* Disclaimer. I don't own Star Trek. Although how cool would that be? This is just something I do for fun and not for money. Okay now that's out of the way, on to the nerdy stuff. *

Janeway sipped her cup of coffee while staring at the stars as they whizzed by at warp speed. It was nearly 0800. Before she could officially start her duty shift, she remained calm and quiet in preparation for the day. The hot coffee filled her veins with satisfaction. She became more alert and focused. After seven years in the delta quadrant, her morning cup was usually accompanied by a feeling of euphoria.

A communication notification chimed just before Tuvok's voice permeated her ready room, "Captain to the bridge." Without a moments hesitation, she cracked a brief smile and walked toward the bridge with her delicious coffee still in hand.

"Report."

Tuvok's console tones clicked with a noticeable Vulcan efficiency while he delivered his report as requested. "We are being hailed by an unknown vessel in this sector. It is a small vessel, approximately 12 meters in length, likely a shuttlecraft from a larger ship. Our sensors cannot penetrate its hull."

Tom Paris offered the Captain information provided by the helm. "That ship is adrift, it doesn't look like it's powered at the moment."

It never took much of a mystery to pique Janeway's curiosity. She debated shortly on her next course of action, but after so long as her friend and shipmate, Tuvok had already prepared to answer the hail. "All stop. On screen."

On the large bridge monitor appeared a small and naked, humanoid alien. Its skin was grey in pigment, with large oval eyes completely black. It appeared emaciated or ill with what seemed to be plasma burns on its face and neck. Strange technology protruded outward from the alien's rather large head and emitted pulses of light as if they were damaged.

Janeway began her usual greeting, though with a feeling of empathy toward the alien.

"I am Captain Kathryn Janeway of the Federation Starship Voyager responding to your distress call. Are you in need of assistance?"

"Kathryn Janeway. Voyager. Need assistance." The naked alien appeared to have lost consciousness, falling over to reveal the ships internal condition. The internal structure looked very badly damaged, perhaps as a result of combat. Uncontrolled fires alongside damaged bulkheads quickly appeared and disappeared behind the falling alien. The transmission was abruptly cut off, shortly after the alien fell.

"Janeway to transport room, beam the alien to Sickbay."

"Acknowledged."

Seven of Nine had been standing in front of the sensor console behind the first officer. "Captain."

"What is it Seven?"

"I recognize this species. Species 3527, the Okari. They were one of only two species that had willingly given themselves to the Borg. Captain it is extremely unlikely to encounter an Okari severed from the collective."

Ensign Kim had reached a conclusion from his sensor readings almost immediately after the transmission was cut off. "Captain I was just able to scan beyond the hull after the alien lost consciousness. He's the only one aboard. I couldn't see anything that looked like a propulsion system. But what ever was blocking our sensors is blocking them again."

Tuvok also had more important readings to offer the Captain. "I am detecting residual ionized radiation emanating from all sides of the craft."

"Raise shields." She directed her attention at the Operations officer as she walked around her bridge to issue more orders. "Ensign, lock on a tractor beam to the alien vessel and tractor it in to Shuttle Bay 2. Erect a level five force field around the Shuttle Bay just to be safe."

"Aye, Captain."

"Commander, you have the bridge. Tuvok, Seven."

The three entered the turbo-lift. Janeway turned toward Seven when the turbolift doors automatically closed. "Deck 5." She turned toward Seven with a curious eye. Although Seven predicted her next question, she had learned from the Doctor that volunteering information without being asked was something that annoyed humans, despite the Doctor doing so, religiously. "Seven, what more can you tell me about the Okari?"

"They evolved on a K class planet in a binary star system located within the beta quadrant. They have superior mathematical and analytical capability, moderately telepathic and limited physical prowess. They designed themselves to be the most efficient data processing drones and nothing more."

"But why would they freely give themselves to the Borg?"

"Their motive was not relevant. However I believe it was because they had an affinity for cybernetic life forms as they themselves had also created technology incorporating a vast consciousness accessible by anyone with a synaptic processor."

She took a moment to visualize such a species. It fascinated her and, at the same time left her in profound bewilderment. "They created their own collective?"

"Correct."

"Were there any Okari that didn't join the Borg?"

"None of which I am aware. The Okari left their system and traveled a vast distance to integrate themselves with the Borg."

"It would seem they had reached a consensus." Tuvok explained.

Seven lifted her eye at the Vulcan. "Perhaps."

Janeway thought it to be completely irrational; who would seek out the Borg? Her bias remained silent, as she was reminded of the Binars from the alpha quadrant. They operated as two minds working together, finishing each others' sentences, doubling their work capacity, and all interfaced with one enormous computer. She considered the Binars to be a deeply fascinating culture, but so far it seemed the two species were completely different in their way of thinking. The only thing the Captain could focus on at this point was to determine whether the Okari were as benign as the Binars or as malevolent as the Borg.

The three exited the turbolift and walked toward Sickbay. Inside the Doctor had already scanned the alien whom was still was lying unconscious in the biobed and began downloading this new medical data into the ships computer with his tricorder.

Janeway gazed at the stark-looking features of this tiny humanoid creature. He couldn't have been more than a hundred centimeters tall. He gave Janeway a feeling of familiarity by his appearance. Something about him made Janeway uncertain about his intentions. "Doctor, report."

"This little grey fellow has a nasty concussion, but his neural network appears to be regenerating. Other than that, he seems to be in perfect health."

"How soon can you wake him?"

