Exploratory.
By
Serena Aris.
Disclaimers: Paramount and other big organisations own Star Trek: Voyager, the ship, its crew and the whole trek universe. I'm just borrowing some of it for a short amount of time.
Pairing codes: Mostly P, 7, Kim with crew.
Exploratory.
By
Serena Aris.
Chapter 9.
He didn't know what time it was, only that he'd had little sleep. The light in his cell hurt his eyes and the room kept spinning, making his stomach want to part with the only food he'd eaten in awhile. The Voklas had performed test after test and after them, some more. Whatever drug cocktail they had given him this time didn't seem to be having the desired effects, which was good for Tom's determination to protect Voyager.
After each new dose they continued with the questioning but each time Tom refused to answer. However the bad part for Tom was the after effects of the sessions as they experimented to find the right combination on the unusual human physiology. Tom had fought with every fibre of his being to keep his captors from seeing the effects of their work. It was this battle with his rebelling body that kept his mouth silent - for now. Now he lay exhausted on his bunk, fine tremors rippling through his body. He wiped his sweat glistened brow and clawed his way into a sitting position when he heard the familiar sounds of approaching guards. Tom swayed as he stood and knew that he wouldn't be able to stay silent for long. He couldn't think straight with the drugs and the questions were endless.
"Where is your mothership?" "What is the crew complement?" "What are its defensive capabilities?" "Is it more powerful than the ship you arrived in? And if so by how many factors?" "What are the weaknesses in your technology?"
He took a calming breath as another tremor wracked his body. He was ready for them to march him back to the cylindrical observation room when across the way the occupant stirred. It looked at Paris's wobbling form then down the length of the corridor. It shrieked and clicked and flung itself repeatedly against the glass. Tom was shocked at the so-far passive and quiet humanoid. Then they arrived. The guards looked between the two captors. Then they hesitantly made a decision.
He watched as the two guards went to the opposite cell, typed in a sequence and dragged the blue alien out. It instantly stilled in their grasp and gave Tom a look with its wide eyes. All Tom could do was look on with surprise as the alien took his place. His legs threatened to give out as he slumped against the glass, his body sliding down to the floor. The darkness was beckoning, he had no choice but to remain where he was.
(-/-)
The rays of light peeking through the forest canopy announced the break of day. The air was filled with the twinkling sound of dew being dried off the crisp surfaces of leaves. The jingling was occasionally broken up by the vibrating buzz of the local insect life.
Down on the forest floor beneath the web of tree roots lay the opening to a shallow burrow. It must have once been smaller, time and erosion now making it a suitable shelter for two humanoids. Within the dark came the light rhythmic sounds of breathing. In the cramped earthy space one body lay on the ground, another sat upright, back against the wall.
Although Seven of Nine did not require sleep like humans did, Ensign Kim had insisted on the two of them taking it in turns to keep watch. They would both have equal amounts of time to relax and be alert or sleep in Kim's case. During Seven's turns to remain alert she had analysed and calculated all that she could with the tricorder before she turned her interest to Kim. The concept of sleep intrigued her, especially now that she could study it close up without the crew objecting. So she kept herself busy with her study of sleep. The Doctor had explained to her that humans required sleep to function properly and that dreaming was also an important part of this. She decided that the only way to truly understand it was to experience it herself. She would not be able to achieve it like normal humans because of her Borg components.
It was on her second attempt at sleep that she became aware of the arrival of day and the feel of pressure on her knee. It was Kim's hand that had strayed in his semi-conscious endeavour to get comfortable.
"Ensign Kim leave your regeneration and remove your hand." She ordered with a tone of urgency. To her satisfaction he responded immediately. Rolling over onto his back and away from Seven he tried to blink away his sleepy daze.
"I'm sorry Seven." He said with a yawn. He looked at the Borg and noticed for the first time in the dim light that she was sitting down. He knew that in order to hide she had had no choice in the small space but to sit or lie down, concepts completely alien to the constantly upright race.
Looking up he could feel more than see the ceiling of earth above them. He suddenly felt a wave of claustrophobia and slowly tried to shuffle out. Seven must have felt the same as she crawled to the burrow's entrance while still retaining an aura of grace. As she made her way into the sunlight Kim was able to turn around and follow her out, instead of trying to back his way out. When he was able to stand he saw that Seven was scanning the area and allowed himself to stretch, working out the stiffness from the night on the hard floor.
