Evolutions I: An Act of Betrayal
Part Twenty
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.
B'Elanna having no choice was about to surrender when she heard a loud grinding noise getting closer.
Everyone turned quickly to see where the sound was coming from, and were all surprised to see Legaia ram through a wall with its weapons ports opened and ready to fire.
"Lower your weapons immediately or we will open fire." They all heard Naomi's voice from inside Legaia.
None of the guards responded, most too shocked to even do anything.
Legaia took this as an act of aggression and shot nine phaser beams towards the guards. Each shop met its mark and melted the guard's weapons.
The guards that were hit immediately dropped their weapons in both shock and pain. Some wondered how a ship's targeting could be so precise, others just grateful that they were alive.
"Drop your weapons immediately." Legaia said this time.
The reaction was almost immediate as they all dropped their weapons and stepped away from the hybrids carefully.
As Seven and B'Elanna boarded Legaia Seven finally found her voice. "How is this possible?" Seven asked. "The Socadan never exposed you to Omega."
"I've honestly have no idea." B'Elanna admitted. "The only thing I can think of was the time on the space station when we were attacked. You used that light to heal me, but I didn't feel any different afterwards. There must have been something else."
"It is strange. Your transformation was completed in mere hours, while mine took days." Seven said. "For a transformation of that magnitude it must have been absorbed directly into your cell structure, but an occurrence like that would more likely destroy your body."
"I met those voices you told me about too." B'Elanna said as they entered the bridge. "They told me I had to choose between going to the after life and having the strength to protect you."
"Thank you." Seven said sincerely.
"There's no way I could have just died. I couldn't leave you alone Seven. With or without Omega, I would have come for you." B'Elanna admitted. "They also said that you were going to become an Avatar. Some people aren't going to like that, there's going to be others that try something like this. I chose to be your protector to help you do this."
"The voices have told me much the same thing. They believe I will do something that will change the universe." Seven said.
"I know we can do it together." B'Elanna said as the door to the bridge opened.
Almost immediately Seven was pounced on by Naomi. "Seven, I knew B'Elanna would find you. Are you okay? Did they hurt you again?"
"No, B'Elanna saved me." Seven said as she smiled and hugged Naomi.
"We must leave immediately." Legaia said as it lifted off and tore another hole through the space station on its way out.
"You know we could have just used the hole we came in through." B'Elanna said in amusement.
"Correct. But where would be the fun in that?" Legaia asked, to the laughter of B'Elanna.
"We have cleared the space station." Seven announced.
A few seconds after Seven spoke, a series of explosions rocked the space station. If it had not been for Legaia's shields and inertial dampers, all three of the ship's occupants would have ended up sprawled out on the floor.
"What do we do now?" Naomi asked. "We don't have to go back to Voyager, and they don't have the fire power to attack us either."
"We must return to Voyager." Seven said, not liking what had to be done.
"What are you talking about, Seven? Why would we ever want to go back?" B'Elanna asked, confused.
"Do you remember when I had that feeling when we found Legaia?" Seven asked.
"Something I am eternally grateful for." Legaia interrupted.
"You are welcome." Seven responded. "And I believe that you have repaid the favor."
"Are you getting the same feeling about going back to Voyager?" B'Elanna asked bringing the conversation back to the original topic.
"I am. A part of what I am to do requires us to be on Voyager. Something is going to happen soon, something of great importance." Seven said.
"Is it the big universe changing thing?" Naomi asked curiously.
"No, but I believe it will be a necessary step towards the change." Seven replied.
"Alright," B'Elanna agreed. "Legaia set a course back to Voyager."
"Acknowledged," Legaia responded.
"I'm never going to let you out of my sight again." B'Elanna said as she wrapped her arms around Seven and kissed her deeply.
"You are taller than me now." Seven observed as she looked up into B'Elanna's eyes before placing her head underneath B'Elanna's chin. "Your body has changed as well." She remarked as she ran her hands up and down B'Elanna's strong arms.
"Do you have to do that in front of me?" Naomi joked, shielding her eyes. "I hate it when you guys get all mushy."
"We should probably slow down." B'Elanna admitted. "If we keep up this pace we're going to have to get a more private room." B'Elanna said, winking suggestively.
