Chapter 4 – Remembering the Past

Seven froze. The simplicity of Santa Lucia was slipping away and the past was threatening to consume her. A cacophony of information and memories. The distance she maintained from the Voyager crew by her Borg demeanor was now at odds with how she interacted with the others in the holodeck program. The intimacy she shared with the man beside her. The role she played as the older sister. Who was she really? She glanced tentatively at Chakotay. She could almost see the veil being lifted from his eyes as he also remembered. His whole and rich life experience restored. How could Santa Lucia compare? How different their lives had been. What memories, she wondered, were bubbling up to the surface now that they had been released? His childhood on Dorvan V, the Maquis, his time on Voyager? Perhaps the other Hirogen hunting competitions before the Santa Lucia program. She was somewhat aware of different roles each played in these deadly games. Just seconds ago, if she had looked into those eyes, all she would have seen was her new husband, the man she loved deeply, and the man who loved her unconditionally. Now… Back to the reality of the Delta Quadrant. Back to the weight of her Borg past dominating her interactions and relationships with the rest of the crew. What did he think of her? Of them? "Commander, I… I," she stammered uncharacteristically. What should she say? What could she say?

Chakotay placed his hand gently on her shoulder and caught her eye. He shook his head slightly and smiled. A smile she recognized instantly, for she had spent so much time with him in recent weeks. A wave of relief swept over her and she relaxed, not realizing how tense she had become. A sense of calmness and normality returned. The simple gesture was more reassuring than anything he could have said. Perhaps Santa Lucia was not just a holodeck fiction after all. "To say there's a lot we need to talk about might be an understatement," he said softly. He opened his mouth to say something else, but then couldn't find the words. Perhaps as he had said, there was just too much to say and where would they start? He seemed reluctant to take his hand off her shoulder. "I suppose we'll have time enough after this crisis is resolved," he finally managed. "Together."

"Always," Seven found herself whispering back automatically. Not in character as Seven of Nine Tertiary Adjunct to Unimatrix Zero-One would have been when responding to Voyager's First Officer, but rather an exchange they would have had as Chris and Annie. That seemed to satisfy him. Seven felt a need to talk more about the two of them and their relationship going forward, but also understood the pressing need to repair Voyager and help the crew. "We have multiple competing priorities," she said, now with a more normal tone, breaking the spell. The Seven of Nine of old, but not quite.

"Yes," Chakotay replied, standing up straighter and nodding quickly. "We need to stabilize Voyager's energy, reactivate the Doctor so he can restore all those injured and in stasis, and deactivate the Hirogen's neural interface to restore the memories of the rest of the crew."

"It is also possible there are still Hirogen aboard," Seven observed. "We have to be careful."

Chakotay reached down and picked up the three remaining hyposprays containing the neutralizing agent. "Let's go back to the holodeck and get the Captain and some others to help." That seemed like a logical next step. He moved towards the door of sickbay and Seven and Naomi followed.

"I think Tom Paris should be one of the others besides the Captain," Seven said as they stepped into the turbolift. "He has some rudimentary medical experience and could perhaps synthesize more neutralizing agent if our attempts at deactivating the neural interface is delayed." Mister Paris was Santa Lucia's doctor, and Seven reflected that her impression of his skills as a doctor were dubious at best, although he did know how to use a medical tricorder and that was more than most.

Chakotay nodded. "That's a good idea. Any thoughts about the third hypospray?"

Selfishly, Seven thought about Marina Jor. She knew, of course, the young half-human and half-Betazoid pilot was not really her sister Mary, but rather one of the other Maquis crewmembers. On Voyager, in reality, she had never even spoken to her before the Santa Lucia simulation. And yet, she still felt an attachment to the woman and would be more comfortable around her. Seven looked down at Naomi Wildman. The girl stood stone faced staring at the inside door of the turbolift and Seven marveled at the child's fortitude and braveness. A thought then occurred to her. "I think Naomi's mother should receive the final dose," Seven said. "She will be able to remain in the holodeck with Naomi and the two of them can tend to the untreated crew of the Santa Lucia simulation. There will be many questions, and we'll need to maintain some semblance of order."

Naomi perked up immediately. "I can help," she said enthusiastically. "I can help out."

"Then it's settled," Chakotay replied. They exited the turbolift and made their way directly to the holodeck. When they reached the threshold, he stopped and glanced back at his two companions. Seven nodded in a wordless encouragement, and Chakotay nodded back. They stepped forward towards the entrance. The door opened in the spot near Seven's solar observing site on the outskirts of Santa Lucia. The sun, now well above the horizon, shown down on the windswept and somewhat barren landscape. Seven felt a wave of relief. It felt better being back. In point of fact, her best memories, those of the past few weeks, had been from here. Chakotay and she were still attired in their period appropriate clothing, and so fit right in. Only Naomi seemed out of place in her twenty-fourth century outfit and was wide-eyed. "Everyone should be gathering in front of the church," Chakotay remarked, and moved in the direction of town.

