Disclaimer: I do not own the copyrights to Star Trek Voyager, Trigun, or any other copyrighted information. All Copyrights belong to their respective owners.
Reader's Note: This is a re-posting.
Star Trek Voyager
&
Trigun
Reminiscence
Chapter 4: Love or Hate?
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On the bridge, events seemed as smooth as before. The course was set to the Alpha quadrant and life seemed to get back to normal for the crew of Voyager. At least for a moment until Harry Kim saw a small blip on his sensors.
"Uh-oh." He uttered, his voice of concern was loud enough to be heard by the logical Lt. Commander Tuvok.
"Uh-oh?" He asked
"I'm detecting a transwarp signature on long range sensors."
"The Borg ship?" Chakotay asked
The captain was in her ready room reading in the reports on Vash and the events that happened in the shuttle bay.
"I don't know." Harry reported, "But it seems to be coming in at sub warp speed." He watched the sensors and watched the blip change speed, "Wait, it just jumped to warp 2."
"Go to red alert." Chakotay commanded, "Chakotay to Janeway please come to the bridge."
Janeway came to the bridge from he ready room, possibly hyped up on whatever blend of coffee that she had programmed into the repicator.
"Report." She commanded
"We've got a transwarp signature moving towards us." Harry reported, "We think that it might be the Borg ship."
"We know that the Borg can regenerate but from that kind of damage that Vash gave them?"
"At our current speed," Harry estimated from the computer, "If their rate of regeneration stays constant they'll reach transwarp speed in approximately three hours."
"Vash did some serious damage." Tom commented, "Whatever he did."
"Call Seven, Vash and Hugh. We need their help on this one."
The tension on the bridge began to grow so thick that it was like the husk of a coconut, hard and nearly unbreakable. Yet there was a twinge of hope among the crew of Voyager, Vash the Stampede.
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On the holodeck Vash held Seven in his arms, he held her as if holding onto a long lost lover. On some level that was the case, Seven was a long lost friend of Vash and now the two of them had finally found each other in this confusion of life.
Seven felt odd when Vash had his arms wrapped around her, just a day ago Vash was just another human to her. Just another irrational being in an irrational universe, but now she understood a feeling. It came over her like a warm blanket, the feeling was affection, she now knew what it was liked to be loved. Though she knew what it was to be loved by someone, but it was so long ago that Seven had nearly forgotten it. Until this man in his red coat came back into her life. She reached up feeling the weight of her arms as she lifted them; she lifted them up to wrap them around Vash.
"How?" Her rational mind asked herself, "How can I experience this? I was Borg, has it been that long since I was on that planet with Vash? Yes. It has been that long, too long."
She lay her head on his shoulders as they embraced each other, the romance that was blooming in this holodeck simulation had come to an end when a call came through.
"Seven of Nine, Vash, Hugh." The voice was Tuvok's, "Please report to the bridge."
Vash and Seven broke the embrace.
"To be continued." Vash smiled
Seven began to show a small hint of a smile but it wasn't full
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Vash, Seven and Hugh came to the bridge to hear what the urgency was.
Vash and Seven stood side by side with each other like two lovers showing their affection in a unusually subtle way. With them stood Hugh, fully regenerated thanks to the Borg alcove in Cargo bay 2. All three of them stood on the bridge waiting to hear the bad news.
"What is it?" Vash asked
"There's a transwarp signature coming our way." Janeway reported the bad news with the look of doom in her eyes, the same look she gave when the crew first came into Borg space, "We think that it might be the Borg."
"The same ship?" Hugh asked
"We're not sure. All we know is that it'll be within range of us in three hours."
"Cutting short aren't they?" Vash asked
"They are Borg." Seven stated
There were a few smiles on the bridge but this was a serious time, a plan was needed for this desperate hour.
"This will give us enough time to make one modification." Hugh stated, "We can modify the main deflector to admit a random shield."
Janeway crossed her arms, "I'm listening."
"Vash and I designed a shield that would modify it's own variance to Borg weaponry. In essence it would adapt itself faster than the Borg themselves. This is how Vash and I survived in the Angel Arm against the Borg."
"How long will it take to make the modifications?" Harry asked leaning against the console. He listened with extreme intent, then again when going up against an enemy like this any kind of option would be a good one.
"With your technology and with the time we have," Hugh calculated, "I would estimate approximately 2 and a half hours."
"Doesn't exactly give us enough time to test it doesn't it?" Tom said keeping his eyes and hands on the controls of Voyager. He made sure that his hands were near the controls in case Janeway needed a new course or heading to evade the Borg ship.
