One of One

by zArkham

As the USS Voyager becomes embroiled in the war between the Borg & Species 8472, a strange anomaly is detected on the Borg Cube where Captain Janeway is negotiating for the life of her crew and maybe for all life in the Delta Quadrant. Within that anomaly hides a centuries old secret. A being who found that resistance was not futile and will continue to resist till the end.

29. Infection

PRIME DIRECTIVE: Space may be the final frontier, but I'll never get there by any monies derived from this as Harry Potter and all properties of such are owned by the Dark Lady JKR. All content, characters related to Star Trek are owned by Paramount Pictures, Inc....except maybe some of that stuff that ended up being used in Starfleet Battles which is owned by the Amarillo Design Bureau who used that content via the Starfleet Technical Manual by Franz Joseph Schnaubelt and published by Ballantine Books.

XxXxX

STORY ALERT: I have once again gone through this story to make edits. The biggest (even if it's minor) is changing the numbers on the Sectors. I've also moved many major story facts (like how I do the Quadrants) from later chapters author's notes to the first few. It might behoove you to go back and read them. I've also worked to improve the Episode/References sections of all the chapter title. While providing potential spoilers, I'm realizing how few of my readers have seen the same breadth of Star Trek lore I have.

Also, let me reiterate a basic fact about this fic, it is expected that you've seen (or at least remember) the episode in question. If you haven't seen it or haven't seen it in a long time, yes this fic will be constantly baffling. It's enough just to write the original content without having to include a lot of the 40+ minutes of content from each episode. Again, an easy fix is just to review the episode's page on the Memory Alpha page. Heck, even though I often watch Voyager when I'm doing things (like folding laundry) I routinely use the website Memory Alpha's break-down of the chapter to remind me of things so I don't have to watch the entire episode again.

I'd also like to remind my readers that I haven't seen Picard, Discovery or Lower Decks as well as only a few episodes of Enterprise. So for the purposes of this story, it's ST:TOS through ST:VOY only.

Sorry for the long wait. I sometimes have certain chapters I know I have to write but actually writing them is a slog. That and I got into a very long running WebComic and was helping a CIV: BE modder with playtesting. That and depression can be a Dementor that sucks the joy out of things you enjoy the most.

XxXxX

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE – INFECTION

(Episode: ST: VOY Good Shepherd but mostly Original Content )

(References: ST: VOY Live Fast & Prosper, False Prophets, Memorial & Ashes to Ashes,)

(References: ST:TAS The Terratin Incident)

XxXxX

PITHY STATEMENT RELATING TO THIS CHAPTER: "I sing and play the guitar, and I'm a walking, talking bacterial infection." – Kurt Cobain – American singer-songwriter and musician – 1967-1994

LAST UPDATED ON: 05-16-2021

Commodore's Personal Log, Star Date 51743.5. I am happy to say that the Fleet has made better time than I had expected given all the issues which have cropped up over the last few months. Certainly tracking down the con-artist Dala and her two huckster companions was a bother. Still, it was worth it to repair any potential damage to the Federation's reputation in the Delta Quadrant. I've done enough without aliens pretending to be me ruining my reputation any further. In retrospect, as things go, the scam they had running was better than what Arridor and Kol had been doing by preaching the Ferengi creed to a Bronze Age planet.

It was very gratifying that Dr. Muroc has confirmed there has been no lasting damage from the alien war memorial the Equinox encountered while following up on a potential trade mission. This was welcome news given so many of the crew are former Maquis who have their own demons of war to contend with without adding trauma from a war long over. How the alien race that built the projecting device thought it was a good idea is beyond me. Hopefully, our warning buoys will keep others from being mentally assaulted by memories from that ancient conflict.

As relieved as I was that the Equinox crew would suffer no lasting damage, this was made more so by Dr. Muroc confidence that the procedure Captain Potter did using his altered Borg nanites has permanently reversed the DNA alterations done by the Kobali to the formerly deceased Ensign Ballard. No captain likes to lose a crew-member but this incident was sweet in it's even more rare to get one back. Harry has privately told me that regardless of what the Kobali did to Ensign Ballard, her soul is still hers. I may not be a big believer in metaphysics but if Harry Potter can see something in us and if it is a soul, I am happy Lindsay Ballard retains hers.

On a more humorous note, the Fleet Council has finally dug itself out from under all of the various proposals on how to deal with the Defiant. I should have expected that Lieutenant Sternbach and Commander Assad's proposals wouldn't be the only ones put forth. Besides Mr. Paris, there are plenty of 'ship nerds' in the Fleet who all think they are the next big thing in ship design and who will go on to run Utopia Planitia someday. While I may not get the same thrill from such things, I am appreciative that so many of all the crews jumped up to find the best solution to our situation. It isn't difficult to forget how many ships Starfleet has built over the years, many which only had a run of a few vessels to meet certain needs of the time.

For my part, it was easy to remember the Saladin class given it's one engine design. However, I had to look up the specs on the design Ensign Baytart proposed since only four were ever built. The Axanar design team were working under the pressures of time, lack of resources and war to build what would become the Ares class destroyer. All of them were built and subsequently destroyed in the first Federation-Klingon War.

If anything, reading the specs brought home how the Saladin & Hermes classes were created simply because Starfleet felt it streamlined production to have one saucer section based on the upcoming run of Constitution class ships. I must say I do remembering wondering about it given the Saladin and Hermes designs were so much larger than later destroyers and scout designs. Now I know it was less about their design and more just using the larger cruiser saucer section for the sake of simplicity of production.

The briefing both Pablo and Tom did on how the Axanar design team used systems from the prototypes built prior to the USS Constitution was very informative and enjoyable at the same time. It was interesting to learn how this decision later influenced why the Kelvin conversion wasn't approved. Sixty thousand light years from Starfleet and I'm learning more than I did at the Academy on the subject!

All history aside, totally gutting the neck section of the Defiant to create the proto-secondary hull will speed up construction. That and other than shortening the nacelle pilons, there will be no need to fiddle with the warp nacelles at all. With this design approved, we are expecting the ship to be ready for limited operations in a few months.

At first, the new ship was to be named after the recently recovered Lieutenant John Kelly. However both Chakotay and Rudy pointed out he was an explorer and this class was designed specifically for combat. Thus it will be christened the USS Ares when it launches. While there is (or at least was) a USS Ares in the fleet when Voyager was taken, all agree honoring the Ares mission is the right thing to do. Warship or not, the Ares will be involved in our decades long exploration of space in a way John Kelly could only dream of.

And launching is something I need to be preparing for. I am grateful for once that Seven's attention to minutia and efficiency has found crew who have slipped through the cracks. It will give me an opportunity to practice my part in the future of the Fleet as well as an excuse for an away-mission. While I have to look to the over-all mission, I must never forget that this is our life now. Therefore while the mission is important, I cannot just let it override what might be best for the crew as people. The experience our Varro had clearly illustrates what can happen when the command loses focus on what is best for their people by focusing only on what is best for the ship. Thankfully with the various ships in the Fleet as well as the entire civilian side of it, there are more options now. So I have to see if I can work to maximize what is best for the Fleet and the people crewing it.

Chakotay had mentioned his discussions with Seven on board the Ares IV and how he'll take every opportunity to get off the ship when possible. This is doubly so for me. So I can use what Seven brought to my attention to do a little training mission. It's about the only thing I think I can use to get others to allow me an away mission.

I knew one day I'd be promoted away from the field but I never expected it to happen half-way through my career!

XxXxX

COMMODORE'S READY ROOM, USS VOYAGER, SECTOR 326, DELTA QUADRANT – STAR DATE 51744.2

"Specialist Harren, thank you for coming," Janeway said as she motioned to the dour looking man in engineering red towards a seat. Janeway thought it odd, given his specialty in cosmology, that Mortimer Harren hadn't gone into the Physical Sciences like she herself had.

The man scowled as he sat, "I didn't realize I had a choice."

Janeway laughed slightly, "Of course you didn't. That, however, is no reason to give up on being polite. Besides, regardless of the realities of the chain-of-command, nobody likes to be reminded that others have power over them. Would you care for something to drink?"

Harren shook his head but didn't say anything.

Janeway shrugged, "Suit yourself." She refilled her coffee cup and sat down. For a moment, Commodore and Specialist simply stared at each other. Janeway finally sighed, "You, Mortimer Harren, present me with a problem. Your name has come up through Seven's very thorough review of crew efficiency. My problem, however, is baring an unlikely set of events, it will be a long time before we reach Federation space. Therefore I cannot follow standard protocols in dealing with crew who are not fitting in. Thus my problem."