"I do not see a problem with that." Seven smiled up at B'Elanna.
"We are approaching Voyager." Legaia interrupted. "I am detecting two Socadan battle cruisers. Voyager is heavily damaged."
"Go to battle mode, and hail the lead ship." B'Elanna said as she reluctantly separated herself from Seven.
The view screen turned on, and the hybrids were met with the sight of a very smug looking Socadan General.
"You must be the drone Carkonas wanted." He said as he eyed Seven.
"You will stop firing on Voyager." Seven ordered.
"I doubt very much that you can make us." He responded.
"If you do not stop, we will stop you. Comply." Seven ordered.
"Do not presume to give me orders, Drone." The General said as he closed the link.
"They are firing at us." Legaia said as the ship trembled slightly.
"Target their weapons and shield generators." B'Elanna ordered. "Take them offline permanently." B'Elanna gave the command to fire.
"Missiles away, direct hits. Their weapons and shields are disabled. All offensive and defensive capabilities neutralized permanently." Legaia informed them after a few seconds.
"Target the second ship." Seven ordered. "Disable their weapons and shield but try not to harm them." Seven requested.
"Acknowledged," Legaia said as it fired another pair of missiles. "Two direct hits. Weapons and engines are offline."
"Hail Voyager." B'Elanna ordered.
The view screen changed to a picture of the Federation starship's bridge. It had definitely seen better days. Most of the consoles had been damaged during the battle. The crew looked exhausted and a few of them were bleeding from shrapnel wounds.
"What's your status?" B'Elanna asked.
"We're heavily damaged." Janeway admitted. "If you hadn't showed up we probably wouldn't have lasted much longer."
"Do you have any injured?" Seven asked.
"Yes, reports are still coming in." Tuvok answered.
"Open the shuttle bay doors." B'Elanna said. "We'll see what we can do to help."
"Thank you." Janeway said as she motioned for Tuvok to open the doors. "I'll meet you there."
Legaia made it inside the shuttle bay with little difficulty. As soon as they stepped out of the ship they were met with the haggard faces of Janeway and Chakotay.
"I guess we should start in Engineering." B'Elanna said with a sigh.
"What about the injured?" Seven asked.
"Mr. Paris is doing the best he can. Everyone seems to have refused treatment from the doctor." Janeway said.
"You should go to Engineering, B'Elanna. I will go to sickbay and see what I can do." Seven suggested.
"Do you have any medical training?" Chakotay asked.
"My cortical node holds the medical knowledge of thousands of species. I will have no problem in sickbay." Seven answered.
"Keep an open comm link." B'Elanna said as she handed one of the communicators she had found on Legaia to Seven. "If anything happens, I'll be there." B'Elanna said, not liking the idea of leaving Seven alone but realizing that they were both needed in different places.
"Yes B'Elanna." Seven agreed as she took the communicator.
"Naomi, will you accompany me to sick bay?" Seven asked.
"Sure Seven." Naomi said as she took Seven's hand.
Naomi and Seven walked into sickbay to find Mr. Paris frantically running around trying to help everyone at once.
"We will need to know everyone's injuries before we begin helping them." Seven said as she walked up to Paris and collected a tricorder.
"You're back, Seven?" Paris asked.
"There is not enough time to talk about this now." Seven said. "We must begin scanning them." Seven said as she took one side of the room with Naomi in tow.
Paris and Seven had the situation assessed in about ten minutes. They were finally able to take a step back and see who needed the most help.
"Thanks for coming back, Seven, I couldn't have done this on my own." Paris said.
"I am compelled to help people, now more than ever." Seven responded. "Please assist me with Crewman Jenkins. He has a broken arm and a gash on his forehead."
Paris helped Jenkins onto the bio-bed where Seven cleaned the wound on his forehead and then ran a dermal regenerator over the gash. She then realigned the bones in his arm as gently as possible, and ran a bone knitter over it.
"You may return to duty, crewman." Seven said as she turned to look for the next person on the list.
B'Elanna walked into Engineering, but had to stop to make sure she was in the right room. Everything was in shambles. 'It looks like the ship took a real pounding.' B'Elanna thought to herself.
"Have you finished the damage report?" B'Elanna asked as she pulled Carey to the side.
