****

Part 2

Silent swirls of smoke drifted by in a sleepy haze. It spread as far as her enhanced eyes could see as if it were in a perpetual stretch. It reached beyond her own yet she couldn't stop from raising her arms towards the enchanting vision. She watched, entranced as it seemed to respond to her touch, sleeking around the metallic implants on her hand. As it conformed and swerved around her hand, a chilly sensation chased its way down her arm.

She shivered and pulled back. As if angered by her movement, the smoke lifted, revealing its secrets. Focussing her eyes beyond the smoke, she saw two figures huddled in a crevasse encased in dirt and mud. Hushed, indecipherable whispers floated past her sensitive ears, forcing her to strain to understand them. The effort proved useless. Without cause or purpose her chest started to heave heavily—her heart pounding in her chest.

Movement caught her attention once again and she watched as the fuzzed forms were attacked from behind and above. She felt a weight on her shoulders as one of the figures was shoved to the ground by the overpowering weight of the newcomers. She felt hands grab at her throat, a vice-grip so strong that the air was forced from her lungs. Her hands flew to her neck, clawing at an invisible predator. As reality tugged at her consciousness, the last thing she felt was cold steel tear at her side, burrowing a whole in her flesh.

A distant scream pierced her mind. Her eyes snapped open and her body propelled away from the floor. Before she could counteract her initial momentum she slammed head on into the top of the console hanging above her. Wincing, the strain in her arm came flooding back to her, making her eyes sting again. Through her hazy vision, she searched the room wildly for the figures, the smoke, but there was nothing but the metal walls of the Astrometrics Bay.

Breathing deeply she tried to compose herself as new unrelenting emotions rolled through her. The most prominent feelings, ones she'd become very familiar with in the last two weeks, were confusion and fear. On shaky and unstable legs, Seven stepped out from underneath the console. Leaning back on the edge, she breathed in a shaky breath, the first of many.

****

"It's called dreaming, Seven. Or in this case, a nightmare," the Doctor chided gently as he finished his fifth scan of her cortical node. Each scan before showed nothing but the woman would not accept it.

"You are mistaken," she rebutted. "I do not dream nor do I have... nightmares. Your equipment is flawed."

Rolling his eyes, the Doctor placed his tricorder on his tray and turned back to Seven. "You've been through something very traumatic, Seven, it's bound to have affected you. You should be joyful."

Agitated, she snapped, "Joyful?"

"Yes," he exclaimed. "You've just experienced something immensely human. You're growing."

Frowning in malcontent, she pushed herself off the bio-bed. "If becoming human means being plagued by these... 'nightmares' then I do not wish to 'grow'."

"It's all part of being human, Seven. You fall in love, you get your heart broken. You have joyous dreams and, yes, sometimes horrible nightmares." He tried to explain it to her the best he could. He himself was still new to being, in so many words, 'human'. At the moment he found himself almost jealous of Seven's new found ability.

"I do not wish to dream. Nor do I wish to fall in love. You have been teaching me what it is to be human yet you yourself are no closer than I. You do not understand. Scan me again." she quipped back, her defensive nature taking control.

The Doctor visually flinched at the truth in her words. Bowing his head, he turned from her and walked towards his desk. Stopping in the threshold he called back, "Get out."

Shocked at her own reaction to him and his to her, she thought twice about complying. She wanted to apologize for her brashness but didn't know how. Giving up, she did as he asked and left quietly. As she made her way back to the holodeck, she mentally asked herself why she had been so cruel with her words. She was more mad at herself then him yet she couldn't help but let the words pour from her mouth. There was definitely something physically wrong with her and if the Doctor was unwilling to find it, she would do it on her own.

****

With long purposeful steps, Kathryn entered the almost complete holodeck. A smile spread across her face as she took in the now covered hole. It was seamless, perfection. Proud at how fast her crew worked, Janeway made her way towards the back of the room. Spotting Lieutenant Torres, she swerved in her direction, coming to a stop behind the woman.

She watched as B'Elanna continued to tinker with circuit of relays, unaware of her presence. "How's it going?" She stifled a laugh when B'Elanna jumped. "Catch you off guard did I?"

Blushing, B'Elanna rose from her bent position and turned to her Captain sheepishly. "Yeah... heh. It's going well. We're almost done actually." Peering at her, B'Elanna gave voice to her suspicions. "You didn't come all this way just to ask me that though did you?"

Kathryn's cheeks flushed with color, giving away her guilt. "That obvious?"

"Heh, not so much. I just know you too well," she teased.

Sighing, Kathryn's shoulders dropped visibly. "I need a favor."

Concern spread through B'Elanna as her Captain's demeanor quickly shifted gears. "Anything."

"A little while ago I sent Seven away... She hasn't been regenerating and even though I ordered her to eat I'm pretty sure she ignored me." The thought almost made Kathryn smile. Seven was far too strong willed for her own good, the trait was something she admired yet despised at the same time. "If she comes back I want you to do the same and send her away. She's not to come back 'til I'm confident that she's well rested... and why are you looking at me like that?" she asked as B'Elanna gave her a sheepish and almost guilty look which only grew at her question. Realization dawned on her and she let out a frustrated groan. "She's back already isn't she?"

"If you'd only come to me an hour sooner..." B'Elanna fumbled a bit but Kathryn cut her off.

"Where is she?"

"The Jefferies tubes on deck 11... we're trying to reroute the power relay conduits. The Hirogan messed them all up trying to reroute power to the extra holo-emitters. I sorta need her help." B'Elanna placed emphasis on the word 'need'. And she did need Seven, not two hours ago she sent everyone else home. Plus Seven was an expert when it came to things like this. She hated to admit it but she was almost better then herself.