"In no less than 30 minutes it will be safe to revive him. I'm still learning more about his physiology. He is quite an interesting one. His DNA has nanomarkers identifying each chromosome and sending that information outward from his body using a specific subspace frequency. If I didn't know better, I'd say this was Borg technology."

Seven of Nine broke in with an explanation. "The Borg assimilated that technology approximately 180 years ago with the addition of this species distinction. They fashioned it for processor clustering."

The Doctor resumes his report. "I've also found something interesting about his brain."

But again, Seven of Nine interrupted him. "Its brain contains five frontal lobes each with its own synaptic processor to function as a complete lattice within its cerebral cortex. It allows the creature to increase its intelligence quotient based on the amount of data required to process."

The Doctor became annoyed, but his interpersonal skills had much improved after seven years of being active. "As I was saying, although he appears to be unconscious he is actually quite conscious. These tricorder readings provide the proof that he's not merely dreaming but he is actually aware of his surroundings and interpreting that information in a holodeck-like state." He half turned toward Seven. "You may also be interested to know this species lacks any sort of gender but I felt it rather dispassionate to refer to him as 'it'."

Janeway took one more look at the unconscious Okari lying helplessly on the biobed. She couldn't help but wonder how this strange species will react to the being aboard Voyager. After all, he did seek assistance, and there was no indication of hostility from his ship. Perhaps it was something else, the feeling of Borg nearby. She resisted the urge to fidget with her comm badge. Although she felt as if she wasn't able to justify the distrust for the alien, she had to rely on her instincts. "Tuvok." She stepped aside toward the Doctor's science station, Tuvok followed his Captain inside. After what she had just learned, she felt she needed a bit more privacy. "I want security around Sickbay before he regains consciousness, there's no telling what he is capable of."

Tuvok nodded in acknowledgement and was compelled to speak his mind. "Captain, given Seven of Nine's statements about the Okari's origin and the Doctors assessment of its physiology, I recommend going to red alert for the duration of its time here." He provided an emphasis on "its" while eying the Doctor.

She looked into the eyes of her security officer and grinned. "It's nice to know I'm not alone in my paranoia."

"Paranoia refers to a kind of human intuition. I am simply deducing the probability of hostility based on this species' established traits."

"You're right. That sounds like suspicion to me." She joked with a smirk. "Computer, red alert."

The lights dimmed as defensive and weapon systems came online. Red lights along the corridors flashed briefly as crewmen scattered to their posts. Lieutenant Commander Tuvok returned to the bridge.

"Seven, I want you to work with the Doctor and get more information about its physiology. Let me know the moment he regains consciousness."

"Understood," Seven said, and walked toward a medical locker.

The Captain made her way out of Sickbay and back to the turbo-lift. On her way she thought about the hail that ended abruptly. The sounds and visions were typical of a distress call. It seemed like this alien was not of Borg origin. Had she known better she might have been convinced this creature had no affiliation with the Borg at all. Its implants were barely noticeable, as if it had been removed from the Collective with ease. It didn't seem to want to assimilate them, which was the kind of behavior she expected from a species that had willingly let themselves be annihilated by the impenitent Collective. But there was something else about its obvious distress. It seemed to know her, by name. It wasn't really all that surprising to the infamous Captain, known throughout the quadrant and a permanent memory in every drone. But it made her more cautious. The eerie feeling cramped her stomach. She knew this little guy wasn't after an autograph.

Her Ready Room doors hissed open. The replicator tirelessly produced her favorite blend for another round. "Second cup already, this is going to be a long day." Before she could take her first gulp, a medium frequency beep signified an officer wanting inside her ready room.

"Come in." She poured the hot coffee quickly.

Chakotay entered with his casual smile. "Second cup already? It might be quicker to just imbibe intravenously."

She gave him a big smile and chuckled. "A hypospray filled with coffee, huh? The Doctor's matrix might destabilize at that idea."

"We wouldn't want to go through that again." He said with a humorous eye. His calming smile slightly diminished. His thoughts were reflected in his cheek.

"What's on your mind, Chakotay?"

"Anything about our latest guest seem odd to you?"

Many years had brought the Captain and her first officer closer in trust with every obstacle the delta quadrant could throw at them. The connection was borderline telepathic, and for that reason she wasn't at all surprised that his question was exactly parallel to her thoughts. "Oddly enough, this situation is giving me a strange gut feeling. I just hope this day doesn't end with an armored cube chasing us around the quadrant."

"Let's hope." He shifted his position, clearly about to display the reason for his visit. "There was something about its face. It reminded me of Lifton's Exoarchaeology class back at Starfleet Academy. There was a very ambitious student, very smart, top of the class. Well he had this idea that Vulcan's weren't the first alien species to come into contact with humans."

That caught her off guard. It was a very interesting idea. "Oh? Our friend in Sickbay?"

He nodded a confirming gesture. "An ancient human civilization, the Sumerians, believed that a Sky God called the Anunnaki came from the stars and taught them advanced technology, even bred with humans. I also remember how the student came in one day with a clay sculpted statue that he said was a 6,000 year old Sumerian sculpture of the Anunnaki. Our sleeping guest reminded me of that sculpture."

Intrigued, she wanted to know more. "You think there could be a connection?"

"To tell you the truth I don't know. But when the alien awakes this could be an opportunity to solve a mystery that's interested me for a long time."

She sat back in her chair and revolved slightly with both hands still clasping her cup. "Then it's settled. Congratulations, Ambassador. Your knowledge and expertise of the Okari, or should I say, Anunnaki, will prove to be our best bet for a successful 'second contact'. Plus Seven still needs to work on her diplomacy skills."

Chakotay stood with a smile and straightened his uniform. "You read my mind."