A/N: Special thanks to Alaster Boneman, who provided some sympathetic insight into Seska's character in his last review. I took it into account when writing this final one.

I don't own "Star Trek: Voyager."

Due to the ship's present condition, it took several minutes to successfully transfer the Doctor's program to the holodeck. Crewman Dalby, of course, still had the Doctor's mobile emitter, and they couldn't waste time having him take the Jeffrey's tubes up to Sickbay to return it. With both the transporters and now turbo lifts down, someone also had to run a medical kit down for the Doctor to use. Ayala, the fastest runner of the group, did the honors, while the others in Sickbay worked to send the Doctor to the holodeck. It took roughly fifteen minutes for Ayala to get there, and given Harry and Chakotay's injuries, these were fifteen minutes they might not have.

When Ayala sprinted into the holodeck with the med kit, the Doctor was among a small crowd kneeling over Harry Kim, who wasn't moving. Chakotay was lying on his back, with Seven kneeling over him. Neelix was holding his bleeding leg, and Tuvok was sitting quietly in a corner. Everyone was looking at Harry, except for Chakotay, who seemed to be in the process of passing out, and Tuvok, who was blinking slowly, as if through a haze.

Ayala's mouth began to open, but the Doctor cut him off.

"Mr. Kim is dead. Treat Commander Chakotay."

Ayala nodded and opened the kit up next to the first officer.

The Doctor reassured Tom and B'Elanna, "He's been brain-dead less than a minute. We still have nineteen more for a code white resuscitation. Nothing Mr. Kim hasn't been experienced before. Seven, you're the strongest one here. Would you mind helping me transport Mr. Kim to Sickbay, as fast as humanly possible?"

Seven quickly left Chakotay's side. "I'll do it faster," she said, taking the ensign's body from the Doctor and tossing it over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

"I'll get Chakotay," Tom said faintly, moving over to the first officer. "Dermal regenerator?" he held out a hand.

Ayala already had it in his hand, and passed it to Tom.

Seven stared at Tom with piercing eyes. "Lieutenant, you are intoxicated!"

"No I'm not Seven, I'm hung over. There's a difference."

"Tom," Captain Janeway quickly swiped the tool from him. "Allow me. No offense, but I think a clear head trumps training in this case." She activated the dermal regenerator and began running it over Chakotay's injuries. "Just a few cuts, nothing too complicated…"

Tom began rummaging through the med kit. "His stomach acids have had fifteen minute to get loose. I need to counter them or he'll die anyway."

Ayala moved his gaze over to Tuvok. "Commander," he said cautiously. "You with us?"

The Vulcan gave Ayala a passing glance. "Lt. Ayala," he said with quiet recognition, and returned to staring into space pensively.

It was a feeling comparable to déjà vu, times infinity. That was the only way Harry Kim would ever be able to describe it. Being revived from the dead once had been a bizarre enough feeling, the entire universe exploding back into his entire body and mind in a nanosecond. Reliving that exact same experience transcended surreal.

"Welcome back to the word of the living, Harry!" As Tom clapped Harry's shoulder, he could hear the exhausted relieve in his friend's voice.

Harry's face stretched in a strained blink. "Is it over? We shut the program down?"

"The program's been shut off, but it's hardly 'over.'" The Doctor replied. "We've saved you all from the holodeck, but the ship is dead in the water with life support running dry. It's a long story."

"One I'd like to hear right now." Captain Janeway said.

Harry hadn't even heard the door to Sickbay hiss opened. The Captain was entering Sickbay, with the rest of the senior staff trailing behind her, all still in their holodeck costumes (or what was left of them). The captain's curls fell raggedly over her face, and the makeup she, B'Elanna and Seven wore was faded or smeared. Chakotay looked deathly pale, but functional. He'd buttoned up his suit to hide his blood-covered undershirt, but one sleeve was still stained dark red. Tom coaxed him onto a biobed.

Aside from the senior staff, no one was left in Sickbay. Everyone else was working to repair the ship.

