Evolutions I: An Act of Betrayal
Part One
A beautiful blonde woman stood with her eyes closed on the dais of a mechanical alcove. Her eyes were closed as if she were asleep. A metallic implant covered her right eyebrow, and a starburst implant rested behind her ear. Her hand was also encased with a metallic exoskeleton. She was dressed in a deep blue bio suit that clung to her body tightly, almost as a second skin.
"Regeneration cycle complete," The feminine voice of the computer said, waking the woman from her trance.
Her name was Seven of nine tertiary adjunct to unimatrix 01, or Seven as the rest of the crew referred to her.
It was less than a year ago that Seven was freed from the Borg. A species of aliens that used technology to enslave the minds of anyone that was unfortunate enough to get assimilated into their collective mind.
Becoming an individual again had been difficult for the woman. Her speech patterns and general behavior seemed off putting to the rest of the crew. Some saw her behavior as rude, instead of a person struggling to fit in with a group of people that for all intents and purposes were alien to her.
Seven stepped out of her alcove into the huge expanse of cargo bay two. It was the only place aboard the starship Voyager that her alcove could be set up. The rest of the technology on Voyager was not compatible with her alcove, the one thing that she needed to live.
In exactly one hour she had to be ready for the senior staff meeting. Today was the day Seven would submit her formal request for a 2.35 power increase to Astrometrics.
As the Astrometrics officer aboard Voyager she felt that she needed as much extra power as possible to complete her scans and course recommendations.
Voyager was trapped in the delta quadrant, one of the four divisions of the universe. It was many light years from home and knowledge of the space they would be traveling through was of great importance. It was only recently that they had even begun to receive communications from the alpha quadrant, the home for the vast majority of the crew.
Seven had spent 2.3 hours the previous night researching the proper procedures and protocols for making a formal request. She felt confident that Lieutenant Torres, the Chief Engineer, would authorize it.
Chief Engineer B'Elanna Torres stood a head shorter than Seven. She had brown hair and light olive colored complexion. She also had a set of cranial ridges upon her brow, a sign of her mixed heritage.
She was one half human, and the other half Klingon, a warrior race. It influenced much of her personality including her short temper when she felt she was wronged.
It was unfortunate that everything that Seven seemed to do was able to provoke the other woman. They were both equally at fault for their current working relationship.
B'Elanna was angered by the way Seven always acted as if she knew better than the rest of the senior staff, her included. She also saw fit to question her orders in the presence of the rest of the crew.
Seven found B'Elanna to be irrational and quick to display emotions that she had no way to know how to deal with. Most of the time it confused Seven which led to her even shorter responses to the Lieutenant, with what the chief engineer called "Borg speech."
As Seven stepped out of Cargo Bay 2, she noticed two crew members walking past her, looking at her discreetly.
"It's just a machine," one whispered. "We store it in the cargo bay, and we use it when we have to."
"I know, but we let it go where ever it wants on the ship. Pretty soon it might actually think that it's human." The second crewman countered with a scowl, as Seven turned the corner.
'The majority of the crew suspends that type of conversation until they believe I can longer hear them.' Seven thought, frowning as she continued to the morning meeting.
Seven arrived at exactly 0855 hours to the ready room. It was the place where the senior staff always held their meetings. It was simply a separate room on the bridge which contained a table and chairs, enough to seat the senior staff.
She looked across the ready room to see Captain Kathryn Janeway. This was the woman that freed Seven from the Borg.
She was a short woman with brown hair that reached her shoulders. She was wearing a black jump suit with a red stripe across her shoulders which signified command and four pips along her collar to indicate her rank.
In the past Janeway had tired her best to help Seven adapt to life aboard Voyager and her new found individuality.
Lieutenant Torres was early for the meeting as well and was simply waiting quietly for everyone to arrive.
Mr. Neelix were early for the meeting as well. He was a short, stocky alien, native to the delta quadrant. He had small tufts of blonde hair on either side of his face, and bright yellow eyes.
He was given the job of moral officer, a task that had not existed until he came aboard. The man had quickly endeared himself to the rest of the crew with his optimistic behavior and willingness to listen to the problems of others.
Seven took her seat across from Lieutenant Torres and put her data pad down on the desk. She was usually greeted, or at least acknowledged, by the captain and Mr. Neelix whenever she entered the ready room, but this time she only received an angry glare from the pair of them.
Even though it disturbed her to receive such anger for simply entering a room Seven did not allow herself to show her discomfort. For the most part she ignored this strange and new behavior.
'At least Lieutenant Torres is behaving consistently.' Seven thought as she watched the Klingon hybrid looking down at her data pad.
The door opened to admit a laughing Lieutenant Tom Paris, Chief Pilot, and Ensign Harry Kim, Ops Officer, to enter the briefing room. Their merriment stopped as soon as they saw Seven, and they stared pointedly at her before taking their seats.
Tom Paris was a man of average height with sandy blonde hair. To many he was the slightly childish but entertaining chief pilot.
He was the son of Admiral Paris, his father, a highly respected man near the top of Starfleet. The scientific exploration organization they were all a part of.
Harry Kim was the Ops officer of Voyager. He was a young man of oriental decent that in the beginning of their mission was fresh out of Starfleet. For the most part he was a friendly but slightly shy individual that was always chasing after the impossible girl whom he had no chance of having a relationship with.