"B'Elanna, you're back." Carey said, surprised to see her.
"For now, do you have the damage report or not?" B'Elanna asked, getting impatient.
"Yeah," Carey said with a sigh. "There are hull breaches on decks three, five and six. Warp engines are down, weapons are offline and sensors are damaged."
"Ok, fixing the hull is top priority, followed by weapons, sensors and then the engines." B'Elanna accessed the situation. "How many teams do you have working on the breaches?"
"I've already dispatched three and I'm sending a fourth. I have another three teams working on weapons, two are working on sensors, and I have three working on the engines." Carey informed her.
"Pull one of the teams from weapons and get them to work on the breaches. Pull the second team from sensors and put them on the breaches as well, I don't want to use any more power than we have to on emergency shields. Pull two teams out of the engines and send them to the bridge. Not many of the consoles were working when we took a look." B'Elanna ordered.
Carey nodded and began to re-arrange the teams.
"Legaia to B'Elanna," Legaia said through the comm.
"Go ahead Legaia," B'Elanna said as she pulled out her communicator.
"I have been discussing it with Seven and we both feel that it would be a good idea if I patrol around Voyager until sensors are operational." Legaia said.
"That's a good idea." B'Elanna answered. "Do what you can." she closed the communicator.
"All department heads please report to my ready room." Janeway said, using a ship wide announcement.
"Don't worry about it, Carey." B'Elanna said, already going to the door. "You just make sure all the teams are repairing Voyager by priority."
When B'Elanna finally made it to the ready room she found that everyone else was already there, except for Paris who was most likely still in sickbay. She took the seat Seven had saved for her and gave her a kiss on the cheek.
"How are things going in sickbay?" B'Elanna asked.
"As well as can be expected," Seven said as she held onto B'Elanna's hand.
"Voyager has to be ready to go as soon as possible." B'Elanna said addressing the senior staff.
"Do you know why they attacked us?" Tuvok queried.
"The space station must have been able to send a message out before we attacked." B'Elanna answered, knowing that the communications array was destroyed on Legaia's entrance. "Seven, and myself to a lesser extent, is extremely valuable to them now. They wanted to destroy Voyager so that we wouldn't have any place to go. They must have been able to scan Legaia and figure out that it was not 100 operational yet."
"From what we've seen, it appears that your ship is more than capable of holding its own against them." Janeway said, recalling their dramatic entrance and the short work they'd made of the Socadan ships.
"Although Legaia is a formidable ship, repairs take time, and the Socadan have numerical superiority." Seven informed them. "I also feel that we must remain on Voyager for the time being. Something very important will happen soon, and we'll need to be here for it."
"What are you talking about?" Harry asked. "What's going to happen?"
"I am uncertain." Seven said. "I only know that it will be something very big."
"We have other things to worry about." B'Elanna said, wanting to keep the crew from asking Seven too many questions as she was clearly uncomfortable answering. "I've talked to Seven about it on the way here, and seeing those two battle cruisers only confirmed it. They're not going to let us go without a fight. They're most likely going to send their flag ship against us. We only took out the engines, shields and weapons of those ships. They still have communications."
"How much time do we have?" Chakotay asked, getting worried. He honestly hadn't thought about something like this happening.
"We have between six and eight hours." Seven estimated.
"How do we stop them?" Janeway asked. Clearly Seven and B'Elanna knew more about what was going on than the rest of them.
"We must first cripple their flag ship, and leave Socadan space immediately." Seven told them.
"Only cripple them?" Chakotay asked. "From what I've seen, your ship would have no problem destroying it."
"I do not enjoy destroying lives, Commander. I have done more than enough for one lifetime." Seven said. B'Elanna rubbed her arm comfortingly. "There is also the fact that they will never stop hunting us if we destroy their flag ship. Not all off the Socadan wish to capture us. Many of them feel that what the government allowed to happen was wrong, but if we destroyed their flag ship it will be perceived as an act of war. If we simply cripple them, they will have to return home in shame and be punished for what they have attempted to do."
"If it's that simple why are we rushing around trying to get Voyager fixed? We all saw how fast your ship took down their battle cruisers." Harry said.