Harren was silent before scowling again, "I do my job and I do it right. Sure, I've been gigged for my attitude but there is nothing wrong with my work."

Janeway nodded, "I agree with you. Your work on shift is well within what is expected. Your work off shift, however, is why I have a problem with you. I've looked at your attempt to disprove Schlezholt's Theory of Multiple Big Bangs. Frankly, it's an amazing piece of work. You are being wasted where you are. However, as much as I'd love to allow you to stay in your quarters and work on theoretics, the Fleet as a whole does not have that luxury. That and your current job is a very good slot to put new crew as the children of the Fleet age up to service age. Thus, just keeping you where you are doesn't work either. Given it is obvious to me that you have refused to work at getting promoted, it leaves me with a bit of a problem. One I do believe I may have a solution for."

Harren's scowl faded, "I'm listening."

Janeway leaned forward, her elbows on her desk, hands interlinked under her chin, "So Specialist Harren, the issue here is you have a talent that isn't being utilized properly. However, we can't let you pursue that without also getting something out of you. So, what I'd like to propose is that you be relieved of duty given you obviously don't want to make a career of Star Fleet.'

Harren looked shocked for a moment, 'But my work record is spotless!"

Janeway made a dismissive gesture, "I'm not cashiering you because of your work, Specialist Harren. I'm suggesting it because I believe you would better serve the Fleet in a civilian capacity as a teacher. As you know, we have a lot of children in the Fleet now. Those children will become students and they will need teachers."

Harren opened his mouth but didn't speak. He then closed his mouth and settle further back in his chair. Finally he shook his head, "I don't think I'd be a good teacher. Any of my shift mates will tell you about my personality."

Janeway got up and walked to the window. She stared at the expanse of space before chuckling, "I agree with you in principle. However, I think you and I both had teachers we didn't like or who made it clear they didn't like their students. Often times, however, these ended up being my favorite teachers given what I learned from them, their attitude notwithstanding. I can also see how it would be very much in your character to see teaching kids or even older students and cadets as a waste of your talent."

The commodore turned back to Harren, "Which brings us back to my problem. You have a talent being wasted. Yet the Fleet needs something from all of us and you are no exception. So you need to ask yourself, is teaching the subject which you are so obviously good at that much of a waste of your time? I know what they say about people on the lower decks. I'm betting you've probably gotten a lot of comments about you being one of the oldest specialists on the ship. Or how others might not think your superiors care about you given your still doing the same low level job after almost four years in the Delta Quadrant. Teaching might not be the best fit for you, but it will be one that will instantly command respect. That and Tuvok will always treat you fairly. I'm sure you can recognize that."

Harren was silent as he thought about the surprising offer.

Seeing he might need another nudge, Janeway leaned against her desk, "Your records show you applied for the Institute of Cosmology on Orion. You were only on Voyager because you needed at least a short ship tour for the practical experience requirement. If my memory serves, postings like that generally call for the newer enrollees to teach as part of their initial service. So, while the students will be very different, you would have ended up in front of a class regardless."

Harren sighed, "That is true. Can I think about this Capta..uhm Commodore?"

Janeway clapped the man on the shoulder, "Certainly. It will be a while before we need to start teaching. Also, Tuvok and others need to work with people like you to fully understand the best way to teach and to who. Who knows? Maybe in the face of all odds, you might find you like to teach intro-physics and cosmology to younger students. Or even basic math to even younger children. Mathematics is difficult for many and no matter how brusque your personality might seem; you have an obvious gift for it. What better person than that to help inspire kids to see past the numbers and abstract concepts and realize they are learning the basic language of the universe?"

Harren stared at her for a moment before smirking slightly, "I thought your specialty was Physical Sciences, Commodore. Not recruitment."

Janeway laughed at this as she blushed slightly. "I'm speaking from experience, Mortimer. I've been known to be…prickly at times. Yet like you, I got interested in how the universe works. Even so, helping others find the same wonder and satisfaction from that study has given me surprisingly a huge amount of satisfaction."

Janeway went back behind her desk and sat back down. "In a way, Harren, you are what I could have been. Going into Starfleet, I thought my career would be nothing more than being posted on various deep research stations looking to crack some of the universe's secrets. While I'd headed up many things in school and at Starfleet Academy, command wasn't something I had really put much thought into. However, I kept finding myself in positions of authority and found I enjoyed it. Yes, it has consumed much more of the time I wish I could be working on more of the physical side of the cosmology you work on, but looking back, I've helped a lot of people get what they wanted out of Starfleet. Now I find myself having to look out for not only people's career but their future within the constraints of our long journey back home. In your case, I am hoping that you can find a lot more enjoyment out of teaching than just inputting power transfer requests down on Deck 15."

Harren digested this for a moment before he stood, "Well Commodore, while I'm sure I will be the teacher students dread taking, I tentatively accept. However, I still would like to think on it and talk with Tuvok and whoever else is working on the education plan."

Janeway smiled, "You'll have that time. Though I think you might end up having to tutor Naomi Wildman before too long. I don't think she's the type of child that wants to wait for all the rest of the kids to grow up. She's after my job after all."

XxXxX

COCKPIT, HUAKA'I (DELTA FLYER), SECTOR 326, DELTA QUADRANT – STAR DATE 51745.7

"Commodore, please change course to eight, four, seven mark nineteen. Speed at your discretion," Senior Lieutenant Mohindra ordered from the command chair. Unlike the original Delta Flyer, the newer flyers had the same trapezoid cockpit the Earhart and Burton had. Experience had already taught them that having an actual 'captain' slot made it so that the other four could focus on their tasks without one of them having to also do double-duty as commander.

"Eight, four, seven mark nineteen, aye," Janeway said with a touch of humor in her voice. Regardless of ranks, Tridiva was in charge of the mission to the Class T cluster while Janeway was acting as the pilot. Even so, Tridiva was obviously uncomfortable giving orders to Janeway like she was some ensign. However, while not on Seven's flagged efficiency report, SLT Mohindra needed command time even if it was small missions like this.

To her left, Janeway saw Derran Tal's hands pause over the controls. Janeway subtly pointed to an easily overlooked screen at the upper part of the console. Tal quickly began to input her own needed orders into the navigation system. She gave Janeway an embarrassed smile before concentrating on her console.

Janeway kept herself from smiling. While Derran Tal had great charisma and technical skill, like many Varro, she was still learning Federation tech. While their tech was often comparable, with both groups having some technology more advanced than the other, it was rapidly becoming apparent that the Varro's cultural outlook going back to the foundations of their civilization had developed in a very different way than had had happened on Earth.

At first Janeway felt this was odd because science was science no matter who did it. However, Harry Potter had pointed out that this type of thing had happened on Earth when the Western European powers came into direct contact with the Eastern powers. The Chinese, for example, had invented so many things but their world view (and needs of their large population) had kept them from doing certain things with that tech that seemed 'obvious' to the Europeans. Apparently this was mirrored in that the Eastern magical tradition was quite different from what was practiced in the West. He told her how some magical cultures in the East had not used wands which limited them in some ways yet gave them access to other traits the Western Magicals rarely could do or even think to try.

After that conversation, Janeway realized how right Harry had been. She asked Harry Kim about it and he agreed. He'd already picked up on it and had a better explanation. The ancestors to the Varro were herbivores. However, like the Klingons, the Varro had been manipulated by a more advanced race. These ancient aliens had spliced the Varro genome with omnivore DNA. It might have even been the 'proto-human' DNA the Ancients in the Alpha Quadrant had used given that Derran Tal and Harry Kim could eventually breed together. For centuries, the Varro had been a subject race, mostly used as bureaucrats. When their masters had ascended or died out (the Varro's ancient texts weren't clear) the Varro had tried to keep their master's empire together but two races their masters used for warriors (like the Old Kings had done with the Klingons) fought to take over the Empire. It was this conflict that led the Varro of the Aušrininkas to flee.

As Janeway turned the Huakaʻi to her new course, she pondered the implications of this information. It was ironic in a way. Many of the crew (herself included at times) had come to feel the Varro were cautious to a fault, needed long debates to come to a consensus over the most basic of things (like where to go for lunch) and could be incredibly stubborn regarding change. Yet it was becoming apparent that 'their' Varro were the ones who probably had the highest amount of human like DNA in them and thus were more adventurous. The more normal Varro had remained to be enslaved or wiped out. So for all the headaches that came with the Varro, they were lucky they were as willing to adapt as they were.