"Where to begin," the Doctor replied, in response to the Captain's order. "I suppose I'll start from the beginning. Five days ago, Mr. Paris invited the senior staff to experience his new historical program. The last thing you probably all remember is taking a blast from the crystal chandelier."

"I don't even remember that," Harry exclaimed.

"The next thing anyone knew, I was back here in Sickbay, and you were all trapped on the holodeck, with false memories and identities. It took tireless effort just to—"

"Doctor," Janeway rubbed her temple. "Summarize. Please."

"It's Seska, Captain," the Doctor said. "It was Seska's hologram, from 'Insurrection Alpha.' Mr. Tuvok's old Maquis mutiny program."

Tuvok, staring at the floor with his arms folded, narrowed his eyes in thought. It was difficult for anyone to say if the security chief was "himself" again; he hadn't said much to anyone since the interface had been broken.

"Seska programmed you all to try to kill each other, over a priceless statuette."

"The Silver Bird." Janeway nodded. "But Doctor, we deleted Seska's hologram. We deleted that entire program."

"If only. Seska evaded death once again by programming her hologram to transfer itself to the next nearest vessel in the event of her character's 'death.' And the unlucky candidate was Neelix's ship."

Neelix's face fell, in confusion as much as guilt.

Janeway looked stunned, but seemed to realize they didn't have time to go into detail. "And?"

"What we didn't realize until near the end was that that statue—the hologram of that metallic bird—was in fact a three-dimensional computer virus, worked into holographic form."

B'Elanna looked at the Doctor. "A holographic computer virus?"

"An invention of Seska's." The Doctor's eyebrows bobbed. "Her plan was that after you'd all killed each other and the program ended, the Bird would dissolve back into Voyager's systems, and the virus would get loose, taking care of the rest of us."

B'Elanna's lips parted in realization. "And when Chakotay killed Seska, that automatically ended the program, just like when Tuvok killed her in 'Insurrection Alpha.'"

Heads instinctively turned to Chakotay, lying on the biobed. The first officer was too weak to offer much of a reaction, but his dark eyes darted to the ground guiltily.

Seven said flatly, "It was an infinitely more humane death than she deserved."

B'Elanna muttered, "No argument there."

"I don't suppose you have any idea how to undo this virus?" the Captain asked reluctantly.

"I'm afraid not. Not at the moment anyway. I have Vorik leading the Engineering team on it."

"I'd better get down there." B'Elanna headed for the door.

"No," the Captain said, stopping B'Elanna in her tracks. "Life support's leaking out as we speak, and there aren't enough EV Suits for the entire crew." She hit her com badge. "All hands: effective immediately, I'm ordering all children and pregnant women into the Delta Flyer. I don't want you to take off in it; just take refuge in its life support system."

B'Elanna almost argued, but wasn't going to put her daughter in danger. She nodded. "Tabor's my algorithmic specialist. If this is a virus I want Vorik to utilize him for solving it."

"He may utilize me as well." Tuvok replied, sounding fully like himself for the first time in days.

Janeway turned slowly to face her old friend. "Tuvok?"

Beneath the 1940s-styled suit and pencil-mustache, one could see that Voyager had its Vulcan security chief back.

"During my 'meld' with the statuette, I became," Tuvok squinted, "acquainted with its structure."

Tom scoffed. "That's ridiculous. You can't mind-meld a hologram!"

Harry shrugged weakly from his bed. "Why not? The Doc got into Seven's brain a few weeks ago."

"The Doctor downloaded his program into my cortical node," Seven reminded Harry. "Unless Commander Tuvok's body contains Borg technology, no mental connection with, technology, should be possible."

"Actually," the Doctor realized. "He does." His eyes jumped to the captain and B'Elanna. "All three of you do. You remember me telling you, after the Unimatrix Zero incident, that it would take time for all of the Borg nanoprobes to be fully flushed from your body."

B'Elanna looked dubiously at Tuvok. "You're saying Tuvok was able to mind-meld with a holographic paperweight because there's a microscopic chunk of Borg nanoprobes left in his brain?"

