Evolutions I: An Act of Betrayal
Part Nineteen
"No Captain, but the only way that someone could capture Seven is if B'Elanna were dead."
Voyager had followed Carkonas and Callik as far as they could go. Just as they were drawing closer they were met with three war ships and told to leave Socadan space immediately.
Even with its upgrades, Voyager didn't stand a chance against three war ships and was forced to retreat.
The senior staff was gathered in Sickbay, looking at the bloodied and broken corpse of B'Elanna Torres, their former Chief of Engineering.
Janeway could think of nothing other than what she was going to say to Naomi. She knew that the child had been close to both Seven and B'Elanna. Now, with B'Elanna dead and Seven kidnapped and unlikely to be returned, Naomi was alone. It would break the little girl's heart to hear what she had to say. And also adding the fact that Naiomi didn't trust anyone else this would be that much harder.
"Captain," Harry called, looking alarmed. "Are you seeing what I'm seeing?" He asked as he pointed to B'Elanna's body.
Janeway gasped at what she witnessed happening to the still form on the bio-bed. It was slow at first, barley noticeable, but yellow sparks of light began to emerge from B'Elanna's body. In a few moments they had completely surrounded her body, forcing the senior staff to shield their eyes.
Tuvok immediately pulled out a tricorder and began to scan B'Elanna's body. "Captain, I am detecting the presence of the Omega molecule." He announced.
The light began to flair even brighter, a scream reverberating throughout sickbay as the half-Klingon was returned to the living.
The light slowly began to fade, revealing B'Elanna Torres to the astonished gazes of the senior staff. She was not as they remembered her. She was at least three inches taller than she used to be and, just like Seven, she seemed younger. She looked, at most, only 21 years old. But where Seven looked petite and delicate, B'Elanna seemed the exact opposite. Her muscles were toned, without looking bulky, every muscle group clearly defined. Her hair had grown so that it reached midway down her back. She looked like a warrior that would make even the most fearless soldier take a step back.
B'Elanna's eyes shot open and she sat up quickly. The clothes she was wearing were ripped, partly from her fight with Callik and partly from her physical changes. "Where is Seven?" She demanded, her voice still hoarse from the transformation.
"What happened to you, Lieutenant?" Janeway asked in shock.
"Where is Seven?" B'Elanna repeated, deciding to ignore the question and the use of her former rank.
"The Socadan took her," Janeway said, unable to look the young woman in the eye. "We set a pursuit course but they reached Socadan space before we could catch them. Three battle cruisers forced us to leave."
"How long have I been unconscious?" B'Elanna asked.
"You have been out for at least three hours." Janeway informed her. "What happened to you, B'Elanna?"
"I merged with Omega." B'Elanna said as she got off the bio-bed. "What does it look like?"
"The Socadan never experimented on you. How is this possible?" Janeway asked.
"Seven's in trouble, and now I have the power to save her. That's all you need to know." B'Elanna said as she walked briskly out of sickbay towards the hangar that held Legaia and Naomi.
"Where are you going? You can't get past those three war ships." Chakotay asked, scurrying to keep up with the warrior.
"I'll worry about that." B'Elanna said as she entered the hangar bay and made her way over to Legaia.
"Is everything okay?" Naomi asked as she walked out of the ship. Then she paused and had a proper look at her friend. "What happened to you, B'Elanna?"
"I merged with Omega, just like Seven did." B'Elanna said, finding it hard to explain what had happened.
"Where is Seven?" Naomi asked curiously.
"The Socadan have her. I have to get her back." B'Elanna explained.
"I'm going with you." Naomi said adamantly.
"I need you to stay here Naomi, this is too dangerous." B'Elanna put her foot down.
"No way, Seven was my friend first. If anyone deserves to go it's me. Besides, what's going to happen to me if you and Seven don't come back?" Naomi argued.
"You need to stay here where it's safe." B'Elanna said, surprised that she was actually losing ground.
"Safe?" Naomi shouted, losing control. "You call this place safe? What's going to happen to me? How long do you think I'm going last without you guys? How long until the rest of them trade me for a new plasma injector?" Naomi asked as she pointed angrily at the senior staff.
