DISCLAIMER: It's Paramount's galaxy.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: C/7. AU where the Voyager crew is assimilated by the Borg during the episode "Scorpion-Part II" and Chakotay finds himself part of the Unimatrix Zero resistance.
I've decided to try something different for me and write the five AUs from "Possibilities" simultaneously. I'll post the first chapter "teaser" for each over the next few days and then go from there (expanded from what was in the original). Reviews are always welcome.
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THE BORG INSURGENCY
Stardate 51004.7
My arm hurts. My eye. I feel detached from my body. Floating. Darkness. Voyager is in danger, but I'm trapped in this sea of black.
"He's regenerating," a male voice says, sounding both distant and yet close at hand.
The voice draws me back. My senses begin to return. I feel humidity in the air and pressure on my back. I'm lying down and it's warm. I suddenly hear the murmurs of those who must be around me, as if the volume in my ears was turned on. Other indistinct sounds filter in that make me feel I'm in a forest, or a jungle. There is sunlight on my face and I can see the red in my eyelids. I feel at peace, something I haven't felt in quite some time.
"Open your eyes Commander," a female voice interrupts my thoughts. Her voice is strong, yet soothing. She seems to know me although I don't recognize the voice. Not quite anyway. But wait, there's something urgent pressing on my mind. Nagging me for attention… The Borg are attacking. Voyager is in danger.
I open my eyes with a start and try to sit up. I feel different. Leaden. The young woman is gently restraining my shoulder as if to say there's no need to struggle. I look into her eyes and see sympathy and concern. She's beautiful, and although I'm sure I don't know her, she does appear vaguely familiar. It's the eyes. Her blue eyes draw me in. There are others gathered around me of many different species. Some species I know, a mix from both the alpha and delta quadrants, others are completely alien. One in particular from a species I don't recognize is kneeling down just behind the woman.
"This is pointless Annika," he says. He's the one who spoke when I first awoke. "We don't retain our memories. We should be content in this sanctuary."
"Some of us do retain fragments," the woman responds glancing over her shoulder and then returns her attention to me. My head is clearing and I remember what was going on before the blackness. A battle. The transwarp conduit had opened almost right on top of us. Too many of them.
"Where am I?" I ask. "What's happened to my ship, Voyager?"
The woman hesitates. "I believe Voyager has been assimilated by the Borg," she states.
My worst fears have been realized. I knew it had been a mistake to ally ourselves with the Borg, but Kathryn had insisted. How could she trust the Borg? And where was I now? Who are these people who have rescued me? Were they able to rescue others from Voyager? I'm distracted, still groggy. The woman is studying my face. She appears human and had been called Annika. Annika? Before I could ask the many questions swirling in my head, she starts speaking again.
"Commander Chakotay," she says. She asks it almost as if it is a question.
"You know my name?"
After my reply she sighs and nods rapidly. "I do. You have also been assimilated. You are now in a virtual construct we refer to as Unimatrix Zero. Only one in a million drones have the recessive gene to come here. Before you move. Before you get up we need for you to go back and try to establish a link between here and the real world."
The man behind her stands and appears annoyed. Others in the group talk to one another in hushed tones.
"How?" I mutter, not fully understanding. There's urgency in her voice, however, and I feel compelled to help. Did she say I was assimilated? I look down at my arms and chest and see I'm wearing my uniform.
"Sometimes, when the cycle is interrupted for a newcomer, they retain pieces of knowledge of Unimatrix Zero in the real world. You have been recently assimilated. By interrupting your cycle now, you might be able to break through the drone programming and enable a way for the rest of us here to do the same."
"It will be a risk to us all," the man states irritated, but directs his comment towards the woman and not me.
How could I possibly know how to do what she asks? Voyager assimilated? Its crew now drones? She places her hand again on my shoulder. She must have understood my thoughts.
"Find me when you wake," she says with urgency. "I will be on the same cube as you. Find me. Make me remember."
"Who are you?" I ask. She seems so familiar, and yet I can't place from where.
She looks down, as if embarrassed or ashamed. The man close behind her is frowning, but offers no further opposition. He's preparing something in his hands that I can't see. Finally, the woman looks back up at me, her piercing blue eyes now filled with sadness.
"You know me," she states. "I think I'm the one who assimilated you. I'm Seven of Nine, Tertiary adjunct of Unimatrix Zero-One."
Seven of Nine! Yes, I now see the resemblance. As I suspected. As I knew they would do. She betrayed us, and when we returned from fluidic space, the Borg were waiting. How could Kathryn have been so reckless? "You!" I gasp.
Seven of Nine, Annika, or whoever she was pulls back. I realize I must have a look of disgust on my face now. I cannot hide the horror I feel. She seems sad and hurt.
"Let's get this over with," the man behind her says. I see now what's in his hand. It's a crudely made knife fashioned from a black stone, perhaps obsidian. He brings it up to my throat and slashes it to the side. I expect to feel pain. To feel the edge of the blade slice through my skin. But I feel nothing, or I should say, not the pain I expect.
I'm now standing in a recession. The light is dim and before me is a railing and then a great expanse. Indeterminate geometric forms and a lattice cover the far side of the space. It appears both comforting and ominous to me, but I can't explain why. There's a pulsing sound in rhythm with the brightness of the light overhead. All of it so strange, and yet familiar. And then it hits me. I know exactly where I am. My surroundings come into focus with this revelation. It's all true. I'm in a regeneration alcove on a Borg ship. My alcove. There's a voice in my head telling me something.
Two of One-sixteen. Regeneration not complete.
I feel heavy again, but of a different kind. I look down at my arm, and instead of a hand I see an appendage shaped like a tool. It appears to be a plasma inductor. Actually, I know it's a plasma inductor and am familiar with its function. I know I am Two of One-sixteen and I know my function. I step forward out of my alcove and look to my right. There are a dozen or more alcoves stretching to the end of the corridor. Most are filled with drones. The closest drone to me looks familiar, and then I realize why. It's Ensign Harry Kim from Voyager's crew. His black hair now gone, and a Borg instrument attached to his left eye and covering half his skull. His usual smile erased and replaced by an impassive frown. The sight of him this way makes me angry.
Two of One-sixteen. Regeneration not complete.
I feel a pull to move back into my alcove, but am still able it exert my will and remain where I am. It is as if my mind is split in two. The Borg can access only a portion of my thoughts and I have control over the rest. I look the other way down the corridor and see more alcoves. More Voyager crew members. Tom, Vorik, Cathal. All of them tucked away in their own alcoves. Motionless. Regenerating. I have a fleeting thought to step up to them and terminate their regeneration cycles as well. But something stops me. What was it that Annika said? My situation is unique. One in a million drones have the defect to reach Unimatrix Zero, and perhaps that defect is what allows me to retain my consciousness and some level of control. It is likely the other Voyager crew members don't have that ability. She asked me to establish a link between Unimatrix Zero and the real world. This is precisely what Annika was hoping for. Now what?
Two of One-sixteen. Regeneration not complete.
I realize I've stepped back into my alcove. Something my body just did… the other half of my mind. I need to stay hidden and gather information for now. Find out more of where I am and what has happened since Voyager's assimilation. Find Seven of Nine, or rather, find Annika buried within Seven of Nine. If I don't always comply with the Collective, the Borg would eventually become cognizant of my independent consciousness.
Two of One-sixteen. Regeneration not complete.
I no longer have a choice if I'm to stay hidden. I must comply. We are Borg.