Evolutions I: An Act of Betrayal
Part Sixteen
An hour before the morning meeting was supposed to begin Janeway was pacing around her ready room. She'd had time to think the previous night and had come to the conclusion that B'Elanna and Seven would not comply with any of her orders but if she were to request something of them then they might feel obligated to agree.
"Janeway to Torres," Janeway said as she tapped her comm. badge. She would have much preferred to talk to Seven but the ex-Borg had not wanted a comm. badge when she had returned to Voyager.
"Torres here," B'Elanna responded with a sigh.
"B'Elanna, I would like you and Seven to attend the morning meeting." Janeway said, trying to use her diplomatic skills.
"I've already told you that we won't be taking any more of your orders." B'Elanna said annoyed.
"This isn't an order, it's a request." Janeway said quickly. "I would like to discuss the terms of your stay aboard Voyager."
"When?" B'Elanna asked.
"Today at the morning meeting," Janeway said.
"Alright, we'll be there." B'Elanna answered for herself and Seven as she closed the link.
"Perfect," the Doctor triumphantly exclaimed to himself as he looked over his report. It had taken him a while to do but it was almost foolproof. "It would take a full molecular scan to figure this out." the Doctor mused proudly. "It's almost time for the morning meeting." He grabbed the report and left his quarters.
As the Doctor made his way to the staff meeting he couldn't help but smile. After he handed in the report it would be the last anyone spoke of about the vaccinations and he could get back to enjoying his new found humanity.
As the door to the conference room opened the Doctor looked around to see that almost everyone else was already present. The only exceptions were Seven and B'Elanna, but that was to be expected.
"Captain, I have my report ready for you." The Doctor said as he handed out the data pads.
"That's going to have to wait Doctor. B'Elanna and Seven are coming to discuss the terms of their stay on Voyager." Janeway said as she set down the pad.
"Well that's a relief." The Doctor took his seat. "This place has been falling apart without those two." He said, referring to the disaster zone that was Engineering without B'Elanna supervising.
"Don't get your hopes up too soon." Chakotay advised. "We're only going to discuss it with them. We still don't know if they'll come back to work."
"I'm sure they'll understand when we sit down and talk to them." The Doctor said confidently.
"Don't be so sure." B'Elanna said as she and Seven entered the conference room.
"Seven." Janeway quickly stood and walked over to them.
"That's close enough." B'Elanna said as she noticed Seven's discomfort and stood in front of her protectively. "I haven't forgotten what you tried to do to Seven."
Janeway realized that this wasn't the best time to win Seven over and sat back down in her chair without another word.
B'Elanna and Seven sat down as far from Janeway as they could get.
"You wished to speak to us about the remainder of our time aboard Voyager. I suggest that you begin." Seven said as she held onto B'Elanna's hand.
"Yes, well, everyone aboard Voyager must do their equal share..." Janeway began.
"The two of us have done more for Voyager than the rest of you combined." B'Elanna interrupted with an annoyed snort.
"It is not only that." Seven said picking up where B'Elanna left off. "Even if we were to return to duty we could never trust you."
"We are all truly sorry for what we have done. You have to believe us when we say that something like this will never happen again." Chakotay said shamefully.
"What will happen the next time that you want a new technology?" Seven asked. "What will stop you from selling us for a second time?"
"It won't happen again, we promise." Harry said on behalf of the senior staff.
"And therein lies the problem. The only assurance we have that you will not do this again is your word, and we don't trust you." Seven said pointedly.
"Perhaps we can discuss this when everyone has calmed down." Tuvok volunteered.
"That's a good idea Tuvok." Janeway said with a sigh. "Why don't you give us a brief overview of your medical report, Doctor?"
"I would be glad to." The Doctor offered data pads to Seven and B'Elanna.
"Let's go Seven." B'Elanna said as she stood up.
"Wait B'Elanna, perhaps we should hear this report. We may still be susceptible to this illness." Seven said.
"Sure, why not?" B'Elanna sat down and looked over her copy of the data.
"Well, the data pads you're reading contain a list of your symptoms and the medication you have been given." The Doctor said, looking down at his pad. "This was a particularly resilient flu virus and many of you had to be given several inoculations."
"Your findings are suspicious, Doctor." Seven said as she reviewed the information. "B'Elanna and Naomi should have contracted this."
"What are you talking about?" The Doctor said, trying not to let his panic show.
"You informed B'Elanna, Naomi and me that we could not be affected by this virus because we are hybrids but B'Elanna and Naomi could have easily been affected. The fact that they are hybrids is not relevant." Seven said as her suspicions grew.
"Well, you see Seven, the virus is very complicated. This is only a very simplified report." The Doctor lied. "It would take another doctor to understand my findings."
Seven narrowed her eyes and walked over to the Doctor. The rest of the crew noticed immediately that Seven's eyes seemed to be glowing and completely white.
