Chapter 11 – Previously on Star Trek Voyager – Part III
Prior to the Borg's attack the Doctor had been sat at his desk in sickbay configuring new personality algorithms. This latest experiment in expanding the Doctor's horizons had been inspired by a strange, but fascinating aspect of human behaviour he had observed earlier in the day.
He had been finishing off Paris's annual medical check-up, when he noticed Tom suddenly shiver for no apparent reason. He quickly examined Paris's life signs, but the tricorder had not shown any abnormalities.
"What's the matter Mr Paris? I know it's a thrill to be examined by an amalgamation of the greatest medical minds in the Federation, however you should learn to control your emotions."
"Don't flatter yourself Doc," replied Paris as he buttoned up his shirt. "Someone just walked over my grave that's all."
Too late did Paris realise his tactical error. One look at the Doctors confused, yet curious expression told him that he would be in sickbay for some time, and he was right. The Doctor wanted a full description of the phenomena, threatening to turn the standard medical into a full spectrum examination if Paris did not co-operate.
So Paris had explained, in great detail, how humans sometimes have this strange feeling, a feeling that causes them to shiver suddenly. For a few seconds, the hairs on the back of their neck rise and they get goose bumps all over their body. In the early 20th Century people had referred to it as feeling like a ghost had just passed right through their body. Others said the best way to describe it was feeling like someone in the future had walked over your grave yet you felt it in the present; hence the expression.
Since then, the Doctor had been working on a way to simulate this feeling and incorporate the behaviour into his random emotion algorithms.
"Computer, back up primary EMH program and upload into Portable Emitter."
"Backup complete"
"Upload Beta Two and prototype algorithms into primary EMH program."
"Working…."
The Doctor's body shimmered briefly and his holographic matrix re-initialised.
"Upload complete."
The Doctor didn't feel any different, but this was to be expected. It could be days, months or even years before he experienced the sensation of someone, 'walking over his holographic grave,' as he had deliberately designed it to be as random as it was in humans.
Only a few minutes later, he was updating his notes on the experiment into his Padd, when he shivered all over. It was a fascinating experience and the Doctor was glad that it had manifested itself earlier rather then later.
"Computer, someone just walked over my grave!' he announced proudly.
"Invalid parameters, please specify,' replied the computer.
"Never mind."
Suddenly he shivered again, then again. Something was not right. He tried to bring up the algorithm parameters on his Padd, to see if there was a flaw in his design, but he was now shivering all over. In between one shiver and another, he managed to grab his Portable Emitter. He was about to order the computer to restore his original program, when the Red Alert systems kicked in and one of the Borg Species 8247 materialised in the centre of sickbay. The Doctor managed to dive behind his desk before the Borg turned towards him. He stayed there for several minutes expecting the Borg to grab him at any moment. When this didn't occur, the shivering Doctor chanced a quick peak from behind the desk, but it appeared the Borg hadn't moved since appearing in sickbay. It was as if it was on guard or awaiting instructions.
It was some time later that the door to sickbay finally opened and in walked Janeway, along with most of the bridge crew, more Borg and to the Doctors amazement, Seska. She looked odd, like some sort of a demented Borg Queen. Eager to find out what was going on, but fearful of being discovered, the Doctor crouched tighter behind the desk and listened intently.
"So what is it Seska?" demanded Janeway. "What are you doing with my ship?"
"Yeah, I've played this holo-novel before," added Paris. "This is the part where Chaotica explains his mad scheme."
Seska ignored Janeway's demands and Paris's sarcastic comments. She was too busy looking around the sick bay.
"This is where it all ended. It's only apt that this is where it shall all begin again."
Janeway wanted to ask Seska what the hell she was talking about, but Seska had moved over to a bed and was stroking the headrest seemingly oblivious to anything else.
"This is where the Doctor prepared my body,"
Seska stopped stroking the bed and looked up while still facing away from Janeway and the others.