"Get to it." Janeway commanded, "keep me posted on your progress."
"Understood." The trio said in unison
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In the rooms around the main deflector, teams of engineers were working non-stop like ants desperately saving their home. Each of them walked from one part of the ship to the other to complete whatever tasks they had been asked to do. While others were working with the main deflector dish, one of these teams was Seven, Hugh and Vash.
Seven was having her doubts about whether this would work. Either it was her pessimism or it was her Borg realism that was telling her that this wouldn't work.
"How effective has this method been for you?" She asked
"Well," Vash shrugged, "We're not assimilated."
Seven didn't say anything; her question was answered in the most rhetorical way.
"I will need one of Voyagers bio-pack circuits." Hugh stated
"You'll find them in main engineering." Seven instructed
"Thank you."
Hugh left Vash and Seven to be alone, actually the bio-pack cuircut was just an excuse, he could see the sparks that flew between Seven and Vash. He understood the emotion known as love, since he was an individual longer than anyone else who has left the Borg he understood human nature better than anyone within the Borg collective. This is why he left Vash and Seven to be alone with each other. Now that they were alone, Seven couldn't help herself. She dropped whatever tool she held on and reached over to Vash and hugged him.
"Why?" She whispered into his ear, "You protected me before, why was I assimilated."
"They couldn't assimilate me." Vash answered wrapping his arms around Seven, "I tried to fight them off with both of my guns, but I ran out of bullets. When I ran out of bullets they tried to kill me. While they were trying to kill me, they took you away from me. I'm sorry."
Seven suddenly felt something wet drip onto her face, she looked up at the towering Vash and saw that he was crying. She felt that a sharp pain in her heart, at this point she would have called the doctor but it didn't seem to matter with the Vash she spent that time with.
"I will protect you this time." Vash promised
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"Is the random shield ready?" Janeway asked Harry
Harry looked at his console and reported, "It's ready to be activated."
"Do it." Janeway commanded
Harry brought the random shield online, while on the outside of Voyager it seemed as though it was covered in an elliptical shield of different colors. It was like the surface of a soap bubble, transparent and yet emitting the colors of a rainbow.
"Random shield is holding and holding strong." Harry reported, "And the Borg ship will be here in about 30 minutes."
Janeway turned to Chakotay in his seat next to hers, "Get the crew ready, battle stations."
"Here we go again." Chakotay shrugged
"This time we have some powerful friends."
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Vash and Seven were in cargo bay 2, which is where Seven's alcove is and they stood there looking at each other. They were like this ever since that moment near the main deflector dish. Now that they were together, they thought that nothing could stop them with the help of Vash the Stampede. Yet there was a feeling of doom hanging above them like an ominous cloud about to pour rain down up on them.
"There might be the possibility that we might not survive." Vash said
"Your pessimism is irrelevant." Seven said, "We will survive. Voyager's crew is strong, they have survived much worse than this."
"But, it's because of me that the Borg are coming, and it's because of me that they're not only after me but you too. If this doesn't work, then I won't have any choice but to surrender myself to the Borg."
"No!" Seven shouted as she grabbed onto Vash,
"I understand that you don't want to see me go, but as a wise Vulcan once said, the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few."
"I know that," Seven huffed as she held her face close to Vash's chest, which was now void of any metallic implants of the medieval medicine he was treated do, "but I just don't want to be alone again."
"I'm sure your dating someone on this ship." Vash smiled
"I am not."
"What about Chakotay?"
Seven looked up at him, her lips slightly open, her eyebrows close together, and her eyes searching.
"How did I know that?" Vash asked, he leaned down to Seven and whispered, "I pay attention."
"If these will be our last day alive, then there's something I must tell you Vash."
"What's that?"
Seven leaned up to Vash, and stood on the tiptoe of her high-heeled shoes, "I love you." She said.
She let herself back down onto the heels and soles of her shoes to look at Vash's face. He seemed calm, at ease, as if he was expecting this. He looked to Vash with his light blue eyes, from being in the desert for so long and said, "I know."
"Seven of Nine, Vash the Stampede, and Hugh, please report to the bridge" The captain called
"We're on our way." Vash called, he looked back to Seven, "Looks like this is it."
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Vash, Hugh and Seven came to the bridge and took their places for this on coming battle.