"It's as good an explanation as any," the Doctor said.

"I believe," Tuvok said with conviction, "That I can undo Seska's virus. But it will take time."

Janeway nodded. "Get down to Engineering then. And B'Elanna, get down to the Flyer."

B'Elanna thought it was like being in a Titanic lifeboat, all women and children. She sat in the pilot's seat of the Delta Flyer, though there would be no need for any piloting, with them sitting parked in Voyager's shuttle bay. Next to her sat Naomi Wildman. Icheb was a ways back, in the seat Harry normally used during away missions. B'Elanna felt like there was still someone they were forgetting. At the sound of footsteps outside the Flyer, she glanced out the window, and remembered who she was thinking of: Amanda Gilmore, the "Borg Baby."

Amanda had been rescued from the damaged cube with Icheb and the other Borg children. Shortly afterwards, the orphaned Borg baby had been adopted by Marla Gilmore, former Equinox engineer. Feeling intense guilt for her crimes aboard the Equinox, and longing for a new start, Marla had been granted the request to be made the child's legal guardian. Marla was now rushing into the shuttle bay with her the toddler in her arms. Amanda looked human, save her "double-pointed" ears, and small Borg implants (a silver crescent around one eye, and some metallic "scars" barely visible under her chestnut curls). Because Terrellians were a naturally solitary species, and Marla hadn't been eager to socialize with the rest of the crew, people rarely saw either of the Gilmores, and often forgot that Voyager had a third child apart from Icheb and Naomi.

B'Elanna opened the hatch to grant Marla and her daughter entry. Panting, the blonde engineer looked for a place to set the child down.

"Here," Naomi opened her arms, and took Amanda in her lap.

"Thanks," Marla said breathlessly. "B'Elanna," she smiled weakly at the half-Klingon. "You don't know how good it is to have you back!"

"Thanks," B'Elanna said quietly.

Marla let out a sigh. "We haven't been that involved. Us Equinox crewmen. Especially when we heard out old captain was in that program. I wanted nothing to do with it. I think Noah wishes he'd done more though. He still feels he owes his life to Seven and Chakotay."

B'Elanna nodded, as if she understood. But the truth was, the Equinox incident was hazy in her mind. At least the parts that didn't involve her ex-boyfriend, Max. "Believe me Marla, you've done more than enough."

Marla nodded, hesitantly. "They need me back in Engineering."

"Then you'd better get going. Remember, if anyone has questions on anything I want you to contact me immediately." Marla nodded. "Good luck."

Marla laughed weakly. "Luck can't be that bad now Seska's dead."

B'Elanna began to nod in agreement, then froze.

Next to her, holding Amanda, Naomi looked up curiously. "B'Elanna? What is it?"

Marla stopped in the hatch way.

B'Elanna swore softly in Klingon. She left her seat, and moved to Icheb's consol. "The Doctor said Seska's hologram was programmed to transfer itself out another vessel if she 'died.' And Chakotay killed her."

Marla gripped the edge of the Flyer's doorway, petrified.

After several moments of intense typing, B'Elanna grinned and hissed to herself, "Got'cha bitch!"

Seska materialized in front of the back wall of the Flyer, looking startled to find herself there. She was a Bajoran, but now dressed in the Maquis uniform she'd worn in "Insurrection Alpha," with the intense purple undershirt. She attempted a step forward, and hit a force-field.

"Torres to the Captain: Seska's hologram is in the Delta Flyer. I've got her contained."

In less than two hours, Tuvok had Voyager's life support back online, and most of its vital systems up and running. The only crucial systems he still couldn't figure out were the shields and the deflector (without which Voyager would be unable to go to warp). The only person who knew how to activate those systems was Seska's hologram. Not willing to risk letting her back into Voyager's database, Janeway ordered the hologram to remain contained in the Delta Flyer, and as soon as the ship had its life support back, ordered the three children to their quarters.