"Why did you give me a Starfleet funeral? Why did you entomb me into a Photon Torpedo and send me off into the stars, after all I had done?"
Although Seska was not looking in their direction, Janeway knew the question was aimed directly at her.
"It seemed like a good idea at the time," replied Janeway, who at once regretted her outburst. It seemed quite obvious to Janeway that this newly reborn Seska was more then a little unstable. It did not seem wise to provoke her.
"Seska, despite what you did," she added solemnly, "everyone deserves to be laid to rest. No-one wanted it to end the way it did."
Seska finally turned around to face Janeway.
"Do I sense guilt?"
Janeway was about to deny the accusation however Seska continued before she could reply.
"No matter! I was dead, and for whatever reason, you gave me a nice funeral and whisked me out into space. There I drifted for a long time until discovered by an old friend of yours, by the name of Suspiria."
That explained where the Female Caretaker came into all this, thought Janeway, but Seska seemed to be in the mood to tell her story, so she did not interrupt with the many questions she wanted to ask.
"Suspiria revived me using technology similar to Borg Nanites but much more advanced then such crude techniques. At first I was confused. Then Suspiria took me under her wing and helped me adapt to my second life."
Seska had moved over to a tray containing medical equipment and was examining objects at random, finally she continued.
"Why? I know that is the question on all your minds. Well, Suspiria may be part of a highly advanced race, but revenge is a concept as old as the cosmos. Suspiria wanted revenge on those that had killed her mate and then sealed her fate also. You see, Suspiria was dying."
Seska approached Tuvok for the first time since making her grand appearance in Engineering.
"The toxin you created…was slowly poisoning her to death."
"That was not my intention," replied Tuvok.
"Oh no? You develop a toxin that was supposed to temporarily debilitate her, based on the remains of her mate, a species unlike any other in the galaxy, and yet you seem surprised when it has unexpected results! I expected more logical thinking from you Tuvok.
"I must point out, that if Suspiria had not attacked Voyager, we would never.."
Seska interrupted Tuvok's explanation with a wave of her hand,
"Again, I sense guilt in your excuses. As far as she was concerned, she was dying because of the same ship and crew that had been responsible for the death of her mate. All her advanced knowledge and technology could do was prolong her agony, long enough to ensure her revenge. Oh, and her idea of revenge was now much greater then just simply destroying your ship, or as I first suggested, stranding you all on desolate planet. "
"She revived me because she had come across my floating coffin while trying to find you. Initially she was just going to use me to get to you, but once she realised I had just as much reason for revenge, we became a team."
Seska laughed slightly, "It's a little ironic, that in following you we were able to devise the perfect revenge. But I skip ahead a little, please forgive me.'
"It was quite easy to pick up Voyager's trail," she continued. "We were lucky in that your fearless leader can't help but examine every speck of spacedust and interact with as many species as possible along the way."
Chakotay couldn't help but glance quickly at Janeway. He knew that Janeway's techniques would have consequences, but now was not the time for saying, 'I told you so.'
"Occasionally the trail would go cold, but we'd soon pick it up again. Until that is, we reached Borg space. I was hoping we would catch you before you reached that area, as I knew the chances of you making it alive and unassimilated were limited. But the old Janeway luck meant that you just happened to arrive in Borg space, just as a war with Species 8472 broke out, and you sneaked through while they where occupied."
Seska approached Janeway again, smiling as she did so as if amused.
"I must hand it to you Kathryn, zooming through that sector and kidnapping a Borg drone whilst doing so was gutsy!"
Janeway felt a surge of hope at Seska's last statement, but she controlled herself so as not to let it show on her face. It seemed evident that Seska did not know everything about Voyager's exploits in Borg space, and had arrogantly assumed that they had sped through while the war was going on. She was not sure how this was going to help their situation, but knowing that Seska's knowledge was flawed gave her some hope.