Commander Tuvok, Chief of Security, entered soon after and took his usual seat. He was a full blooded Vulcan, another warrior race that had to suppress their emotions before they hunted each other to the point of extinction.
Two of the most distinguishing features about the man were his pointed ears and eyebrows that grew in two straight lines above his eyes.
The last to arrive were Commander Chakotay and the doctor. Chakotay was the second in command of Voyager. He was also a former member of the Maquis along with B'Elanna.
His brow was marked with a tribal tattoo, proof of his native American heritage. He kept his dark hair cropped shortly and carried himself with a certain amount of stiffness that made it seem strange whenever he showed an overly enthusiastic reaction to anything.
The doctor was probably the most unique member of the crew. He was a hologram that replaced the original chief medical officer that had died when they were first stranded in the delta quadrant.
He wore a green uniform and had balding black head of hair. He had never thought to simply program himself to have a full head of hair.
His personality was at best abrasive. He was rude and seemed to have no bedside manner whatsoever, but he had gradually won the respect of the rest of the crew.
"Well, since everyone is here, let's begin," Captain Janeway said. She then gave Seven another cold stare. "Seven I trust that you have completed your report on the next area of space."
"Yes Captain. The next region of space is inhabited by species 67, the Socadan." Seven informed the senior staff. "They are a highly advanced race that believe in the pursuit of knowledge above all else. The Borg assimilated them on star date 75.3.1334, this was also..."
"That can't be right." interrupted Lieutenant Paris, "The information we've received shows that the planet has a population of 500 million. If what you are saying were true then there wouldn't be anything left on the planet." Paris argued in a challenging tone.
Seven let out a sigh as Paris continued his rant. She had accepted the fact that her relationship with the Voyager crew had not improved since her forcible removal from the Collective, but she was still unable to determine why. She glanced at Paris, but he seemed nowhere near the end of what could only be called a tirade. As she looked around the room it appeared the rest of the senior staff was content to allow Paris free rein.
After a few, endless, minutes Tom seemed to be drawing to a close. 'Finally,' Seven thought as she started to respond to his first question when she was cut off again, this time by Lieutenant B'Elanna Torres.
"SHUT UP! I've heard enough from you Paris! What would you know about alien civilizations or Borg assimilations anyway? The most intelligent thing I've ever seen you do is spell your name, and you can't even do that right half the time." B'Elanna snarled.
Paris's face turned dark red with anger, as he glowered at B'Elanna before responding, "At least I'm not some half breed trash, thinking they can fit in with rest of us."
"That is quite enough Lieutenant Torres." Captain Janeway said glaring at B'Elanna, completely ignoring the insulting remarks made by her chief pilot.
She then looked at Paris with a smirk and, in a sweet voice, said, "You have raised a valid point Tom, Seven's information doesn't come from the most trusted of sources."
Paris nodded, agreeing with the captain, and they both looked at B'Elanna and Seven with sneers on their faces.
On the inside B'Elanna was seething. 'What the hell does the captain think she's doing? First she lets everyone talk trash about Seven, after all the times she's saved us. She doesn't deserve this crap. She's proved to us that she can be trusted more times than I can count. Then Janeway lets Paris call me a half breed and acts like it's nothing.'
Commander Tuvok came to Seven's defense next. "Actually Captain, the information the Seven has given us has been consistently accurate." he said, trying to bring some order back to the meeting.
"Well her information may be correct but that doesn't mean she's telling us the truth, it wouldn't be the first time that IT lied to us." Commander Chakotay sneered, giving Seven a look of contempt.
Seven lowered her head sadly with a sigh. She had come to the conclusion a few weeks back that if she did not respond to the comments, or make eye contact with the senior staff, then they would eventually stop. After a few moments of silence Seven decided it was safe to continue.
"May I finish my report now?" Seven asked in a subdued tone, still not looking up at anyone.
B'Elanna gaped at the rest of the senior staff incredulously. The entire crew was treating her and Seven worse than dirt, and she had no idea why. She was not really sure when it had started but she could almost feel the hatred coming off the other people in the room, and it was only making her angrier.
She and Seven had done more for Voyager than anyone else. If anything happened to them Voyager probably wouldn't be able to survive half the hostile alien encounters that they ran into. It had come to the point that the only person she could have any kind of conversation without being insulted was Seven.
She smiled at Seven, hoping it would be enough to reassure her. Seven began to smile back but she was pinned by another glare from the captain.
"Proceed." Captain Janeway ordered curtly, as she turned and narrowed her eyes at B'Elanna before turning to face Seven again.
Seven nodded and continued her report. "The Socadan was one of the first races to be assimilated by the Borg, and also the only race ever able to bargain with them. Their brain chemistry was not compatible with the assimilation process. They were able to retain their individuality, while imposing their thoughts directly onto the hive mind. The queen saw this as a threat and attempted to deactivate the Socadan drones, but they were able to block all of the queen's commands, forcing a stalemate. Eventually an agreement was reached. The Borg would release all the Socadan, and leave Socadan space permanently. In exchange the Socadan would not interfere with the Collective's plan to assimilate other species."
"Do you really expect us to believe the Borg would negotiate, let alone actually keep their word?" Chakotay said, looking at Seven as if she was out of her mind.
"The Borg will only attempt to re-assimilate or destroy the Socadan if they are able to adapt the assimilation process, or if Socadan intervene when the Borg assimilate another species." Seven responded, ignoring the interruption.
To be continued....