Janeway stood in the center of the parked shuttle, still in the ragged remains of her club-runner costume. Behind the force-field, Seska's glare jumped from the captain, to B'Elanna at the operations consol, to the rest of the senior staff watching from outside the opened hatch.

"I'm going to offer you a deal, Seska," Janeway said firmly. "And before I do I want to make two things perfectly clear. We do not need your help to bring the rest of Voyager's systems back online. We've found our way out of far worse situations, and we've been working on this one for less than two hours. We have more than enough time to solve this on our own. And secondly, B'Elanna has the power to decompile your program, permanently, with one command. Our only stake in this deal is convenience; yours is your existence."

"Seska doesn't exist anymore," the hologram spat.

"But her legacy might, through you." Janeway said. "You're no doubt aware, from hacking into our logs, that Voyager is now in contact with the Alpha Quadrant. The Doctor would have contacted them for help immediately if you hadn't blocked off the data-stream. I think that, whatever Seska was, her relatives back home deserve to know what happened to her. In her own words."

Seska's hologram scoffed. "You wouldn't send me, with all of Seska's knowledge of the Federation and your ship, back to the Cardassians!"

"Obviously I'd have B'Elanna delete that information from your memory files. But your personality, your memories on the events you've experienced, they'd live on."

B'Elanna added, "You once told me, you missed your brother's birthday, from being lost out here."

Seska smiled cruelly at B'Elanna. "My brother died when I was three years old. And I now know that my father was killed in the Dominion War, and my mother is in a mental institution." She looked back at Janeway. "No one at home needs me back."

"Then why were you so desperate to get back to the Alpha Quadrant?"

"I wanted to be with my own people. Or at least a civilized people." She glanced at Chakotay, who refused to show any reaction to the insult.

Janeway pressed, "And don't you think your people might be interested in hearing the accounts of the only Cardassian ever to travel to the Delta Quadrant? Of the mother of the first Cardassian/Kazon hybrid ever born?"

The hologram shook her head. "The real Seska might give into this. But I'm only programmed for revenge."

At that, everyone realized they'd never know what it was the real Seska truly wanted.

Janeway continued to look at Seska for several moments, before finally deciding to give the order. "B'Elanna, de—"

"Omega-one-Ctel-three-obsidian-seven-thousand-six-hundred-forty-two." Seska suddenly said. Then making eye contact with Janeway, she added, "I have a cousin on Cardassia Prime. Takal Erak."

Janeway gave Seska a warning stare. "If this is some kind of trick, I'll make sure you regret it."

Seska's said nothing. She wasn't wearing the face she normally did, when attempting to worm sympathy out of someone. It was her face of irritated defeat.

"It was your cooking class that made it possible," Icheb told Seven, under the hum of the crowded mess hall.

After Voyager's systems came back in full, and Seska's hologram was successfully sent to her cousin in the Alpha Quadrant, no one had argued with Neelix's insistence on throwing another one of his celebrations. The festivity was held off for about a week though, in order to allow the senior staff to recover from their ordeal, and the entire crew to mourn Crewman Kenny McCormick. The senior staff seemed to relish being in their regular uniforms again, though several people argued that their hair or make up styles had looked better on the holodeck.

Seven listened to Icheb recount blowing up Kitty Indiana's café, with her usual hands-behind-the-back posture, in her solid-blue biosuit. She finally replied, with some forced humor, "I am relieved that our failed experiment with the Brunali stove resulted in some useful knowledge."

They stood among a group of crewmembers, in the sitting area next to Neelix's kitchen counter. Behind them, crew members came and went from the counter, while Neelix was dished out refreshments.

"But you killed Captain Kirk!" Tom Paris exclaimed to Icheb.

Harry added, "And Captain Picard, Sisko, and Commander Spock."

"No," Naomi looked slightly nauseated. "Spock was in the parking lot, kissing my mom."

"Don't remind me." Samantha Wildman said from the sofa.

"Naomi was rather malicious herself," Icheb complimented. "Did you tell them, how you poisoned Wi—" he stopped, remembering that the drug-addict had been based off Neelix's old friend Wix.

