Captain Janeway took in a deep breath as she, Tuvok, Seven, and Gretchen, all carrying heavy rifles, stepped onto the transporter pads.
The Hansen's logs had turned out to be vital, as Seven had discovered plans for a bio-dampener, which would cloak them from the Borg while they were on the sphere. They made those problematic twelve seconds irrelevant if they worked.
There was a pause as they waited for word that the Borg had taken the lure of a shuttle with false warp readings, dropping their shields to assimilate it.
The Captain glanced to Seven at her left.
Janeway had kept Seven on the Away Team after she argued heatedly that she wanted to support Voyager's success.
"Voyager is my collective now. Your survival is important to me. I am willing to risk my own well-being if it increases our chances of success."
The former Borg drone was completely composed, poker face not dropping a millimetre.
How could I refuse Seven the chance to face her fears and become more of an individual?
The Captain turned to Tuvok behind her, whose expression was especially serious, but who met her gaze and nodded in assent.
She looked at Gretchen as surreptitiously as she could. The ensign was facing forward, fiddling with her sleeves. She had tight lips and was rocking ever so slightly on her heels. She looks so young...buzzed with excitement and nerves before a big mission.
They've both done well in simulations. We're prepared. Why is my stomach so tight?
The sphere dropped its shields for a fraction of a second.
The Away Team materialized in a darkened eerie corridor. Janeway nodded at Tuvok as he and Gretchen headed quickly in the opposite direction.
She and Seven headed to their destination, the hulking cybernetic drones ignoring them completely.
"Seven," Janeway said in concern as the blonde woman stopped suddenly. A moment later Seven nodded and followed Janeway to the closest transwarp chamber. They moved quickly, Seven unlocking the transwarp coil, and Janeway setting up a dilithium crystal beacon.
The women headed back, Janeway again taking the lead, strolling as quickly as she dared back to the transporter pad. The twelve seconds may be irrelevant, but it won't do to tempt fate, not with the Borg.
As Janeway looked back, she saw Seven stopped behind her, looking odd.
"Come on Seven," said Janeway persuasively, "Just a little bit farther and we'll be off this ship forever,"
"No," the former drone said, raising her head haughtily, "I wish to rejoin the collective,"
"You don't," said Janeway firmly, "That's just the memories talking. This is your past. Voyager is your future."
Janeway moved forward to grab Seven, and recoiled in shock when she felt a force field.
"Seven," said Kathryn, urgently, "We have to get out of here."
"Leave" said Seven darkly, as two Borg drones came out of the dim lighting and flanked her, starring at Janeway.
Janeway felt a terrible chill go up her spine as she looked pleadingly at Seven's stony face. As the Borg drones descended past the force field towards her, Janeway rushed away, looking back hopelessly at Seven for a long moment, before pitching herself forward, almost running.
She found she had beaten Tuvok and Gretchen and she caught her breath briefly, her body sagging.
Chakotay's voice sounded from her combadge, "Captain, I'm reporting an explosion, but the shields are still holding. They didn't drop."
"Where are Tuvok and Gretchen?"
There was no response.
"Chakotay?" Kathryn hit her combadge, "Commander, report!"
"Captain," came Tuvok's steady voice from her left, "I believe we are in transwarp."
"What?" said Janeway, "How could we be?"
"As it would be atypical behavior, the obvious conclusion is that the Borg knew we were coming."
Janeway felt another cold chill crash through her at his words, and a third as she looked behind her security officer and saw no one, "Tuvok, where's Gretchen?"
"Spacial charges, here, there, and there," said Tuvok impassively.
Gretchen moved very quickly, placing the charges, and then hit her left arm firmly, "Don't wait on me Tuvok," she said, disappearing.
Gretchen fell hard on the floor of the Cube's central transwarp chamber. She reached quickly up her right sleeve and hit the device she removed, a man emerged from the device, tall and mostly slender, with proportionally broad shoulders, Klingon forehead ridges, a tiered mane of dark hair, and a wry smile.
"Tomas, get that transwarp coil free!" said Gretchen sprinting to her feet.
"I've got this, don't worry," came his familiar voice, moving towards the transwarp chamber smoothly.
Gretchen moved quickly, pulling a small glowing crystal in a stand out of a pocket.
"Voyager, lock on this second transwarp coil," said Gretchen urgently, tapping her combadge, "And two to transport from this location," she yelled.
There was no response, "Voyager!, Voyager!" she said hitting her combadge again, "Let's get out of the transwarp chamber shielding," she said, moving quickly. The man nodded.
"Voyager! Voyager!" Gretchen continued tapping as she moved, Tomas leading the way as they avoided drones.
"Gretchen, where the hell are you?" said Captain Janeway's voice from her combadge.
"Don't wait for me," shrieked Gretchen suddenly, "Get out of here!"
"We're in transwarp," said Janeway, deadpan.
Gretchen stopped moving as total horror washed over her.
"We've got to stop this thing Tomas, take it over somehow. This wasn't supposed to happen, we had time. What went wrong?"
Her communication line was still open and she heard two shots, "Tuvok, that way," came that Captain's voice, followed by one more shot and the line, "They've adapted."
In the same moment two drones looked straight at her and Tomas and lurched forward.
"Back the way we came," said Tomas grabbing her arm and pulling her through the corridor, "I'll use their shielding against them."
