JACK:

"What happened to me?" I asked dully. They wanted to known my story?

"Yes." Tom said softly. "What made you so . . . closed up?"

I looked at him. The way he said it made me believe he might have felt something like this before. But I doubt he would have felt something this bad. He was too human, still. "I lost my lover, three of my best friends, and the one man who ever had so much faith in me, that he would help me, no matter what I did."

I said it all as tonelessly as possible, letting no emotions in my voice. George, Sam, Janet and Teal'c. All dead, all gone. And each one took a piece of my heart when they died – all except Sam, who took it all. Her beautiful face hovered in my mind, and I closed my eyes, savouring the picture. Sometimes it was almost enough to give up, and join her wherever she is. Leave this harsh world for good.

"The way you say it, you could have lost a pair of shoes!" B'Elanna snapped, breaking the silence. "You expected me to believe you feel things, Colonel? When you talk about loosing your 'best' friends like you would a uniform?"

I squeezed my eyes firmer shut. "Believe what you will." I said. "I don't care."

"I think you do." Janeway said softly.

I gritted my teeth and forced my emotions away. I was not going to break down, I was not going to let them all out . . .

"Who was she?" Janeway continued, and Sam's face appeared again.

But this time it was covered in blood like it had been the last time I had seen in. I watched the light in her beautiful eyes flicker and die all over again. Before I could stop it, a tear leaked out and streamed down my cheek. I felt a comforting hand on my shoulder, and looked up expecting to see Riley. But it was Janeway.

I looked into her compassionate brown eyes, and felt my mouth move. "She was my 2IC, and an astrophysicist. She was brilliant. She knew more about how the universe worked than I could ever begin to imagine. But more than that, she was a fighter. Stubborn, tough, brilliant and beautiful. It was a combination that knocked me off my feet."

I didn't realise it, but I began to smile sadly and wistfully, love shining in my eyes. "I remember the first time we met. She offered to arm wrestle me."

Then my smile fell. "She devoted her life to freeing the Tau'ri and everyone else oppressed by the Goa'uld. And because of that, she's dead."

"The Tau'ri?" Tom asked, confused.

"That's the name of all humans, not matter what planet you were born on." I said absently.

My thoughts were firmly stuck in the past, on that horrible day I lost almost everything I loved. "I still see her laying there, the blood seeping out of her chest, no matter what I did."

Tears were streaming unheeded down my cheeks, and my voice was shaky. "She looked just like an angel, I remember thinking that. It was like she was lit up from the inside. And then the light was gone."

"And that wasn't all." I continued. "I still remember Teal'c lying there, broken. He was always so strong and alive, that it was so hard to see him looking so broken, his eyes sightless and dead."

By now I didn't care if anyone was listening anymore, or if anyone was actually there. I was too wrapped up in my memories, nothing mattered. "And I remember Janet, trying to help the wounded as the Jaffa as they killed her. She was trying to heal everyone else while she was dying."

"If I close my eyes, I can see their faces, alive and whole. Janet with her frown while she gave you a needle. Her smile when she realised you were going to be fine. Teal'c seriousness when he was guarding our backs, and his confusion when he tried to understand us humans."

At that point my voice broke. "And then there was George. General Hammond. Our leader. The man who would have done anything for his people, his friends. Who died to save us."

I finally opened my eyes and looked directly at B'Elanna. "Just like Riley, I know what it feels like to die, and then to live. I know the pain of loosing the woman I loved. Loosing my best friends. Pain that slowly kills you from the inside." I took a deep breath. "And if you want begin to feel what we do, picture the man you love and the friends who you couldn't do without – and then imagine them gone, forever."

JANEWAY:

At the Colonel's words I closed my eyes and imagined a life without Seven, Tom, Harry, B'Elanna, Tuvok and Chakotay. And I felt dead. I couldn't begin to comprehend the pain I would feel in my heart. Especially if Chakotay was gone . . .

I looked at the Jack with a greater admiration for the man, as well as sadness for what he had suffered. He had gone through so much, and now, he had just given up. And that's what made it even worse. I vowed there and then, that if I could, I would revive his fighting spirit and make him fight for life again. It was part of who he was, and without it he wasn't the great man I knew he was.

He looked so pained and sad sitting there, slumped against the wall, his head hanging down and his brown eyes full of a soul-eating pain. But I didn't get a chance to offer an small comfort I could, because at that moment I was reminded of where we were and what we should be thinking of.

The Borg Queen appeared in the centre of the chamber. Only a hologram, but dangerous enough. Although it was a surprise to see her in this cube. She usually didn't transmit a hologram so far. That made me wonder if she was actually quite close, but her words soon dismissed all of those thoughts.

"How did you fracture your reality like that?" she asked. "We want to know."

