Sacrifice

It had been forty minutes since Captain Janeway had discovered that Seven was missing. The officers had been taken to Sickbay and the Doctor had assured her that they would be all right. On the Captain's order, security teams were looking for Seven all over the ship and had told the crew to keep an eye out.

In the Captain's Ready Room, Chakotay was handling it considerably well.

"Don't worry Kathryn, she couldn't have gotten too far. What's the worst that could happen?" Chakotay said.

Before Kathryn could answer, Tuvok rang through. "Tuvok to Captain Janeway."

"Go ahead Tuvok." Replied the Captain.

"Seven is piloting the Delta Flyer out of Shuttlebay One." Tuvok reported.

"On my way." Kathryn shot a glance at Chakotay as if to say 'well you asked' and continued to the bridge.

Taking their positions, the Captain said, "Close the Shuttlebay doors."

"It's too late, she is already through." Tuvok informed her.

"Can we get a tractor beam on her?" Captain Janeway asked.

"There's something wrong with the tractor beam, I can't pinpoint why." Harry answered.

"She's heading for the Borg Cube at Warp 6.9," Tom Paris reported with awe in his voice.

"Follow her. Mr. Kim, can we transport her out?" Captain Janeway asked.

"The transporter has been disabled." Harry replied.

Pushing her COMM badge, the Captain said, "Janeway to B'Elanna. Can you get the transporters back online?"

"No, the transporter has been manually overridden, it won't respond from here." B'Elanna reported from Main Engineering.

"Open a channel to the Delta Flyer." The Captain ordered, rising from her chair.

"Janeway to Seven, respond." Came her strong voice. No reply. "Janeway to Seven, respond." She repeated.

Seven's face appeared on the screen. "It would be wise to leave here Captain."

"Not without you." The Captain retorted.

"This is the only way for Voyager to continue on." Seven explained.

"If we had your help during the meeting, we would have found another way." The Captain argued.

"That is incorrect. You would have made the same mistakes as before. I had a vision, this is the only choice and it's my choice." Seven replied. "I will reach the Borg Cube in 2.6 minutes. Please leave." With that, Seven cut transmission, quickly glancing to Chakotay who looked as scared as anyone.

The screen shifted back to the Delta Flyer and the millions of stars passing behind them.

"We need options. No transporter. Harry, how's that tractor beam coming?" Chakotay asked, standing now.

"It will be fully operational in precisely three minutes." Harry replied.

"We need to get it working sooner than that!" He almost yelled.

"Chakotay, sometimes we just need to be patient." Advised his Captain.

Two minutes passed and Voyager could see Seven slow to impulse; they did the same. The Borg Cube was directly in front of it and Seven kept flying towards it.

"Harry?" The Captain asked, not breaking eye contact with the Borg Cube.

"The tractor beam will be online in a few seconds." Harry reported, frantically trying to work faster.

"Seven is hailing the Borg Cube." Tuvok reported. Watching the screen, the crew saw the Borg's tractor beam begin to pull the Delta Flyer towards the docking port.

"Harry?" The Captain said more urgently.

Tapping his control panels, Harry cried, "Done!"

"Shoot at their engines and use the tractor beam on the Delta Flyer." The Captain ordered.

"Captain, with both tractor beams going at the same time, they'll tear the Delta Flyer apart." Tuvok informed her.

"We know the Borg need Seven, so we'll have to call their bluff that they'll desist first." The Captain yelled over the fire returning to them.

"Shield's up." Added Chakotay. Voyager's photon torpedoes had little effect on the Borg Cube before it began to adapt. The tractor beam had stopped the Delta Flyer from moving any closer to the Cube.

"Captain, the Delta Flyer cannot withstand this kind of pressure." Tuvok said.

Another a moment's consideration, the Captain yelled, "Stop the tractor beam!"

As the tractor beam cut off, the bridge witnessed Seven move forward towards the Borg.

"Captain, I've pinpointed the transporter block. Seven has manually overridden the system and protected it with a code we can't crack." B'Elanna shouted through the COMM badge frequency.

"Hail the Delta Flyer." The Captain ordered. "Seven, respond."

The screen switched once more to Seven in the Delta Flyer.

"Give us the code Seven, we can get you out." The Captain pleaded, both frustrated and annoyed by Seven's persistence.

"They will still come after Voyager, after me. This is the only logical way." Seven responded.

"Seven, stop this, please!" Chakotay begged.

A tear slipped down Seven face. "I have a bomb with me that will explode in precisely 50 seconds, you must be at least 500 kilometres away. It will destroy the Borg Cube."

"And you!" Chakotay shouted in frustration.

"I realise that. Captain, thank you for everything you have done for me. I have left a memoir in my personal log under SevenRho14Pi. It has a few…ords…I – " The screen changed back to the overall view, losing communication.

"What happened?" Chakotay yelled to Harry.

"The Borg's signal must have interfered." Harry replied, scanning the Borg's sensors. Everyone on the bridge watched as the Delta Flyer entered the Borg's Shuttlebay.

"20 seconds until the bomb explodes, Captain." Tuvok updated her.

"B'Elanna, is there no way to hack through Seven's code?" The Captain asked in desperation.

"I'm sorry, Captain." B'Elanna replied.

"15 seconds." Tuvok informed.

The Captain was deep in thought, decieved by hope.

"We can't just leave her here to die!" Chakotay said through gritted teeth.

"10 seconds."

"I'm afraid we have no choice. Seven will not let us through." The Captain said, sniffling.

"5 seconds."

"Tom, get us out of here, maximum warp." The Captain yelled.

"What?" Chakotay looked betrayed.

"Her sacrifice will not be in vain. She wanted to save the ship, she will." Captain Janeway said, a tear slipping down her cheek. In a split second, Voyager had disappeared from the Borg Cube and from Seven.

"Time's up." Tuvok said.