It also explained why both sides had trouble with the other's tech. She imagined that Harry Potter would say that Federation tech was loud, brash and designed to go out into the universe and poke it with a stick. By contrast, the Varro's entire technology was built around caution, careful study and reflection. Exploring to the Varro was sending in a Class V probe, followed by numerous follow-on probes followed by robotic, autonomous drones. Only after exhaustive study, would a manned mission be launched.

Harry Kim had already told her that most Varro thought Derran was an insane risk taker for beaming down with him on the mission where they had discovered the Druoda warheads. Janeway smirked at that. Given Harry Potter's rant at her, she had realized that perhaps a lot more of the Varro caution was probably best, especially now with the children in the Fleet.

The Flyer flew on its new course and they continued to scan the cluster. Janeway was pleased that while Ensign Tal Celes was obviously nervous with working so closely with both Janeway and Mohindra, she was staying on top of the readings. The Bajoran had a deep-seated fear of failure and was so easily flustered. Janeway was shocked Seven hadn't caused the poor girl to have a nervous breakdown due to the former drone's brusque, no-nonsense work attitude.

Harren, unsurprisingly, was mostly silent as he worked the ops station. Sadly for him, Janeway felt it would be wrong if he were excluded from the training mission given he had been on Seven's report. He had made it clear he hated space travel and even with the upgraded capabilities of the Delta Flyer, Harren felt he was courting death by having to go.

Janeway had to admit that their experience in the Delta Quadrant so far made it difficult to refute his fear.

Still, Specialist Harren's abilities had never been in question and he was efficient in his work. Janeway turned and signaled to him to take the conn so she could hit the fresher. She was in a good mood. So far the training mission was going well and she was enjoying flying the Delta Flyer. It was up and away a much better ship to fly than the standard Class 9 shuttles. This good mood evaporated as she came out to find Specialist William Telfer scanning himself with a tricorder.

She sighed and pulled out her own tricorder. She typed in a message to Lieutenant Mohindra that she had to have a chat with Telfer. A thumbs-up icon was the quick reply. She clipped her tricorder back onto the utility belt that all away teams wore. (*)

"Specialist put that away and come sit. We need to talk," Janeway said as she moved fully into the aft compartment.

Telfer looked up in surprise and immediately looked guilty. He quickly moved to sit next to the xeno-science station. Janeway sat herself at the long-range sensor station across from him. She let him fidget for a bit before sighing. "Specialist Telfer, you represent a problem to me in a manner similar to Specialist Harren. In his case, I think we both have worked out a deal that benefits the needs of the Fleet with his personal life. You, on the other hand, represent a bigger challenge. One I have an answer for but one I doubt you will accept. So this puts me in a position to make a decision I'd rather not have to."

"Wha-what do you mean, ma'am?" Telfer stuttered out, obviously flustered at the seriousness in Janeway's tone.

"What I mean is your hypochondria is a drag on the mission and Fleet resources," Janeway said in a tone that was as cold as space. "Even though we know have counselors available thanks to Q bringing the entire crew of the Constellation forward in time, Seven has already reviewed various options and she finds that you have a deep rooted issue that will require a long time to correct and that's only if you fully cooperate. A cooperation she does not feel you will fully comply with. However, just up and stating you are unfit for Starfleet duties, your hypochondria will follow you to whatever civilian job you end up in. You will still be a drag on the Fleet's medical assets and it will interfere in whatever your job ends up being. So, again, you represent a problem that may require some harsh choices."

Telfer audibly gulped at this.

Janeway held up a hand, "However, here is the situation from how I see it. You are constantly on edge because you are hyper-aware of your body. You see anything out of the ordinary as a potential life-threatening risk. Well given our situation, that isn't far from the truth. The issue at hand is you cannot seem to recognize real danger from just the aches and pains of life. Trust me, William, if you think your body can act weird now, wait a decade or two. It never gets better. I, however, have a solution for you even though I can't force you to take it."

Telfer looked uncomfortable, as if he could sense the bad news coming, "What solution is that?"

Janeway was silent for a moment. Finally she gestured to his chest, "The issue is you have trouble processing what your body is telling you. An ache here, a feeling of being too warm and such. This sets you off in a frenzy which starts off a change of events, both physical and mentally, which itself feeds the process. There is a way, however, that you could be assured that everything is fine while at the same time having a system which would alert you immediately if something were wrong."

Telfer sighed, "I'm not going to like this solution, am I?"

Janeway couldn't help but chuckle, "No. I assure you though that I have confidence in it. Which is surprising given what it is. Now don't interrupt. Just hear me out. You see, I believe the best option for you is to allow Captain Potter to inject you with a variant of his tame Borg nanites."

Telfer went pale and was about to speak before Janeway pointed a finger at him which caused him to lean back in his chair.

"I know. I'm sure the last thing you want is alien tech crawling around in your body. But let me break down why I think it is in your best interest. First off, the basic nanites Captain Potter has used before worked to help the former drones regulate their body. It also should help to stave off assimilation but Captain Potter hasn't had a chance to test it nor does he want to ever have to."

Telfer found himself snorting at that. Who would seek out assimilation?

Janeway smiled at this, "Exactly. Now while down on Tartarus, Captain Potter created a different batch whose main function was created for people who had never been assimilated. So these nanites worked to enhance the bodies normal process and to enhance the body's ability to ward off diseases. Those with those nanites did better when a plague struck them. Now I've talked with Captain Potter about this before we left after hearing Seven's report on you. He said it would be easy to create some form of interface with these nanites. Normally in the case of his own, Captain Potter uses a Borg alcove."

Telfer blanched at that.

Janeway nodded, "Obviously, that wouldn't work for you. Again, though, the wizard says he could create a program for your tricorder or even your comm-badge which would send you alerts. You could also see your health status anytime you check your messages, log into your ship system account or via your tricorder. This would hopefully give you, over time, a way to learn to trust your body is chugging along, doing what it's supposed to even if that means the occasional odd ache, pain or change in body temperature."

Telfer was silent as he digested this.

"Now before you think of this as some form of 'take this treatment or else' that this process is something Captain Potter has been working on for a while now. While I cannot order it, he and I are working towards making this nanite treatment available for everyone who accepts it. For my part, having even a partial protection against assimilation is worth it. That is above and beyond the benefits of keeping everyone healthy. Right now we're working on ensuring privacy concerns and the security of the nanites from outside interference and obviously that the Borg couldn't hijack the nanites somehow. If anything, you accepting this treatment would be helpful to accelerate this process. I realize asking someone worried about their health to be accept what could be seen as a prototype seems odd. However, the Doctor pointed out that this could give you more confidence in the process as you'd be deeply involved and monitored. Given you already head to the Doctor at the first sniffle or ache, I would hope that you'd realize this wouldn't be that different from what you do now. "

Telfer opened his mouth to speak, thought better of it and was silent for a moment. Finally he blinked as if in surprise, "I don't know ma'am. As you said, my initial reaction is to run away screaming from even thinking about this. Still, I talked with Tom Paris one day when I was getting checked by the Doctor. I thought I had a case of Ankaran Flu. Tom was getting treated to repair all the damage the lack of care on Tartarus had caused him. Both he and the Doctor talked about how the nanites he had had kept Tom from being in a lot worse shape than he was. I remember what Tom looked like when the Ark first escaped compared to now. So…maybe this could work. I'd need a lot more data, of course."

Janeway nodded, "Of course. I just want you to know Specialist Telfer that while I can't order you to do this, by not accepting the process will put me in a position to have to relieve you of your Starfleet duties. Your untreated hypochondria will not make it easy for you to create a new life among the civilians. This treatment is a risk but one which could open you up to a life with a lot less fear in it. So think carefully on it. I don't want to cashier you, William. But as Commodore I have a lot of balls to juggle and often I can't do what I want compared to what I have to do."

Telfer nodded, "I understand, Commodore. It's not personal."

Janeway shook her head, "Wrong. It is personal. You are one of my crew. I want you to succeed. Failing that is very personal to me. Still, that is my burden. You have to make choices that are right for you. I'm just telling you that unlike many decisions, this one has some very serious consequences no matter which direction you end up taking."

Before Telfer could respond, the Flyer bucked and both of them were thrown out of their seats. The lights dimmed as the ship automatically went to Red Alert status. Janeway quickly made her way back to the cockpit even as she noticed the artificial gravity was noticeably weaker.

"Report!" She barked. Training mission or not, she wanted answers.

The rest of the crew were still dazed. Finally Celes squeaked out, "I think we're being bombarded by some sort of energy!"