She was standing directly in front of Jack and looked at him when she said this. "We also want to know how you have learnt to control wormholes. We did not believe humans could do this."

Riley stood up from where se had been sitting near her CO. She walked up to the Borg Queen, and then straight through her. "Hologram." She said absently.

"We want to know. You will tell us." The Borg Queen said.

"You want to know how we control wormholes?" Riley asked.

"Yes."

"We conduct a human sacrifice, dance around naked covered in blood and chanting, and pray to our deity." Riley told her. Her tone was completely deadpan.

"There is no such thing as a deity." The Borg Queen said. "And your answer denotes the crude humour of your species."

"You've noticed?" Riley retorted.

"How do you control the wormholes?" The Borg Queen asked her question again. "And how did you fracture your reality? Answer us, we are getting impatient."

"What do you mean 'fracture our reality'?" Jack asked, getting to his feet, his eyes now alert, although no less filled with pain.

"Your reality is not whole." The Borg Queen said. "It has split into two parts. What exits in one, does not exists in the other."

Jack stared at her, before jerking around to gaze at Riley. I caught the look in his eyes. It was full of hope and a desperate vulnerability in case his hope would prove false.

"Riley . . . " He trailed off as he saw the hope and understanding in Riley's eyes.

"Very well." The Borg Queen said, when she saw she was not going to get any answers. "Prepare to be assimilated. Resistance is futile."

"Resistance is never futile." Riley said as she vanished. "Because resistance breeds hope."

Hope truly is a wondrous thing. I watched the two strangers in front of me, and the suddenly looked more *alive*. And alive is something I bet they hadn't felt in a long time. Then the door to the chamber swished open and four Borg drones walked in.

"Captain?" Tom asked.

"Let us, Captain." Said Jack.

Then he turned to me, and actually smiled. It transformed his face, and I saw that fierce light of hope burning in his eyes. I wished this was not a false hope, for his sake. "By all means." I said. "As we are weaponless."

"And we're not." Riley said.

"The Borg would not have recognised your weapons as dangerous." Seven said, finally speaking after being silent for so long.

"Well, let's prove them wrong, shall we?" Riley said.

She drew one of the combat knives from her boot and handed it to Seven. "I would give you a gun, but they're probably a little different to what your used to." She whispered.

"I agree." Seven replied.

By this time, the Borg had backed the humans into the back corner of the room. Riley looked at Jack and Jack looked at Riley. Then, almost at exactly at the same time, they sprang forward. Riley went for her knives as Jack went for his zat.

With a long blade in each hand, Riley approached the nearest drone with a feral grin on her face. She swung one in a high wide arc, spinning with it, while the other swung low. The drone dropped dead, his throat slit, and his stomach slashed open. She dodged the next drone as Tom called out, "Watch out for its left hand!"

Riley dodged quickly, and barely managed to avoid the tubes sent in her direction. In response she flicked out her hand and slashed off the offending tubes, before slitting the drone's throat. She came to a stop in a crouch as she looked around her at the fallen bodies.

Jack had taken care of the others with one of the most intriguing weapons I had ever seen. It looked like a coiled snake, and when armed, its dead popped up as if it was about to strike. And from it's mouth came a pulse of what looked like electricity. In that way it was rather like a phaser.

But with one blast this weapon knocked the drone out. But I was curious, because Jack had shot each of the drones twice. "What did you shoot them twice?" I asked him.

Jack looked at me. "Because one shot knocks you unconscious, and the second one kills. I don't want them waking up behind us."

I nodded. "What is it called?" I said, meaning the weapon.

"A zat gun." He said. "Or at least, that's what we call it. The Goa'uld call it something else."

I nodded again. "Does it do anything else?"

"Yeah." Jack said, and gave me a half smile. "Watch."

He shot one of the drone's for a third time, and to my amazement, the body completely disappeared. "Wow." I said.

"I hate to interrupt." Tom said, from where he was standing by the door. "But I think we should get out of here."

"Yes." I said, shocked that I had let my curiosity get the better of my. I was a Starfleet Captain! I did not stand around having a conversation when my ship and crew were in danger!

"Any ideas how?" I asked, my tone business-like.

"The zat should short circuit the locking mechanism." Jack said. "It's worked before."

I nodded my permission. He stepped up to the door and took aim. The blast hit the door with a funny whining sound, and there was a faint swish. "The door's a little open at the edge!" Tom said excitedly, after he had examined the door.

Together, Tom, Jack and Riley managed to push the door open enough for us to slip out. Jack gave one of his knives to me, as Riley gave one of her long knives to B'Elanna, and the other to Tom. "It's not much," said Jack. "But it should help if you need it."

And with a deep breath, I nodded and led the way out of the assimilation chamber, and into the bowels of the Borg Cube.