* 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. *

B'Elanna Torres was standing behind the warp core diagnostic station with a couple of padd's, working on more efficient ways for recycling injector coolant. Although being eight months pregnant she never wanted to take a day off. She thought she could spend the morning distracting herself from the fact that her ankles had swollen to Klingon proportions. A little engineering math was certainly nothing Tom would complain about. Plus she didn't exactly want to get her hands dirty today.

Ensign Mulcahey delivered a padd that the Chief Engineer had previously requested, "Lieutenant."

"Thanks." She stacked it on top of the other two in her hand. She had to brush up on her chemistry, as pregnancy didn't help with remembering things.

The intercom buzzed in Engineering. It was the Captain's voice. "Lieutenant Torres please report to the Main Shuttle Bay."

She looked up from her padd's and sighed. She knew she may not be able to avoid getting her hands dirty after all.

Inside the Shuttle Bay Ensign Harry Kim and Lieutenant Tom Paris were examining the small craft that had belonged to the alien in Sickbay. The radiation had been neutralized by the resonance pulse of the tractor beam. Their tricorders were registering highly localized electromagnetic fluctuations around every square millimeter of the hull. Tom theorized, "That would be a good way to deflect sensors."

"Not a very sophisticated cloak, though," Harry added. "You can see this thing with optical sensors up to a light year." He points his tricorder around the bow. "This alloy is mostly gold, lined with nickel-titanium and carbon fibers."

Tom stopped his readings for a moment. "You know, that sounds like the kind of alloys used in 20th century spacecraft."

"What ever is producing this insane EM field is certainly not 20th century technology," Harry deemed necessary to point out. The two walked around the cigar-shaped craft and hadn't noticed B'Elanna had entered the shuttle bay. "I still can't seem to find anything that looks like a propulsion system."

"That's because you're not an engineer, Harry."

Tom's face lifted at the sight of his beautiful wife. He found her to be ever more attractive as the pregnancy progressed. "Good morning, sunshine."

"Glad you could join us." Harry smiled. It had been a while since he'd seen a woman with a child growing inside her, not since Ensign Wildman had Naomi. He was delighted to see B'Elanna like this. He wondered how long it would be before the day came when he had his own family. He knew it would happen eventually.

"What have we got here?" B'Elanna was quite curious about this strange ship behind them. An engineering mystery like this might be worth getting those hands dirty.

"That, is what we can't seem to figure out." Tom's reluctance to say with certainty was obvious. "We think it's a ship."

"We think." Harry said sarcastically.

Even without a tricorder, the Chief Engineer had already discovered something interesting about the craft. "Hmmm, now what's this? A thruster assembly port?" Looking around the port side, she scoured away space dust that had clustered together in the shape of the magnetic field surrounding it. Learning from B'Elanna's example, Tom did the same on the starboard side, revealing a starboard thruster port. Clearing away the strange dust helped improve the sensor resolution from the tricorder.

"I found something." Harry's tricorder beeped with new data. "I'm picking up a low-band subspace signal. It's transmitting a distress call."

"Still?" B'Elanna queried.

"Let me see if I can shut it down." The others didn't object since obviously this distress call was received and acknowledged. Harry made several calculations in his head, decrypting the ship's file system to access the emergency subroutines. He quickly executed the correct command and the ship ceased transmitting. "Got it."

"Okay let's see if we can take a peek inside." Tom began running his fingers along the hull, looking for a button, a switch, anything that might do something. He found nothing.

Now that Harry had access to the ships systems, he wanted to see what was in its database. "There's not much in the database, just a few encrypted files." He discovered something that made him grimace. He slightly groaned, although he knew he'd find something like this. "Wait a minute, this is a Borg encryption algorithm."

B'Elanna looked calm and confident at the news. "Don't do anything else. Just download the database and we'll look at it later."

It didn't make sense to Tom. This ship didn't look Borg at all. "Borg don't have escape pods, do they?"

"I don't think so." Harry was also puzzled by the discovery.

The three continued their analysis of the strange ship. Though the algorithm was the most significant discovery, they couldn't find a hatch or even a docking port. It was built like a true cylinder, cupped at both ends, nothing protruding. It had a smooth silver-looking surface. But a closer analysis revealed microscopic patterns that lined the entire hull. One could say it was like a fish with very tiny scales. The thruster ports they had seen earlier weren't thruster ports, they were a unique housing for what ever kind of engine powered the ship. It seemed the only way they could know this ship any better would be from the pilot.

