He watched from his well concealed hiding place behind a pile of radioactive rubble. The human couldn't see him, Nuox was relieved. The human was holding one of their sensor technologies, Nuox hoped the thing wouldn't be able to detect him through the rubble. Nuox was a non-humanoid, the Borg called him 8472. He was a young male, wounded in several places. His ship had fallen out of fluidic space and been attacked savagely. Nuox knew he probably was the last one of his kind outside of his home world, and he knew his chances of survival were slim. But even if the chances were one in billion isn't it the organisms duty to try his absolute hardest to be that one who survived the odds?
The human wasn't particularly tall, he had a black mop of hair and was male. He wore the black and yellow of a Starfleet. A Borg friend. The enemy. Nuox was frightened by the human. He'd heard stories about them. How they used weapons capable of destroying an entire fleet of ships at one time. Nuox's father, Deverinhoth, had been killed by the human race. Nuox watched now as the human walked over to some small plants. The human opened a metal container and started yanking at the plant.
"Darned roots." The human growled softly. "All this work for some bitter tasting root. I had better start saving replicator rations, I'm not sure I can survive one more Leola and fresh dirt root casserole." Nuox thought it very amusing to hear the man speak. He may be the most terrible species in the galaxy, but Nuox found himself slightly relieved to hear the war-like species complaining about something as trivial as food.
"Hey, Harry!" Nuox tensed. Another, much taller, human walked out of the bushes. This one had a yellowish mop of hair but was also holding a metal box and a sensor thing.
"Yeah Tom?"
"Have you seen Neelix? I found some weird fungi, they seem edible, but they keep producing spores that I can't get a clear scan on."
"Great, fungus emitting unidentifiable spores. What next?"
"Look, I know you're in a really bad mood. I probably would be too if the Captain practically forced me to eat a brand new dish not even the cook had never tried, but that doesn't mean I'd have a hissy-fit."
"A what?"
"Temper tantrum."
"Oh. Tom, I was stuck in Sickbay all week because of that casserole, and as soon as I get back on duty I'm stuck collecting roots for some other life-threatening concoction."
"Do you know where he is or not?" Tom asked.
"He's over with Tuvok looking at those fruits."
"Thanks." The blond, Tom, walked off. Nuox felt bad for the black haired human, Harry. A week of being sick over a meal didn't sound very fun.
Harry placed the root inside the container and walked over to another one, this time right beside a deep hole. The human didn't even bother scanning the hole. Nuox found this strange, and it worried him a bit. Nuox scolded himself silently, he shouldn't be worried about a human, they were evil. Friends of the Borg. The enemy. Nuox gasped in shock as a large, fanged, worm-like creature leaped out of the hole and grabbed Harry by the arm. The man screamed as he was pulled down beneath the ground. Acting on impulse the alien leaped in after him, his ethics wouldn't allow another species, even a human, to die when help could easily have been offered.
The cave was large, dark and stank horribly. Nuox glanced around. He could see the animal dragging the human across the cave floor. It appeared the human was unconscious. Nuox followed slowly, memorizing the way. When the worm stopped the alien advanced, using all of the skills his parents had taught him. When he came within range he sprang upon the animal pinning it down and pounding it mercilessly with a volley of punches. Nuox was dimly aware of the human crawling away from the fight. Nuox realized he would have to move quickly if he wanted to catch Harry before he wondered off in the wrong direction. The alien thrust his hands with surprising power against the animals back. With a crack and a groan it collapsed. Nuox didn't spare a moment before dashing off and gently grabbing hold of the human, which fainted as soon as he saw his rescuers face. The alien grasped the man by his shirt and dragged him back out of the cave and up the tunnel, which had a diagonal slant. When he emerged from the top, Nuox deposited his parcel on the ground at the base of the rubble pile.
Nuox turned to the human, it had just woken up as he dropped it. It was sitting staring with a mixture of shock and terror at the 8472. Harry's arm was torn, blood slowly sliding down, and he was covered in grime.
"You should wrap that." Nuox offered, the silence was bothering him. The Starfleets badge was obviously providing a translator. "You might get an infection from that, uh, worm."
"You, you're an 8472." The human said dumbly.
