Act Five: "Renegades"

Voyager sat safely within the nebula, flashes of energy flaring about the small Federation ship. Admiral Kathryn Janeway sat in her Ready Room, eyes transfixed on the explosions of plasma throughout the nebula. They were beautiful, if not a little disconcerting.

She sighed and sat down. Admittedly, she was worried. She hadn't counted on a lot of this when she took this mission. Power failures. Warring aliens. It was all . . . well, unexplored.

Janeway thought back to how this happened. She continually felt frustration about getting roped into all this. Not heading out to Kelvan space - but getting mind-controlled. She still couldn't believe! She couldn't! Of all people, her! Being mind-controlled!

She shook her head and stood up, walking to her desk. She opened the sensor logs. The ship was still out there, waiting for them to show up. Were they content with letting Voyager sit and wait? What was this, come kind of game of chicken?

Even this far away, people still played that game. She thought for a moment, realizing just how strange it was being here, in another galaxy. She had been far from home before - but this . . . this was brand new.

But, she supposed that was their job.

***

Seven of Nine grabbed hold of an energy spanner and went work on the conduit above her. She was laying in a Jefferies Tube, securing a few systems that had been burned out during the overload. Seven grunted as she pulled a bad circuit out of alignment. It was giving her a hard time, but her stronger than normal muscles gave it a good yank and the circuit ripped out. She opened up kit then and replaced it. Then, with another tool, she completed the work.

With the job done, Seven decided to head back to Engineering. She was early in getting this job done and she wanted the chance to look over a few schematics on the Engine Core. It couldn't hurt to be safe, she figured.

As she reached the intersection of another row of Jefferies Tubes, she was surprised to find the space filled with a man and picnic basket.

"Hello Seven."

She smiled. "Chakotay. I wasn't expecting . . ."

"I know. But I figured you could use some lunch. You've been at it for hours."

She nodded. "Thank you," Seven answered with a smile.

Chakotay handed her a drink and a sandwich. They kissed before doing anything else.

***

Eight Kelvan assault-class ships soared through the empty sector, it's sensors barely reading anything. Just then, twenty transwarp conduits opened and twenty Borg Cubes were spurned from it, unleashing its weapons upon the Kelvans.

The battle didn't last for too long - perhaps an hour. But when it was done, two of the Kelvan ships were in retreat and fifteen of the Borg Cubes made it to a nearby asteroid belt to repair.

Hugh nodded in satisfaction. Every 'dormant' Borg ship encountered was brought into the service of the rebellion. It was going along nicely. Very nicely.

"You know, after this is over," Hugh stated, "we'll be heading to the Borg homeworld and we'll be creating a new, more peaceful Borg Collective."

"You are foolish," said the Queen from her detention cell. "Foolish."

"Really? For doing what? For doing right to those that we took? We're changing our search for perfection. We're not going to assimilate anymore. We're going to consolidate our forces and strive for perfect within ourselves. Then, we're going to give the rest of universe what we've seen."

The Queen stood up and challenged both him and his force field. "Don't be so naïve. No one will accept us. The only way to find perfection is to take and conquer."

"Like the Kelvans?"

The Borg Queen scowled. "The Kelvans were weak. We should never have allied ourselves with them."

"Tell me," Hugh began, "last time you heard the Collective, did it still sound like a thousand orders?"

"Of course!"

"When I get a hold of it, it'll sound like a thousand choirs."

Hugh left the chamber and entered into the main command matrix, where he was joined by a few other Borg.

"Message coming through. It's Denara Pel and Mantora. They're requesting permission to beam aboard."

"Granted."

A moment later, the two figures appeared. "Good evening," Pel greeted. Mantora only grunted.

"The strike was successful. I have just received word that Voyager should have arrived in Kelvan space," Hugh reported.

"Good," Mantora said. "Until then let's keep the fighting going."

"Yes. Have you heard from any of the other species we've considered opening up with?" asked Hugh.

"Yes. The Devore are signing a non-aggression pact with the Kelvans. They want nothing to do with us. The Turei are the same way. The Hierarchy are not speaking to anyone," Pel replied.

"Then I suppose we are . . . alone."

"No," said Pel. "As long as you continue to use the Borg Cubes you find - "

"They posses living people, Doctor. Not tools. That is old Borg thinking. It is not easy to send them against the Kelvans unto their own doom."

Mantora sighed. "Well, then I suppose we're stuck."

"We shall do our best. It is the only thing we have left to do. If we can not win this, then it is all lost."