"Most of the chemicals you have used for your inoculations would still be present in the systems of the crew."
Seven said let out a gasp of surprise. Somehow she was able to see the inoculations inside the bodies of the crew as the truth hit her. The Doctor had not given the crew inoculations for a flu virus. The inoculations contained her old nanoprobes. As she examined them further she realized they were designed to disrupt the chemical balance of the human brain. Some of them increased emotions such as anger, greed, and desire. The other chemicals caused these emotions to rise in the presence of any hybrid.
"You have been influencing their emotions." Seven said in a whisper, the betrayal evident in her tone. "You sold us into slavery and torture to create a human body for yourself!"
The Doctor found himself in a complete panic as he watched Seven rip through all of his carefully laid plans. He had to escape. He wouldn't spend his new-found corporeal existence in the brig.
The Doctor grabbed Seven with one arm and used the other to pull out his phaser and press it to the side of her head. "I did what I had to do." he said hysterically. "Each and every one of you benefited from this, and you know it."
"Get your hands off my girlfriend." B'Elanna said. She was the first to get to her feet and now glared at the doctor menacingly.
"Seven and I are leaving." The Doctor said, ignoring B'Elanna. "We are going to take the Delta Flyer and if any of you try to follow us I'll kill her."
"I'm not going to let you out of this room." B'Elanna snarled angrily.
"I'll kill her, I swear!" The Doctor cried desperately.
"Release me." Seven said, struggling with the Doctor. Without her Borg strength the Doctor was easily able to overpower her.
"Everything's going to be great, Seven, you'll see." The Doctor said as he tightened his grip. "We'll go to some far away planet and everything will be fine."
While the Doctor's attention was on Seven, B'Elanna reacted. Moving rapidly to the pair she sent a quick jab into the Doctor's nose.
The Doctor released Seven as his hands went up to cup his broken nose. Seven immediately went to B'Elanna's side but her enraged partner wasn't ready to stop there. She gently pushed Seven behind her and punched the Doctor in the stomach... hard.
The Doctor doubled over as the air left his lungs. B'Elanna jumped in the air and, with a half spin, smashed her heel into the side of his head, sending him slamming into the wall.
B'Elanna was letting all of the repressed fury of the past few days come to the surface. The anger at the crew betraying them, selling them to a bunch of aliens, letting them experiment on Seven, but mostly the fact that the Doctor had tried to hurt Seven again.
Before the Doctor slumped to the floor, B'Elanna was at him. Her rabbit punches smashed into his body from all sides. Only the force and the frequency of her hits stopped him from falling to the floor.
"Stop, Lieutenant," Tuvok said as he finally began to move.
B'Elanna didn't even look up as she delivered a palm strike to the side of Tuvok's head and a stomach kick that left him doubled over, before returning to inflicting more punishing blows on the Doctor, who had finally sunk to the floor.
The other occupants of the room didn't know what to do. They had never seen Tuvok defeated so quickly and seemingly effortlessly. They stood paralyzed, watching as B'Elanna continued to kick the Doctor. None of them wanted to risk getting the same rough treatment he was receiving.
"B'Elanna," Seven said as walked up to her carefully, but she got no response. "Please stop, it's over now." She spooned herself to the older woman's back and rested her head on her shoulder.
The effect on B'Elanna was almost immediate, the angry fugue she was in vanishing completely when she was embraced by the smaller woman.
B'Elanna allowed Seven to lead her away from the bloody, broken body of the Doctor. After taking a few steps B'Elanna couldn't help herself and took the younger woman in her arms.
"I almost lost you." B'Elanna said.
"No, you will never lose me. I will always be with you. I love you." Seven said as she looked up into B'Elanna's eyes.
"I love you too." B'Elanna said simply as she lowered her head and kissed Seven passionately.
"Excuse me." Janeway said, regaining some of her confidence now that B'Elanna didn't seem to pose a threat anymore. "What the hell is going on?"
"The Doctor has been controlling you." Seven answered as she broke the kiss. "If you perform a molecular scan on anyone aboard Voyager you will find Borg nanoprobes specifically designed to alter your emotions."
"Let's go, Seven. I'm sure Paris can patch those two up." B'Elanna said, leading her beloved out of the conference room.
"None of this information is to leave this room." Janeway said as she finally took control of the situation. "Tom, after you finish with the Doctor and Tuvok perform a molecular scan on us." she ordered.
"Wow," Tom said as he looked over the injuries of both Tuvok and the Doctor. "B'Elanna certainly did a number on you two."
"Indeed." Tuvok said as Paris finished on him. "I had not suspected that she would be this formidable."
"I don't think that the Doctor knew either." Paris said as he looked over at the man in the bio-bed. "He's pretty much ready to go. I just have to revive him."