"Is this where you lived?" Naomi asked, running a bit to catch up. Her head swiveled back and forth taking it all in.

"This is a recreation of the frontier town of Santa Lucia in the American ancient west," Seven said. She looked about as well. The dried river bed south of town was visible off in that direction. Up ahead, the two dozen or so buildings that was Santa Lucia itself contrasted sharply the natural landscape stretching out in all directions. How familiar these vistas had become. "We lived here for a little over a month."

"The two of you fell in love and married in a month!" Naomi replied surprised. She seemed very pleased with the notion and skipped a few steps to keep apace.

"Thirty-four days," Seven clarified. Was it so unheard of to fall in love with someone that quickly? Seven didn't have any comparison as a measure. She would have to research the topic more thoroughly after this current crises was resolved. "And there were implanted memories for our lives before that as well," she added. Now, however, those memories seemed vague and two dimensional compared to her actual memories and their time in Santa Lucia.

"Annie! Chris!" someone shouted from up ahead. Soon that person was running in their direction and it was immediately clear it was Marina Jor, or Annie's sister Mary in the Santa Lucia recreation. She stopped in front of them and did a double take when she noticed Naomi in their company before speaking again. "Where have you two been?" she huffed. "Michael and I have been looking everywhere for you. The whole town is gathered and chomping at the bit to get moving." Now that she said her peace, she turned to Naomi and added, "Who are you?"

"There's a lot we need to talk about," Chakotay replied. He gestured towards town. "Come, we need to go speak with the Captain."

Mary didn't budge and crossed her arms. "Who's the Captain?" she asked, some irritation now showing in her voice.

"The Mayor," Chakotay corrected.

Seven stepped over to Mary and put her arm around the other woman's shoulder. "It's okay Mary," she soothed. "This is our new friend, Naomi. We do have urgent things we need to discuss with the Mayor. It concerns all of us and our future."

Mary sighed, but seemed mollified by Seven's presence. Annie was her older sister, after all, and Mary was relieved at finding her safe. The four of them moved off at a quick pace towards town and the church. Indeed, everyone was out in the street preparing for their expected journey towards the mountains. As the four of them approached, the Mayor stepped out of the crowd to greet them. She was dressed for travel and the expected long journey to the eastern mountains and beyond.

"There you are," she said with a grin. "I was beginning to worry."

Chakotay nodded and smiled back. "Mayor, could we step into the church to discuss something of importance with you." He glanced about the crowd and found the two people he was looking for. "Doctor, Amy!" he called out and motioned for them to come over.

The Mayor now looked a little concerned, but the smile never left her face. Without a word she motioned for the small group to move towards the entrance of the church. Mary followed for a short bit but then tugged at Seven's sleeve. "What about me?" she asked, "should I go in there?" Michael was now there with them and had moved up next to Mary. Seven now recognized him as Chakotay's friend Miguel Ayala, another of the Maquis crewmen on Voyager. Their friendship in the Santa Lucia program just carried over from their actual friendship on Voyager. Ayala was perhaps Chaktoay's best friend.

"Perhaps not," Seven replied. "But stay close." She patted Marina on the shoulder and turned to catch up with the rest. Michael put his arm about Mary's shoulder and Seven followed the others into the church and closed the door. The small group of six were standing in the aisle adjacent to the back pews.

"There's no way to explain this without it sounding ridiculous," Chakotay began. "So I'm not even going to try. You just have to trust me." He revealed the three hyposprays. "We need to press these cylinders against your necks. It's a medicine of sorts. After that, everything will become clear."

"It might sting a little," Naomi interjected, wanting to be helpful, "but it will be okay."

The Mayor turned to Naomi as if seeing her for the first time. "Who is this girl Sheriff?" she asked.

Chakotay handed one hypospray to Seven and another to Naomi, and then turned back to the Mayor. "You just have to trust me," he repeated. "All your questions will be answered."

The Mayor hesitated for just a moment. "Very well," she then replied decisively. "Let's get this over with."

Seven stepped over to Santa Lucia's doctor, who was in reality Tom Paris, to administer the hypospray. She marveled at the trust the Captain had in Chakotay, and also the trust Tom Paris and Samantha Wildman had in the Captain even under the circumstances of having their memories suppressed and living in a holodeck simulation. There was a deeper connection they all shared that went beyond simple memory. No more questions, and soon enough the three injections were administered and Seven stepped back to observe the results. As with her own experience, the effect was almost immediate.

Captain Janeway's eyes widened. "Commander," she said, turning to Chakotay. "What's the status of Voyager?"

"Apparently the Hirogen hunting party that had taken over our ship had us acting out… games for sport in the holodecks. The attack we experienced about a month ago here in Santa Lucia was only one example. I vaguely recall others as well."

Janeway nodded. She obviously remembered that much as well. "And now?"

