Disclaimer: See chapter one
Every Living Thing
SEVEN that one word written in a strange way galvanised the named person into action. She moved aside the male stationed at the console she required, in much the same manner as she'd done on Voyager's bridge three/four years ago, and set the system to scan for the known perimeters.
"Icheb, please monitor the trajectory of the Vaadwaur vessel. I need to know exactly when it hits the earth's crust."
"What are you doing?" Demanded the Commandant angrily.
"Trying to save lives," she said not looking round from what she was doing. The Commander gave silent orders to hold his superior away from her and her companions, thus preventing him from interfering in their current tasks. Both former Borg, worked quietly, with the other occupants waiting expectantly.
What they didn't expect to see was the current President and a Starfleet Admiral appear in the command centre via transporter. A moment later they all felt the ground tremble, with the impact and explosion of the Kamikaze vessel hitting Starfleet HQ.
"What?!" questioned the male President, startled.
"You shouldn't have been able to...do...that," the Commandant trailed off under the full glare that Admiral Necheyev shot in his direction.
"You are correct," Seven said, turning to face the newcomers and the Commandant. "I shouldn't have been able to transport anyone in or out of this camp. That was until the control centre that oversaw this camp was totally destroyed."
"Why did you think even the staff here had to walk in and out of the compound?!" Icheb said, his young voice still tinged with resentment. There was some muttered comments from the personnel present about how they felt about that mandate. The Commander offered a seat to the rather shaken looking President, whilst Admiral Necheyev looked round assessing the people within.
"Was there a reason for bringing us here?" she asked pointedly. In view of all the revelations that had been revealed during the open com-link, it was a fair question to ask. "Apart from getting us out of trouble," she added acknowledging their rescue.
Two people looked at each other, one stepped forward and placed a small item on the table in front of the Admiral and stepped back. Carefully the high ranking woman picked it up and examined it, frowning as she realised what it was, she looked askance at the three Voyagers.
"Admiral?" questioned the President.
"This appears to be a rather outdated seek and fire mechanism," still looking at the three.
"It is," acknowledged Icheb. "We were co-erst into producing them," the bitterness in his voice even more evident than before. The EMH/Doctor gently put a comforting hand on the young man's shoulder, seemingly calming him.
"I see," giving the male Commandant an accusing look. He looked rather shamefaced, still held in check by the Compound's guards. Seven then held up a small strip of a seemingly innocent looking piece of plastic. "That I'm assuming is the main vital component?"
"It is, Admiral," she affirmed.
"What exactly is that?" The President asked, a little impatience creeping into his voice, looking at the former female Borg drone, but it was the EMH who responded.
"It's a very specific type of DNA."
"Oh Hell," someone said, possibly louder than meant into the growing tension in the room.
"How many did ... were you forced to make?" amending her wording at the expression of the younger male ex-Borg.
"Twelve in all."
"That would be the main foundation members of the United Federation of Planets," the President said his impatience evaporating and horror dawning as partial comprehension took over.
"Can you be more specific as to the type of DNA?"
"Augments."
Silence filled the room, following that one word response as varying expressions shifting across most faces present. The President cleared his throat or tried to, as no words came out of his mouth, his breathing rapid as he fought to calm himself. Even Necheyev was having trouble keeping a reign on her automatic human response to this unexpected news, grateful to the fact that the once open com-link was non-operational - or so she hoped.
"If history … serves me right," began the Camp Commander hesitantly. "The Federation outlawed all genetic enhancement experimentation. They removed all the surviving Augment embryos from Earth and sent them to Cold Station 12 in the early 2100's," his tone quiet his words chosen with deliberate care, as if feeling his way through what was a potentially emotional minefield.
"Indeed," noted Alynna Necheyev, having managed to find her own voice. "I thought all the Augment embryos were destroyed when the Enterprise NX01, apprehended Soong," frowning puzzled and yet like the Commander spoke carefully as if testing out the ground beneath her emotionally.
"Some were used by the Klingon's at the time," Seven acknowledged, her voice quiet responding to the tense emotions around her. "Where this example of Augment DNA was produced or stored, I cannot say," she added, still holding out the plastic strip which housed said DNA. "All I do know is that the weapon this DNA and mechanism were to serve, was to seek out this type of DNA, if none was found then the weapon would detonate, killing all life in the vicinity."
Again silence reigned as everyone took in what had been revealed so far. Necheyev closed her eyes and breathed deep. "Why do I get the feeling there is more to what you're saying?!" looking at Seven.