"No, I believe that the Doctor should remain sedated until we can verify the claims made against him." Tuvok said.
"Sure, how about I start with you?" Paris asked. "Since we know what we're looking for this should only take a couple of minutes."
"Proceed." Tuvok said as he lay down on the bio-bed and the scan began.
When the scan was completed Paris looked over the results. There were definitely Borg nanoprobes in Tuvok's system. "Seven was right." Paris said with a glimmer of hope. "They can't be upset with us now, it wasn't our fault. We were being controlled."
"Indeed." Tuvok responded. "But we must test more of the crew before we can be sure."
"Well, I'll go next." Paris said as he hopped up on the bio-bed that Tuvok had just vacated. "It's already programmed for the scan, just hit start." Paris instructed.
The scan only took a few minutes to run and the results were the same. The only difference was that there was a slightly higher concentration of nanoprobes in Paris' system.
"Interesting," Tuvok remarked as he looked over the results. "The nanoprobes have ceased to function, yet they still remain a part of your body."
"Yeah, the nanoprobes are pretty much going to stay where they are until they're removed." Paris said thoughtfully. "They don't seem to pose any kind of danger to us though."
"I will contact the Captain." Tuvok said as he tapped his comm. badge. "Tuvok to Janeway."
"Janeway here, what were the results?" she asked from the bridge.
"It appears that Seven of Nine was correct. Both Mr. Paris and I have been infected by nanoprobes."
"I guess it's safe to assume that the rest of the crew has been affected as well."
"Yes, Captain. Mr. Paris believes that the nanoprobes will not pose any health risk to us but the Borg may find a way to reactivate them remotely and assimilate us."
"I agree, set up a schedule to have the nanoprobes removed." Janeway ordered.
"What do you wish to do about the Doctor?" Tuvok asked.
"We'll have a trial at the end of Alpha shift." Janeway said with a sigh. "I doubt anyone will want to represent the Doctor. Revive him and ask if he will be willing to represent himself."
"Yes, Captain," Tuvok said as he closed the link.
Paris placed a hypo spray to his patient's neck and, after a few seconds, the Doctor opened his eyes and let out a groan. He'd had no idea that B'Elanna could hit that hard.
"What happened?" The Doctor asked as he rubbed his head.
"Why did you do it?" Paris asked. "You manipulated our minds, all so you could have a human body."
"I did what I had to do. I knew none of you would give the Socadan what they needed. It was the only way."
"Your trial will begin at the end of Alpha shift." Tuvok informed the Doctor. "Will you be representing yourself?"
"Yes, I don't expect anyone else will want to do it." The Doctor said as he sat up.
"Seven what happened in there?" B'Elanna asked referring to Seven's glowing eyes when they returned to their ship.
"I am unsure." Seven said. "It was like the time you were injured on the space station. I needed for you to be healed and it just happened. I also needed to know what the doctor had done and it was as if I could see the inoculations in the crew's bodies."
"It sounds to me like you're doing all of this on instinct." B'Elanna said thoughtfully. "Can you willingly make your eyes glow?"
"No," Seven admitted. "I have tried recently but nothing happens. Perhaps I must learn how to use these new abilities."
"What a mess." Janeway reflected to herself as she sat on the bridge. "At least it'll make things a little easier to patch up with Seven and B'Elanna. I might even get them to go back to work because of it."
"Captain, the trial is about to begin." Chakotay said, standing up.
"Alright, let's go." Janeway said as the senior staff left the bridge.
It had been decided that the trial would be held in the mess hall, and made available for later viewing by the rest of the crew. Due to the nature of the Doctor's crime and the fact that it had affected the entire crew, everyone had a stake in the outcome.
Janeway and Chakotay took their seats at the head table. The two of them would be acting as the judges. Most of the off-duty crew was already present in the mess hall. They believed that it would be an open and shut case. The Doctor would walk in, plead guilty, be sentenced and that would be the end of it.
A few moments later B'Elanna, Seven and Naomi arrived and took their seats. The three hybrids still separated themselves from the rest of the crew. It would take a lot of work from the crew of Voyager before they would be trusted again.
The Doctor entered next. He was escorted in wearing handcuffs and accompanied by two security officers holding phasers. For a man that was soon to be sentenced for his numerous crimes he seemed surprisingly calm.
When everyone was seated, Janeway began the trial. "Doctor, you stand before us accused of drugging the crew of Voyager, engineering the kidnapping of three crew members, breaching the prime directive by not following the rules of first contact, and aiding in the torture of a crew member. How do you plead?"
The crew members crowded into the mess hall met the Doctor's eyes with angry glares as he looked around the courtroom but he didn't seem scared, frightened or even remorseful. He looked straight into Janeway's eyes and stated clearly, "Not guilty on all charges."
To Be Continued...