"The Borg ship is within visual range." Harry called out
"On screen." Janeway commanded
On the screen the bridge crew saw not the Borg Dodecahedron, but they saw a Borg cube. Was this part of the Borg ship that they encountered just hours ago or was this another ship that was sent after them?
"Should we try hailing them?" Harry asked
"Hell no." Janeway said, "Red alert. Our shield is ready, let them come after us."
"Captain." Vash said, "If we know the Borg right, they'll see right through our plans. They'll probably find a way to break the defenses. Hugh and I have managed this long, but I wouldn't say that we're completely invulnerable against the Borg."
"I understand your point Vash." Janeway explained, "But we have to stand our ground if we're going to fight."
Suddenly a call came in and at first the bridge crew thought it was the same Borg ultimatum, "We are the Borg, you will be assimilated."
This time it was a different ultimatum, "WE are the Borg, hand over Vash the Stampede to us or die."
"That's a nice change, from you will be assimilated." Janeway sneered
"So, all they want is me." Vash whispered to himself
"Fire at will." Janeway commanded.
Voyager made its barrage against the Borg ship, but it didn't have any effect and then the Borg ship made its attack against Voyager. The first shot didn't break through the shield, neither did the second shot or the third.
"How's our shield holding?" Janeway asked
"It's still holding at 100%" Harry called, "This random shield is a pretty good idea, Vash."
"It may be." Vash said, "But we can't survive forever like this."
"Why not just go out there and fire your angel arm?" Tom asked
"No, it'll give the Borg another excuse to come after me. There's only one option for this ship and it's crew."
Vash turned and headed for the turbo lift but as he turned he felt a hand on his right arm. He looked back and saw Seven, her eyes were wide and looked moist as if she was going to cry.
"Don't leave me." She said,
"I'm sorry, Anika." Vash said, and then smiled, "Seven."
"Please, don't go." Seven pleaded
Vash turned and held Seven close to him, he looked at her and brought his lips down onto hers, he kissed her. Even though this was the oddest of times to have romance, it was still happening in front of the bridge crew. Each of them watched this romance bloom before their own eyes, it was such an odd romance at that. A superior being who can kill the Borg with one shot had fallen in love with one of its former drones. Vash broke the kiss.
"I'm sorry, Seven." He said,
"What are you doing?" Janeway demanded
Vash dashed over to Harry's console and shoved him out of the way. He punched the controls and the bridge crew watched as he disappeared, he was transporting himself off of the bridge.
"Where did he go?" Janeway asked
Harry looked at his console, "He's in the main shuttle bay."
"Captain." Tuvok called, "The random shield is dropping and one of our shuttles is making an unscheduled departure."
"Vash." Janeway said, "Get the shield back up."
"It is already back up, if Vash is on that shuttle craft he only disengaged it for a moment to leave Voyager."
"Open a channel to that shuttle." Janeway commanded to Harry
"Channel open." Harry reported
"Vash, what the hell do you think you're doing?"
"I'm giving you a chance to run." Vash answered
"But we have the random shield, isn't that enough?"
"No, the Borg always finds a way past our shields. This is the third shield that Hugh and I have used. Look, the Borg only want me, so let me lead them away; I have to fight this one-man war alone. So get the hell away from here, and live happily ever after!"
The channel is closed, on the main screen; the bridge crew saw the little shuttlecraft make its way off into the distance. Behind it, the massive Borg ship followed it.
The crew watched with confusion, wondering why was this happening.
"So, all they really wanted was just one man." Harry speculated, "Odd isn't it that the Borg could assimilated thousands of civilizations. But when someone like Vash comes along they concentrate all their efforts on him."
"Captain." Hugh called
"Yes?" Janeway asked
"I wish to leave Voyager to go after Vash."
"Will you bring him back?" Janeway asked
"I don't think I can convince him to come back. I simply have to go with him, he's my friend."
Janeway thought about this for a moment, "Alright, take your Roundabout and go after him, Hugh. Let's hope that our paths will cross somewhere in the Alpha Quadrant. Under better circumstances."
"I'll tell that to Vash." Hugh smiled.
"Good luck."
"May we live happily ever after?" Tom asked aloud, "That's an odd good-bye."
"Vash is not the average man." Seven responded.
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Captain's Log; Supplemental: Yesterday, we had a visit from a man who is known as Vash the Stampede. To the Borg and to many species throughout the Delta quadrant he is known as the Humanoid Typhoon, the Killer of the Collective or the Borg Killer. I'm sure that Starfleet would love to get their hands on this man, but he seems to be involved in a chase. A chase where he is the prey, he doesn't want to fight the Borg. He can only fight them whenever innocent lives other than his are in danger. With him was a Borg individual named Hugh, the crew of the Starship Enterprise-E would be delighted to know that he is alive and well.