"However, the situation gave Suspiria an idea. It was quite easy to kidnap a few Borg drones of our own and disconnect them from the Collective, even easier to obtain DNA samples of Species 8472. We then perfected the Borg's assimilation techniques and grew hybrid clones of the two species to create the ultimate warrior. To control them I became their Queen. I was closer to Borg than Cardassian by that point anyway, so going one step further was not so painful."
The slight look of pain on Seska's face suggested otherwise. She seemed to become distracted and lose focus.
"So why create this new breed of Borg when the advanced technology of Suspiria's array could easily outmatch us in a fight? asked Chakotay.
The question brought Seska out of her daydream.
"As I said, Suspiria wanted a much greater revenge then to simply destroy your ship. But it took time to develop our perfect warriors, it took time to locate Voyager again and set up the trap. Too much time for Suspiria I'm afraid. She died without fulfilling her plan. So now I will gladly carry it out for her. You see Chakotay, you and your Maquis comrades, plus your little pet Borg drone are going home. But your going to be denied the heroes welcome, your even going to be denied your memories of our little conversation until I let you."
"For what purpose?" Janeway demanded angrily.
"Oh don't worry Janeway, although you will also not be allowed to remember until I choose, I'll make sure you get to watch Chakotay and the others suffer."
Seska looked confused for a brief second before continuing.
"You see, we are going to leave enough clues around to suggest a mutiny has taken place. It shouldn't take long for Starfleet to convict you of this crime considering your terrorist past. That will be the first part of my revenge. The second part? This will be the destruction of all living things in the Alpha quadrant. An unstoppable fleet of Borg and Species 8472 hybrid ships will sweep out of the Badlands, obliterating everything in its path until it reaches Earth. Then once that miserable planet has been turned to ashes, we'll move on, to the next planet and the next until only my beautiful Collective and I remain!"
Species 8427 had already wiped out all the sentient beings in their own fluidic universe. Janeway knew that combining that Species with the Borg would mean the Alpha Quadrant stood little chance of survival.
"As for the third and best part of my revenge, well that's going to be a surprise for later, much later."
Seska concluded her explanation by clapping her hands, as if applauding herself.
"Any questions?"
Janeway and Chakotay both started to speak at the same time but Seska ignored them. "Good, let's begin then shall we. Computer, activate EMH program."
"Unable to comply."
From behind the desk, the Doctor realised he was about to be discovered.
"Specify reason" demanded Seska
"EMH program has already been activated," replied the Computer.
The Doctor began to panic, his near constant shivering didn't help. He realised that if Seska got hold of his Portable Emitter, she would have access to 28th Century technology and be able to create even more powerful drones.
"Computer, locate the EMH program."
"EMH program is currently in sickbay."
The Doctor quickly removed the emitter from his arm and placed it on the floor, as close to the desk as possible.
Seska sighed in exasperation, "Computer, specify EXACT location of the EMH."
"EMH program is approximately three meters away from your current position."
The Doctor did not wait to be discovered. He stood up and walked over to Seska smiling and shivering as he did so as if nothing untoward had happened.
"Hello Seska, good to see you again. You look a little different, have you done something with your hair?"
"What's wrong with you?" asked Seska, bemused by the Doctor's sudden appearance and his odd behaviour.
The Doctor picked up a medical tricorder and began scanning Seska, as if she was an everyday patient who wandered into his Sickbay with some minor ailment.
"Nothing; just having a little bit of trouble with some new algorithms that's all. You on the other hand, seem a lot healthier then when I last saw you, did you cut down on the Raktajino like I suggested?"
"I see that you've not lost any of your bedside manner," said Seska dryly, motioning to one of her Borg as she did so.
The Borg moved over to sickbay's main computer console and plugged itself in. Shortly afterwards the Doctor dropped the tricorder in mid-scan as his hand phased away.
"What are you doing?" the Doctor demanded.
"Don't worry," replied Seska. "I'm just fixing your algorithms….permanently."