"Because there is," noted Icheb. "Using our limited access to scanning facilities here, the Doctor performed a medical scan of this planet, via satellites in orbit. Including some rather obsolete yet active ones, we were able to determine some interesting facts, the main one being. There is no Augment DNA here or anywhere within the United Federation of Planets."
"If the weapons were deployed they would kill all life, Every Living Thing," said the EMH, his voice tinged with sadness.
"No DNA except for those weapons," noted the President, his voice reflecting his deep feelings about this affair.
"No, DNA except for this," Seven affirmed, holding up her small deadly item higher.
"But all the components checked out fine. How…." trailing off as the Admiral glared at the Commandant.
"Holographic programming," replied the EMH smugly.
"Plus Borg ingenuity and genetic re-sequencing," Icheb added.
"During our exercising we placed these DNA strips on your target practise range. Essentially the bull's-eye."
"And the squads here are very accurate in hitting the eye!" noted Icheb. Several of the personnel grinned, pleased to have their prowess with their phaser training acknowledged.
"So that's the last…" Suddenly a phaser beam shot out and hit the strip Seven was still holding and vaporised it, causing the female to whip her hand away. Fortunately she'd been holding it in her Borg enhanced left hand, not her right, or her fingers would have been in need of medical treatment.
"Seven?" both Icheb and the Doctor asked.
"I am undamaged," she affirmed, flexing her fingers and turned to the marksman. "Commander, accurate as always," she acknowledged him, as the Camp Commander holstered his phaser. Everyone breathed relieved that the weapons were effectively duff, unusable; but questions still remained as to who and more importantly perhaps, why?.
"You intimated that you discovered something in your scans - other than the obvious - that you hadn't been expecting," noted the Commander carefully, grateful that he in some small part had stopped someone from causing galaxy-wide genocide. Instead of answering, the EMH used his medical tricorder to scan, first the Admiral, who watched him impassionately and then the Commandant, followed by the President, all of whom were quite obviously different from each other.
"Well?" the male alien asked.
"All three of you are in good health, for a start," he said looking at the results. "And it has confirmed what the orbital scans revealed," he was going to add more, but one look at the expectant faces around him, told him to get to the point. "Hmm! You may all look different physically, but genetically you all have very similar genetic markers, meaning…" looking pointedly at one of the guards to prevent him from interrupting. "... that you are more similar than you are different."
"So Professor Galen was right," Alynna said reflectively.
"In a manner of speaking yes, Admiral. Only those who tend to isolate themselves from the general populous are true to their kind, and yet, are still part of the whole of humanoid kind."
"I am human, there's no alien genes in me!" snapped the Commandant.
"My scans of you beg to differ, Sir." the EMH said, stressing the 'sir'.
"Interesting," pondered the truly alien looking male, their current President of the Federation. "Why would anyone want to bring back those Augments?"
"That is possibly one question that may remain unanswered," the Admiral said, looking pointedly at the Commandant. "Anything else you discovered?"
"Some of those obsolete satellites have quite a lot of unusual data stored within, some can be accessed by scanning, but not all. You'd have to retrieve the whole item and access it in some other ways," stated Icheb, thoughtfully.
"Why would some outdated data be of use to us now?" snapped the Commandant, still uncomfortable about the fact that he could in anyway be like the alien President.
"Because it is Earth's history primarily," said Seven. "And history that helps people to understand the motivations of the past can help to shape the future."
"Knowledge can be a powerful tool if used in the right way, for the good and betterment of all," added the EMH.
"That is true," acknowledged the female Admiral, she sighed. "It appears some are willing to remove some of that historical knowledge to keep the masses in ignorance. To what end I have no idea," sighing again. After a few minutes, she pulled herself up to her full authoritative height, pulling down on her jacket to add to that illusion. "What has been spoken here, for now, will remain here. Is that understood?" gazing around at everyone present, her glare lingering the longest on the male Commandant, who reluctantly nodded agreement. "We must be careful how and when this information is made known," the weight of her burden sounding in her voice.
"Indeed, Admiral," the President agreed. "I think we need to call a press conference. Who do you suggest we call?"
"Robin Hood at FNN," was the immediate response from Seven. "We have had dealings with this individual over the last few weeks. He is fair and unbiased. I'm sure his boss would agree," she explained to the Admiral's questioning look.
"Then that is who we'll ask for. Commander put in the request for FNN to send Robin Hood here, ASAP."
"Certainly, Admiral," he said and turned to the com-link himself, the tension easing within the camp's control centre. The three Voyagers hoped their fate would bring a favourable outcome too, but not just them, to their missing former comrade-in-arms.
NB: That's another chapter done. Next one coming soon!