"Alright," B'Elanna gave in, "but you stay on the ship the entire time. No exceptions."
"Fine," Naomi smiled as the pair began to walk into Legaia.
"Hold on a minute." Janeway said, stepping in. "I can't just allow you to go after Seven. You're no match for those war ships."
"This isn't your decision to make." B'Elanna said as she turned around to face the command staff.
"Tuvok, stop them." Janeway ordered. Tuvok pulled out his phaser.
"You don't want to do that." B'Elanna warned.
"You're not leaving me much choice." Janeway said. "Now step away from the ship."
"I warned you." B'Elanna said as her eyes began to glow.
Tuvok, taking that a sign as of aggression, fired his phaser at B'Elanna.
B'Elanna lifted her hand and a yellow beam of light shot out of her fingertips to meet the phaser blast. The two beams met inches away from B'Elanna's chest, causing B'Elanna's beam to form a small arc around her. B'Elanna's beam slowly forced the phaser beam back and shorted it out, as well as sending Tuvok flying back into the wall.
"You will not stop us." B'Elanna said as she waved her hand and another beam of light shot out and slammed the senior staff into the wall beside the slumped form of Tuvok and holding them in place.
The two hybrids boarded the shuttle, oblivious to the protests of the senior staff.
"B'Elanna, tell me what's going on." Naomi said as the ship door closed.
"You better sit down Naomi." B'Elanna said with a sigh as she began her story.
"Seven and I had just found out what Carkonas and Callik were planning to do. I wouldn't let them take Seven without a fight so we went at it with no weapons. I wasn't strong enough or fast enough to stop him. Callik beat me pretty quickly and snapped my neck. I think I was dead for about 10 minutes before things got really interesting."
B'Elanna found herself in a white room that seemed to stretch out forever. No matter which direction she looked, no matter what way she went, everything seemed the same, as if she hadn't moved at all.
A voice said. "It is not your time yet, child, there are still a great many tasks left to complete."
"Who are you?" B'Elanna asked. "What is this place?"
Another voice spoke. "Where you are is not important, you are here to make a decision."
Two swirling vortexes opened up in front of B'Elanna. The first was white, sending off beams of light in every direction. The second was yellow and seemed to crackle with energy.
"What decision? What are you talking about?" B'Elanna asked.
A voice asked. "Your mate is in danger. Will you save her or will you continue to the after life?"
B'Elanna gave up on discerning the difference in the voices.
"Of course, I will save her." B'Elanna answered without hesitation.
"Before you agree, know that there is a price that you must pay. You will never be the same again." The voice warned.
"I don't care." B'Elanna announced. "I'll pay any price to hold Seven in my arms again."
"Your mate has chosen well." A voice approved.
"Seven is to become an Avatar. She has been chosen to bring about a great change to the universe. Some will revere her, others will hate what she stands for, and a select few will do all they can to destroy her.
"She will need a protector, someone that will stand beside her against the coming darkness. Will you stand by her side?"
"Yes." B'Elanna said with complete conviction.
"Then yellow vortex will return you to the land of the living, and the white will take you to the after life."
"Choose."
B'Elanna quickly entered the yellow portal, showing no hesitation whatsoever.
"Awaken with the power of Omega at your fingertips." A voice said and B'Elanna's eyes snapped open.
Seven was curled up in the far corner of her cell, her body convulsing with heart-wrenching sobs. They had killed B'Elanna and there was nothing she could do about it.
Seven had cursed her weakness more times than she could count. If she'd still had her Borg strength she would have easily been able to overpower Callik, and B'Elanna wouldn't be dead.
Seven looked up at the guard with tears flowing from her eyes but she got no response. The guard just stared at her with cold, uncaring eyes, his phaser at the ready should Seven try anything.
"Why have you done this?" Seven asked when Callik and Carkonas walked in. "You did not have to kill B'Elanna, I would have come peacefully."
"She was a distraction." Carkonas said offhandedly, "and of no more use to us."
"What are you going to do to me?" Seven asked, feeling slight trepidation amidst the despair.
"We're going to figure out exactly how your body is stable while our own people's weren't." Carkonas informed her.
