A/N: Woot! I finally finished my school project! I've been working on it for almost six months and I though I'd never get it done! I just hope I pass or I have to come back in August… eep!

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter. I'll be writing another one soon along with a new installment for "Star Trek Academy". Read and review! (and a special thank you to those who already did!)

Chapter 35: Trapped

Annoyed, the Queen watched the latest addition to the hive mind regenerating in his alcove. They had been trying for several days to break through the mysterious shield, but all efforts had proven to be futile so far. Goku was amazingly strong, or at least he had been. Unfortunately, they had discovered that the Saiyan gained strength through his emotions. He was still a lot more powerful than the average drone, but in his current state, he could only use a fraction of his abilities. Until they had found a way to utilize his power without restoring his individuality, Goku would never be able to break through the shield.

This left the Queen with only one other option: to do it the "old fashioned way" and simply use their own weapons. However, the shields were highly advanced and appeared to be set to a rotating modulation. They would have to adapt at least three times faster than they were able to, in order to even make a dent, so to speak.

Of course, even the best shield or forcefield could withstand only a certain amount of brute strength. If she could access Goku's full potential, it would only be a matter of time before the defense systems went down.

If she gave him his a small part if his individuality back, like she had done to Locutus, it might be enough. However, Saiyans were extremely difficult to control. If she even slightly weakened her hold on his mind, there was a risk that he would break free entirely.

The queen took another look at his memory about the Dragonballs. At first, she had wanted to immediately go to New Namek to wish for perfection (naturally), but his memories also revealed that one had to make the wish in Namekian in order for it to work. These Nameks also appeared to have regenerative abilities that were far above average and they would greatly add to their perfection.

Unfortunately, she did not know the coordinates of the planet. The 'Kais' as Goku called them, would be able to pinpoint the exact location, but they would be even harder to track down. Also, these Kais, as well as the some of the Nameks, were incredibly strong AND fast. The Borg could adapt to energy blasts but not to kicks and punches. If she whished to pursue them now, the collective could only defeat them by the power of numbers, which meant that she was going to need a lot more drones than she had at her disposal now. Even if she sent a signal through the rift and call in twenty extra cubes, it would most likely not be enough to overpower the Nameks, let alone the Kais. Besides that, she had only one drone that could fly and she did not want to risk losing the Saiyan yet.

At least… not without having a few others standing by to replace him…

Susan let out a whistle when she saw the damage done to the cafeteria. Table were toppled over, half-eaten foods were strewn across the floor and empty clothes marked the spots where the unlucky employees had been eating their lunches before a certain android had cut their break short.

A shiver ran down her spine as she pictured Cell bursting through a wall, grinning wickedly at the terrified men and women just before raising his tail and moving in for the kill…

Stop it! she mentally scolded herself. Panicking is going to get you nowhere! If Cell shows up, you have to stay cool and don't freak out or you'll faint again! And for Kami's sake, stop talking to yourself! What will 17 think if he finds out!

Susan sighed. She had tried to get over him, but she could not erase the raven-haired android from her memory. His cold blue eyes, his smooth voice, the almost devilish smirk on his face…

Yes, Susan definitely had a soft spot for the "bad boy" type and she hated herself for it. What was she thinking! Lara was the designated bubblehead back on Voyager! She should've been the one to stupidly fall in love with the nearest handsome evil guy, and Susan would then smack some sense back into her. Not the other way around!

She had to try harder to put the android out of her mind. She would NOT turn into one of those ditzy, happy-go-lucky girls she had once seen in one of Tom and Harry's holonovels! Love at first sight, was frowned upon at Urania. You had to become close friends first, get to know each other a little better and then give it ten to twenty years to slowly develop into something more. With an average lifespan of 280 years, this wasn't much of a problem.

Then again … just how likely was she to grow old at the moment?

Susan started muttering under her breath as she continued rummaging through the shelves, hoping to find something that looked at least remotely edible. She let out a frustrated sigh when she threw away another sugar-loaded candy bar. She continued to rummage through the broken shelves and finally stumbled on some fruit. Most of it had been squished beyond recognition, but she managed to find a couple of oranges that were only slightly bruised. Not much, but it would have to do.

Munching on her 'catch', she let her thoughts return to the problem at hand. Cell was hot on their trail, and she was pretty sure that they had not seen the last of the Borg yet either. What was she going to do when their time was up? Would she just step up to whoever had found them first and say: "Oh, excuse me? I know you just can't wait to absorb or assimilate me, but can I have a few minutes more to live so I can stupidly confess my undying love to android 17? You'll get first dibs on my corpse after he's ripped my head off!"

