Evolutions I: An Act of Betrayal
Part Four
Seven, B'Elanna and Naomi entered cargo bay 2 and, after a quick search, found the room to be empty.
"Seven, you start regenerating while Naomi and I keep watch." B'Elanna said as she and Naomi sat on the deck plating beside Seven's alcove.
"I will comply." Seven stepped into her alcove and began her regeneration cycle.
Two hours later...
"Regeneration cycle complete." at the sound of the voice of the computer B'Elanna and Naomi looked up from their game of Kadis Kot.
As Seven stepped of the alcove she grew dizzy and felt herself begin to fall.
B'Elanna stood up quickly and caught Seven, hugging her from behind as she lowered Seven to the ground.
"What happened Seven? Are you okay?"
"I am not functioning within acceptable parameters." Seven whispered as she tried to focus her eyes on B'Elanna.
Naomi was beside Seven only moments behind B'Elanna, "Are you going to be okay Seven?"
"I am not sure, something happened to me while I was regenerating. I will begin a scan of my Borg systems."
"How could this have happened? We were here the entire time, and nobody else came in," Naomi said as she held onto Seven's hand.
"It'll be okay Seven. We're going to find out what's going on." B'Elanna pulled Seven into a hug as she spoke.
A small smile crept onto Seven's face as she rested her head on B'Elanna shoulder. For the first time since coming aboard Voyager she felt safe.
"The scan is complete. My Borg implants are functioning at 15 of normal. My nanoprobes have also been altered. They are synthesizing muscle relaxants and injecting them directly into my blood stream."
"Is there any way we can fix this?" Naomi asked.
"I'm not sure," B'Elanna answered thoughtfully. "The only way they could have done this was by re-programming the alcove."
"The panel on the left side near the bottom is the only part of the alcove that can be used to alter the alcove systems."
"I'll just be a minute, Seven." B'Elanna reluctantly removed her arms from around Seven
B'Elanna looked at Naomi as she crawled up next to Seven and hugged her. She had to smile at that before she began to work on the alcove. 'Whoever did this really knew what they were doing.' B'Elanna mused as she began to pull out the different circuits. A few minutes deconstruction uncovered an anomalous chip. It looked like all the other circuits except for the black chip in the center.
B'Elanna pulled out her tri-corder and began to scan the chip. At first it looked like the circuit could be easily removed, but a deeper scan revealed that the circuit was tied in to all of the other systems of the alcove and removing it would shut everything down.
The alcove could still be fixed, but it would take at least a week. B'Elanna sighed. 'This isn't good. We'll arrive on the Star Base in three days,' B'Elanna thought as she looked at Naomi and Seven talking softly to each other.
"We're not going to be able to fix the alcove in time Seven. Whoever did this really knew their stuff."
"I will still be able to regenerate, the changes to my alcove were only meant to weaken me. I suggest we continue with our plans," Seven sounded more confident than she felt.
"Okay Seven, but you have to promise to tell us if anything else happens." Naomi said.
"I promise." Seven said as she held Naomi's hand.
"Alright, we should get to my quarters." B'Elanna said as Seven began to stand up.
"Seven, you're in no condition to be walking around," B'Elanna scolded.
"I fell because I was not prepared for the changes to my Borg systems B'Elanna." Seven insisted as she tried to stand on wobbly legs.
"Oh no you don't," B'Elanna quickly lifted Seven into her arms. "And don't bother arguing because I am NOT putting you back down."
Seven was about to complain but desisted at the determined look in B'Elanna's eyes. She realized resistance would be futile. Seven rested her head against B'Elanna's chest and said: "Yes, B'Elanna."
B'Elanna couldn't help but smirk at Seven. "If this is all it takes to win an argument with you, I don't think I'm ever going to put you down."
Seven didn't say anything as she closed her eyes. When B'Elanna looked over at Naomi she was smiling as well.
"You make Seven happy B'Elanna. It really means a lot to her that you're friends now."
"It means a lot to me too kid, I don't know how I couldn't see it before but now I can't imagine my life without Seven in it."
Thankfully most of the crew was still working gamma shift or getting drunk at Sardines, to which B'Elanna was grateful. She wasn't sure how she could explain carrying Seven around the ship without giving away the fact that something was wrong.