Paris could see that Seska was more then fixing the Doctors algorithms. Her pet Borg where wiping his program from the computer. Janeway was pleading with Seska, but it was no good. If Paris didn't act soon the Doctor would be murdered before his very eyes!
After spending several years as the Doctors assistant they had developed a strong friendship, even though he did like to wind the Doctor up now and again. so Paris tensed himself up to take action. He knew he did not stand much of a chance against such a beast, but he reckoned that if he could wrap his legs around the Borg's legs and twist hard enough, he could make it fall over, and as the saying goes, 'The bigger they are, the harder they fall."
Paris was just about to launch himself forward, when he caught a flicker of movement out of the corner of his eye. Turning his head slightly he gasped as he saw Harry Kim running full speed at the Borg. Without even looking in his direction, or disengaging from the computer, the Borg casually swiped his other claw up, clenching it into a fist at the last moment, just before connecting with Kim's chin.
Kim collapsed at the Borg's feet. A phaser rifle materialised in Seska's arms.
"We'll have no more heroics, understand?" said Seska as she aimed the rifle in their general direction.
"Captain, do something!" pleaded the Doctor. He was now little more then a head and a brief outline of a shoulder.
But there was nothing Janeway and the others could do. Even if Seska did not have the phaser, Kim had proven that hand-to-hand combat with Species 8247 version of the Borg was useless. All they could do was watch their comrade fade from existence.
With the Doctor gone, Seska casually walked over to Kim, who was returning back to consciousness with a series of groans.
"I knew one of you would try something," commented Seska. "But I must admit I'm surprised it turned out to be you Harry."
"Not half as surprised as I am," said Harry as he rubbed his chin.
"When I left you seemed like just a boy, now you're all grown up."
Seska seemed genuinely sad, as if making a difficult choice. "Ah well, a volunteer is a volunteer."
Kim sat up slowly. As he painfully did so, Seska made some adjustments to the phaser rifle settings, then aimed it at Kim.
"No, don't get up, "she ordered. "Lie back down exactly the way you where…that's it, nice and easy."
"Seska, what are you doing?" asked Janeway who was beginning to fear the worst for Kim.
Seska turned her head sharply in Janeway's direction.
"I told you. Anything I want, and all you are going to do from now on is watch!"
Turning back to Kim, Seska aimed the rifle at Kim and fired.
"NO!" screamed Janeway.
Kim squeezed his eyes shut as he felt the phaser blast hit him. Expecting instant vaporisation, he only opened his eyes when he realised he was in too much pain to be dead yet.
The source of his pain was his right arm. He looked over but gasped in horror when he saw that he no longer had a right arm. It had been vaporised and the heat of the phaser had cauterised the wound at his shoulder.
Although the pain was threatening to make him lose consciousness again, he managed to sit up and stare Seska in the eye.
"Why?" he demanded.
"I need evidence of a mutiny, something that Starfleet will discover when they try to find out what happened to the EMH," Seska replied in a matter-of-fact fashion.
"No, I want to know," said Harry through trembling lips, "why you didn't kill me?"
"Because, " said Seska, drawing closer to Kim. "I want to hurt Janeway again and again. The death of her crew would indeed hurt her deep, but that type of pain does not last anywhere near long enough for my liking.
Seska drew back again and looked over at Janeway.
"What's up Captain, your tear ducts appear to malfunctioning?"
Janeway did indeed have tears in her eyes. Partly from the pain Seska was causing Kim, partly from the loss of the Doctor, but mainly because she was powerless to do anything about it.
"I swear, if you harm any more of my crew I'll…"
Seska interrupted Janeway by aiming the Phaser at Kim again.
"What's that Captain? You think one arm isn't enough to show up on a casual scan? Well, maybe you are right."
This time, Kim did black out from the pain when Seska vaporised his left arm.