She was so caught up in her own musings, that she did not notice the shadowy figure standing in the doorway. It approached her silently and tapped her on the shoulder.

"Talking to yourself…?"

It did not get a chance to finish it's sentence, as Susan immediately whirled around and whacked it straight on the head with a broken coffee mug.

"EEEEEEEEK! GET AWAY FROM ME YOU…" she blinked a few times when she did not fell it connect to the head of the intruder.

"SUSAN! It's me! Please calm down!"

"Sorry Doc, I though you were Cell," she apologized with a sheepish grin on her face.

"How flattering"

"What are you doing here? I thought you were staying with Bulma and Lara?"

"Don't worry about them, they are at a place called "Kami's Lookout", which is supposed to be safe"

"Doc, before you start talking… " she suddenly interrupted him, "I'm afraid I've got some bad news…"

With a grim expression on his face, the Doctor listened to Susan's story. She told him everything about running into Mirai Lara, escaping Cell, running into the androids and Voyager…

"All of them?" the Doctor whispered.

"Sorry Doc…" she sighed and hung her head. "We're the only ones left…"

For a few moments, Voyagers EMH just gaped at her. He wasn't programmed to cry, but he wished he could. He was designed to be efficient in times of crisis. He could not permit himself to mourn for every patient he lost, because that could put other lives at risk. However, the Doctor had grown beyond his program. He had become a true member of the Voyager crew and to him, it felt like they were his family.

Their faces flashed before his eyes. Tom Paris, ensign Kim, the Delaney twins, Seven of Nine, Icheb, Tuvok, Neelix, the Captain…

And hundreds of others…

…the entire crew…

… all Borg…

"Hey, don't worry Doc," Susan said softly. "We'll find a way to get them back… I mean… Seven was a drone for 18 years and you made her human again! We just have to get them off the cube and you can fix them… right?"

"We'll worry about that later," the Doctor said a bit harsher than he had intended. "Right now, we need to focus on our own survival before we even begin to think of planning a rescue mission"

"So… you think it's possible? To save them, I mean?"

The Doctor thought for a moment, trying to choose his words carefully.

"I don't know…" he started carefully, "the odds are rather against us at the moment"

Susan raised an eyebrow and rolled her eyes.

"You mean: we're dead"

"I didn't say that"

"You might as well," she sighed and gave him a questioning look. "Seriously Doctor, how are we ever going to get out of this mess?"

Susan didn't wait for an answer and wandered off, searching around for something to drink. The sink had been destroyed, so she would have to find something else. After a few minutes, she stumbled on a small refrigerator buried under the rubble. It was mainly filled with sugar-loaded soft drinks, but luckily she found a large bottle of mineral water in the back. She also grabbed a few cans of lemonade, since Krillin would probably want a drink too.

Just before closing the door, Susan glanced inside one more time. Shouldn't she find a bag and take some more cans for the androids as a gesture of good will? 16 was a machine, but 17 and 18 were based on humans. Did they get thirsty?

Before she could decide, she felt someone tapping on her shoulder.

"Not now Doc, I'm busy," she mumbled, trying to get out a few more bottles of water, since she had now idea how long her current supply would have to last.

He tapped on her shoulder again, a little more impatient this time.

"Just a minute," she waved at him over her shoulder, "I'll be right there"

This time, he coughed rather loudly and poked her upper arm. Annoyed, she spun around.

"WHAT?" she burst out. "WHAT IS IT? WHY DO YOU…?" she trailed off when she saw that the Doctor was on the other side of the cafeteria, and that she was instead standing eye to eye with a very peeved raven-haired android.

"Susan!" the Doctor shouted, while hurrying towards her, "One of the androids is…"

He trailed off when he noticed that she had already found out. 17 glared briefly at him and turned to back to Susan, who was twitching and mumbling something incoherent.

"I see you made a friend," he remarked.

"I am the EMH of the U.S.S. Voyager," the Doctor spoke up, slightly offended that the android was talking like he wasn't even there.

"EMH?" 17 raised an eyebrow.

"Emergency Medical Hologram, put most people just call me Doctor," he explained.

"That's not much of a name, is it?" the android smirked.

"At least it's better than just two digits," the Doctor mumbled sarcastically. Unfortunately, the android's enhanced hearing picked up his witty comment.

"Why you…!"

With a growl, 17 threw a kick at the Doctor. To his shock, it went right through him! He whirled around and punched him straight between the eyes, but his fist did not connect with anything but air and he fell flat on his face. Bewildered, he looked up at the strange man.

"I am a doctor, not a punching bag," the Doctor remarked, while hoping that the android would give up before he managed to land an attack on his mobile emitter. Luckily, 17 quickly noticed that he was wasting his energy.

