Author's Notes: Star Trek Voyager; Learning Curve a New Frontier received a review, which means as promised I shall present the first chapter of the next story in the series; I would like more reviews on my other Star Trek story, but one review at least tells me people enjoy it. And my reviewer expressed an interest in learning what happens next; this chapter alone should suffice in generating reviews from people. At least I hope so; I won't be updating it too often though, I'm going to go slower in posting my stories to see what happens.
Disclaimer 1.5: Star Trek Voyager and all Characters belong to Paramount Pictures or maybe it's Rick Bermon and Brannon Braga, I'm not too clear on that; all I know is they don't belong to me. I simply borrowed them; Alain Desrochers, acting Ensign aboard the Starship Voyager and Omniversal Traveler belongs to me, he is my OC. Though little is known of his character, his past or his destiny at this point in time rest assured the crew and more notably his friends aboard the U.S.S Voyager will learn more about him and his destiny will be made all too aparent thanks to Q.
Without further ado I give you Chapter One of Assimilation; Enemy at the Gates... It's a real doozy. (At least for those of you who haven't read ahead in the Marvel section and discovered what happens to him; then again reading the description of how it happens is still a treat.)
Prologue
The Borg queen was watching the work her drones were perfecting; the nanoprobes had been sufficiently modified and now all that was needed was to create a new means of assimilation for this special charge. Secretly she was thrilled; it would only be a matter of time now before she had what she truly wanted, what she had always felt Her Collective needed.
Once again she regarded an image of her target and began to envision a glorious new breed of drone; stronger, faster and perhaps less encumber some, yes it was only a matter of time…
The Draconian armies were being prepared for something; what that was they did not know all they knew was that the Emperor himself was personally seeing to the preparations and it was rumored that he would leave with the fleet.
Several factions who had long ago splintered off from the Empire hoped that this new campaign; whatever it may be, would lead to the final elimination of the archaic rulers. However none would dare to voice this in public for fear of being eliminated; and so they continued to hope and pray, biding their time for the right moment to strike.
Q continued to observe his new charge from within the continuum; he knew the young human would be required to face difficult trials if he hoped to succeed in fulfilling his destiny, he also knew that most of the other continuum members were vaguely aware that an Omniversal traveler had been sent here. Fortunately none of the other members knew who he was; or even remotely suspected that he was such a key in their continued survival, if they knew that the last, best hope for keeping the Omniverse in balance was presently undergoing further training in this reality… Well they might do something as rash and foolish as Ares did in the young man's previous place of learning; no better that they did not know the importance of this one individual, otherwise there could be further drastic consequences.
"Sill; no harm in having some fun with the man while he's here, and I know, I know you really didn't have this in mind." Q repeated seemingly speaking to himself. "But after all; what did you expect when you sent him into my care?" He added with a mischievous smile and a twinkle in his eye. She did not give a response, but she was watching; and she smiled herself, Q was following the set plan as well as could be expected after all. Her silent companion curled his lip in distaste, but said nothing; she sighed slightly as she sensed the barrier weakening further.
"Take care not to break him; he will be needed far sooner then I would like." She whispered to herself glancing in on the young man with loving eyes; there was so much about her children that filled her with compassion, and yet sometimes she feared for their continued survival. "Take care Alain Albert-Joseph Desrochers; take care." She added before growing silent in her observations once more.
Star Trek Voyager:
Assimilation; Enemy at the Gates
"Captain; somebody's trying to access the sub-space transmitter." Tom alerted from his station; I was on bridge duty today learning the ropes of Tuvok's tactical station, it was actually kind of fun. I was in complete control of the ships defenses and offenses; though I should be more serious about this, I was supposed to be monitoring for Borg activity.
"Captain; I don't know how, but she's erected some kind of force field around the door. We can't break through it." B'Elanna's voice called out via com; Chakotay was studying his own console.
"She's bypassed our security protocols." He reported; I was partially aware of these events, engrossed in my work and new found responsibilities I did my best not to get caught up in the dialogue between the other bridge crewmembers.