As the Borg carried the limp form of Kim out of Sickbay, Janeway was finally realised from reliving those painful memories of the past. As she opened her eyes, the clamps that had been holding her down unlocked, and the faceplate which had been forcing her to watch Chakotay's struggles raised. Stepping down, she noticed Tuvok and Paris stepping down from chambers on either side of hers.
After maiming Kim, Seska had shown Janeway everything. The fleet of ships she had constructed, the changes she was making to her ship to prove to Starfleet that a mutiny had taken place. She then was forced to watch her crew put into Borg-like regeneration chambers one by one where they had been induced into a deep sleep so that the Borg could induce the telepathic block. Then they where left in the chambers for their journey to the Alpha Quadrant.
Finally it had been Janeway's turn, and now she finally back in the Alpha Quadrant, but held somewhere in the Badlands, while Seska carried out her mad plan.
Janeway had never felt the way she did now. During all the years, she had found the courage and determination to go on no matter what. The crew looked to her for inspiration, and if they were ever going to get home, she had to maintain that level of inspiration to keep the crew going.
But now she had let them all down, and everyone was going to pay the price for her mistake. She knew that a big part of Seska's revenge would be to see Janeway lose confidence and feel more and more helpless. She knew that she should be fighting these feelings to deny Seska the satisfaction, but Janeway could not help but feel exactly how Seska wanted her to feel; defeated.
Looking around she noted that they appeared to be in a large, featureless room with no noticeable exits. One side contained rows upon rows of the same chambers that had held Janeway and the crew for their journey. After checking a few, they found that they still contained their cargo, and although they seemed lifeless, a quick check confirmed that each person had a slow but steady heartbeat.
Suddenly, the whole room was lit up as along the other side of the chamber, a large holographic image appeared, interrupting the examination of the sleeping crewmembers. The image was split into three sections. The first showed the Enterprise trapped by a tractor beam, as a Hybrid Borg Cube dragged it mercilessly deeper into the Badlands towards the female Caretaker Array at its centre. Janeway noticed the Delta Flyer and the Defiant weaving and dodging around several of the smaller Species 8472 funnel like ships, desperately trying to get closer to the Enterprise. But despite some valiant efforts, and several brilliant manoeuvres on both ship's part, they could not get close enough to assist. Janeway knew that it was only a matter of time before they were either captured or destroyed.
On the second screen, Janeway could see Quarks Bar on Deep Space Nine. The bar was in chaos as its customers where scrambling to get over each other in their desperate attempt to get away from the Borg. The third image section showed the Borg on board Voyager. Again they where altering the Warp drive, but this time it appeared that they were restoring it back to its original design, for whatever reason.
Tuvok had noted the change in Janeway's emotional state as soon as they had emerged from the chambers. While they had been trapped, but unable to remember the events that had occurred on Voyager, Janeway had been her usual self. She had sounded confident that they would get out if this situation. Now she seemed to have lost all that confidence. He examined her face as she viewed the events on the display. He could see pain and tiredness, but most disturbing of all, he could see resignation. He decided it was time for him to bring his friend out of her shell and remind her of whom she was; a Starfleet Captain.
"Captain, what are your orders?" he asked.
Janeway seemed distracted, "What?"
"What are your orders?" repeated Tuvok
"I don't see what we can do, sit and watch I guess." Janeway proceeded to sit on the floor.
"Hey guys, over here!" shouted Paris. He had continued investigating the chambers, no doubt searching for his wife.
Janeway reluctantly took Tuvok's hand as he helped her up and led the way over to one of the chambers that Paris stood by. Janeway peered into the chamber expecting to see Torres, instead she discovered that it contained Kim.
"Well, at least he's still alive," Janeway commented dryly.
"No, look closer," Paris prompted.
Janeway peered in closer, at first not understanding what Paris was referring to. Then she realised what was wrong. Kim had both sets of arms! Grasping one she felt his hand, it was slightlycold but seemed perfectly natural and appeared undamaged.
"But why rebuild his arms? It doesn't make any sense!"