"I am detecting no sign of the lifesigns I recorded yesterday, within proximity to our position."
"That's good, they must not have seen us. They couldn't find any evidence of us so probably put it down to the local wildlife and gave up looking for intruders that might not exist." Thought Kim out loud. "The problem is that they would have returned to the Flyer."
"Therefore we are relatively safe where we are - at a distance from them."
"Yes but that doesn't help us." He said as he started to pace. Seven looked up from her tricorder and stared at him.
"You are planning something. I have learnt that humans can be irrational and governed by their emotions. Your judgement is clouded by your concern for Lieutenant Paris." It was times like this that Harry was reminded that she was not completely human.
"We are going to take back the Delta Flyer, repair it, find Tom, beam him on board and then get out of here. We don't leave our people behind." Kim said with an added sense of determination flowing through him. Gathering his bearings he made his way in the direction of the crashed ship.
"The Borg have a similar concept." She said as she matched his stride. "They will make every viable attempt to recover lost drones to reassimilate their knowledge back into the collective." The Ensign thought back to his Academy days when he had heard about the Starship Enterprise's discovery of Third of Five or 'Hugh' in the Argolis Cluster. The drone had been rescued from the wreck of a Borg scoutship in the hopes of making it an unwitting Trojan horse for a fatal overload to occur throughout the collective. The plan had depended on the fact that the Borg would want to reassimilate any surviving drones, however Captain Picard had aborted the plan deeming it unethical. The Borg did return for Hugh.
"The difference is we have compassion for other beings and don't help them for the information or use they might hold for us." Kim shifted the lone phaser out of his pocket and exchanged it with the tricorder.
"I do not fully understand your ways but I will adapt. Do you have a plan to retake the ship? We can not take it by force alone as we are out gunned. The phaser also does not have infinite power resources." Seven said, the closest he would get to an affirmative on his plan.
"First let's get back to a position where we can safely do some surveillance on the Flyer." He said hope slowly diminishing slightly as he looked at the lone weapon. "Best case scenario, no one is there. They've looked, studied and left." He ducked to dodge a dangling vine. "And worse case scenario…"
"The armed guards have doubled and troops have been deployed to search for us, using the information they have extracted from Mr Paris."
"Tom would never give out information on our technology or say or do anything that would harm us." He stopped his march to look at her.
"Not willingly."
Kim knew she was right, they didn't know how technically advanced they were or if they were telepathic in some way or that they were even questioning Tom. However he knew that deep down Tom would never betray them in anyway. He didn't want to sit back and theorise what could be happening to Tom, he would think the worst and pray for the best until the three of them were safely onboard Voyager. "We won't think about the worse case." His emotions refuelling him he continued on his way, Seven accompanying him in silence.
It had taken them almost an hour to return to the edge of the clearing. It was another hour later when they had watched humanoids emerge from the shuttle. They looked stereotypically like scientists compared to the few disciplined guards patrolling the area. They had counted six guards and four scientists, outnumbering them five to one. Harry had yet to see the guards changing over shifts but he anticipated one soon. Seven had confirmed that the scientists were slowly bringing more of the ship's systems back on-line. They had even refuelled or repaired the ship's low energy reserves. They were either adept at repairing alien ships or making them compatible with their own. Like finding the O blood type donor for the, A, B and AB type bodies.
"If they continue to repair the ship we could wait until the opportune moment to retake it and still remain sufficiently protected inside. We need the shields to help elongate any siege they may attempt." Seven stated, fleshing out some sort of plan.
She was correct. Retaking the ship was one thing, keeping it and evading capture was another. Without shields they were sitting ducks to any attacks to break through the hull or hatches for them to be boarded. It would be just a matter of time and the efficiency of their cutting tools. For now they would wait and hope that the shields were on the aliens' repair list long before the two watchers were discovered.
(/)
To be continued…
Thanks to everyone that has reviewed and still reading the story. I was tempted to cut this chapter in half to just post something but managed to complete it within a decent amount of time.
Reviews, suggestions, ideas, and criticism are all welcome - please try and give some good with the bad! It will lessen the blow! Thanks.