Seven felt every muscle in her body freeze in place as Chakotay's whisper of her name, well her designation, echoed in her ears undeniably. She felt her lips part in astounded disbelief as she stared at him, not exactly appearing how he had on Voyager by any means, but admittedly neither did she. "Comm…Commander?" She choked out, not quite willing to trust her instincts enough to say anything further, lest the bubble burst.

He beamed at her, his dimpled smile showing so much happiness and relief to see her that she felt herself begin to blush furiously. "Seven!" he exclaimed joyfully, "Thank God! What's happened to us?"

"We're…" Seven began but was unceremoniously interrupted by a confused sounding B'Elanna.

"Do you know her Chakotay?" she asked sceptically as her gaze flicked between her old friend and the strange blonde, who had addressed him by a Starfleet rank of all things.

Chakotay flung her a sympathetic look, after all he seemed to be friends with B'Elanna in this reality too, and said in his most calm yet no-nonsense tone, "Yes B'Elanna, she is."

"How exactly?" Seska asked shrilly, "You're grinning at her like some sort of clown!"

Chakotay pointedly ignored her but Seven shifted uncomfortably under her accusatory glare as Tom's eyes scanned the newcomer's body appreciatively and he chuckled at Seska, "Any man would grin at her Seska."

Seven's face paled at the name, familiar from her study of Voyager mission logs, and quickly glanced at Chakotay, who nodded darkly at her, even as Seska shrieked angrily at Tom, "I don't know what gives you the right to intervene, you collaborating scum…"

Seven took action before Tom even had a chance to retort, going to the door and calling sharply for the guard, who materialized at her side almost immediately. "Yes Dr Hansen?" he inquired politely.

"I'd like Seska to be removed from this interview immediately, I did not request her presence here and she is being disruptive." Seven stated in a harsh and unequivocal tone.

"She was one of the leaders of the Maquis mission to the Badlands ma'am; we thought her input would be of use to your study…" The guard began to explain while glaring at Seska.

Seven cut him off. "She won't be, in any way. Remove her." She didn't bother keeping the venom from her voice or her glare as Seska was quickly dragged from the room by the guard, much to Chakotay's visible relief and to B'Elanna's shock and anger.

"Chakotay!" B'Elanna shouted angrily. "How could you let this stranger..." She indicated Seven with a wild hand gesture, "…do that to Seska?"

Chakotay rose from the table with a sigh, his knuckles turning white with frustration. "Look B'Elanna, I know you don't understand right now but getting rid of her is the best thing, just trust me on that okay?"

"Get rid of her?" B'Elanna shrieked in disbelief. "She's my best friend and your lover last time I checked!"

Chakotay ran an agitated hand through his hair as Seven, irrationally irritated by B'Elanna's reference to Chakotay and Seska's relationship, piped up hotly, "She's also a Card…"

"Seven!" Chakotay hissed at her in warning through gritted teeth.

Feeling ashamed by her lack of judgement, Seven bowed her head. "I apologise Commander."

"It's okay." He assured quietly as he pulled her aside as best he could from Tom and B'Elanna's gazes and whispered urgently, "Where are we Seven?"

Seven sighed deeply. "I believe the accident in Astrometrics has sent us to an alternate reality." She paused and peered at him in confusion, "I did not surmise that you would be here also. I thought it only affected me because I was in contact with the console…"

"Well, I did grab you to try and pull you away…" Chakotay explained, surprised when a turbulent cloud of horror and guilt settled on Seven's face at his words.

"That was an irrational risk to take!" she snapped angrily.

"That was my decision!" he began to retort but stopped himself as another thought hit him, "Wait, if you didn't know I was here, why did you go to all this trouble to talk to my alternate who, presumably, doesn't know you?"

Seven bit her lips tightly and Chakotay thought he saw tears glitter in her eyes for a second as she replied, "I don't know… It was illogical I suppose, but I…"

This increasingly intriguing vein of conversation for Chakotay stopped abruptly when he got a rough tap on the shoulder and turned around in irritation to see Tom and B'Elanna frowning at them incredulously. "Mind letting us in the loop here?" Tom asked sharply.


The Captain stared at Chakotay, or the man who looked like Chakotay but obviously wasn't, as he stopped for breath in his insults of her, having already called her a Cardassian puppet and the bitch who had put him in jail after his Maquis crew had saved Voyager in the Badlands. None of it made any sense and she decided to say so, "Chakotay, Seven, I know you may find this hard to believe but you've been in an accident, you just need to trust me and relax while the Doctor tries to help you. None of what either of you are saying is making any sense…"

Seven, who'd been fearfully silent during Chakotay's rant, now found her voice again and it was angry, "Why should I trust any one of you? You've kidnapped me and flung me in the same sanity category as some Maquis convict!"

Chakotay snorted, "And what exactly are you, with all that metal all over you?" he retorted but began to regret it as confusion and fear diffused over the still very pretty woman's face.

"What?" she asked with her brows deeply furrowed in disbelief, "What do you mean metal? I don't have…" She stopped midsentence as her gaze followed his and settled on her cybernetic hand, a choked gasp leaving her throat. "Wh…What? This is impossi…" She gasped out, sobs echoing in her voice as she glared at the Captain and Doctor. "What the hell have you done to me?" She shrieked, not waiting for an answer as she caught her full reflection in a mirror and uttered a blood curdling scream as her hand flew up to her face in confirmation. "No…no, no!" She screamed hysterically, her cries degenerating into sobs as she stood up to her full height in front of the mirror. Taking things into his own hands the Doctor grabbed her by the shoulders.

"Hey! Leave her alone!" Chakotay shouted as it sunk in that the poor woman was in an even worse situation than he was.

"Seven, listen to me, you were assimilated almost twenty three years ago…" The Doctor began to explain as gently as he could but she cut him off, screaming wildly.

"Stop calling me that! I'm not a Borg! I think I'd remember being assimilated!" She wrenched herself away from the Doctor but fell backwards onto Chakotay as her legs gave way beneath her and she descended again into heart wrenching sobs.

The sound of Janeway's comm. badge stopped her from immediately going to help as Icheb's shaky voice wafted through the comm. line. "Captain, I believe we have discovered what happened in Astrometrics."

"Well?" asked Janeway tersely as she watched Seven cowering in a corner and Chakotay looking ready to lash out in panic.

Icheb took a deep breath. "The event was the opening of a rift between alternate dimensions."

A/n: Happy Easter everyone! Please review! :D Sorry that this is so short, I went shopping today and now I'm tired. I'm not sure about my portrayal of the alternates' reactions… Do you want me to update this again tomorrow?