We did have another run in with the Borg, with the help of Vash and a weapon he calls The Angel Arm, he successfully destroyed a Borg vessel with a single shot. Though with another onslaught by them, he was forced to leave Voyager, fearing that the Borg will chase Voyager as long as he was aboard.
After he left, we have detected no sign of either the Borg vessel that was chasing him or the two shuttlecrafts out there. Will the chase between Vash and the Borg continue on? I can only speculate, though there is one member of my crew that does need help with no speculation.
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After the ridiculously short battle, Seven went down to the holodeck. She remembered having a cold feeling when Vash left. She watched as the shuttlecraft left, she heard the voice of the Borg Queen.
"Seven of Nine." She heard the voice, "We will meet again."
Seven wanted to be on the holodeck for a certain reason, a reason for which escaped her for a while, that is until she came to the holodeck panel. From what she remembers about Picard (or Locutus to the Borg) she remembered that Picard loved Shakespeare. She picked one scene from the number of plays by this playwright.
The holodeck doors opened and Seven stepped inside, while not too far behind her was Captain Janeway. Seven had left the bridge in a (as Janeway saw it) heart broken way. She only wanted to know what was troubling Seven.
She came to the holodeck and walked in, she looked and saw trees to her left and to her right, but she looked towards the center and found Seven. She found her in a courtyard with stone benches to her left and right. Above Seven was a balcony like some kind of love story.
Janeway walked forward to Seven, "This is an odd program." She said
Seven turned, "I chose this from the memories I have from Captain Picard. This is a scene from a play called Romeo and Juliet."
"Picard did love Shakespearean plays."
"This is the most commonly associated scene with the play. A scene of romance, even though their families were bitter enemies."
Janeway sat down upon one of the courtyard stone benches, feeling the cold stone through her uniform.
"Why did you choose this scene, Seven?" She asked
Seven responded, "In my experience with Vash, I had experienced several irrational emotions. At a certain point I hated Vash, because he killed the Borg. I was the one who showed it to him, I made him witness a memory that I thought he would be proud of. Instead he was ashamed at what he did to the Borg. Then I remember the memories of my past, and it was then that I found out that I…"
Seven was having trouble formulating the words and making them pass her lips.
"I…"
"You love him?" Janeway asked
Seven paused
"Yes, I do love him." She said as she sat down next to Janeway, "I love him for saving me as a child, yet I hate him for killing the Borg. I don't know which I should feel. The Borg always dismissed such emotions as love and hate because they were irrelevant to the development of perfection. Yet I wish I knew more about these emotions, I want to know how to handle them."
Janeway smiled, "Seven, I think you've just had your first brush with love."
"As Shakespeare's characters once said," Seven quoted, "Parting is such sweet sorrow."
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Personal Log, Vash the Stampede: After years of being in space searching for Anika Hansen, I finally found her. She was onboard a Federation Starship named Voyager, my mission has been a success. Yet it has also been a dismal failure, I had found Anika, yet she is now an older woman, a former Borg drone. Once a slave to the collective, she is free, but she's more Borg in her mind then she is human in her body. After being there, the Borg came after me, putting the Starship Voyager and its crew in danger. I couldn't risk endangering the lives of all those innocent people because of me just being there. I wanted to stay but I knew that I had to leave.
All I can do now is continue on my course to Earth, the only path I can take. I've asked myself what I'll do when I get to Earth. I think that when I get there I should turn myself over to Starfleet and tell them that I've slaughtered Borg because of my reckless behavior. Though, there is one last question unanswered, will I meet Voyager and it's crew somewhere around Earth? That remains to be seen, it is here that I say my final good-byes to Anika, the only person that remains in her place is a former Borg drone named Seven of Nine. All that I have now, are my guns, the ship, my friend and the trail that we blaze through space, because the ticket to the future is always blank…
End…
Author's Notes: I wanted to end the story with Vash leaving Voyager. The reason is because if he had stayed aboard he would be a danger to the crew. Plus I'd have to write the last episode of Voyager with Vash in it. So I decided to have him leave so that way I could figure out a way for him to meet up with the Voyager crew when they got back to the Alpha Quadrant. However that'll be another story.
Come back again for the sequel to Star Trek Voyager - Trigun: Reminiscence.
Star Trek Voyager - Trigun: More Reminiscence