Janeway motioned for Harren to retake his seat at ops. She quickly brought the Flyer back to the Galactic Horizon line and slowed the ship down to where it was barely moving. Controls were sluggish but still responsive. She stood up and motioned Mohindra to take the conn. "Ensign, do we still have comms with the Fleet?"

Celes worked her console. "No ma'am, but I think we might just need to do a system reset. Whatever hit us…is hitting us, caused the system to go offline and needs a manual restart."

"I'm on it, Commodore," Harren said promptly.

"Commodore? I'm reading a lot of weird energy hitting our shields," Telfer's voice came through via the intercom. "It's almost like dark matter."

Harren's head snapped up at that. Janeway knew he had written papers which had been widely distributed in Starfleet and beyond on the subject. "Put it on screen."

After a moment, a screen formed in front of the forward window. It showed various information about the energy hitting the Flyer. Some of it looked familiar to Janeway. She turned to Harren, "That look familiar to you? It does to me."

Harren nodded, "The bulk of the energy seems to be coming from a dark matter proto-comet. The other energy is familiar. I think maybe the comet hit a very small quantum filament and we had the bad luck to be nearby."

This caused both Mohindra and Cele to gasp. Derran Tal looked at Janeway, "If true, then we are lucky it was a very small quantum filament. The Aušrininkas hit such a filament decades ago and we lost 15 pods because of it."

"Well we're not going to stay around any longer than we have to. Tridiva, as soon as Harren gets our system back on line, back us out the way we came slowly. I'm going to go back and work with Telfer to see what we can find," Janeway ordered. She turned to Ensign Celes, "Tal, just keep calm and work the normal sweeps in conjunction with Derran. Inform the Fleet as soon as possible. I'll take care of the more in-depth sensor sweeps with Telfer."

The young Bajoran nodded enthusiastically, "Understood, Commodore!"

Janeway nodded and gave an encouraging smile. She turned and leaned down to look at Harren's ops console, "How are we looking?"

Harren didn't look up nor did his voice sound anything but his normal bored tone. Still, Janeway could tell how tense he was. "I think the ship is fine but we do need to get away from this energy being radiated at us. I hope the blast didn't damage any of the sensor logs. I could spend a lot of time on just combing through what just happened to us."

Janeway patted him on the shoulder, "First concentrate on getting us back up to full power so we can get out of here."

With one last look at the data on Harren's screen, Janeway made her way back to the aft compartment. Telfer had already activated the other workstation and so she went right to work. The readings quickly confirmed that it was probable that Harren's theory fit what the sensors were picking up. She and Telfer worked silently to try and find the source of the impact but the radiant energy was playing havoc with the sensors. Even after the Delta Flyer's system rebooted and they began to slowly back away, it was hard to localize where the energy was coming from. It was seemed to be cascading from all directions.

After a tense half hour, the energy began to lessen enough that Janeway gave the go ahead for Mohindra to put on more speed. They still were, unfortunately, unable to contact the fleet but Janeway felt that as soon as they cleared the area enough to go to warp, they'd be in contact again.

Janeway wiped sweat from her brow. She would be glad to get back to the ship as she was feeling odd. She almost asked Telfer if he was feeling alright but thought better of asking a known hypochondriac about his health.

However, it was the younger man who ended up bringing the subject up, "Commodore? Are you alright? You look flushed."

Janeway shook her head, "I'm just a little over-heated."

Telfer frowned and took out his tricorder and started scanning here. Janeway almost stopped him but she was feeling off.

Telfer's frown deepened, "That's not right. Ma'am, you're running a fever and I'm getting some weird readings I've never seen before. Let me get a touch sample." He reached and took her hand and brought his tricoder up to touch one of her fingers. Suddenly, Telfer yelped in fear and jumped away from her, his tricoder clattering loudly to the deck. "There's something in your hand!"

Janeway looked at her hand and noticed it was discolored. She quickly reached out with her other hand to try and feel what Telfer had felt. Whatever it was, there was something wriggling in her hand. Yet before she could reach for the dropped tricoder, she gasped in fear as something burst out of the top of her hand. The color drained from her face as she realized what it was even as Telfer's scream of abject fright filled the compartment.

XxXxX

BRIDGE, USS VOYAGER, SECTOR 326, DELTA QUADRANT – STAR DATE 51745.9

"Helm! Back us off from the Fleet. Give us at least a 100 kilometers distance," Chakotay ordered as Voyager's red alert klaxons wailed. There was a palpable air of dread on the bridge even as the crew bent to their tasks.

"Specialist Morrow! What is our status?" Chakotay almost barked.

"It is confirmed; somehow areas of the ship are beginning to become assimilated," Morrow said as his hands danced over the Science station controls, sweat beading on his forehead.

"Show me!" Chakotay said even as he noticed that his hands were losing color. It wasn't just the ship that was being assimilated!

The screen flared to life with certain parts of the ship marked in red. Luckily, it was not wide-spread and seemed to be confined to very specific areas. Areas that were frequented by Seven of Nine Chakotay noticed quickly.

The comm built into the command chair beeped, "Voyager, this is Potter. What is your status?"

Chakotay scowled, "Not good. I think somehow Seven has contaminated the ship with some form of slow acting form of assimilation. The rate seems to be much slower than normal. Thankfully, the entire ship isn't showing the same rate of infection as areas Seven is often in."

Potter's sigh was clearly audible, "That's what I was afraid of. We've got some initial reports of similar infections in the Fleet. The commonality is places Seven has frequented for long periods of time along with personnel who have routine contact with her."

Chakotay cursed under his breath, "How bad is it?"

"Not as bad as it could be. Luckily, it seems all of us who have my anti-assimilation nanites seem to be unaffected. Both B'Elanna and I are not showing any indication of infection nor has Treana who works almost daily with her," Harry said evenly.

Chakotay nodded at this, "That's good to hear…oh frak!" Chakotay turned to JLT Bowler, "John, make contact with the Delta Flyer. Do whatever it takes. The commodore has spent a lot of time with Seven and the small space of the Flyer could put them at risk much faster than the rest of the ship."

Chakotay hit the intercom button again, "Harry, we had lost contact with Janeway's away mission. I'm worried she might be farther along in this creeping assimilation. What can we do?" He hated how his voice had a note of frantic pleading in it. Still, he'd been sort of connected to the Borg Collective before and that was enough for him to have a very visceral feeling (and fear) of what assimilation would be like.

"Well for those closest to Seven, I think I can put them into magical stasis to slow things to a crawl. Then we can use my nanite therapy so I think from the standpoint of personnel, we should be good."

The tension on the bridge lessened as if everyone exhaled in relief, "That's good to hear but what about Voyager? You can't put her into stasis."

"No, but I think we're in luck that Seven has spent the bulk of her time on Voyager. I've already started a crash-course in making more nanites like we initially used to proof the Cube. We still have enough to start with to hopefully give us more time. If we inject the gel-packs that run throughout Voyager, it should help blunt the spread of the assimilation."

Chakotay blinked at this before he grinned, "And the longer we have, the more we can do spot applications directly with your nanites."

"Exactly! I'm directing all of those with my nanites to prepare to come aboard Voyager. Between them and some of the Zimbots, we should be able to keep everything running smoothly while the crew is under. Oddly enough, I think Seven will be key to this. Ventris has been working with her since this started and Sevens is not showing any sign of her being under any sort of control."

Chakotay scowled, "She was a Trojan Horse then."

A pop of air and Potter appeared next to the XO seat. His face was grim, "That's what I'm thinking. We never could figure out what made Seven special or what the Borg were trying to hide in her. I think this Nine she's Seven of are a group of prototype drones whose sole purpose is to be captured. It could explain why Seven has all the traits she has. It makes it more likely that we'd want to restore her and not just airlock her."

Chakotay nodded. He remembered how he'd agreed with one of the security team members guarding Cargo Bay 2 during the 8472 crisis. The man had been embarrassed to admit that even as a drone, Seven was hot. That should have been a red flag right there. "Makes sense." He raised his left hand which had gone grey and the veins were dark and visible under the flesh. He felt he could already here the whisper of the Collective in the back of his mind, "I think you better stun me now."

OoOoO

Harry retracted the tubules from his gauntlet and brought up his tricoder to scan the bulkhead he'd just injected some of his nanites into. It was critical to see how fast they could combat, if at all, the rate of infection from the Borg assimilation nanites. The fact that none of the people who had his anti-assimilation nanites had been infected gave him hope.

Around him, Zimbots were scanning up and down the corridor. The crew had already been moved to the main shuttle bay to be watched. Harry had already put them in stasis. Now it was just a matter of confirming if they'd have to destroy Voyager or could save her.