Naomi looked over at the counter. "I'm sorry Neelix."

"What's there to be sorry about," Neelix said, handing a cucumber sandwich to Crewman Celes. "That hologram wasn't my friend; he was a tool of Seska's. He was an insult to Wix, if anything."

"You didn't kill our friends," B'Elanna said, from where she sat on the couch next to Samantha. "You killed the shadows of our false lives."

Samantha looked at the half-Klingon. "What?"

A tiny smile touched the corner of B'Elanna's lips. "Never mind."

"But seriously," Crewman Kao Li Xiong said, serving herself some coffee, "That massacre was bad-ass."

"I saw the recording," Tom agreed. "It was straight out of 'The Godfather!' I ever show you that movie, B'Elanna?"

Seven noticed Naomi and Icheb kept glancing at her, and then glancing across the room at Commander Chakotay, who was socializing with some of his old Maquis soldiers. Seven's jaw clenched, and she looked away.

Tactlessly, Xiong commented, "You and Commander Chakotay made a cute couple, Seven."

Seven looked sharply at the young engineer, with an expression that her close friends would have recognized as extreme offense. But Xiong, not knowing Seven very well at all, didn't notice. The girl strode by the sitting area with her mug of coffee, and continued rambling.

"I mean I wouldn't really have guessed that, I always thought you might hook up with either the Doctor or Tuvok…"

"Commander Tuvok is married," Seven said.

"…but now I think I can see it. You're both, like, all professional and stiff on the outside, but emotional on the in—" Xiong stopped when she realized everyone was staring at her, silently telling her to shut the hell up. "S-sorry." She hurried away.

A ways away, Chakotay was nodding politely, pretending to listen while Ayala described the difficulties of operating a twentieth-century vehicle, while glancing over at the conversation by the sitting area. He'd been aware of his own attraction to Seven of Nine for several months now, but even so, it was a surreal realization, that the woman in the holodeck who'd been so wildly attractive in every possible way—intelligence, wit, compassion, courage, and superficial beauty—was the former drone he'd been so distrustful of for the last four years.

"Commander," Captain Janeway said softly from behind. "If I might have a word. Just a quick one."

He glanced over his shoulder at his old friend.

"It seems," Janeway said, "that when you're no longer the first officer of Voyager, and Seven's no longer a Borg drone, you two are quite drawn to each other."

Chakotay wasn't certain how to respond. His tight friendship with Kathryn put her in full right to make such observations to him off-duty, and she was right. He offered a short nod and said, "Noted."

Janeway smiled, gave him a pat on the shoulder, and moved on to talk to some other crew members.

Chakotay continued to glance back at Seven until she left the sitting area, to take a seat at a table in the corner of the mess hall. She tried to make it look like she was reading something on her PADD, but was forgetting to move her eyes. Chakotay excused himself from his current conversation, and approached Seven's table.

"Seven? You have a moment?"

Seven hesitantly lowered her PADD and looked up at him. "Commander."

"At ease Seven." He took a seat across from her. "How've you been?"

He found himself feeling giddy at the sight of her raised eyebrow. "Functional."

"That's good to hear." He let the awkward silence sit, before diving right in. "Our characters got along pretty well in that program."

"Indeed." Seven said, almost icily.

"Seven," Chakotay sighed, "We didn't have our real memories or our real names, but it was definitely us. I didn't realize before, how much more to you there is, than—" he caught himself before saying something tasteless. "Than what I'd been seeing."

"There is much about me you do not 'realize.'"

"Like?"

Her eyes stayed on her PADD, though he could see nothing was on the screen. "I cannot partake in an intimate relationship. My physiology is not compatible."

His eyes wandered her body. If he understood her right, that was a bit more information than he'd been asking for. She seemed to realize she'd mis-worded her last statement, and corrected herself.

"My…brain…contains a device designed to prevent me from experiencing the full range of emotions. If I cross the threshold, I will die."