The Doctor hummed his 187th favorite aria in a well-programmed tone. He placed beakers inside centrifuges while his DNA analysis of the alien continued, finding many more interesting things about the creature. He admired beings that design themselves with cybernetic implants. His programmed empathy for all lifeforms included those that embrace integrated technology as a tool for improvement. In spite of the Borg's insidious endeavors, he still had a certain respect for that form of life.

He put surgical instruments on a tray, organizing them by order of common usage. Setting them down he noticed the little grey guy sitting upright, looking very confused. The Doctor was all too happy to welcome him aboard. He thought first he would call his Captain to Sickbay. "Janeway to Sickbay. Our friend is, awake."

"Acknowledged."

Walking up to greet him, The Doctor kept calm and peaceful with a chipper grin. "Hello. You're on board Voyager, we rescued you after responding to your distress call. You're going to be just fine. I've healed your wounds."

The skinny alien remained quiet. Its transparent eyelids flickered open and shut repeatedly for a moment. He seemed rather groggy and disoriented. Only after a few moments did he acknowledge the Doctor's presence. "Photonic?" He spoke in a low tone and a crackling voice, as if he were actually much older than he appeared to be.

"That's exactly right! I see you're quite adept with holography."

He didn't respond right away but kept staring at the Doctor. "The matrix is easily rendered." Eyelids flickered much faster after he noticed the Doctor appeared to have been insulted.

In the interest of good relations, he kept his damaged pride to himself. He was relieved when the Captain had arrived.

"What's his condition?"

"As far as I can tell he's perfectly fine. The plasma burns have healed remarkably quickly. Compared to humans his cellular regeneration rate is over a hundred times faster, which is probably his secret to such smooth skin."

"Can I talk to him?"

"Aside from a little grogginess he appears to be lucid. But he doesn't seem like much of a social fly."

She stepped forward closer to the alien with caution, trying to mask her seemingly irrational nervousness about the situation.

"I am Captain Janeway, you're on my ship. Can you tell me who you are? What happened to you?"

The alien struggled to come up with words. It seemed quite uncomfortable attempting to speak. "Humans?" He paused for a long moment, eyelids jolting up and down at a bee wing rate, then ceased, apparently shocked to see humans at all. "I am the third of a triad. I... We... crashed, on a mission."

Janeway kept an intent eye on the creature. Its breathing was heavy, she didn't want to push too hard, too fast. "Where are the others? The other two?"

"They... are dead."

She didn't want to upset the alien further so she quickly changed the subject. "Where did you crash? What was your mission?"

"Our mission was to watch... you."

"Me?"

"Humans."

Her mind went to the many times an alien species liked to observe us. The phase shifted aliens that gave her the worst migraine any human had ever endured came to mind. The Doctor was eavesdropping and couldn't help but provide a commentary, "How lucky for him to find the only human vessel in thousands of light years."

"Doctor!" He paced away and returned to his beakers. "I don't understand. You were watching Voyager?"

"Not Voyager. Earthlings." The tiny alien let out a brief sigh, as if remorse had begun to overpower his thoughts. "We crashed on Earth. Humans found us, took us, disassembled us. Our mission was observation. One and Two became angry. Told Humans, if we give them our fuel to make spaceship, they would let us leave. They took our ship, took it apart. We were imprisoned." Sickbay computers began beeping loudly.

"Doctor."

The Doctor scanned the alien, still attempting to continue with his story. "Humans took One and Two also. They were not treated fairly. I escaped. Built my own ship to leave. But Borg discovered my signature. I tried to make false signature but failed. They intercepted. My ship has gravity drive, destabilized the transwarp conduit. The Borg and my ship deposited in delta quadrant, into the... future." At that point it became nearly unbearable to speak. The Doctor intervened.

"I'm sorry Captain, his vitals are fluctuating. I'll have to ask you to leave."

"Alright." Janeway exits Sickbay in a state of mild bewilderment. But the first thing she thought about was the Borg. She tapped her communicator, "Janeway to the Bridge."

Chakotay responds, "Bridge here."

"I want constant sensor sweeps for Borg transwarp signatures. And I want that force field in the Shuttle Bay increased to level 10. Have Seven of Nine meet me in the Shuttle Bay."

"Aye, Captain." He looked at Tuvok and nodded, giving the order.

The crew developed a tension that could be felt through the air. The sweat on the consoles, being under constant red alert, waiting for the Borg to come and assimilate them. But the gloom never lasted long. On a ship this small, each man and woman knew each other like family. Each one could predict the other. With time and friendship, the crew of Voyager stopped feeling anxiety. They were professional space explorers, and there was a profound safety with confidence in those around them. Even in the face of the Collective, the Voyager collective stood strong.