"They call it a flag ship for a reason, Kim." B'Elanna said. "It's going to be a lot more powerful than a couple of their battle cruisers. We have to work together if we want to survive."
"How long will it be until Voyager is repaired?" Janeway asked.
"With all the engineering teams working as fast as they can, everything should be repaired in another four or five hours." B'Elanna reported.
"That's cutting things pretty fine." Harry observed.
"How are the injured, Seven?" Janeway asked, afraid to discover the number of casualties.
"Mr. Paris and I have already treated the most injured patients. All that is left is minor injuries, no deaths." Seven reported.
"Well that's something to be grateful for." Janeway breathed a sigh of relief.
"I suggest we all return to our tasks and discuss battle plans in another three hours." Seven said, standing up.
"I agree." B'Elanna stood up as well.
"Chakotay and I will put a few scenarios together." Janeway ended the meeting.
"We will see you soon." Seven said for herself and Naomi as she kissed B'Elanna goodbye.
"I'll call you every hour to make sure you're okay." B'Elanna promised as they left the ready room.
For the most part the repairs were finished pretty quickly. No one even thought to question B'Elanna's orders. Most of the crew was walking on eggshells around the hybrids. None of them wanted to be the one to push them away again, especially as, after everything that had happened, the hybrids had come back to save them.
Seven was in much the same situation as B'Elanna. It was no secret that the crew owed their survival of the battle to the hybrids, now added to that was the medical treatment that Seven was giving them. Paris was only trained as a medic and had nowhere near the experience that was necessary.
B'Elanna, Seven and Naomi met the senior staff in the ready room at the appointed time.
Everyone in sickbay had been treated and was ready to go back to their duties and B'Elanna reported that all the repairs would be completed within the hour.
"So Seven, what can you tell us about the Socadan flag ship?" Janeway asked.
"I do not have much information on it, only that it is considerably more powerful than a battle cruiser." Seven answered.
"I thought you knew about them." Janeway said in confusion.
"I only know the information that is in my cortical node. It does not contain any new information since the last time I was connected to the hive mind." Seven responded.
"So what you're saying is we have no idea what we're up against." Chakotay said.
"I know that the Socadan will only send the flag ship. They are over-confident and believe that it will be an easy victory." Seven ignored Chakotay's tone.
"How do you know that they will not follow us out of Socadan space?" Tuvok asked.
"Their agreement with the Borg still stands. They will not risk an encounter with them." Seven said.
"I suggest you stop questioning how Seven knows what she knows and prepare for battle." B'Elanna said, annoyed with said the badgering. "Legaia has finished her scans of the battle cruisers and has come up with some possible weaknesses to their ships." Seven said as she passed a data pad to Janeway. "The shielding around their warp nacelles is weak at theses two points." Seven pointed to the stern of the ship. "Two well placed photon torpedoes should disable their engines."
"If we target their deflector dish with an inverted tachyon pulse it will send a feed back loop to all their major systems. It would take them at least 24 hours to be fully operational after that." B'Elanna added.
"That sounds like a plan to me." Harry said.
"It's not that simple." B'Elanna said. "Their deflector dish is heavily shielded. We have to bombard their shield generators with phaser pulses until they go offline before we can start."
"How do you propose we do that?" Janeway asked. "I don't see them sitting still long enough for this to work."
"We have to do three simultaneous attacks. Voyager will have to go after their warp nacelles while Legaia targets their deflector dish." B'Elanna said. "At the same time we will both fire on other points on the ship to keep them occupied. Once they figure out what we're trying to do they will divert all available power to shields in the areas that we hope to destroy. If we aim for the bridge, shuttle bay and sensor grid they hopefully won't figure out what we're doing until it's too late."
"I never realized you knew so much about strategy." Janeway said, impressed.
"I didn't." B'Elanna admitted. "Since I merged with Omega it gave me the necessary skills to perform my duty to the best of my ability."
"It means a lot to us that you can trust us enough to stay." Janeway said addressing all three of the hybrids.
"We have a mutually beneficial situation. Regardless of the circumstances of your betrayal the fact still remains that you destroyed our trust in you." Seven said. "What happened cannot simply be forgotten. It will be a very long time before you can even begin to make up for it."