His comm-badge beeped, "Captain Potter? The Huaka'I just came out of warp and they are frantic. As expected, Commodore Janeway is showing serious assimilation effects."

Harry swore to himself even though his tricoder readings were showing his nanites being successful in fighting their Borg counterparts. "Roger that, Ventris. Have them orbit at 5 klicks from Voyager. Then beam the crew into the shuttle bay. Except for Janeway, beam her to her ready room."

"Her ready room? Not sick-bay?"

"No, if she's seriously infected, best to deal with her in a room we already know is pretty far along. I'd rather not risk sick-bay more than it's already at risk," Harry explained.

"Ah, yes…we should be able to get that done in ten minutes," Ventris said.

"Good. I'm on my way there right now. Have Seven meet me there. I might need her help with the Commodore if she's in a bad way. Harry out."

Harry turned to see Tharius come around the corner. The Romulan had beamed over from the Equinox along with the rest of the former drones. "Tharius, good you're here. I need to head up to the Commodore's ready room. It looks like the nanites are working. You know the plan. Let's get gel-packs closest to the highest infection areas injected with the nanites we have."

Tharius thumped a fist to his chest in the old Romulan navy salute, "It shall be done, Captain Potter."

Harry apparated to the shuttle bay and quickly put the Delta Flyer crew into magical stasis. He then apparated to Janeway's ready room. He frowned at how the terminal on her desk was actively showing Borg tech. He manifest his gauntlets again and began to move around the room, injecting the few nanites he had left in them into the bad spots. He finished just as Seven entered the room.

She barely cleared the doors before she spoke brusquely, "I recommend the Fleet move to safety immediately. I feel it is likely that a signal has been sent to the Collective and thus Borg vessels are no doubt in route to our location."

Harry shrugged, "All to true, but right now we have to stay close to the Kelionininkas or otherwise we might as well destroy Voyager now."

Seven pursed her lips. "It seems much of my success in adapting back to my humanity was simply part of the plan. Like the fabled scorpion, I was destined to always sting."

Harry harrumphed at that, "True but let's not panic yet. I think something is off about this. The Borg are more efficient than what we're seeing. So far, the assimilation sites are haphazard and we have time to counter them. I don't think whatever plan the Borg had is going off like they wanted to."

Harry's comm-badged beeped. "Captain Potter? Korath here in the shuttle bay. Are you ready for Commodore Janeway?"

Harry tapped his comm-badge, "Go ahead and send her, Korath. Do we have anyone available to beam over to the Flyer to inspect it?"

"Veer is already prepped to do so, Captain Potter," the Klingon replied.

"Well send Janeway up and keep me posted," Harry ordered. He looked at Seven, "This could go south quickly. You up for this?"

Seven nodded, "I owe the Commodore much. It is due to her desire to save me that she is in the peril that she's in."

Harry smirked, "Oh come now; sex with you isn't that perilous!"

Seven merely raised her eyebrow at this. She realized she shouldn't be surprised he knew of her dalliance with Janeway. Harry had been watching her covertly since almost his first few days on board Voyager. That he continued to do so should not have surprised her. If anything, the current situation proved his caution had been warranted.

Before she could reply, the hum of the transporter filled the room, depositing Janeway on the floor in front of the couch by the viewports. If Seven were more human, she probably would have made a face of disgust.

Unlike normal assimilation, this version had less obvious technology but more change to the skin color and texture. Instead of the grey-greenish skin, Janeway's exposed skin almost looked like it had scales. Her hair was fading in color and looked likely to start falling out soon. Seven noted that whatever form of assimilation was in play, it was assimilating the Xenylon fabric of Janeway's uniform as well.

Harry noticed this as well, "Let's get her uniform off." With a wave of his hand, he used a variant of the switching spell to get her naked. He pursed his lips as he looked at the now neatly folded uniform and waved his hand again, banishing them into the limbo all such items went. He looked up at Seven, "No reason to keep those around, right?"

Seven nodded as she knelt beside the now naked Janeway who seemed to be having small convulsions, "Agreed. Kathryn, can you hear me?" She asked.

Janeway's eyes opened; her corneas had turned a green similar to the lighting found in the Cubes. Surprisingly, she smirked, "I hear you, Seven of Nine. It's been quite some time since I last saw you."

Seven blinked at this even as Harry scowled. The voice wasn't that of Janeway. An icy pit of fear formed in Harry's stomach. He recognized the voice. It had been the overriding whisper among the Collective during his two centuries of exile on the Cube. "Forgive me if I don't bow, your majesty." Harry said in a tight voice. This was bad. Really bad.

Janeway's eyes tracked towards Harry even as her body stopped the small convulsions. "The anomaly." The Borg Queen's voice sounded surprised.

Harry couldn't help but smirk, "Let me guess…you expected me to be taller?"

The Queen's face was impassive, "No. I am surprised you are merely human. I was expecting something a bit more…ascendent. A renegade Organian perhaps given the rescue of all those Alpha Quadrant drones."

"Harry Potter is no mere human," Seven said tartly.

The Queen looked to Seven, "Yes, that is true. He's something much more. Something which has previously kept me from acting. Now, however, I think my previous caution had been baseless. No matter, the assimilation has begun. You will all be mine soon enough."

Harry laughed, "Not hardly. Sorry your majesty, but I think your plan went off too soon. Come to think of it, I'm betting I'm to blame. I've been having quite the sexy time with your little hidden bio-weapon. And every time I do, I've been injecting her with my own brand of your little nano-critters. I'm betting that my anti-assimilation nanites caused her to activate early."

The Queen sat up, heedless of her nakedness, a scowl on Janeway's face, "That does seem reasonable. The plan was always for my special centurions to spread the specialized nanites on a planetary scale. To deal with races that had proven…troublesome. No matter. Janeway is almost mine now and the rest of the crew and other ships will follow."

Seven looked at Harry, "What can be done?"

The Borg Queen laughed quietly, "There is nothing that can be done Seven. Resistance is futile."

Harry shook his head and chuckled, "Actually I've got a trick up my sleeve…well below the belt actually." He manifested the Elder Wand and held it out for a moment. As he did so, the Wand began to glow with a palpable power. With a swift flick and jab, Harry intoned, "Amatorius Mens!" A ruby light shot out from the wand and hit Janeway in between her breasts.

The sneer on Janeway's face was very much out of place. "Was that supposed to do something? As I said, resistance is…wait…what did you do? What is going on with this body?" Suddenly the certainty previously in the Queen's voice was replaced by concern.

Harry stood and with a flick of his wand removed his own clothing. "What I did is help set the mood a bit. You don't have full control of Janeway's body. So I…helped a bit given the problem, as I see it, is I need to get her filled with my nanites. However, Janeway doesn't have time to wait while we produce more nanites artificially and I'm not sure putting her into stasis would help. So it leaves me with one option; using my own delivery system to inject nanites my own body produces into her."

Seven's eyebrow leapt towards her hairline, "You are going to have sexual congress with the Borg Queen?"

Harry smirked as he interlaced his fingers and cracked his knuckles, "I certainly am! You can watch if you like but I think this might get a bit rapey for a bit." He waved his hand and Janeway's legs spread open.

"No! Stop! I am the Borg! I will not suffer this indignity!" The Queen snarled even as Seven could tell that the spell Harry had used had already begun to affect Janeway's body. Even riddled with the creeping Borg implants, her body was obviously being affected by whatever spell Harry had cast. Seven could smell Kathryn's arousal and her nipples were hard and taut.

Harry waved his hand again and suddenly Janeway was lying on a soft mattress. He knelt down and began to kiss and lick up Janeway's body, "There, there my Queen. Just lie back and think of England."

"No!" The Borg Queen screamed even as Janeway's body responded willingly to Harry's ministrations.

Seven found herself captivated as Harry began a slow, sexual build-up similar to what he'd originally done to her. All the while the Borg Queen hissed, cursed and threatened him even as Janeway's body obviously was happy to go along with what Harry was doing.

XxXxX

BRIDGE, USS EQUINOX, SECTOR 326, DELTA QUADRANT – STAR DATE 51746.1

While Romulans were known for being a passionate people, they were also known for a level of stoicism they had brought with them from Vulcan. So if out of uniform, it could be easy to mistake a Romulan for a Vulcan due to them rarely allowing their emotions to show on their face or in their body language.