"The Hirogen appear to have been killed by a pathogen of some sort," he continued, "at least that is what the Doctor suspected, although we can't be certain they are all dead. We have only been to sickbay, crew quarters on this deck, and here. The Doctor is offline and the power systems are nearly drained. I would estimate a third of the crew are in medical stasis chambers with life threatening injuries."

Janeway looked up sharply. Obviously this last bit was surprising and disturbing. At least, however, they weren't dead and could still be revived. "What's your plan?"

"We had three doses of the Doctor's antidote left, so came here first," Chakotay responded. "We thought if we're unable to disable the Hirogen's neural interface, Tom could go back to sickbay and investigate creating more, and the rest of us can try to stabilize our power systems, and bring the Doctor back online."

Janeway nodded in agreement and turned to Ensign Wildman and her daughter. Samantha had her arm draped about the young girl's shoulder. Their reunion had evidently taken place without her noticing. "Sam, I'd like you to stay here with Naomi and keep things orderly until we take down the neural interface or develop more antidotes."

Chakotay caught Seven's eye and winked. That was exactly her idea. "Yes Captain," Samantha and Naomi replied in unison, and Samantha squeezed her daughter's shoulder even tighter.

"If there are Hirogen left onboard," Janeway continued, "I would hate for us to split up. For safety, we should stick together, or at least be in pairs."

"Perhaps we could trust some of those here to accompany us even with their suppressed and altered memories," Seven suggested. "That would enable us to explore more of the ship and accomplish more in a shorter period of time."

"Who do you have in mind?"

"Crewman Jor could accompany me to engineering where we could assess the dilithium crystals and remaining power," Seven replied. "Ensign Ayala could accompany Commander Chakotay to secure the bridge, acquire a tricorder and search for the Doctor's mobile emitter. The mobile emitter's power is self-contained and not restricted by the failing ship's power."

Janeway cracked a smile. "And what would you have Mister Paris and I do?" she asked.

"You would assess the status of the crew," Seven replied without missing a beat. "Those in stasis, as well as those in the other holodeck and wherever else they may be throughout the ship. Also, the condition of the shuttlecraft and any alternative power we have."

Janeway nodded. "I like your plan," she said, "except Tom and I will be going to the bridge and Chakotay and Ayala will be surveying the ship. We'll first all go to the armory on deck six and acquire weapons and emergency communicators so we can stay in constant contact with one another." She then turned to the door, the strategy session apparently over. The others followed. Once outside, the Captain stayed on the top step of the church and the townsfolk of Santa Lucia, a portion of the Voyager crew, quieted at her appearance. "There has been a slight change of plans," she called out. "We will be staying here in town for another day. I'm placing Amy in charge in my absence. Annie, Mary, and Michael will accompany the doctor, sheriff and myself on a journey towards the east." Seven appreciated how easily Captain Janeway used the Santa Lucia names in place of each individual's actual names. The Captain was a natural leader.

"Where are you going?" someone in the crowd shouted.

"A place nearby where this young lady came from," Janeway responded and Naomi, stepped up to stand beside her. "We'll only be gone for a short time. Keep rationing supplies and we will return, hopefully with some good news."

"Why can't we all go?" someone else called out.

Janeway glanced back at Chakotay and then back towards the crowd. "You're going to have to trust us. It is safer for us to go in a smaller group. Everything will be explained to you and become clear to you when we return."

Not everyone appeared satisfied with that answer, but there were no more complaints. Again, even with their memories suppressed and living in a holodeck recreation, the Voyager crew had an instinctive trust of Captain Janeway that went deeper.

The small group of six started back out of town in the direction of Seven's solar observatory. When they were out of earshot of the others left in town, Chakotay turned to Janeway. "The holodeck door is just over here a short way."

"How did you and Seven first find it?"

"We were observing the sunrise…"

Seven didn't hear the rest of Chakotay's description because Marina moved up beside her. "What does that mean?" she whispered. "The holodeck door."

Seven leaned closer to Marina. "You're going to have to prepare yourself. There are some things you're going to see that you won't understand," she said. "It's okay. You'll be with me. But this place. Santa Lucia. It's not real"

"What do you mean?"

"We're in what is called a holodeck," Seven responded. "Our memories were altered for us to accept this as reality, but we're not who we thought we were. The door we're going to leads to the outside. We're going outside the holodeck and you will see where we truly are, although your memories of it are being suppressed."

"And your memories are no longer suppressed?" Marina asked.

"That is correct," Seven said. "I remember everything. We're going to work to restore the memories of everyone else, including you."

Marina nodded and continued to walk beside Seven. Suddenly, in front of Chakotay and the Captain, an opening appeared out of nowhere. Inside the opening was darker with a flashing red light and an alarm could now be clearly heard. Marina reached out and grabbed Seven's hand. Seven felt instinctively protective, as if fulfilling the role of the older sister she knew now wasn't true. And yet, the feelings remained nonetheless.

"You'll be okay," Seven soothed. "Just follow me."

Marina nodded stiffy. The group exited the holodeck and back to the reality of Voyager.