A/n: Here is another short story, this time a two-shot, set after 'True Love', 'Mortal Sentiment' and 'Independence', during and after 'Retrospect' S04xE17. This episode disturbs me on a lot of levels, which I guess means it needs analysis through writing. I will go back to my multi-chapter fics soon, I promise.

"There's no doubt…" The Doctor declared with sombre conviction as he turned away from the recording of the memory regression treatment he'd performed on Seven of Nine in her Cargo Bay that had just finished playing out on the Briefing Room's wall console. "Seven was the victim of a brutal assault."

"How is she?" The Captain asked anxiously, her voice wavering despite herself. Chakotay, sitting at the other end of the table from her, could see an even more potent combination of emotions that the recording had provoked in him, chilling horror, pity, and disbelief. It certainly hadn't been a comfortable watch. He'd felt like a voyeur, and if he hadn't began to suspect that the Doctor's judgement and objectivity had already been compromised, he would've felt angry at the hologram for exposing Seven so completely.

"As well as can be expected." The Doctor replied to his Captain's question in a clipped tone. "She's regenerating in her alcove." He spun away from his small audience as his voice hardened into definitive conclusion, "I predict that her emotional recovery will take some time." He took an, of course unnecessary, deep breath as he turned again to confront the Captain. "I certainly hope you intend to hold Kovin responsible for what he's done." There was little ambiguity in his words, and even less in his expression, his dark eyes were full of outrage and indignation on Seven's behalf.

Yet the Captain didn't let herself be swept away to join the Doctor on his crusade, she was pale and tight lipped, but still in control. She traded the Doctor's heated, passive aggressive stance with her own of cool, resigned caution. "First I want to know how much of her story we can corroborate." She replied, sending the Doctor a silent plea for restraint, for the time being at least, with her eyes before twisting sharply in her chair to face Tom, "Tom, you were with her on the planet, how long was she alone with Kovin?"

"At least two hours." Tom reported shortly, managing to keep the guilt out of his tone, but it was still evident in the troubled grimace on his face.

"Did she say what happened?" The Captain asked quietly.

She asked it with enough formality to avoid offending Tom, he realised it had to be asked, though of course they all knew that if Seven had confided in Tom about so serious an assault they'd be hearing about it in the Transporter Room a minute later, not days after the event in the Briefing Room. However, Tom couldn't help but catch the Doctor's accusatory glares he shot him; in the hologram's eyes he'd inexcusably failed to protect his crewmate, abandoned her to her fate. "Only that they'd finished their work on the rifle." Tom answered firmly, a disturbed frown crossing his features as he said with all the certainty he'd felt back then, "She seemed fine."

The Doctor's eyebrows arched as he moved swiftly forward, his mind grasping the statement as evidence and holding tight. "Clearly Mr Kovin used artificial means to suppress her memory of the event." More biting confidence seeped into his voice, "That would explain the unusual engramatic activity I found in her neurological scans."

The Captain blinked up at him, he'd hardly mentioned that irregularity before. "Did you find any other physical evidence of the medical procedures she described?"

"No." The Doctor answered through a locked jaw, "I suspect Mr Kovin used Seven's own nanoprobes to repair any physical damage." His eyes darkened further, "She distinctly remembers Kovin extracting them."

Tuvok, who had remained contemplatively silent during the entire recording as well as the Doctor and Tom's testimonies, now addressed the Doctor questioningly, "You seem to be accepting Seven's recovered memories as fact."

A frown of disquiet marred the Doctor's face, "Are you suggesting otherwise?"

Tuvok regarded him penetratingly, "Historically, recovered memories have proven unreliable."

"Yes, when a traumatic experience has been repressed for years." The Doctor conceded somewhat dismissively, walking around the table to face the Vulcan down, "But we're dealing with a very recent memory that was blocked by artificial means." His focus flicked to the Captain, "When I removed that mechanism Seven remembered everything that had happened."

Chakotay leaned over his end of the table, meeting the Doctor's eyes empathically even as he broke in, "I'm sorry Doctor, but I don't think you can be sure this memory is recent, or that her memory was necessarily artificially blocked."

"I don't know what you're getting at Commander; she recounted the away mission with Mr Paris to Kovin's lab, which only happened yesterday…"

"I'm not saying parts of the memory aren't real." Chakotay responded quickly as the Doctor became more frustrated, "But in taking Seven into that technique you wanted to know a reason why she'd hit Kovin, why she was panicking in Sickbay, and she gave you one. Your questions during the regression were leading and her mind may have subconsciously followed you…"

"She needed some guidance, nothing more. It's not as if she's had any experience of psychotherapy!" The Doctor exclaimed hotly.

"Wait…" Tom interrupted doubtfully, glancing between Tuvok and Chakotay incredulously, "Are you both saying that Seven could've made all this up?"

"No." Tuvok answered firmly, "But we must remember that she has experienced hallucinatory images before."

"That was in direct response to a signal from the ship from where she was assimilated." The Doctor reminded them tersely, "She's not having hallucinations now, she's remembering what happened to her!"

Chakotay sighed heavily, "I wouldn't say that they're hallucinations, they're definitely memories from somewhere. We have to remember that Seven's mind was brutalised every second she spent with the Collective. We know she's witnessed or participated in the assimilation of countless others, and considering she was probably the first human child the Borg assimilated I'd put an bet on them conducting multiple invasive experiments on her over the years."