This was news to Chakotay. "Guess it's a lucky thing our characters never had a chance to…"

"I believe it is best for us to return to our relationship to its previous standards," she said quickly. "This crew requires its first officer and astrometrics specialist functioning objectively. The personal conflicts of two senior officers do not amount to a gigaquad of Neelix's bean casserole aboard this ship. Our storyline as Annie Hanson and Charles Liberty was enjoyable, but there is no need to continue it. We'll always have that week in Mr. Paris's program—"

"Seven, there must be something the Doctor can do. Look at what he's been able to do for you already." He hoped this would encourage Seven, but then remembered that he probably didn't know the entire situation. Probably just the tip of the iceberg. "Even if he can't, I'm not asking you to marry me. Just a date. We don't even have to kiss."

Seven's eyes crept up. "A date to where?"

"Not the holodeck," Chakotay said quickly. "I don't know when our next shore leave will be. How about my quarters, tomorrow night? I'll make us dinner. Have you ever had an Indian taco?"

It took several moments for Seven to give in. "Your culinary skills are…questionable. But it is a risk I will take." Then, that rare smile he'd come to love.

"So there's this," Tom Paris's voice echoed loudly from the other side of the room, "the Captain Proton incident, Insurrection Alpha, that World War II program, the Beowulf program, Fair Haven….how many times has the holodeck almost gotten us killed?"

"Well most of those were your programs," B'Elanna pointed out with playful accusation. "So it's really a matter of how many times you've gotten us killed."

"Wha—? Almost none of those were mine! That World War II program came with the ship, and Tuvok— "

Tuvok eyed Tom. "I attempted to delete that program. It was Lt. Torres who insisted on recovering it, and you on continuing to write it."

"You are not pinning this on me!" Tom argued.

Janeway put an end to the debate. "What Mr. Paris lacks in luck on the holodeck, he more than makes up for at the conn. The benefits of having Tom Paris aboard outweigh the drawbacks."

"What was that line from 'Casablanca,'" B'Elanna asked her husband. "'As long as we have Paris?'"

"Believe it or not, I still haven't seen that movie."

B'Elanna leaned over the couch to kiss her husband on the cheek.

A/N: IT'S DONE! THIS STUPID STORY IS FINALLY FINISHED! And Q willing, someday, someone besides my two loyal followers Alastor Boneman and Scifiromance will read it to the end. Mind you, I'm not blaming anyone but myself now; film noir is not a widely popular genre these days, and I'm far from being the next Neal Stephenson. But this was fun as hell to write. And I'm so relieved to finally have a chapter story finished.

FAN-FIC RECS:

"A Little Piece of Paradise," by AauntiePasta. This story put forth the idea of Marla Gilmore adopting the Borg baby and naming her Amanda. I came up with Amanda's species myself, operating under the idea that it'd be far-fetched for the baby to be human. I chose Terrellian, the species of Harry's evil girlfriend in "Drive," because it seemed plausible; the Borg baby looks human, but her ears are hidden by the implants when we see her in "Collective." Anyway, "A Little Piece of Paradise." Cute, sweet story. One-shot, can be read in one sitting. Give it a look.

And "Sandcastles," by Sam938. This is an AU story, where Seska's baby was Chakotay's, showing us an alternate Season 3. It's an old story, originally published in 1998. I suspect it's J/C, which may turn some of you off; but it's a very well-written story, and it's AU enough for the paring to feel plausible. (Personally, I have no real problem with J/C; it doesn't interest me, but I can accept it if a story is intriguing enough.)

Finally, if you want to know the true definition of "crack-fiction," I strongly, urgently recommend the "Harry Potter" fanfic "First Encounter," by Lyris Malachi. It's a one-shot, can be read in one sitting, and it can't honestly be said to be overly "graphic." Just really, really bizarre. It pairs two characters you would never have thought of, not in a million years.

I myself will be continuing one of my other stories, or possibly starting a new one. Not sure which. Stay tuned! Or don't. I'm starting to work on "real" writing projects, and weaning myself off of fan-fiction. (Or at least treating fan-fiction as more of a "sometimes snack.")