Dr Kaden looked around the triage room in satisfaction as Voyager's crew was brought in from the landed escape pods. From his estimate, they'd garnered at least 150 new workers for the plant. And once the space pirates snagged Voyager itself, Dr Kaden would get a very tidy payoff.
The pirates hadn't counted on Voyager having an Emergency Command Hologram, so capturing the ship eluded them for now, thus delaying Dr Kaden's payoff. He could wait for awhile, as the power distribution plant supervisor had also paid him a finder's fee for all the new workers.
And the unexpected bit of technology on Voyager meant it was an especially technologically advanced ship, with a crew that was well trained in the latest technologies. This meant his payoff for them would be a large one, after their skills and abilities had been assessed.
After he'd modified the memory of Voyager's captain and sent her off for skill assessment, one of his assistants came over to him, a concerned look on his face.
"What is it?" Kaden asked impatiently. "Can't you see I'm very busy here?"
"Sorry to bother you, sir, but two of the people present a bit of a problem," the other man explained, wringing his hands in agitation.
"What kind of problem?" Kaden demanded, wishing the man would come to the point.
"Come take a look for yourself," the assistant said, indicating two beds in a corner of the room. "I think they might be Borg - or were Borg."
"Borg!" Kaden exclaimed, following the assistant. Quarra had been lucky so far as to not have had the Borg visit their planet, but plenty of Quarrans had been assimilated when traveling in space.
As he reached the two beds, he saw a young adult female, the same species as most of the people taken from Voyager. But she had a metal implant around one eye, which was artificial, another starburst shaped implant in front of her right ear, and a metal glove on one hand. He found other similar metal implants on other parts of her body when he lifted her hospital gown to check.
Next to her was a male in late adolescence, of another species Kaden did not recognize, with one implant between an eye and his prominent nose. He had fewer implants than the female, yet the origin of them was quite familiar. Borg. No question about it.
"What shall we do, sir?" the assistant asked. "Should they be euthanized to avoid potential problems? Or can we just remove their implants?"
The assistant had had a sister who'd been assimilated and was afraid of what these two might do if allowed to live on Quarra. Their very presence might even attract a Borg cube to Quarra to retrieve them.
"That won't be necessary, Mendek," Kaden said, rolling his eyes at the assistant's overreaction. "These two have obviously been separated from the Collective. They have far fewer external implants than the typical Borg drone, have hair, have a normal skin coloration, and came in wearing clothing. And they obviously did not assimilate the Voyager crew, so we will be perfectly safe with them here on Quarra as well."
After a short pause, while examining their implants more closely, he added, "And we can't remove the implants; they wouldn't survive without them. I imagine Voyager's doctor would have removed them if they were not necessary to their survival.
Kaden was impressed that Voyager had managed to separate two drones from the Borg, incorporate them into their crew, and had lived to tell the tale. Yes, this crew would make a valuable addition to Quarra's workforce, indeed
Turning back to the assistant, he said, "I will process these two myself. You should go and work with some of the others who do not require special handling."
"Yes, sir," the other man said before hurrying off to comply
Kaden turned back to the two ex-drones and decided to work on the female first. She obviously had spent more of her life as a Borg drone, judging by the greater number of implants she still maintained.
After employing the memory probe on her, he learned that she'd been assimilated as a young child and had spent the better part of her life as a drone. She'd been separated from the Collective by Voyager's captain only a few short years before. As an ex-drone, she had the combined skills of many assimilated species, so would do well in any job the power distribution facility could offer.
She also had some special needs; primarily, she needed a Borg regeneration alcove, as she did not sleep as normal members of her species did. Probing further, Kaden was relieved to find the instructions on how to construct one here on Quarra existed within her memories, as well as information pertaining to her unique medical needs, all within Kaden's expertise as a doctor. He gazed over at the male and concluded that he no doubt needed an alcove as well.
Kaden made a note to have an apartment in one of the employee apartment buildings fitted with two of these alcoves as soon as he extracted from the female the instructions on how to build one. The two would be assigned to the same apartment, and he decided to implant a false memory that they were step-siblings, to account for the fact that they were not from the same birth species.
To explain the Borg implants and the shared need for regeneration alcoves, Kaden created a story that each had a genetic deficiency and that their parents had met at a medical facility devoted to treating such conditions. It was important to erase all their memories of their time in the Borg Collective, to head off any potential threats from that association.
He found the female's original name in her memories, so she would remember that, but not her Borg designation, which she apparently had still used for a name. Excellent. It would be easier for her to use her original name than for him to create a false name for her, as he had no idea as to the naming protocols of her birth species.
From the examinations of others of her species, he'd learned that their home planet, Earth, was on the far side of the galaxy, many thousands of light years from Quarra. Not for the first time that evening, Kaden was amazed at how Voyager had ended up so far from home.
Some time later, as he continued to work on the two ex-drones, the supervisor he'd been working with from the power distribution plant in supplying new employees, came along to check on this new batch of workers.
"I've been over at the skills assessment area, and it seems as if you've brought me an especially skilled group of workers this time," the man said. "I'm quite pleased." Looking down at the two ex-drones, he asked, "Borg?"
"Ex-Borg," Kaden clarified. "One had been a drone for 18 years and the younger one, only about a year or so. But both retain the Borg traits of great attention to detail and efficiency and will make excellent workers."
"Hmmm," the supervisor said, thinking. "I'll make the female our new Efficiency Monitor. That's the perfect job for an ex-drone. It's been a bit slack at the plant lately, but I'm sure she can straighten things out quickly." He chuckled appreciatively at the very thought of an ex-drone cracking the whip on some of his more careless workers.
Looking over at the male, he took a bit longer to consider. "He's rather young, but I think he'll do well working in Inventory Control. There's been too much misplacing of parts recently and I imagine he'll be able to quickly get to the bottom of it."
"Yes," Kaden agreed. "He doesn't have the level of experience the female has, but he does share the typical Borg attention to detail." After a moment, he added, "They have some unique medical living accommodation requirements, but I already have all that planned out to help them adjust to living on Quarra. They'll be ready to start work in a day or two."
"Excellent," the other man said. "I look forward to having them as workers." After a moment's consideration, he added, "I'll even pay you a bit more for them, considering their unique abilities."
"I won't argue with that," Kaden replied, smiling.
And so, Workers 8586 and 8587, also known as Annika Hansen and Icheb, started their new lives on Quarra.