"Disable the transmitter." She ordered of no one in particular I'd imagine; assuming her position in the Captain's char as she spoke, it wasn't going to be so easy though for Kes was destined to get involved.
"It's too late." Chakotay returned informing the Captain to what I already knew; God bless my over saturation of re-runs on the Space channel.
"Tuvok to the bridge; status." The Vulcan's voice requested shortly after; I couldn't help, but feel as if I'd missed something engrossed as I was in a sudden blip that might or might not be a Borg scouting vessel.
"There was some kind of explosion in the jefferies tube; just as she was about to initiate her transmission." The Captain informed. "We don't know what caused it." She added; I smirked slightly unseen, the blip had vanished before I could identify it properly, so I filed the information away for Tuvok's practiced eye to peruse it and resumed my duties.
"Speak for yourselves." I found myself muttering beneath my breath in response to the Captains statement; it might have been rude, but they couldn't hear me anyway and it was true, I knew what caused the explosion.
"I believe I may have the answer Captain." Tuvok returned thoughtfully; I shrugged at his own response to the Captain and continued monitoring ships' functions and security status, this was actually kind of boring when you got right down to it, considering there wasn't any action going on.
Kes' Personal Log; Final Entry: It's happening, I'm becoming something more then I could have ever imagined possible… I don't fear this change; it's all rather exciting and happening quite fast actually. The others have spoken with me; the Doctor has studied the phenomena and yet some of it is still unexplainable, I will miss this crew, my friends here, the ship itself. Yes; I will sorely miss them all…
Now I understand what Ensign Desrochers meant earlier when we spoke in sickbay during our brief agreement with the Borg… I will leave these logs here; my personal memories, and I trust this crew to take good care of them. I'd like to share some of these thoughts with the people in the Federation; allow them to better understand the Ocampa, of course not all of my personal logs will be decrypted for their access… I feel a change… I must go for another session with Tuvok; so that I can learn to better control it, but I fear that soon I will be forced to leave this vessel or risk destroying it.
I smiled a little as I entered the shuttle bay; according to my chronometer time was drawing near, and I felt this unmistakable urge to be here. I couldn't explain it; I stood near a shuttle and waited, it was difficult to understand at times. How I could make friends with people I knew to be fictitious on my world; and yet I had established friendships with certain members of this crew.
"Ensign Desrochers." The Captain exclaimed as she, Tuvok and Kes arrived.
"Your chariot awaits." I informed the Ocampa with a slight bow.
"Al." She whispered smiling at me; she placed one flickery hand upon my cheek briefly and I grinned. "I'll miss you too." She stated with clear understanding; I backed away so she could board the shuttle.
"Safe journey." I called.
"Live long and prosper." Tuvok added saluting Kes with the Vulcan salute; she returned the gesture, hugged the Captain one last hurried time and proceeded aboard.
"Janeway to the bridge; Kes is aboard the shuttle, initiate launch sequence." The Captain ordered over her com badge; Chakotay acknowledged as we watched the shuttle lift off, or at least I did, the Captain and Tuvok made their way to the bridge. I brushed a stray tear aside; I never did like displaying my emotions, but it had become easier since entering the multiverse, Omniverse, whatever you chose to call it, Kes would sorely be missed.
"I can't believe Kes is truly gone." Jenny murmured for the fifth time; I decided not to say anything for fear of losing my temper, couldn't she say anything besides that I mean it was the feeling of everybody onboard and I'd heard it enough times to make my skin crawl.
"We all can't." Samantha interjected. "But she is; and at least we can say we knew her when we get home." She added thoughtfully.
"I for one think we might see her again someday." Harry remarked with a smile. "She would never forget us, or any of her friends aboard this ship."
"Indeed." I spoke up. "Well; I think I'll turn in, I've got that double duty shift tomorrow." I added exaggerating a yawn and stretching lavishly as I climbed to my feet; bidding a quick farewell to my friends I made my way to my temporary home and thoughts returned concerning Q's cryptic words all those months back.