"Uhm… do you… want a drink?" Susan nervously asked, trying to distract the android for a bit.

"I am an android," 17 snapped at her.

"I guess that means 'no' then," she mumbled as she put the water and cans in a bag.

"Susan, put those down, Cell will be here any second!" the Doctor called. He grabbed her wrist and tried to run for the exit. Susan was about to protest, when suddenly, android 17 swiftly moved in front of the doorway, causing the hologram and the alien to bump into him.

"Are you insane?" the Doctor hissed. "This is no time to pick a fight! If Cell finds us, we will all be killed!"

"And I suppose you know where that thing is now?" the android asked smugly.

"Well… no," he answered uneasily.

"Doc," Susan tried, "we managed to get here only because Tien was distracting him, but his powerlevel already vanished over 20 minutes ago"

"So Cell is probably waltzing his way over to our hiding place as we speak," 17 smirked, while grinning at Susan's frightened expression. He let go of her arm and grabbed the bag, inspecting the contents.

"Just water and a few cans of lemonade?" he questioned.

"What's so strange about that?" she asked.

"If I were you, I would've picked something with alcohol… with a little luck, you might get yourself drunk before that thing finds us…" he smirked evilly, "or I change my mind"

To his surprise, Susan was not intimidated. Instead, she put her hands on her hips and scowled at him.

"Yeah, just keep yapping mister big shot," she snorted, "but I'm not the one who got clobbered back there!"

In a flash, he grabbed her neck and pinned her against a wall. The Doctor tried to pry the android's hands off her, yelling to let her go, but the artificial human would not budge.

"Don't…EVER…talk to me like that again!" he hissed.

"Or what...?" she choked out. "You'll…kill…me…?"

He tightened his grip, making her gasp for air.

"LET HER GO!" The Doctor shouted again. In a desperate attempt to break Susan free, the hologram grabbed a chair and brought it down on 17's head with al the strength he could muster. The android, unfortunately, did not even blink and continued to strangle the helpless Uranian.

"I just might do that," he said in an icy voice.

"Like…when…you…saved…me…?" she managed to spat sarcastically. She could not believe she was actually daring him to go through with it, but her mind was clouded with anger. Everything around her went dark, leaving her alone with her own thoughts. She wasn't just mad at him, but also at herself for not even being able to fight back. Uranians weren't exactly a warrior race, but neither were humans and look at Krillin and Tien! Then again, they had practiced martial arts their entire life, while Susan had to resort to flying to get inside Dr. Chaotica's Fortress of Doom on the Holodeck. Tom and Harry had fallen over laughing when she just couldn't get past 'Satan's Robot', who kept knocking her away from the gates.

CLUNK!

She heard the sound of something metallic connecting to the android's head, like a fire extinguisher maybe. She faintly caught the Doctor yelling at her to hold on, but she had no idea where his voice came from. It felt like she was just floating peacefully in a black void of nothingness.

("Susan, can you hear me?")

Her eyes snapped open when she suddenly heard a familiar voice seeking contact.

("…Lara?")

("Are you okay? Piccolo says I don't have to worry, but Chiaotzu told us about the androids and …")

("I'm fine,") Susan lied, thankful that Lara could not sense if she was speaking the truth while using telepathy, and Piccolo apparently was able to block her.

("Then why do I have this nagging feeling that you're not?")

("It's probably just stress,") She tried to assure her. Lara had to stay out of this or 17 would kill her too! It was odd though, she felt perfectly fine! Not even her neck was sore. Was she dreaming?

("How are you contacting me anyway?") she tried to change the subject. ("We're too far apart!")

("Piccolo helped me set up some kind of temporary link, isn't it cool?") she paused for a moment. ("Anyway… uhm… I wanted to tell you….")

("Is it about Voyager?")

("…Yeah…")

("I know…")

("HOW? Don't tell me that Q…")

("Well, Cell showed up and… wait a minute… Q?")

Lara continued to send Susan her thoughts and filler her in on what had happened. She also told her about their trip to Namek. Bulma was almost finished building a new type of ship that could get them there in just a few hours. It also had Borg-proof shielding and a cloaking device. Apparently, the pad that Q gave to Piccolo, had contained much more than just coordinates.

("So… you guys are really going to wish them back?")

("That's right!") Lara nodded. ("And with Voyager's help, those androids won't know what hit them!")

Susan chuckled at her younger sister's energetic enthusiasm. It didn't matter how bad things got, just leave it to Lara get everyone's spirits up. It was hard to imagine what could've possibly happened that had caused her to turn into the dark Mirai version that they had met earlier.

("Sis?")

("Yeah?")

("… Good luck")