"Tuvok, maybe we can hold them off from that hallway." came Gretchen's combadge.
"Unlikely Captain, we will be quickly overwhelmed,"
"There must be a way to…."
"Captain, hold on!" screamed Gretchen as she and Tomas ran into the transwarp chamber, "I'll try something!"
Tomas nodded at her, and grabbed a wicked looking knife off of his belt as two drones followed them into the chamber, "You want to dance with a Klingon?" he growled, baring his teeth and approaching them, stabbing the first in the neck. The drone went down quickly and Tomas pulled the knife out and stabbed the next drone.
Gretchen ripped off her jacket, revealing her transporter amplifier, and tapped buttons on the front quickly as her eyes darted between the screen and Tomas, face hot and breath held.
There was a flash of light, and Tuvok and Captain Janeway tumbled to the floor of the chamber, Janeway groaning with pain.
"Tomas!" screamed Gretchen, "Shield!"
Tomas moved quickly, playing the Borg console like a musical instrument, a shining force field appearing within seconds.
Gretchen sagged, both hands on her knees and breathing heavily, as Tuvok and Janeway lifted themselves off the floor.
"I can hold that shield indefinitely," said the Klingon hybrid's baritone voice, almost bored as he continued tapping fluidly, "But once we arrive in Borg space they'll definitely overwhelm us."
"How long do we have?" said Janeway breathlessly.
"About two and a half hours," said Tomas.
"Do I even want to know how he got here?" said Janeway, one hand on her hips and the other gesturing at Gretchen. Her gaze moved to the two dead drones with dagger wounds and then back to the human woman.
Gretchen looked at her guiltily, "Captain Janeway, this is Tomas, Thomas Owen Paris."
Janeway looked at him, eyes widening.
"Tomas, this is Captain Janeway,"
"I remember her," said Tomas dismissively, not looking up.
"Enough pleasantries," said Tuvok suddenly, "How do we retake the ship?"
"We could knock out the rest of the transwarp coils," said Gretchen, "Two of them are already offline, if we knock out the other four we can't get to true Borg Space."
"True," said Janeway, "But that would only delay the inevitable. We'd be sitting ducks for the rest of the collective as soon as we stop moving. We have to make it back to Voyager."
Janeway starred at Gretchen, "Seven just declared that she was going to rejoin the collective. I have a feeling you know something about this."
"The Borg Queen can read Seven's mind, and can contact her. Seven was blackmailed into offering herself up to the Collective in return for Voyager's safety."
Janeway's eyes widened.
"And you didn't tell me this because?"
"I didn't want you to change your actions. I knew the outcome of what happened in my timeline. I thought I could stop Seven from being taken, and get a second transwarp coil, all with no risk to anyone but myself."
Gretchen's lip quivered, and Tomas stepped away from the console and put both hands on her shoulder, "I was wrong," she ended, looking down, "I didn't move quickly enough. The two minutes ran out, and you stayed behind because of me. Now you can't lead Voyager into what was a successful rescue mission."
"That is incorrect," stated Tuvok, "The two minutes were not up when the sphere went into transwarp."
"She knew," said Gretchen, gasping, "The Borg Queen, she did this."
"Seven knew you were from the future," said Janeway, "Which means the Borg Queen knew. That's bound to have made you a tempting target from the beginning. So she altered Seven's deal. The minute you set foot on this Sphere, it didn't matter what you did, you weren't leaving without a fight."
"She doesn't know what we're capable of," said Tomas, clenching her shoulders.
"What about the Hansen's shield technology?" said Gretchen, looking up at Tomas "Could you cloak the Borg sphere with it?"
Tomas smiled wrly, "Yes, I could, and I could enhance it. But the drones being attached to the hive would be a problem. As would Seven's link."
"What about…..?"
"The psychic shielding," they said in unison.
"Like the shielding we used against the pitcher plant?" asked Janeway.
"Yes," said Tomas evenly, looking at her, "But more powerful."
"And once we have cloaked the ship and rendered the drones inoperative, we could pilot the ship back to Voyager?"
"Yes, I should be able to," said Tomas, nodding.
"So we need to get back to the shield matrix we just partially blew up," said Gretchen, "But it should be operative enough to do this. I can transport us there….hopefully," said Gretchen wincing.
"We should go," said Tomas, "That tech isn't meant to transport three at once, we got lucky with two, and you adjusting it at the site, one will work much better."
"Right," said Gretchen, nodding, "Back in the mobile emitter then."
Tomas disappeared, and Janeway starred as Gretchen picked up the mobile emitter and placed it back on her arm.
"This narrow beam transporter can get through local shields," said Gretchen, gesturing to her other arm and looking seriously at Janeway, "So we can leave it up and you and Tuvok shouldn't have much of a problem with the drones. But let's keep comms open and you let me know."
"Be careful," said Janeway, looking grim.
Gretchen nodded back, touched her left forearm and pressed the necessary calibrations, tightening her lips as she disappeared.
Gretchen slammed against something, screaming silently as a stabbing pain went through her arm. She turned her head, and found herself starring at seven cybernetic faces. She screamed, and kicked, turning her back to the wall she had slammed into. She moved her left hand to the mobile emitter on her injured right arm to release Tomas, and felt shattered plastic. The Borg faces neared and she saw two injection tubes start to emit from the closest drones' hand.