"I don't know what else to do, Seven. We gave you our word that we would never allow something like this to happen again. That is the only assurance that I will ever be able to give you." Janeway said.
"Carey to Janeway," Lt. Carey interrupted.
"Go ahead," Janeway said as she tapped her comm. badge.
"Voyager is fully repaired. We're ready to go at anytime." Carey said.
"Thank you Lt." Janeway said as she closed the link.
"I just finished with the last patient." Paris said as he walked in. "What did I miss?"
"Now that everyone's here we should discuss your commissions." Janeway said as Paris was brought up to speed by Tuvok.
"We've already made our decision, Janeway." B'Elanna said. "When I resigned my commission I meant it. I will not be a part of Starfleet or the Maquis any longer." B'Elanna said adamantly.
"I will also not again be a part of Starfleet." Seven agreed.
"What do you propose, then?" Janeway asked. "If you have both decided to remain on Voyager, what will you do?"
"B'Elanna, Naomi and I have discussed it and we believe that we will remain as civilians. B'Elanna will return to engineering as its civilian head and I wish to take over the post of medical officer." Seven said.
"Seven knows what she's doing." Paris offered his opinion. "If I had to guess I would say that she knows even more than the doctor did."
"I guess I'll have to accept that. I'll make the official announcements after we deal with the Socadan." Janeway said.
"Captain, we're detecting a ship approaching." The officer on watch said over the comm.
The hybrids and the senior staff quickly made their way onto the bridge.
"Put it on screen," Janeway said as she took her seat.
"It is the Socadan flag ship." Seven announced as she got a good look at it.
"How long will it be until the ship arrives?" Janeway asked.
"It's going to get here in two hours." Harry said from his station.
"I suggest you shut down all non-essential systems. You will need the extra power for shields and weapons." Seven said from beside B'Elanna and Naomi.
"Harry, start work on that." Janeway ordered.
"B'Elanna to Legaia," B'Elanna said as she took out her communicator.
"Legaia here," Legaia answered.
"Return to the shuttle bay. The Socadan are going to be here in less than two hours." B'Elanna said.
"Acknowledged," Legaia said as it ended its patrol and returned to the shuttle bay.
"We're going to Legaia to prepare for the battle." B'Elanna said as she and the hybrids left the bridge.
The three women quickly made their way back to Legaia. They had their own preparations to make before the battle. Everything had to be done perfectly, with little or no room for error.
"Legaia, are we ready?" B'Elanna asked when they boarded.
"I have analyzed the systems for the two battle cruisers. I am adapting my systems to better handle the battle." Legaia informed them.
"Take us outside, Legaia." Seven said as she took her seat. "We will take a defensive stance beside Voyager."
Legaia lifted off and exited the shuttle bay with practiced ease.
"We are being hailed by Voyager." Legaia announced when they got outside.
"Put it on screen." B'Elanna said as she turned to face the view screen.
"We're all ready over here." Janeway said. "What about you?"
"We are as ready as we'll ever be. I suggest that we maintain radio silence until the Socadan threat has been dealt with." Seven responded.
"I concur. Good luck." She said as she closed the link.
"We are being hailed by the Socadan." Legaia said a few moments later.
The screen lit up for the second time as the hybrids got their first look at the inside of the Socadan flag ship.
"You will return the drone to us immediately." The Captain ordered. "The rest of you will be brought up on charges for destruction of Socadan property." He said, referring to the space station.
"Seven doesn't belong to you and we're not going to give up without a fight." B'Elanna said.
"Very well," the Socadan captain said smugly. He was completely sure of his victory. "We will take you by force." He said as he gave the order to bring weapons and shields online.
"Here we go." B'Elanna said as Legaia closed the link. "Go to battle mode, Legaia."
Legaia immediately powered up. It knew that losing this fight was not an option.
"Target the shield generators around their deflector dish." B'Elanna said as Legaia expertly avoided the flag ship's phaser blasts.
"Voyager is moving into position." Seven said from her station. "They have begun their attack on the flag ship's nacelles."
"Direct hit to their deflector dish shields." Legaia announced. "Their shields have dropped to 85."
"They are re-routing power to their shields." Seven announced. "I suggest we send a torpedo to their bridge."
"I agree," B'Elanna said. "Legaia send a torpedo to their bridge, maximum yield."