Tahl was grateful for his heritage because right now he knew if it weren't for such, everyone around him would know how utterly terrified he was on a very basic level. Even as he strove to continue to act like this was just another drill, Tahl was hard pressed not to start shaking at the thought of being assimilated again. He was ashamed that his role as captain of the Equinox had meant he got to stay while the other former drones were off on Voyager.

However, as the minutes had turned into an hour and more from the moment the assimilation infections had been detected, Tahl grudgingly allowed himself to have hope.

"Captain, Ventris is calling in her report," Junior Lieutenant Breve Jarvin reported from ops.

"On screen,' Tahl ordered.

The screen switched from the surrounding starfield to the Klingon scientist who was obviously calling from Voyager's shuttle-bay. Tahl was gratified to see she seemed calm. "Captain Tahl, I am happy to report that our current efforts seem to be working. All indicators show we have managed to slow the assimilation down to a crawl. If nothing changes, things have stabilized enough that I am confident we shall be able to do a complete purge of whatever is causing this as the modified nanites come out of the Cube."

There were muttered exclamations of happiness from the rest of the bridge-crew. Tahl ignored them as he had almost done one himself. "That is good to hear, Ventris. Do you have any recommendations?"

Ventris nodded, "I do. We should move the Fleet. Commander Torres believes that Voyager is capable of sustained warp as long as she is slaved into the warp bubble pattern from another ship. I recommend this be the Ark Royal. For all the time Seven of Nine spent on the ship back when it was the Phoenix, it seems to be completely free of the infection. I believe this was due to the proximity to Captain Potter along with the use of nanites and other modified Borg tech in altering it into its current form. Anyway, the last I spoke with Seven, she was concerned that the Collective may be on its way. Thus, I would suggest some form of random maneuvers to cloud us from detection."

Tahl nodded at this, "Reasonable. I will inform the rest of the Fleet. What is the status of Commodore Janeway?"

Ventris looked unsure, "I am not sure. Captain Potter and Seven have been dealing with her for some time now in the Commodore's ready room. I'd only gotten a brief message from her that Captain Potter is dealing with her advanced assimilation."

Tahl frowned at that. "I will contact her myself. Have Commander Torres prepare Voyager for high-speed random maneuvers as soon as we can get the Fleet spun up. Tahl out."

He cut the connection and typed in Seven's private channel and put on his ear-piece. There was a pause before the channel was established. "Seven, what is the status of Commodore Janeway?" He said quietly knowing the sensitive equipment could pick up someone barely talking.

There was a tinny quality to Seven's voice which Tahl recognized as her having her own privacy ward in effect, "Captain Potter's…unique approach to dealing with the Commodore's condition is proceeding. It may take some time for him to complete it."

Tahl sighed, "Do I want to know what's going on?"

"No. You do not," Seven's voice was flat and final.

"Very well. Be advised that Ventris passed on your concerns. We will be taking the Fleet into high-warp on a randomize course. Hopefully, this will keep any pursuing Borg vessels away from us," Tahl said.

"Agreed. As soon as Captain Potter has completed his procedure, he will be putting me into specialized isolation. Until whatever manner I am infecting the Fleet can be stopped, I am a danger to all." Seven said with a calm Tahl doubted she was feeling.

"Very good. Have Captain Potter report in once that is done. His help is still needed on various issues according to the Cy-Dru," Tahl said as he reviewed a new schematic the science team put up showing the current status of the infection in the Fleet. Ventris had been right, the infection seemed to be stalled for now.

"Acknowledged. Seven out."

Tahl took out his ear-piece and rubbed his jaw. Stealth and misdirection were almost the default tools of the Romulan Navy. Now he had to think up the best way he could move the Fleet in such a way to keep any Cubes from detecting them. Still, as difficult as that task would be, it would help him keep his mind off the fear that still was making itself known by the icy pit in his stomach. They certainly weren't out of the woods yet.

OoOoO

Chakotay blinked a few times as he suddenly came to. Yet Harry was already moving on to bring the next crewmember out from stasis. He rubbed his eyes and then sat up from where he'd been laid out on the shuttle-bay floor. He noticed that Seven was watching him.

"Uhm…report?" Chakotay said, his mouth dry.

"The nanite program has successfully beaten back the assimilation of Voyager. The infection on the other ships was minimal and easily dealt with. You all have been injected with enough nanites to counter-act the Borg assimilation nanites in you. The Doctor believes you will all be purged of them in under and hour now that your body is out of stasis, I myself will be put into isolation after Captain Potter is through waking up the crew." Seven said primly.

Chakotay looked around and saw the rest of the crew were as groggy as him but all seemed calm. "And the Commodore?" Chakotay asked.

Seven hesitated, "She had an advance case of the modified assimilation nanites in her due to her long proximity with me. So much so that the titular aspect of the Collective, the Borg Queen, was able to…possess her. However, Captain Potter was able to use a…irregular procedure to clear the Commodore of the Borg nanites and broke the connection."

Chakotay could tell there was more to the story but it wasn't likely that Seven would tell him with so many ears around. "And the Fleet?"

"We are currently at Warp 8 in a randomize pattern away from our previous location. Captain Potter believes that the method he cured Commodore Janeway might keep the Borg Queen from sending a force against us," Seven said in a flat voice. It sounded to Chakotay that she wasn't sure about the statement.

Chakotay ran a hand through his hair, "Well we've always managed against the Borg mostly by not being worth the diversion of effort by the Borg to come and assimilate us. That and hopefully the Collective might have noticed that Species 8472 gave us one of their Cubes. So hopefully they'll continue to ignore us."

Seven nodded. Still, she wasn't as confident about the Borg's unwillingness not to pursue them. As Harry had 'injected' Janeway's body with his nanite-laden sperm multiple times, the Queen had vowed, many times, on how she would have revenge through terrible retribution. Seven couldn't think of anything which would case her not to follow through on these dire threats.

XxXxX

THRONE ROOM, UNIMATRIX 01, SECTOR 643, DELTA QUADRANT – STAR DATE 51746.2

The Queen's eyes opened and already her organic body had a snarl on its face. The nerve! The gall of that human! To subject her to physical indignities the likes of which she'd purged herself of hundreds of years ago.

Cables detached from her body as she stepped out of her alcove and strode purposely towards her grand command console. While she could do much via her interlink she controlled the Collective through, somethings were best done manually.

Her revenge on Harry Potter would be exacting and as cruel as she could devise! She opened up her command console and began to plot the best way to make Harry and the rest of the Federation Fleet suffer as no being had suffered before at the hands of her Collective.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you."

The Queen spun around to see a young humanoid male in the command maroon Starfleet uniform reclining on one of the ancillary consoles.

The teen smirked, "Oh I know you're riled up right now. I get that. But frankly I can't let you do whatever nasty thing you're working on."

The Queen's face was cold and her voice mirrored that, "You cannot interfere. The Treaties forbid it. Begone!"

The teen's smirk got nasty, "About that. You see, I don't really care about the Treaties. By the Void, my Dad has sort of made a name for himself in the Continuum by flouting them."

The Queen sneered, "You are Q. You are bound by the Treaties."

The teen laughed and jumped off the console, "Funny story about that. You see, I'm not really a Q. I'm sort of something new. You can call me…V I suppose. But that's not the point. You see, you can't do whatever nasty plot against Voyager because in a few months' time, dear old Dad and I are going to have a bonding moment on Voyager. He's going to teach me some lesson about morality or something like that. It's going to happen. It's already happened. You say I'm bound by the Treaties but you're still bound by linear time. So, since I know Dad and I are going to have some fun with Voyager and Janeway in the future, I can't let you interfere."

The Queen gave V a haughty look, "I don't believe you. The Treaties are quite clear on what the Continuum and others can do. I am fully in my rights to take action now or whenever I wish too."

V smirked, "Go ahead and try. Let's see how you do when I blink half of your Cubes into the nearest solar body. You can take your complaint up with the Eternal Council. Maybe they will rule in your favor…maybe they won't. Plus, my Dad did a lot of things against the Treaties that never got reversed. You want to take that risk given your little Collective is still smarting from the spanking the Quiari from Fluidic Space gave you? Besides, like I told you, I'm not a Q exactly. I certainly didn't sign any Treaty of Non-Interference. You sure you want to pit your Collective against someone who sees through all time and space?"

The Queen scowled but hesitated.

V smiled and threw up his hands, "Besides, I didn't say you can't go after Voyager and the rest forever. I just said that you need to lay off them for the next few months. After that, if you want to have your revenge, who am I to stand in your way? Sure my Dad might not like it. He's sort of obsessed with those Federation types for some reason. Drives my mother spare. Me? I don't really care one way or another. So how about it, Queenie? You want to try your luck against me or can you use some of that Borg equanimity to be patient for a solar year or so?"