"I have already told you. Omega must choose you, not the other way around. Your experiments are doomed to failure." Seven said.
"We shall see." Callik said as he opened the cell and dragged Seven to her feet.
"We have reached Socadan space. I am detecting three war ships." Legaia announced.
"Go to battle mode." B'Elanna ordered.
"Acknowledged," Legaia said as it brought the shields and weapons on line.
"We're being hailed." Naomi said from her console.
"Put it on screen." B'Elanna said as she turned to look at the view screen.
"You are not authorized to enter Socadan space. Change course immediately or we will be forced to open fire." A Socadan military officer said.
"Your people have kidnapped my mate. Get out of our way." B'Elanna growled.
"The drone is now Socadan property, you will alter course immediately." He ordered.
"Not a chance in hell," B'Elanna said as she closed the link. "Legaia, target the lead ship's weapons and disable them." B'Elanna said as she took the helm and began to fly in a complex evasive pattern.
"Acknowledged, firing photon torpedoes, full spread." Legaia announced. "Direct hit, the lead ship's weapons are off line."
"We have to end this quick." Naomi said. "Legaia is tough but we don't know how many ships they have."
"Agreed," Legaia said as she targeted both remaining ships and in a matter of moments disabled them.
"How do we find Seven from here?" B'Elanna asked.
"I am detecting Seven of Nine's life signs, laying in a pursuit course." Legaia said as it jumped to warp.
"How much damage did you take?" B'Elanna asked.
"Minimal damage, shields down to 87. I have already started repair sequences. I will be 100 combat ready when we reach Seven of Nine." Legaia announced.
B'Elanna could do nothing for the next 15 minutes except wait around in the cockpit as Legaia repaired herself and they moved closer to Seven.
"She is aboard the space station." Legaia said as she brought the schematics up on the view screen.
"Hail them." B'Elanna ordered. "We are looking for Carkonas and Callik. Where are they?" B'Elanna asked as another Socadan appeared on the view screen.
"How did you get past our perimeter?" He asked.
"With ease." B'Elanna growled. "Now, tell me where I can find them or I will come over there myself and start looking."
"I would love to see you try." The Socadan laughed.
"Alright, Legaia set a collision course. Get us as close as you can to Seven without harming her." B'Elanna ordered.
"Yes B'Elanna." Legaia said as it began to increase velocity immediately.
The smile on the Socadan's face vanished immediately to be replaced by a look of horror. "No, you can't be serious!" He shouted as Legaia closed the link.
Legaia rapidly picked up speed as it got closer to the space station and cut through the hull plating of the station as if it were nothing, setting off a series of explosions.
"Stay here Naomi. I don't want you to set foot outside Legaia." B'Elanna ordered as she opened the hatch. "Legaia, if they get too close to you, take them down."
"Understood," Legaia said as she closed and locked the hatch.
When B'Elanna stepped outside she was met with the charred wreckage that used to be the observation deck of the space station.
"Where are you Seven?" B'Elanna thought to herself as she looked around.
Almost as if in answer to her question she could feel where the young woman was. Going with her instincts, B'Elanna navigated through the wreckage in the direction of the internal pull.
B'Elanna entered a hallway to be met with a group of four armed Socadan soldiers. "You will surrender immediately." The leader ordered, aiming his phaser at B'Elanna.
"I don't think so." B'Elanna said, running at them at a speed that was impossible for any normal Klingon. She was moving so fast that she seemed a blur to the Socadan guards.
A quick punch to the leader's chest sent him flying down the corridor where he slammed into a wall with a sickening crunch. There was no doubt in anyone's mind that he was dead.
Before the other three could even react B'Elanna was already in the air, delivering a kick to the neck of the guard on the left that slammed him into the side wall. She then used the momentum of the kick to send a punch to the temple of the guard on the right, knocking him out as well.
B'Elanna grabbed the last remaining guard by the collar and jacked him up against the wall. "Where are Carkonas and Callik?" She demanded menacingly.
"Down the corridor, take a left. It's the third door on your right." The guard said, now quaking with fear.