"Direct hit, shielding around the bridge has dropped to 72." Legaia analyzed.
"Voyager has been hit by the rear phaser cannons." Seven said. "Legaia, target the flag ship's phaser cannons and fire."
Legaia obeyed, and they were rewarded by the rear phaser banks going off line. Just as suddenly, Legaia had taken damage as well. The flag ship scored three direct hits to Legaia's engines.
"Shields around my engines have dropped to 57" Legaia announced.
"They are considerably more powerful than I estimated." Seven revealed.
"Legaia, return to our primary goal. Target the deflector dish and launch torpedoes, full spread." B'Elanna ordered.
"Acknowledged, four direct hits, their shield generator are down to 11." Legaia announced.
"Voyager has brought shields down to 15 around the nacelles." Seven said, looking up from her screen.
"We are being hailed again." Legaia announced.
"Put it on screen." B'Elanna said.
"We give you one chance to surrender." The Captain of the flag ship threatened. "If you come peacefully we will be lenient."
"We offer you the same chance." Seven said, seeing right through his bluff. "We do not wish to destroy you, but we will if necessary." She said as the link closed.
Another torpedo from Legaia brought down the shields around the deflector dish.
Seven quickly programmed the deflector dish and sent out the inverse tachyon pulse. The effects were almost instantaneous. The shields shut down. Weapons went offline, and the once powerful flag ship was reduced to running on emergency power.
Voyager, quick to take advantage, destroyed the engines of the flag ship. They had won the battle with seemingly only minor damage. They had both taken some big hits but all of their major systems were still operational and no one was seriously injured.
"Voyager is hailing us." Legaia said as she put it on screen.
"It looks like everything worked out." Janeway said with a relieved look on her face.
"It appears so." Seven said with a small smile on her face.
"I am detecting another vessel." Legaia interrupted as it shifted back to battle mode, followed shortly by Voyager going to red alert.
"Who are they?" B'Elanna asked. She didn't know if they had it in them for another battle like the last one.
"It is a Borg science vessel." Legaia said as she put the image on screen. "They are scanning us."
"Can you block them?" Seven asked desperately.
"Negative, their scans have penetrated my shields." Legaia said.
"Target them, they can't be allowed to report back to the hive mind." B'Elanna said as Legaia opened fire.
The ship was quickly destroyed in a fiery green explosion.
"Were they able to send any communications?" Seven asked.
"I detected a transmission before they were destroyed." Legaia admitted. "We are being hailed again by Voyager."
"Put it on screen." Seven said.
"What the heck just happened?" Janeway asked, clearly not expecting that turn of events.
"A Borg science vessel just scanned us." Seven said as she looked up at the view screen.
"I don't see the problem. You just destroyed them. They aren't a threat anymore." Janeway said.
"They were able to send a transmission before we destroyed them. The Queen knows we have merged with Omega and how powerful Legaia is. In her eyes we are what the Borg have been trying to become since the beginning. We are their vision of perfection. They will be coming for us." Seven said as full realization hit the crew of Voyager.
They would have to face down the Borg, not as Picard had done, merely fighting a few drones on a small ship. They would be fighting against every single Borg in existence, alone, trapped in the Delta Quadrant.
The journey back home had suddenly become infinitely more dangerous.
The End
Thank you everyone for supporting my story and for everyone's helpful review and tips. It's been a little over a year but it's finally finished. The first part of my trilogy, the first fan fiction that I have ever written is finally finished. I hope you enjoyed then ending and my now classic cliff hanger ending. I will do my best to get Part two up as soon as I can.
I'm also planning on doing a few changes to the story I never had time to do before. Don't worry about me changing the storyline again, it's mainly just small bug fixes like the spelling Naiomi's name. I'm told it should be Naomi. I also plan on adding a bit more description to people and place, as I have also received comments on.
If anyone can think of any other errors I made while writing this story please review or if you just want to pat me on the back for a job well and finally done please review!
I also hope this inspires some other writers not to leave us hanging for the conclusions to their stories. You all know who you are so get writing!
I guess that's all for now. Stay tuned for Evolutions II: The Quest for Perfection (unless I can think of a better title for it soon.)
PLEASE, PLEASE REVIEW!