"Yeah."
"What are you doing here? Your kind were banished to fluidic space."
"I know. The ship I was commissioned on accidentally fell out of the home world and was attacked viciously by the Hirogen. I'm the only survivor. My name is Nuox." Harry said nothing, just stared at the alien in front of him, the alien which had probably saved his life.
"Tuvok to Ensign Kim." The Vulcans voice rang over the com.
"Kim here."
"You were supposed to meet for transport three minutes ago. Is everything all right?"
"Yes. I mean, I think so."
"You think so? Explain."
"I was attacked by a cave dwelling animal and dragged beneath the ground, and then was saved by an alien. An 8472 named Nuox."
"Are you still in its company?"
"Yeah."
"We are going to transport you out of there immediately. Prepare for emergency beam out."
"No, wait."
"Mr. Kim, need I remind you of the physical capabilities of the alien."
"No."
"Then why do you wish to prolong your stay in its presence?"
"It saved my life…"
"And another tried to take it away."
"Yes, but not this one. This one's injured we might be able to help it. And it's alone."
"For how long?"
"Just ask the Captain alright?"
"Very well. But I am sending a security team down to your location immediately. It is illogical to trust a species such as the 8472."
"Fine, just make sure they don't shoot it unless it's completely necessary."
"Tuvok out." Nuox listened to this exchange with interest.
"Who tried to kill you before?" Nuox asked.
"One of your kind. Voyager was trying to get through Borg space when we ran into one of your vessels. I was attacked and became infected with a really strange virus of sorts."
"I'm sorry to hear that." Nuox replied honestly. "I was alway told that humans were evil. Friends of the Borg. The enemy. But I'm really not sure anymore. You aren't so different from me in the long run. Nor are any of our species'." Harry obviously wasn't convinced. Then five of Voyagers security crewmen arrived.
"Ensign." Ayala said stiffly. "Are you alright?"
"Just a couple of scratches the worm gave me. This is Nuox." He said, not all that happily.
"Hello." Nuox said without moving. He got the impression that any sudden movements would result in weapons fire.
"This is the Captain speaking." The voice rang over the com links. "We're beaming the five of you along with our alien friend directly to the Brig. Harry, we're sending you straight to Sickbay. Prepare for transport." Nuox then felt the strange tingling, and when it stopped he was in a box of a room, lit with blue lights. There was one opening, but he saw the force-field go into place and knew he was being quarantined. The five guards were outside. Nuox watched them at their work for a while, but found it very boring. He had never taken much interest in security. He preferred making first contact with new species, unfortunately that didn't happen often for his kind, and when it did it almost always ended in armed conflict. That was what he hated most about his kind, they stood alone.
The sliding doors opened and in walked a lady wearing the red and black of a commanding officer. Beside her was a species he recognized as Vulcan.
"I am Captain Kathryn Janeway of the Federation Starship Voyager. You are?" She said.
"I'm truly very honoured to meet your kind, Captain. My name is Nuox. Is Harry okay?" Nuox asked. The Captain smiled slightly.
"He's fine. You just startled him a bit. Mind telling me what you were doing on that planet?"
"I don't mind at all. My ship was destroyed in combat with the Hirogen. I escaped on a piece of debris, and then moved onto a passing shuttlecraft that landed on this planet for a short while. I had taken a good beating and decided to hang around here. I didn't expect anyone to come and find me. My people never leave fluidic space. It's too risky. We lost hundreds of good people in the conflict with the Borg, and with you. I'm very sorry it came to fighting. From what I've seen of Harry our species' have many similarities, I'm glad my opinion of you as savage, violent beasts was converted."
"So am I." Kathryn said. "Is there anything I could offer you? As far as I'm concerned you saved my crewman's life."
"I really don't wish to burden you. But if your Doctor wouldn't mind patching me up a bit, I would really appreciate it. It takes an awful long time to heal outside of fluidic space."
"I understand. Janeway to Transporter Room 1." She said tapping her badge.
"Wildman here."
"Transport our guest to Sickbay."
"Understood. Transport in progress….. complete."
"Good. Janeway out." She said as she left the Brig and headed for Sickbay.