"You'd better be telling the truth." B'Elanna said as she slammed him into the wall. "You do not want to see me again."
B'Elanna then took off down the hall at a dead run. She had to get to Seven as fast possible. There was no telling what degree of damage the space station had sustained and whether it would hold together or explode.
Finally B'Elanna reached the room the guard had told her to go to, but instead of opening the door she kicked it in.
Carkonas and Callik looked up suddenly from the examination table. To them, B'Elanna must have been an impressive sight. Her hair was flowing wildly around her face, her stance oozed self confidence and her eyes looked as if they were boring into them.
"I thought I killed you." Callik said as he stepped towards her, revealing the form of Seven tied down to the table.
"I am going to make you pay." B'Elanna promised as she began to circle him.
"Well you did do such a good job last time, mongrel." Callik mocked her.
"This time it's going to be different." B'Elanna said as ran towards him, using the wall as a spring board to send a vicious blow to the side of his head, sending him flying back a good ten feet.
"Not bad," Callik admitted as he slowly stood up, rubbing the sore spot on the side of his head. "But I'm no ordinary Socadan."
Callik surprised B'Elanna when he stood up. A punch like that should have literally separated his head from his shoulders.
"Duranium enforced bones." Callik said with a smirk as he ran at B'Elanna, ready to strike.
B'Elanna used her speed to dodge the series of punches from Callik and delivered a combination of her own, sending him sprawling.
"How?" Callik asked in disbelief as he rolled onto his back, gasping for air. "You were dead, I should know. Now you're stronger than you were before?"
"Omega chose me." B'Elanna said simply as she kicked him in the ribs and sent him flying into the back wall, knocking him out.
"Stay back." Carkonas said, unable to hide his fear as he pointed his phaser at her.
"Do you really think that you can stop me with that?" B'Elanna asked as she advanced on him.
"Get back!" Carkonas shouted as he backed into the corner. For the first time in many years he knew fear. Next to Seven, Callik was his greatest achievement. It would take at least 50 heavily armed Socadan to take Callik down, and this mongrel had done it all by herself.
Carkonas didn't even get the chance to fire his phaser because in the next moment B'Elanna was in front of him. She grabbed the hand that held the phaser and squeezed.
Carkonas couldn't hold back the screams as his hand was crushed against phaser. His bones shattered under the pressure and what was left of the phaser dug into his hand. It only stopped when he passed out from the pain.
"B'Elanna." Seven shouted from the examination table, unable to believe that B'Elanna was alive.
"Seven," B'Elanna said as she rushed over to Seven and untied her.
"You are not real." Seven said as tears ran down her cheeks and she tried to get out of B'Elanna's grasp
"It's me Seven." B'Elanna said, refusing to let go of Seven, instead pulling her into a hug.
"I saw, they killed you." Seven said as she stopped struggling.
"They did kill me." B'Elanna said. "But Omega brought me back. It said that I'm supposed to protect you." She said as she cupped Seven's face in her hands. "Look into my eyes. You have to know that it's me." She pleaded.
Seven looked up into B'Elanna's eyes. A few things had changed about her but the eyes were the same. "It is you." Seven choked out as she hugged her. "I thought I'd lost you."
"You'll never lose me, Seven." B'Elanna promised. "I will always be with you, but we have to get out of here. I boarded this space station by ramming it and piercing the hull. I don't know how much damage I did."
"Anti matter relays have been damaged." A computerized voice said. "Please evacuate sections 7,9,12, and 18 immediately. Lock down will commence in ten minutes."
"The space station must have taken more damage than I thought. We have to get out of here before this section is closed off." B'Elanna said as she took Seven's hand and led her out of the examination room.
"Surrender immediately!" A guard shouted as he raised his weapon, followed by at least another 150 guards on either side of Seven and B'Elanna.
B'Elanna may have been tough but she knew she was no match for 150 well armed guards.
There was also the fact that half of them were aiming at Seven as well. She may have had a chance if she was by herself, but she knew she wouldn't be able to save both of them.
To Be Continued…
Just a small cliff this time, well kind of. Relative to the cliffs I usually leave.
Please just review! And take into account how fast this chapter came out.