B'Elanna, Seven and Naomi were sitting on the couch inside of B'Elanna's quarters. The three outcasts needed a plan that would ensure their safety as well as stop the crew from delivering them to the Socadan. There were only three days left they had been completely separated from all of Voyager's key systems that could tell them what was going on.
"At this point the only one that can help us is Tuvok, but he has not been able to give us any relevant information," Seven said.
"Maybe we can take the Delta Flyer and try to outrun Voyager," B'Elanna suggested.
"We would need a diversion. Voyager is far more powerful than the Delta Flyer. To escape we would have to disable their engines as well as their weapons system," Seven concluded.
"Are- are we ever going to see any of them again?" Naomi asked.
Seven held Naomi's hand as she answered. "Naomi, the crew has made up their minds about us. If they give us to the Socadan we would never see them again anyway. As hard as it will be to leave, we must. The Socadan will not treat us well, they may even separate us once we reach the space station."
"I know, but even after everything that my mom did I still care about her, I'm going to miss her."
"Maybe when we figure out what happened to the crew we can find them again," B'Elanna offered.
"I hope so." Naomi said with a sigh.
"To find out what is wrong with the crew we must gain access to their medical records. We must also find a way to transport supplies onto the shuttle, as well as find a suitable planet to land on to give us time to plot a course back to the Alpha quadrant." Seven said.
"Given enough time we might be able to get a slip-stream drive working, we could beat Voyager back home," B'Elanna said smiling.
"There is another problem, I must still regenerate. We will have to build a portable regeneration unit."
B'Elanna was now starting to get worried. "We don't have enough time to design or build a portable regeneration unit. I don't even know where to start. We're going to have to go to the space station and take our chances there," B'Elanna concluded sadly.
Seven was shocked for a moment. B'Elanna was actually willing to be a prisoner of the Socadan. When she looked over at Naomi she realized that Naomi was willing to do the same. "You would both sacrifice your freedom to be with me?"
"Of course Seven, we won't leave without you" Naomi and B'Elanna said at once.
"Thank you," Seven said with tears in her eyes. "But it will not come to that, I have already designed the regeneration unit. I was hoping to have my own quarters but the captain never granted my request."
"How long will it take to build?" B'Elanna asked growing excited again.
"We can replicate most of the materials, so it should only take 3.6 hours to complete."
Two hours earlier...
"Perfect. Seven just started regenerating. By tomorrow morning we can put her in sick bay until we get to the Socadan space station," Kim smiled at Janeway.
"Just make sure this works." Janeway grunted from on top of Kim.
"Think about it, in only two years we can be back in the alpha quadrant."
"As much as I like the idea of getting back to the Alpha quadrant, right now I would like it a lot more if you could concentrate on what you're doing." Janeway said as she roughly pushed Kim down and began moving faster.
Kim could only groan from under Janeway as his eyes began to roll back.
Shortly after Kim and Janeway had finished and gotten dressed again Janeway became curious as to what the remaining two hybrids were doing.
"Computer, locate Seven of Nine and Lieutenant Torres." Janeway ordered as she sat down beside Kim.
"Seven of Nine and Lieutenant Torres are on deck six, section five."
"I thought you said that Seven wasn't going to be a problem," Janeway gave Kim an icy glare.
"She's not, I programmed that alcove perfectly. It'll take them at least two weeks before they even figure out what I did. Something else must have happened. Computer, how long was Seven regenerating for?"
"Seven of Nine regenerated for 2 hours."
"She was supposed to regenerate for a normal cycle. This changes things."
"What the hell does that mean? I don't think I need to remind you that the Socadan will not be able to perform their tests on damaged goods."
"If it was for only two hours, Seven should have 5, maybe 10, of her Borg strength. With the muscle relaxants, she won't be able to do anything to stop us. So basically our plans remain unchanged."
"According to Tuvok, they've already figured out what's going on. I thought we would have at least a couple more days before they became suspicious."
"We could just put them in the brig now and save ourselves the trouble."
"No, we have no idea what condition they'll be in when they come back, and Seven is the only one that can do the sensor scans fast enough."
To be continued...