waited for the lift.

"Is it that obvious?." She took a deep breath. "The major question is, is this another band of renegade Borg drones, or something else? I need answers." She entered the lift.

The doors opened onto the bridge. "Report."

Chakotay responded, "Sensors are back to full strength. We're not detecting up any other ships in the area."

She turned to the Ops station and asked, "Harry, anything further about that disabled ship or who could have attacked them?"

"There is no evidence of a transwarp trail." He showed the paths on the screen. " Further analysis suggests the attack was over an hour ago."

"Any chance this was done by a Borg ship?" This was not the behavior of the Collective, but they'd learned months ago that freed drones could be cruel.

"An educated guess, no." Harry waited a second. "Only the weapons' signatures are similar. It looks more like Borg tech has been added to a non-Borg ship."

She nodded. "Can we tow that ship with us. Somebody will want to know what happened."

"Negative, the warp core is badly damaged...It won't last much longer,"Harry said.

"Any idea where this ship came from?" she asked.

"There is a star system less than three light years away. Sensors indicate the third and fourth planets are M class and are populated," Chakotay said from his chair.

"Then that's where we'll begin. The doctor is beaming a corpse on-board for an autopsy. Whoever her people are, they should be able to treat her better than we can...Tom, set a course." She walked down to her chair, but did not sit down. "Maintain yellow alert, continuous scans. Commander, you have the bridge again. I'll be in my Ready Room."

Chakotay studied her a split second as he acknowledged her, then pulled up the information from the sensors. "The Doctor has finished the transport."

Tom said, "Course laid in, Commander."

Chakotay nodded. "Ahead warp two, Mr. Paris. Don't exceed the parameters for Slipstream recovery."