The Captain nodded slowly in grim understanding, "Her mind could be piecing together fragmented memories to rationalise how she reacted to Kovin. I honestly think she was disturbed when she couldn't explain the impulse to me…"

"Did what she described to me in the Cargo Bay seem fragmented to you?" The Doctor demanded, starting to pace the room as he saw everyone else in the room flinch, confirming his point. "And rationalising one single action against Kovin doesn't explain why she'd have a panic attack in Sickbay! I've examined and treated her on that biobed too many times to count since she came on board and she's never reacted like that once!"

Chakotay stood up and approached the Doctor, "Reaction to trauma can manifest itself at random and we all have to admit that it could be said that we violated her on that biobed when we were extracting those implants against her will…"

"So you're saying she's remembered to be afraid of me after all these months?" The Doctor choked out, "She would've died without those operations, and by your logic she'd be terrified of you because you tried to suck her out into space!"

"Doctor…" The Captain intervened hurriedly, gripping his weightless arm to hold him back as he rounded on Chakotay, whose face had stiffened at the pointed reminder of his past actions against Seven. "I think all Chakotay and Tuvok are saying is that Seven's psychological state, and I think you 'll admit her physiological state is also to a certain extent, largely unknown."

Chakotay swallowed hard as he recovered himself, not looking at the Doctor. "From someone who has experienced it, however briefly, being part of a Hive mind flips your self-perspective on its head. I still can't fully distinguish the memories I shared with the members of the Cooperative from my own, for all intents and purposes those memories are mine now too. At that time you could've convinced me I was Riley or any of the others. It isn't Seven's fault if she's confused…"

"I think we've all established that Seven is an excellent candidate for post-traumatic stress syndrome whether we're medically trained or not." The Doctor remarked bitterly, "But does that excuse Kovin if he did assault her? I've analysed the specific engramatic activity in her hippocampus, we're not talking about conjecture, this is science!"

The Captain raised her hands in a defensive plea for calm, through her face remained pensive. "Let's not get bogged down." She directed as she stood up, "Seven has made serious accusations and I won't dismiss them. If Kovin assaulted her and took a sample of her Borg technology, we can't stand by and do nothing." She scanned their uptight faces and ran a strained hand over her brow, "In the wrong hands a single nanoprobe could lead to disaster."

"I think we can all agree…" Chakotay began resignedly, "…that Kovin did have motive. He's a weapons dealer, and we've seen what weaponised nanoprobes can do." He looked across at the Doctor, "Seven could very well be telling the truth about this, I'd never deny that."

"None of us would doubt now that she believes what she remembers." The Captain agreed sadly, "Either way, the damage to her has been done, but we can't condemn Kovin unjustly." She turned back to the Doctor, the speculative aspect to the conversation was over. "Doctor, I want you to keep searching for any physical evidence to back up Seven's claim. I'll talk to Kovin." A flicker of trepidation flared across her face as she said that, but almost as soon as it made itself known it was hidden away behind a Captain's expected professional demeanour, "Dismissed." She sighed as she heard only three sets of footsteps leaving through the door; she expected, as she looked up, that it would be the Doctor hanging back to argue sympathy for Seven she already felt, or Tuvok to advise her on the importance of objectivity. For once, Chakotay managed to truly surprise her as she met his unreadable dark eyes. "You…made some interesting contributions to the conversation." She commented mutedly.

"I'd be the first to say it was like pouring oil into already murky water." Chakotay responded with a tired shake of his head, "It doesn't help Seven, it doesn't indict or exonerate Kovin…"

Janeway sagged against the table before grasping around for her chair and sinking into it. "We've passed the point of truly being able to do either…" Letting her guard down for a moment, she buried her face in her hands, "It's basically damage control from this point on, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't try our utmost…"

"I know." Chakotay assured her, briefly putting a hand on her shoulder before subconsciously taking a step back, "When I asked Seven to work with Kovin down in Engineering, she said that she felt uncomfortable working with him…"

Janeway glanced up at him sharply, "Chakotay, if you're going to start to blame yourself for this…"

"No Kathryn." Chakotay interrupted her again, though guilt did squirm through him at her prompt, irrational though it was. "What I was going to say was that when Seven asked if she had full access to Engineering for the task, and I said yes, she remarked that she her liberty is restricted until you need her…"

Janeway pressed her lips together irritably, "You know that she needs to be restricted in certain ways Chakotay, for her own good."

"I told her that she needed to regain your trust, and she accepted that." Chakotay told her somewhat wryly, "But these events have made me reconsider her liberty. You know that restricted anyone's movements is…unpalatable to me, but in Seven's case she'd be safer if she didn't go on away missions." He caught her enquiring frown and elaborated, "This proves that we've underestimated how vulnerable Seven is outside of this ship. Even if Kovin didn't exploit her, it's sure to occur to some other scumbag to dissect her implants." He tried to ignore both Kathryn's shudder and the twist in his own stomach as he pressed on, "Anyone with a grudge towards the Borg, which is most races in this Quadrant, could take a phaser and shoot her…"

"I get your point." Janeway cut in harshly, "I've never wanted to institutionalise Seven, that will never help her regain her humanity, but these past few days…" She swallowed hard, "I'll consider more precautions, but I don't intend to make any knee-jerk decisions, since, my God, I hope this will prove a one-off."

Chakotay, feeling as drained and exhausted as the Captain looked, decided to submit to her judgement for now. "Understood Captain."

She flashed him a weak smile, "Can you hold the fort on the Bridge for awhile?"

"Consider yourself off-duty." Chakotay replied drily before disappearing out of the door.

A/n: Please review. I thought this out as a one-shot, but actually re-working this dark episode makes me want to break it into two chapters. I hope it's interesting so far.