Should I or should I not inform the Captain about Torres and Paris? Well; they did rescue them without my help on the show, I should just keep going on with this work.
I'd come to engineering for another duty shift and to help the crew step up repairs, even if my understanding of these systems wasn't up to full specs; a part of me felt the need to help out and besides it was the day of honor.
"Try it now." I called; Vorik nodded and input commands, the computer beeped, but to little effect. "Damn it all; I'm just no good at this."
"Allow me." The Vulcan returned approaching me; he crouched and examined the access port I was working in. "I see the problem; you've configured this tool incorrectly." He informed; I sighed and handed it to him for assistance.
"Repairing engines is easy; readin' techno babble filled manuals is hard." I paraphrased Scotty in a poor imitation of a Scottish burr; Vorik quirked an eyebrow at that and returned the tool, silently I resumed working as he stood back up and tapped his com.
"Engineering to Captain Janeway." He called.
"Yes Ensign." I barely heard her reply.
"I'm pleased to inform you that impulse power should be restored within the hour." He reported; I grinned as I heard Janeways' response, and I was helping to move repairs along. Despite certain first year cadet mistakes I'd made, but B'Elanna's engineering crew was tolerant of my mistakes; seeing as how I offered to fix them up once someone explained where I'd gone wrong.
"Yes mame." Vorik returned addressing what the Captain had said which I hadn't caught.
"There we go." I exclaimed pulling my head out of the access port. "What now?" I wondered.
"Your duty shift ended an hour ago; you are free to leave." Vorik stated; I nodded at that and passed my tool to a fellow crewman.
"Feel free to call me if you need further assistance." I returned sub-consciously adopting the Vulcan's more formal means of speech. "I'll be in the mess hall." I added before departing.
Personal Logs: Stardate 51229.4; the events of Scientific Method are fast approaching and I have no real wish to remain aboard during them unless they've already started, the episode wasn't too clear on how long these alien scientists had been aboard before people noticed them. Fortunately Captain Janeway has requested a volunteer to procure some new dilithium crystals; I have graciously volunteered myself for this assignment, normally there'd be more then one person going, but the Captain feels I can handle this easy assignment on my own.
I'm beginning to wonder if Q might be somehow influencing her without her knowledge; then again it's far more probable that my continuous support of her crew and relative usefulness has resulted in her gaining my trust. Either way it'll give me some time outside a flight simulator to pilot one of the shuttles all by myself; and Tom has coached me extensively in all manner of possible developments, I'll be just fine.
I issued the final clearance codes and was permitted to leave the planet; the Captain would not be pleased; the trader had refused to part with his crystals for no less than two isolinear circuit chips and four injector manifolds. A rare commodity these days according to him, but a lot harder to part with for us in the long term; if the ship hadn't lost three of her spare crystals during that whole fiasco with Species eight four seven two, a fact the show never actually mentioned. I wouldn't be out here; then again at least I wasn't stuck on Voyager right now, this whole Krenim deal was driving me insane.
I wasn't affected by the temporal changes for some reason; so my memories weren't being screwed around with, but honestly it was difficult to remain neutral whenever a large scale change occurred. Hell it was all that bloody Annoraxs' fault that it had taken me this long to get the damn crystals; his temporal machinations had caused the planet to vanish entirely twice before I even found it, stupid star charts.
I sighed to myself as the familiar sensations of faster then light travel overtook the ship; time to rendezvous with Voyager, of course it could take me another year to catch up with them at this rate… Or a few days depending on if I could find them before the next big time displacement.
That's when all hell broke loose; my shuttle rocked violently and a small explosion knocked me out of warp, scrambling to erect shields and find out what had attacked me I was almost a blur of motion for about a minute. The external viewer came back up quickly and a deep sense of dread filled my gut at the sight of my attacker; the perfect cube dwarfed my vessel considerably and I knew I had to at least try to escape this mess.
"We are the Borg; your biological and technological distinctiveness will be made part of the whole, resistance is futile." The usual fear inducing message claimed cutting into my communications frequencies; and let me tell you it is damn effective in person.