The Borg Queen looked at the shell of the Q…or whatever it was. She could feel the power coiled in the physical aspect she knew was a mere spark of the overall power at its command. Finally she nodded, "Very well. Besides, it doesn't matter. With the newly assimilated slip-stream technology, there is nowhere Voyager can go to hide from the Collective. Soon all will be Borg."

V clapped his hands, "Exactly! See? I knew we could come to an agreement. Besides, why rush into revenge? Take the extra time to truly think up something evil and nasty! There is nothing Janeway and her crew can do that will make any difference in the end. It'll just be you and Harry Potter so you'll get your shot a sweet, sweet cold revenge. It will happen as it already has happened."

V gave a quick little wave and with a smirk, disappeared into a flash of light.

The Borg Queen cast out her senses to verify the Q (or whatever the being was) had gone. She paused to think on what the being had said. As much as she still seethed at the indignities that this Harry Potter had done to her via Janeway's body, this V was right. There was nowhere Voyager and the rest could run to. Their downfall was inevitable and even the Continuum knew it. As V had said, her revenge on Harry Potter was fated to happen.

She could be patient. A year was a blink in her already millennia old existence.

XxXxX

Captain's Blog. It's been two days since the infection event and all I can truly say is that it was a very close call. In fact, I'm surprised the Borg hadn't tried this ploy earlier. Still, it was too close for my comfort level. If Species 8472 hadn't given us the Cube which necessitated creating the ability to create large amounts of my specialized nanites, we'd have been screwed.

Heh, screwed. Never would have guessed Janeway for being a pillow biter. Or a screamer! Maybe the last two times was just gravy but hey, forbidden fruit and all that. I can see why Seven likes 'thanking' her for all Katie has done for her. Chakotay is certainly going to enjoy it…if the two dummies get over themselves and hook up. Sheesh! It's like watching Ron and Hermione again!

All jokes at her expense aside, Janeway seems to have fully recovered. Listening to her talk, her experience reminds me of how Ginny described being possessed by the Diary. Which is good in one sense. Means she got to enjoy the initial sexy time before the Borg Queen finally couldn't take any more the "vile, base animalistic groping" I was "inflicting" upon her person.

This incident will hopefully put a kibosh on any muttering about the need for a Fleet wide treatment of my anti-assimilation nanites. I'm pretty confident this has shown that while it might not make one immune from assimilation, it certainly slows it down enough to hopefully get treated. As for Seven, the Doctor and I will work to purge her of whatever creates the stealth assimilation nanites. Until then, she's going to be confined to the high-security brig with an extra heavy forcefield. Still, given most of the cure seems to mean more exposure to my nanites, I can keep her company and my conjugal visits are part of the therapy! I'm just happy that this brush with assimilation didn't cause B'Elanna to miscarry. Of course I'd been shooting her full of my nanites for months now so I guess that worked out for the best.

Still, I have to wonder what the Borg Queen will do now. From her ravings as I sexed her up, it appears that my aspect as the Master of Death had given her pause. It's probably why I got away with what I did for so long. I guess she's like Voldemort in a manner of speaking and 'flying from death' in her own way. So being connected, however tenuously to me on that Cube must have dredged up old fears. I'll take it. I hope that fear will come back given she was pretty brassed off at me before she cut the connection to Janeway. Or that maybe Seven's comments during my tryst about Species 8472 watching us might give her pause against throwing the might of the Collective at us if it means the beings from Fluidic Space return to defend us.

Either way, I'm worried that this isn't the last time I'm going to have to deal with the Borg Queen. I severely doubt I'll be able to get out of our next scrap with a quick spell and some sweaty sex. I just hope the rest of the Fleet doesn't get caught in the cross-fire.

XxXxX

AUTHOR'S NOTES:

(*) I can't go back and fix it, but one thing I like about some of the Star Trek movies is that away teams wore jackets and had other equipment than they did on the ship. This makes complete sense. Explain it away any way you want, but the away-team outfits in ST:TWoK made a lot more sense than the 'job-jammies' everyone else in the series seemed to wear. So at the very least you'd expect people to have a utility belt with extra stuff especially emergency medical supplies.

Xenylon Uniforms: I will take up more about the 'job-jammies' in a later chapter. I ended up having a great discussion about the uniform with a reviewer that brought about some cool stuff which might explain why it's so rare to see anyone not wearing them, even when off duty.

Shout-Outs: My take on the Varro is a little homage to James P. Hogan's race the Ganymeans who evolved on Minerva (the exploded planet between Jupiter and Mars in the story) where the bulk of all creatures were herbivores kept in check by the fact that most injuries would cause death. Thus they are the soul of caution as almost a part of their DNA.

Amatorius Mens – Erotic Mind – While at first this might seem like a nasty "roofie" spell, I see it probably being used by people having frigidity issues or perhaps by gays and lesbians who want to have sex with the opposite gender in order to have kids the 'normal' way for various reasons. Harry obviously over-powered the spell so it super-charged the body into being ready for sex.

Fleet Notes: I get a lot of questions about the status of the Fleet. So here are changes to the Fleet as well as some things which weren't clear or are sort of happening off camera. None of this is critical but again, a lot of people like to know this stuff, especially those not as familiar with the earlier ships from the Original Series era. (Or how my versions differ from what was seen on ST:ENT or in the new ST:DIS) This also means I don't have to write it out multiple times!

The Kelionininkas: I sort of implied something about this ship which I need to address. The ship is a bit different than what is seen in canon. (I made changes in previous chapters to make this more clear.)

While it is still made up of the various, self-contained habitation pods, they are arranged in long rows in a hexagonal pattern with one pods per side. Thus one row of pods is 6 pods thus the ship currently has 6 rows. In between these pods are all the conduits which transfer power, water, wastes and the like. Additionally there are banks of defensive weapons, sensors and a system which helps stealth the ship. At regular intervals are the struts where the Fleet ships can dock.

In the middle of the hexagon of pods is one giant section which is mostly filled with water. The top of the section is filled with powerful lights to simulate sunlight. It has gravity plating at the bottom to give enough pull to simulate the gravity on the Varro homeworld.

This is the 'interior ocean' that the Varro use to farm plant and sea life. This is in addition to each individual habitation pods have their own hydroponics and carniculture areas. The 'ocean section' of the ship is created such that a powerful forcefield can cut off the forward end to add to it as the ship grows.

For that's what the Varro did, the front of the ship has a lot of the command and control but it also has a giant factory which, when supplied, would slowly create a new section to the ocean pod and all the other system along with where new habitation pods would attach. When complete, the forcefield is activated to push the water back and the new section is fused to the ocean pod. After the new section is filled with enough water to match along with a patch-work grid which corral will eventually grow on, the forcefield is dropped.

This is the main item the Varro and the Fleet are working to replace as quickly as they can as without it, the ship cannot grow to meet with population growth as the years go by.

The engine section (which obviously stayed with the Aušrininkas) was replaced with the Borg Tactical Cube. While acting as the engines and main power for the ship, it also holds the Maw. It also is extruding struts out to the starboard & port sides. These will extend to about 1 communal pod lengths. Once the front of the ship is able to be made longer, the 6 pods in the back will be moved forward. (Or all the pods will be re-sequenced as needed given the habitation pods do have small engines to allow them to be moved)

Reminder! Each habitation pod is a circular pod almost 400 meters long and almost as tall. So just one pod is about the equivalent to the size of the saucer section on a Galaxy class ship which could house up to 6,000 civilians! The Aušrininkas had 108 of these, 36 of which form the Kelionininkas. Each pod can house 2,000 or so people so the ship has the capacity (as of now) to house another 6-7,000 people before having to build more habitation pods.

This newly freed up area will then be used to create specialty, industrial pods towards the top and bottom. The area between the struts and the ship will be turned into two areas where ships can be docked to be worked on or have things like a baryon sweep done to them. Currently this empty space is being used to hold small ships, debris and raw materials waiting to be refined via the Federation industrial replicators or the Borg Maw.

The ChR Tovarek: So far this is the most obsolete ship of the Fleet. It is a classic Warbird as seen in the ST:TOS episode Balance of Terror. I also recently noticed that the new digitally upgraded episodes replaced one of the Klingon style ships with one of these Warbirds in the episode The Enterprise Incident. Note! As mentioned in previous author's notes, Star Trek has gone through a lot of retconned due to Paramount reusing ship models. This Warbird is sometimes listed as a Bird-Of-Prey. Be sure if you do an online search, you specify Original Warbird or reference Balance of Terror. Plus, if you do the later, you'll also get some images of the old Romulan uniform which an adaptation of is worn by a lot of the Fleet now.

