A Quadrant of Pain, A Quadrant of Never-ending Battles.
Seven let out a painful wail as she held onto Icheb's mutilated form tightly, cradling his dissected body to her chest and rocking him back and forth. She didn't give a fuck if she got blood all over herself. She deserved it. She had promised, sworn to herself to keep him safe.
She had failed.
Miserably.
Icheb, Mezoti, and the twin's Azan and Rebi were the closest things to real biological children Seven had ever imagined; ever since that moment of self-discovery on Voyager when she had been so close to presenting the crew with the means of returning to the Alpha Quadrant, only to meet those prejudiced fools who had bullied her for her Borg self, and she had realised she would never be accepted as one of them, Seven had gone out of her way to spend as less time as she could with the rest of the Voyager crew until she discovered what it was she wanted to do with her life.
A large part of her had just wanted to stage some kind of accident so she could remain in the Delta Quadrant where she could make her own way in life, but in the end, here she was.
Icheb and the rest of the Borg children had been the only things in her life worth having. The Voyager crew had not accepted them any more than they had her although they were more sympathetic with their plight since they were children. However that did not instantly mean they were popular due to their Borg nature; Seven had lost count of the number of times she'd overheard some extremely prejudiced remarks directed towards her charges, some of them within earshot. Mezoti and the twins had all left at the same time, and personally, while Seven missed the trio, she had the impression that one of the reasons why Mezoti had been so impatient to leave was so then she could get away from the prejudice facing her. Whether the crew realised the Borg children were alone or not, it was academic. They left so they could get away from the hypocritical crew.
Icheb was soon the only member of the small collective who'd come on Voyager. Unlike the others he had wanted to join Starfleet, he couldn't do that halfway across the galaxy, but while he had experienced the same prejudice on Voyager, especially following the way the Cube the children had been on had caused Voyager so much damage and inflicted pain on the away team who'd been on the Delta Flyer, to say nothing of the whole mess with Icheb's parents, Icheb had proven his maturity by just keeping his head down and ignoring the haters. The prejudice had followed him all through the Academy, and into active service.
Unlike her, who kept herself isolated and didn't interact with the Voyager crew, purposefully not bothering with the pathetic socialising lessons the Doctor and Janeway forced her to go through. Seven would never forget the pointless talks she'd had with the hologram and with Janeway, who both urged her to retake them, so she could re-enter human society.
Did it not occur to them she didn't want to re-enter human society?
Sure, Seven only retook her lessons, but only so then she wouldn't make a fool of herself or alienate herself in front of her Aunt Irene. That was why she retook her lessons. She had't done it for the crew, or for the Doctor. That was why she endured hours with the Doctor who annoyed her every single fucking time. That was one of the reasons why she programmed the holodeck with dozens of simulations aimed at making her better so she could spite the Voyager crew members who regularly deemed her to be a robot.
Aunt Irene was the only sole reason why she bothered, but when her only living - willing - relative died, Seven didn't bother with anyone else.
She had never bothered with boyfriends or other kinds of relationships. Why would she, when everyone took one look at her implants and deemed her to be a cybernetic freak? Thanks to her fucking parents, Annika Hansen was destined to die alone, with no legacy barring the Borg technology in her body.
But Icheb…?
Seven was proud of him. While she didn't like Starfleet, which made her wonder if she had inherited more than a little of the same kind of prejudice her parents had felt towards the organisation - Aunt Irene had told her stories of how Starfleet admirals had derided her parents for their theories about the Borg, theories which were not only confirmed but quickly became reality when the Borg began their attacks on the Federation - she was proud of what Icheb had achieved. He had risen through the Academy, and he had become a science officer specialising in cosmology and genetic research, unsurprisingly considering his people's specialities.
He didn't deserve this! He didn't deserve being cut up, sliced into pieces, only for Bjayzl, a woman whom Seven had trusted because of their connections with the Fenris Rangers, an organisation Seven had joined because she had wanted to put her skills to good use and because she had had enough of Earth to cut him up and take out his Borg technology.
This was all her fault.
She should never have told anyone about Icheb. She should have known better, she knew how easily it was for someone to pretend to care only to stab you in the back later. She had hoped, gradually during the first year she had spent on Voyager the crew would help her, but it never happened. Oh sure, she had helped out, but the few years she was on the ship before she had become so tired of the Voyager crew and the endless voyage through the Delta Quadrant, breaking her promise to not reveal the transwarp formula she had come up with quickly after researching it.
After being bullied by the crew who scapegoated her for virtually every single thing that had happened to them - Species 8472, Acturis, and everything that happened with the Borg - Seven had sworn never to give that knowledge to the crew. She had sworn. But…. After spending only a few years on Voyager and was forced to spend so much of her time with the same people, forced to cope with the crew's never-ending behaviour year upon year, Seven found she couldn't hide it.
She had shown the transwarp formula to the crew, making sure to use a different PADD which showed a different date and destroyed the previous PADD. Within a week, the ship had returned home. After that Seven had found it impossible, especially after that mess with that second Borg Queen who tried to assimilate Earth, to find a decent position, but she had gotten a reputation as a scientist, so there was that. Unfortunately, she was bounced from one post to the next.
Seven didn't regret what she had done - hiding the formula, and she planned on keeping that secret to her grave and then revealing it because she could not stand the thought of being on the same ship for the rest of her life. She wanted to get out. But most of all, Seven had done it for Icheb; she wanted him to follow his desires and his dreams, and while she didn't like Starfleet she wanted Icheb to have the life he wished.
And now, the closest thing to a child she had had barring Mezoti and the twins, especially since Seven had no plans on having children, was gone.
God help her because nobody else would.
Author's note - This is a sequel to my earlier story "Nothing beyond our Reach" and you can read it in Star Trek Voyager. The title is deliberately ironic and it shows Seven coming up with a transwarp formula that would have gotten the crew home... except the stupid prejudice of the crew made her bury it and swear never to use it, but I figured that along the line she would have become tired of spending years with Janeway and the others and decided to use it.
I hope you've enjoyed this. Please let me know what you think.