"Actually Captain, it is all beginning to make sense.'
"Explain?" ordered Janeway, hoping that Tuvok would provide some insight that she could finally use to her advantage.
Tuvok could sense that Janeway was reaching out for some lifeline, something that could bring her back into the fight. He decided now was the time to provide that lifeline, and hope that her natural instincts would take over and bring back her sense of determination.
"Several aspects of Seska's behaviour and more importantly her story do not add up. According to Seska, Suspiria wanted to exact revenge by wiping out an entire quadrant of space, but that type of behaviour does not match the characteristics we have observed of the Caretaker species. We have a saying on Vulcan, 'With great power, comes great responsibility." The Caretakers have great power, but as we've seen, they take responsibilities for their actions."
"They didn't seem to care about dragging us from one side of the galaxy to another!" pointed out Paris.
"True, but the caretaker was looking for a cure for himself, so he could continue to care for the Ocampa. Remember Mr Paris, the Caretaker had sacrificed much to make up for the mistake he made which left the Ocampa's planet barren."
"The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one," quoted Janeway.
"Indeed captain."
Paris was not convinced.
"But Suspiria was quite willing to destroy Voyager when we last met, how's that for great responsibility?"
"The fact that Suspiria was quite willing to destroy Voyager is not in dispute Mr Paris. I am simply saying that I do not believe she would willingly engage in mass genocide."
Paris seemed in the mood to argue further, but Janeway could see that the bickering would be pointless.
"Gentlemen, let's assume for the moment that Seska may not be telling the whole truth. Mr Tuvok, how can this help us in our situation?"
Tuvok was glad to see the old fire returning to Janeway's eyes.
"When I came across Suspiria's body, I did indeed find traces of the sporocystian toxin as I reported, but on closer inspection I discovered she had actually died of asphyxiation. Furthermore, when scanning the bruises around her neck I found traces of Cardassian DNA."
"So Seska strangled Suspiria, presumably so she could gain control of her technology and came up with this mad scheme herself!" Janeway concluded.
"We may never know how much, or how little, involvement Suspiria had. However it is evident that Seska is either lying about how much of the scheme was her idea, or has convinced herself otherwise."
"If you ask me I'd say she was nuts!"
"Although Mr Paris is being his eloquent self as always, I believe he is right. Her mood swings and the behaviour we have observed so far, such as maiming and then curing Mr Kim, brings me to the conclusion that Seska's mind is unstable. "
"Well as fun as this debate has been," said Paris. "I'm going to go look for my wife, but before I go I just have two things to say. Firstly, if I was brought back from the dead and changed into the Borg Queen, I'd be a little bit quirky too. Secondly, if so, I may not take too kindly to people talking about me in such a manner," Paris winked and turned away.
As Paris resumed his search, Janeway moved closer to Tuvok and whispered softly, "Tom's right Tuvok, she could be listening in."
"Maybe Captain, but right now," Tuvok motioned towards the holographic display, "I think she has a lot on her mind. She may be the Queen of her own collective, but she is inexperienced in controlling so many Borg at one time. "
"Ok, so maybe she's inexperienced and maybe she is unstable. But the fact is she easily captured Voyager and is on the verge of destroying the Alpha Quadrant despite all this, I don't see how this can help us!"
"We've observed how Seska reacts when everything is going to plan," answered Tuvok. "As we know all too well, even the best plans encounter difficulties, factors that could not be accounted for. It is logical to assume that something will happen that Seska is not prepared for. When it does it will be interesting to see how she reacts and we should be ready to take advantage of whatever opportunity presents itself."
Janeway looked solemnly at the images of chaos on the displays. "I hope you're right Tuvok…I hope you're right."
Little did Janeway know that something was about to happen as Tuvok had predicted; something that Seska had not taken into account. This something in particular was simply a man, a man who would set in motion a chain of events that could either save or condemn the Alpha Quadrant's fate.
That something was Captain Jean Luc Picard.