Currently the only major changes have been to upgrade the engines to a modern Federation standard using dilithium. While this makes dilithium even more important to the Fleet, they also don't have the know how to maintain Romulan technology or how to upgrade the artificial singularity to a more modern format. So given they have already been making such engines, best to do a full replacement.

The main reason to get it into service without major changes is the Warbird has a cloaking device and the power Plasma-R torpedo, one of the most powerful weapon systems in Star Trek (or at least in Star Fleet Battles) given the ship is literally built around this singular weapon. Therefore it is a combat-only ship and will be docked with the Kelionininkas most of the time.

Ship components will be continually upgraded as time and supplies allow.

The USS Ares: As pointed out in this chapter, the engines, saucer and neck section of the Defiant will be repurposed into an Ares class destroyer. Like the Tovarek, most of the technology is only to be replaced as needed with a full refit happening over time. So while some things (like the battery system being replaced back in Chapter 26) have been upgraded, the bulk of the conversion is focused on creating the pseudo secondary hull from the old neck section. If you do a search for "Star Trek Ares Class" you can see what this ship will look like.

The USS Goshawk: A long-term project where the secondary hull of the Defiant will be converted into a strike carrier. However, with the creation of the Ares, a new command section will need to be created from scratch. Instead of the classic, round Federation saucer, it will be a smaller version of the more oblong version seen on the Intrepid and Sovereign class ships. Even so, with the longer hull and engines closer to the hull, it will look a bit more like the Excelsior class.

(A side-note: As I've mentioned before, the Galaxy class ship really should have two smaller warp nacelles on top of the saucer. I also recently realized that it would make more sense that the part of the secondary hull where the saucer connects would be larger. Sort of like a much reduced version of what the fronts of Voyager or the Sovereign class ship look like. This section would be where a lot of the weapons would be given, again, to keep the civilians safe the ship should do a saucer separation prior to battle whenever possible.)

The IKV Thunderchild: The D-6 Klingon cruiser salvaged from interphasic space. The IKV stands for Imperial Klingon Vessel. From a design stand-point, a D-7 battlecruiser is just a bigger version of the D-6 with some technology upgrades. Sort of like taking a two-door car design and making it into a 4 door design; mostly the same; just bigger.

Note! The D-6 is the Federation designation of the ship similar to how NATO gave names to Warsaw Pact equipment. An example is to the Soviets it was the Ob'yekt 172M main battle tank whereas to NATO it is the T-72 MBT. So when Damir Tsmirci references this ship back in Chapter 25, he calls it by its Klingon designation of Kt'moD.

In my stories, the Kt' is the hull type associated with the D-6/D-7 type ships. The D-6 class name is Fury (Kt'moD ) while the D-7 class name is Wrath (Kt'QIH). The Kt'Tinga is the D-7C command cruiser (Like the USS Constellation was a command version of the Constitution class) where Tinga is a Klingon term for righteous fury normally associated with avenging wrongs. (Yes I made that up)

As mentioned previously, the D-6 is a slightly smaller version of the D-7 battlecruiser seen in all the original Star Trek episodes. The Klingons continued to use the D-6 as a light cruiser and the newer D-7 to fill the battlecruiser role in direct competition to the Federation Constitution class.

As I believe I've mentioned before, in Star Fleet Battles, the fan-wank reason given for why the Romulans are using Klingon ships in the episode The Enterprise Incident is that the Klingons did a deal to give them some of their old D-6's to help them catch up upgrading their ships to the new warp technology. Not that the Klingons liked the Romulans but it was similar how the Soviets helped the Chinese (whom the Klingons & Romulans are based on) so as to keep pressure on their shared enemy the Federation/America.

After the Camp Khitomer Accords, many D-7 class battlecruiser underwent similar conversions to what had already been done with the D-6 class (i.e. carriers and specialty ships) so they could keep from scraping ships in the same way the Federation did with their Constitution class conversions.

Like the Tovarek before it's engine upgrade, it is an early model which only can get up to Warp 3.2. While it has been made fully operational again, nothing has been done to the ship beyond some minor work. It currently has droids, Zimbots and a few Dru-Bots and an interface where at least one Cy-Dru could inhabit the ships computer system.

However, this is simply so that if the ship must be moved in a hurry, it can be flown. As it stands, the ship is docked waiting for when it can have a crew. As they don't have the people, the ships is only having very minor work done to it, mostly computer and communication upgrades.

The Delta Flyers: With the Fleet's capabilities, the only Class 9/Type 2 shuttles left are ones designed to be used as a 'shatter-pack' missile deployment system and are kept on the Ark Royal. As mentioned in this chapter, all the new Delta Flyers have a cockpit like the Earhart which adds a central command chair.

All of Voyager's four shuttles are Delta Flyers and they are Stjärnresenär (Swedish for Star Traveler) Viajera (Spanish for Voyager), Huakaʻi (Hawaiian for Traveler) and Senku-sha (Japanese for Trailblazer).

Delta Flyers from the Equinox are Nova, Quasar, Pulsar and Aurora

The Ares will have the Deimos, Phobos, and Sparta.

Other Small Ships: Right now, the Fleet has a few small vessels which are either in storage (like the Ares IV) being investigated (like the Kelvan ship and one or two alien ships found in the graviton ellipse) or are being worked on for other purposes.

The Mata Hari: Formerly the 'Alice' – the ship is in the process of being adapted as a 1-2 crew ship (given it being so small) for covert surveillance missions. Primarily will be used either by V'Lana or Harry Potter.

Baxial & Odjurjägare: While still considered personal ships to Neelix and Qatai, the Fleet will have modified them to upgrade their technology with an eye towards diplomacy and very small cargo capacity. (i.e. precious cargos like dilithium crystals or computer components)

The Jules Verne: A ship currently being worked on using spare parts and one of the small ships bought from Abaddon. Basically it will be a modern, modified version of the old J-Type Freighter. However, instead of just hauling cargo pods, the ships basic mission will be to enter into the atmosphere of gas giants and to suck up gasses (like hydrogen and oxygen) along with collecting ice/ore fragments in a gas giants rings. A very simple ship with a crew of only 3. So when the Fleet is in normal space, it can jump into a system along with whatever ship is doing exploring and suck up resources the Fleet needs. So it's pretty much just a Delta Flyer with a "Fuel Scoop" (similar to the intake section of a Bussard Ramjet) and connected pods to store the gas and any ice/asteroids needed.

Marauder Mark II Fighter: While the Fleet will continue with having crewed fighters, the original Marauder design was repurposed to the Mark II by V'Lana during her time on The Garage.

This design does away with the lower gunner section. Instead, the fighter goes from 15m to 18m. This allows for the cockpit to be made into a 'two-seater' arrangement. However, the second section is heavily armored and not connected directly to the cockpit.

This houses the humanoid droid which can fly the ship if needed. However, it mostly works like an R2 droid to help with the ship. They kept the human droid design due to new Falcon fighter design. The original four squadrons still use the Mark I although these will be phased out if the older fighter is destroyed.

The Falcon Mk I Fighter: The Fleet has come to realize that they have the ability to control fighters without an onboard operator with a high degree of success. This led V'Lana to create the Falcon design while in the past while The Garage was being completed.

It looks like a Thunderfighter from the original 1979 Buck Rodgers series. The main difference is the cockpit has no windows and is more armored. It also has an identical set of fins (like the ones in the back) in the front of the ship right before the two dagger-like weapon areas. The bottom of the fighter has two rows of anti-ship missiles. Its primary purpose is to rapidly close with an enemy, firing two volleys of missiles and following them in to directly attack enemy ships.

These fighters can be controlled in various ways. The first is with a humanoid pilot droid given that the fighter still has a cockpit but one designed to be used by an organic only to move it if needed or in an emergency. These droids are not as self-aware as Star Wars droids. The second method is to be controlled via a secure interlink to organic pilots in a way similar to the way seen in the Guardians of the Galaxy II movie. The third way is to be controlled by the Cy-Dru whose machine intellect speed allows them to control multiple ships. In all cases, the tradeoff of response time is accepted due to a loss of the fighter won't mean a loss of a hard to replace organic crewmember.

The Falcon mission is almost completely offensive as its droid controller can be told to simply attack whatever isn't part of the Fleet. This allows the manned Marauder fighters to work defensively which can require more input from an organic pilot.