Chapter 7

Part 1

Seven-of-Nine powered back the engines of the vessel she currently piloted, the small shuttlecraft Sacajawea which until recently had belonged to the USS Voyager, intrepid by class and intrepid by nature. She had been running the warp engines at over 150% of authorised tolerance in a bid to catch up with the starship, and even with her best efforts at modification the warp coils had begun to creak. Even so, Voyager was under twenty-four hours away now, and the intelligent young woman had yet to come up with a plan.

The operation was made more difficult as she simply had no idea what had occurred aboard the ship in her absence. All attempts to raise the Doctor through his emergency channel had failed, and Seven did not want to risk alerting the rest of the crew. Perhaps nothing too extreme had happened yet, she considered, though judging by the fact that Voyager's "Captain" was currently some kind of impostor and that the real Kathryn Janeway was lying unconscious in the aft compartment of the Sacajawea, that seemed unlikely. Whilst the blonde ex-Borg coolly checked the heading and sensor readings, she became aware of a small sound, a voice, and in that moment her spirits rose and her heart skipped a beat. Turning the controls over to the computer, she hurried to Janeway's side.

"Report." Weak and distant, Voyager's true Captain still managed to inject a note of authority into her command. Seven knelt by her side, scanning the older woman with a medical tricorder.

"Please remain still, Captain. You are damaged. Do you know where you are?"

Janeway's eyelids fluttered, and Seven thought she might fade away again, but then her eyes opened slightly wider, the colour a faded grey. "Shuttlecraft," she muttered, attempting to raise herself up onto one elbow. The blanket that covered her slipped down, revealing a good portion of the Captain's breasts, and she looked down with a bemused expression. "Why am I naked?" she murmured, the tone dazed. Then, with a slight sigh, she collapsed once again onto the sleeping roll.

Part 2

Harry Kim strode through the corridors with a confidence that was all on the outside. Internally he was scared stiff, and freely admitted it to himself. He carried no weapon, for even though Voyager was in a state of 'mutiny', for a bridge officer to carry a phaser around would have drawn suspicion, and that was the last thing the young Ensign wanted to do. Steeling himself and putting on a command face, or so he hoped, Kim entered the main brig. Without hesitation he walked up to the surprised security officer who was on guard duty.

"The Captain's ordered me to interrogate the prisoners. Lower the force field, crewman." Harry was actually quite surprised when his order was obeyed smartly without comment, and Kim looked the young man in the eye, sorry at what he was about to do. "Wait outside, please," he ordered, and once again the crewman made to obey, walking towards the main door, albeit with a phaser rifle held competently in his arms. Kim quickly wheeled about and felled the yellow-clad security officer with a judicious blow to the side of his head, earning himself a few bruised fingers in the process. Satisfied that the man wasn't seriously injured and muttering an apology, Kim turned and, for the first time, allowed himself to meet the eyes of the so-called mutineers.

Part 3

The ex-Borg retrieved a hypospray from a medical kit and programmed it quickly. Under normal circumstances she doubted that the Doctor would ever allow anyone to revive Janeway whilst she was in this state, but these were far from normal circumstances. Resourceful though she was, Seven-of-Nine needed her Captain, functioning in mind if not body. Crouching once again, she injected medication into Janeway's neck, the older woman not even flinching. After a minute, Janeway opened her eyes once again and Seven noted a measure of alertness that had not been present before.

"This is a shuttlecraft," came the husky voice with a hint of wryness. Managing to pull herself to a sitting position with the younger woman's aid, Janeway looked around her. "The Sacajawea. Why – what?…oh. Oh, no." The Captain's eyes suddenly locked onto Seven's with a fierce intensity, and her arms reached out, grasping the Borg's shoulders with complete disregard for the fact that her upper body was now completely bare.

"I threw you off Voyager," Janeway said slowly, fighting to keep the emotion from her voice and for once not succeeding. "I was angry, mean, I said things…"

"No," replied Seven firmly, tears pooling in the corners of her own eyes now, matching those of Janeway's. "You didn't, Captain. I believe that you were somehow replaced by an alien impostor, who was linked to you telepathically in order to retain your memories and take command of the ship. You…you were imprisoned in a device…"

Seven's voice choked off as she remembered how pitiful Janeway had appeared when she had opened the chamber, and the young woman slumped forward, fighting for breath. She hadn't been certain of her feelings for the Captain until now, but in this moment there was no doubt. Then, as she struggled to regain her composure, she felt two slender arms snake around her as Janeway, ignoring the pain it must have caused her due to her injuries, pulled her close and held her tightly, the blonde head resting on the Captain's shoulder.

Part 4

In this room, Voyager's main brig and the most secure place on the ship, Janeway had placed the officers deemed to be most dangerous, and Harry couldn't help but see why. B'Elanna Torres was cursing loudly, a stream of Klingon epithets issuing from her lips in a hiss as she approached the Ensign with fury in her eyes. At the last second she was held back by Chakotay, with Paris clinging ineffectually to the feisty woman's other arm. Lieutenant Tuvok also rose to his feet, the slender security chief eyeing Kim dispassionately. There were already several panels open in various places with components hanging out, obviously having been hidden from view somehow, and Tuvok held the beginnings of some sort of device in his hands.

"Harry?" said Chakotay warily, and Kim glanced at the door to make sure nobody was eavesdropping before he spoke.

"Sir, I'm sorry about before, I – I didn't know what was going on. Commander, the Captain's out of control, she attacked a ship, stole a propulsion device. We've got to do something, and fast!"

"Calm down, Harry," came the First Officer's reply, in a quiet tone that bore no malice. "Where is Janeway now?"

"In engineering, trying to integrate the device into Voyager's systems. She has extra security teams patrolling the ship, they don't know what's going on either, but I think they're getting suspicious." Kim was on the verge of losing control, and Paris took his arm, steering him to a low bench that doubled as a sleeping platform.

"C'mon, Harry, get a grip. What's the plan, Chakotay?" the young helmsman turned to the senior officer. It was Torres who spoke first, though, all sign of anger gone as she outlined a simple plan. In fact, plans don't get much simpler, but the ex-Maquis had learned the hard way that the more complicated things were, the more can go wrong.

"Chakotay and I'll go to engineering through the Jeffries tubes; it's only two decks away and must be seriously undermanned. We'll grab Janeway, or whoever the hell it is, 'cause between us I've got my doubts, and bring her back here. Tuvok, can you and Tom convince some of your men that it's the Captain who's the threat, not us?"

The Vulcan paused for a moment before replying. "I believe so. News should have already spread regarding the Captain's attack and subsequent theft."

"Let's do it," agreed Chakotay, pushing Kim gently towards the door. "Harry, get back to the bridge, see if you can raise the Sacajawea – quietly."

With a minimum amount of fuss, the young Ensign scooped up the phaser rifle from the deck and tossed it to Torres. The group split up and went their separate ways, knowing that if they failed they would likely not get a second chance.