Kathryn's eyes closed for a second before she spoke again. "When you're done, send her home. I don't care if she refuses, tell her I'm ordering her and she will comply or I will have her escorted by security."

"That's a little harsh for just being a workaholic."

"I know it looks like it but you don't know the trouble she's been giving me. I'm tired of her not listening to my orders."

B'Elanna smirked, "I guess Tom's old earth saying, 'be careful what you wish for' isn't just a saying."

Kathryn's brow furrowed at the unfamiliar words, "What do you mean?"

"I don't understand it that well but in this instance..." she paused, trying to find the right words to explain herself. "You're the one who disconnected her from the Collective and you've been teaching her how to be an individual from the start. Now she's trying to asserting herself and here you are pulling her back."

Kathryn quickly became defensive, "That's not what I'm trying to do. She's just got to learn that there are rules that she can't keep ignoring."

"Hey," B'Elanna raised her hands in mock defeat. "I'm not trying to overstep here. If I were in your position, I would more then likely do the same. What I am trying to say is the more you push her, the harder she's going to push back."

Silence fell over the room as Kathryn tried to wrap her mind around what B'Elanna had said. Was she being overly commanding or hypocritical? "What do you suggest I do?"

"Oh no. I don't give advice, I just analyze." B'Elanna turned back to her post and dropped to her knees. Picking up where she left off she gave a quick glance behind her and spoke, "Maybe you should talk to Chakotay."

"Maybe..." Kathryn trailed off.

****

Silently, Seven crawled her way through her last Jefferies tube. She'd started off on deck 11 and 5 hours later was seven floors down. The task was arduous, her body had only just started to protest at the strain of being on her hands and knees for so long. She ignored the pain like she did everything else. One thought fluttered though her mind, when she got out of here her knees were going to be severely imprinted, maybe even bruised.

B'Elanna's voice interrupted her jumbled thoughts. "Seven, have you reached the last conduit yet?"

"I have not," Seven almost snapped at the woman. She was fast becoming very irritated at the constant questioning. "I will inform you when I have."

"O-kay," B'Elanna mumbled, relaxing back against the wall beside her. Closing her eyes she allowed herself to rest for a split second before Seven's voice came over the comms.

"I apologize."

That got B'Elanna's attention and she sat up straighter. "For what?"

Within the Jefferies tube, Seven came to a stop before the conduit she'd been looking for. Pulling her tool kit ahead of her, she expanded. "For my irritability. I find myself unable to control that aspect."

Grinning gently, B'Elanna accepted the apology with a warm, "Don't worry about it, we all have our moments."

"Indeed," she halfheartedly agreed. "I am at the conduit and am now removing the outer shell."

"Oh!" B'Elanna pushed herself onto her knees and turned back to the opened console on the wall. "Kay, ready here."

At her words, Seven waited for the small force field around the conduit to be disabled. She watched as a wall of light formed before the exposed wiring before disappearing. The two women quickly got to work relaying the power back to its origin point. A deafening silence drenched the confining walls of Seven's temporary prison, safe for the minute song of her hands at work. The tranquility itched its way beneath her hardened shell, disturbing the normally calm woman.

Wanting for something to fill the void, she didn't hesitate long before opening a comm back to B'Elanna and speaking. "Lieutenant Torres?" She listened for a reply as her own voice echoed softly away.

"Yeah?"

"I... wish to ask you a question of a personal nature," she stumbled, searching for the right words to express.

"Umm..." B'Elanna chuckled to herself. "Today must just be my day. Go ahead, ask."

Seven ignored the laugh, concentrating instead on the matter at hand. "Have you been enduring abstract hallucinations since our encounter with the Hirogan?"

B'Elanna's eyes widened slightly and a confused yet somehow amused grin flashed across her lips. "Abstract what now? Could you be a little less analytical and more... I dunno, dumb it down a bit, please."

"Nightmares... Have you been experiencing nightmare?"

"No, I haven't. Why, have you?"

"The Doctor seems to believe so," Seven admitted, turning back to the job at hand. She hadn't even noticed she'd stopped.

"Well have you?" B'Elanna didn't know the reason but Seven's would be answer intrigued her. Could Seven even have nightmares or dreams?

"I am uncertain. By definition a dream is a series of images, ideas, emotions, and sensation occurring involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. I experienced all of those conditions but I am still unsure."

B'Elanna was surprised by the slight touches of true emotion is the former Borg's voice. "Well it certainly sounds like you did. I thought you had to regenerate though."

"I do," she paused, quickly finishing with the last conduit and sending the signal to power it back up. "It has proven difficult."

B'Elanna sensed the vulnerability that came with Seven's words and tried to ease her with her own, "It's only natural I guess. Insomnia tends to run hand in hand with sever traumatic incidents." Receiving the transmission, she entered the command codes and watched as the power lights came back on.

The force field came back up with a flicker and Seven made haste of putting her equipment away. "I do not remember experiencing anything traumatic."

B'Elanna once again laughed at Seven's naivetes. "Maybe you are now, maybe that's what the nightmares are about... making you remember."

Seven stopped mid-stride along the small space and thought pensively to herself. Sighing softly, she responded, "Perhaps."

Pushing off the floor, B'Elanna brushed the dirt from her knees. Grabbing her things off the floor she headed for the exit and what was sure to be a very relaxing sonic shower. Before she left, she warmly called out, "Goodnight Seven."

"Sleep well Lieutenant Torres." Seven returned the gesture as best she could. Crawling slowly she made her way out of the Jefferies tube. The moment she stood, a wave of dizziness hit her once more. For a split second she believed she was going to collapse under her own weight. She didn't. Her vision cleared and the spell was washed away. Disregarding the feelings of pain, exhaustion and hunger, she headed off towards Astrometrics to waste away the next eight hours of almost complete silence.

TBC