I tried an evasive maneuver and fired phasers to little effect, my ship was rocked yet again as more explosions occurred behind me and I quickly kicked in the fire suppression systems; this was not my day. The computer practically screamed it's warnings as my shields died, weapons failed, propulsion went offline and even the lights dimmed to barely active status, I was dead in space.
"Son of a…" I began to curse only to black out as the ship was caught in a tractor beam and I was slammed backwards into my seat with enough force to render me unconscious.
Intense pain flared through my entire body and I awoke with a scream until my voice became hoarse; I slumped back down in silent pain uncomprehending my current predicament, I was on an alien metallic table. It was smooth to the touch and yet burning with energy; two drones hovered around me jamming long metal wires into veins or arteries all over my naked body, this was definitely not how the show depicted assimilation.
The pain was intense, but by now it had been reduced to a dull acceptable ache; my blood flowed freely from some of the open wounds and yet despite it all the worst by far had to be the one wire shoved into my left scrotum. In the end one of the drones forced one of these wires into my right eye and I screamed once more as my vision was reduced and I felt a sense of equilibrium loss.
"Perfect; soon you will feel no pain." A voice called as she entered the room; she was lowered from the ceiling on cables and inserted into her body, much like the scene from First Contact. I did my best to glare at her in defiance with my one good eye; my mind couldn't really process everything right this minute, she smiled fondly at me as she crossed the room and placed a cold hand to my cheek in a lovers caress.
"You will know only pleasure; you are the first we have found with your unique signature traveler, you shall be assimilated and together we will bring our perfection to the Omniverse." She proclaimed her voice and tone attempting to approximate great affection and coming off as nothing more then deranged ego-logical babble.
She turned her head briefly giving a tiny nod and energy began to crackle and explode around my body; I felt warm at first, but it soon became unbearably hot and I wanted to scream once more. I felt them; I could sense the millions, possibly trillions of nanoprobes as they scurried along and entered my body. That fact alone unsettled me, but when I became aware of her personal presence as she took control of them and ordered them in their tasks; it was intensified a thousand fold, and yet something felt amiss.
At first I felt the sudden voices within; countless millions of Drones demanding my attention, and then slowly the presence faded as neurological pathways were closed so quickly that no imprint of my mind, my essence remained within the collective. My back arched and the wires suddenly began to fly from my body as something forcibly ejected them; soon her awareness vanished as well and she became troubled, which was obvious to me despite the pain. She whirled to face the drones manning the consoles, but alas it was too late for corrections; the nanoprobes within had taken on a life and will of their own… I tried to scream as I felt my very body begin to unravel; the molecules coming unglued by the microscopic creatures working tirelessly within to create new life, I felt total loss of awareness for point zero five seconds.
I felt different as soon as I snapped back fully aware; I could not place this difference at first until I rose to my full imposing height and eyed my very body, I was taller and my shoulders slightly broader of muscle. All injuries were gone; no scars marred my pristine body and I was not cluttered with mechanical implants either; I felt power coursing through me greater then even Alumni's Godhood on several levels and yet lesser in other categories.
The lights flickered and faded rendering the room dark; my eyes, for I once more had two good optics, swiftly adjusted to the new lighting sending a shiver of disgust running down my spine. For I knew I was no longer a mere human; and yet I was not the typical run of the mill Borg either, my flesh was the proper tone not white or chalky and I didn't feel like a walking corpse.
"What have you done to me?" I demanded in a much deeper baritone then before; my emotions had caused my vocal modulators to change reflecting my anger, though I had no idea how I knew I now possessed such things.
"You are perfect." She stated ignoring my clear outrage and clueless to my absence from the Collective. "The Perfect mate to bring about the new Collective." She praised drawing up to my nude flesh and running her black clad hand down my chest; she looked up to me, which somehow felt appropriate and she took me into a tight embrace kissing me. Her lips felt dead; lacking the passion or warmth that such an act should entail and colder then a corpses', her eyes filled with pure lust and she attempted to elicit arousal by moving her hand down to touch my nether regions.
