A Severed Connection.

- A Star Trek Voyager One-shot -

By TimeTraveller-1900.

Sitting in the Da Vinci program on the holodeck, Janeway was sitting at a desk, writing her log with a quill on parchment. She had learnt how to master the art of writing with a quill and parchment, and she had quickly grasped the concept. She had replicated the quill, the parchment and the ink so she could inscribe her log and transfer it to her computer later.

But truthfully…Janeway had become tired of technology. She had been exposed to more than enough of it lately, she just wanted to slip to a more simpler moment and get away from things like Borg implants, fluidic space, and just the general environment of Voyager. But as she went over her log, knowing she would likely go over it all again and add new bits to it when she came to add it to her computer anyway, Janeway took a moment to go over what she had written about the Borg.

So far they hadn't encountered the Collective since the end of the war with Species 8472, a war they had begun in the first place.

Janeway sighed as she considered her own pigheaded decision to help the Collective, she knew it had been a decision which had been greatly disputed by her crew, especially in the command team, and most definitely with Chakotay.

Unbidden, Chakotay's words and their exchange flashed back within her mind after everyone had learnt about her sleep-deprived plan….

X

"Even if we do somehow negotiate an exchange, how long will they keep up their end of the bargain? It could take months to cross Borg territory. We'd be facing thousands of systems, millions of vessels," Chakotay had said.

"But only one Collective, and we've got them over a barrel. We don't need to give them a single bit of information, not until we're safe. We just need the courage to see this through to the end," she had said.

"There are other kinds of courage," Chakotay had argued back as he had tried to make her reconsider. She knew he didn't like her plan, and even she didn't like it, but there were advantages. "Like the courage to accept that there are some situations beyond your control. Not every problem has an immediate solution."

Janeway remembered being incensed and surprised by that. "You're suggesting we turn around."

Chakotay had seen the trap but he had bluntly forced his way through it to drive his point across to her. "Yes. We should get out of harm's way. Let them fight it out. In the meantime, there's still plenty of Delta Quadrant left to explore. We may find another way home."

The idea of being in the Delta Quadrant was repugnant to her, but she also had to look to the bigger picture, especially after what Kes had told them about the inter-dimensional race of invaders who were waging war against the Borg. "Or we may find something else. Six months, a year down the road, after Species 8472 gets through with the Borg, we could find ourselves back in the line of fire, and we'll have missed the window of opportunity that exists right here, right now."

That was why she was doing this.

She had known if they ignored this mess, sooner or later they would have encountered the aliens again, and this time they might not have had the means to deal with them. But with the Borg's resources, they could save themselves and maybe shave a few years off of their trip.

They were working with the devil, but sometimes it was needed for the greater good.

"How much is our safety worth?"

Chakotay's question surprised and chilled her in equal measure. "What do you mean?"

Chakotay had glowered at her. "We'd be giving an advantage to a race guilty of murdering billions. We'd be helping the Borg assimilate yet another species just to get ourselves back home. It's wrong!"

X

Janeway snapped herself back to reality when she heard the distinctive sound of the doors opening and closing and she looked up and smiled at Chakotay as he walked in, hoping she was disguising her inner shame of deciding to form an alliance with the Borg.

Chakotay was right.

The Borg were responsible for murdering millions, and she looked back on her words of them assimilating Species 8472 with shame; she wondered if it was another example of her pushing herself past the human limits, but the idea she would wish assimilation on a species….

"Am I interrupting?" Chakotay's chocolate-smooth voice asked.

Janeway smiled up at him, pleased to shove those dark thoughts out of her mind. "Not at all. Just finishing up my log."

"The old-fashioned way," Chakotay noted with a smile.

"I wanted to get as far away from bioimplants and fluidic space. And this feels more human somehow," she told him.

"I hate to spoil the mood, but you might want to look at this Engineering report," Chakotay replied, handing her a padd for her to peruse. It was an engineering report alright, and it was quite a report. "It'll take at least two weeks to remove the Borg technology from our systems. B'Elanna did note that the power couplings on deck eight work better with the Borg improvements."

Janeway shrugged, "Leave them," she decided thinking that if the power couplings were better off with partial assimilation then there was no point restoring them to their original condition. "How is our passenger?" She asked more quietly.

Seven of Nine had been on Janeway's mind for the last few hours. But while she had deliberately kept her mind focused on the rest of the log, it was impossible to not think of her.

A human woman assimilated by the Borg, one of the few humans in this part of the galaxy barring the human crew members on Voyager and the people kidnapped from Earth by the Briori.

But what made her curious was who she was; from what Seven had told her, she had been a Borg drone for nearly 20 years.

Who was she?

Janeway knew that the Borg had made secretive attacks on the Federation before Wolf 359, but she had never heard of anyone so young being assimilated before.

Chakotay kept his own thoughts of Seven of Nine under wraps. She knew he didn't trust the Borg drone, mostly due to his past experience with the Borg Cooperative. "The Doctor says she's stabilising. Her human cells are starting to regenerate."

Janeway nodded thoughtfully, "I wonder what's left under all that Borg technology. If she can ever become human again."

"You plan to keep her on board."

"We pulled the plug," Janeway replied as she stood and walked to the holographic fireplace. "We're responsible for what happens to her now."

"She was assimilated at a very young age," Chakotay pointed out, "The Collective's all she knows. She might not want to stay."

Janeway didn't mention that Seven of Nine wouldn't have much choice. They weren't going to throw her back to the Collective. Not only would they endanger the ship and the crew, but there was a human woman under that armour and years of being submerged by the Collective mind. They had to get her out.

"I think she might. We have something the Borg could never offer," Janeway turned to face him. "Friendship," she said pointedly.

Chakotay knew what she was talking about. "I want you to know that disobeying your orders was one of the most difficult things I've ever had to do."

Janeway didn't believe that for a moment. There had to be dozens of moments in his life that he was ashamed of, but she decided to let it just...go. In any case, she was sickened with herself for instantly taking the Borg's side. "I understand. And I respect the decision you made, even though I disagree with it," she added to make sure he knew his place. "What's important is that in the end, we got through this, together. I don't ever want that to change."

"Agreed."

Janeway smiled. "Good. Well, I think it's time we get back to our bridge."

"No argument there," Chakotay said, and they both left with the sheet of parchment in Janeway's hand, but as they left the holodeck, Janeway wondered how easy it would be to help someone with a severed Borg connection….