I sneered darkly cocking my head and regarding her as one might look upon an ant about to be fried by a magnifying glass; for the briefest of instants my entire being grew dark and once again I felt the same urges Alumni had as God of Chaos, but in this instance I would be justified for my desire to destroy.
"Your Majesty." I mocked with a light bow; she failed to take note of the signs, failed to heed the warnings pooling off me in waves, the tensing of my muscles the sudden lack of respect for 'Her position as ruler and overseer of the Hive Mind.'
Instinctively I raised my left hand and created a burst of electrical energies from my fingertips; this was unlike the energy released by Alumni, mine was a darker red in tone, which quickly swarmed her body covering it entirely as Palpatine's own Dark Side energies had to Luke Skywalker in Jedi. She was hurled away from my body and shattered upon the far wall; all power leaving her body and her head and shoulders falling to the wayside, her eyes glassed over in a daze.
"This can not be." She tried to speak, tried to correct my outburst. "You are…" She began only to trail off as she at last became aware of my outward demeanor and my lack of presence within the collective.
"I am not your mate…" I began frying the two drones who had been overseeing my assimilation; they died instantly and I knew no drone could adapt to my power. "I am also not one of your drones; I retain individuality and there is a distinct difference between your precious species of mindless automatons and my own, my new species of…" I paused searching my vast databanks for the correct terms to utilize and finding an appropriate and ironic term that would cut into her worse then if I had struck her with another more powerful blast of energy. "Perfection." I stated with a tiny smirk and a dangerous glint in my eye.
"Yes; you are perfection." She agreed attempting to call her body back together and failing. "You are my perfection." She stated possessively; I laughed darkly and softly regulating my tone so that it remained in a lower spectrum.
"I am my own perfection; you have succeeded your majesty." I mocked her with the term yet again. "Beyond your wildest expectations, but I will not help you create others of my kind; I will now leave and return to where I belong resist me if you can, but as you are so fond of pointing out… Resistance is Futile." I hissed before turning to the entrance and striding purposefully from the room; confident in the knowledge that she would let me go rather then risk further devastation of her precious Collective. Passing a room I spotted my torn Starfleet uniform; pausing only briefly to cover me up in as modest a means as I can, I resumed my search for the missing shuttle.
"That went better then I could have hoped." Q exclaimed gleefully clapping his hands together as he watched the young man tear apart several more drones with energy blasts; Queenie eyed the carnage fearfully, she knew what had happened the last time this human received great powers.
"Are you certain he will not stray from his path this time?" She asked pointedly; Q brushed her concerns aside and summoned a new image of the shuttle leaving the Cube it had been capture by, bursting forth from its dieing wreckage as if it were a mighty Phoenix.
"Relax my dear; assurances have been made, I've taken every precaution. He knows what Alumni did and I'm confident he will find a way to stay the course." He stated. "Besides; even if he does have problems adjusting at first dear Kathy will keep him in line, and he does have friends to help him further." He added with a merry twinkle in his eye; Queenie nodded accepting this, but secretly she decided to keep her own eye on this one without Q's knowledge. After all; he was the last best hope the entire Omniverse had to continuing as it was and not being lost to the chaotic whims of the ultimate nemesis.
To Be Continued... Some of my readers may be confused as to just exactly why Alain became a different Hybrid species of Borg... Or why he developed his extrasensory capabilities that no ordinary Borg Drone or even the Queen is capable of. These explanations should be had in time during the course of this tale, but there are certain things Q is responsible for that our dear hero won't be privy to until some time much later on in life.
In the next exciting chapter Al returns to Voyager; the Captain and the Doc are let in on the fact that he has been assimilated and of course Seven of Nine is called in to help classify this new Hybrid species. But more importantly you will see the reactions of his friends once they realize what has occured; and we shall begin the process of discovery, Al will begin to learn to master his new found powers.
One other note; this first chapter does jump around quite considerably in the beginning and for that I do appologize if it causes confusion, anyway do please Read & Review this chapter, let me know what you thought... But don't expect an update anytime in the next week or so.