Prompt 83: "Stay there, I'm coming to get you." (Tuvok & Seven)

Episode: "Unimatrix Zero"

/

"We are the Borg. Your biological and technological distinctiveness will be added to our own. You will adapt to service us … "

Seven of Nine walked the green-lit, metallic corridors of the Cube in a whirl of terror and longing. It would be so easy to give in to that voice, to its power and harmony, but she mustn't; she was here for something else, if she could only remember it. She was looking for something – no, someone – and it was vital that she find them. If only all the corridors didn't look so much the same … and if only that voice would stop, just for a moment, so she could think.

"Seven of Nine … "

Another voice. Singular. Male. Calling out in obvious pain. Someone she knew, someone she trusted, someone who had come to help her once when she was calling out in exactly the same way. A hand on her arm. Silence in a crowd.

"Commander Tuvok!" She broke into a run, following her best guess as to where the voice was coming from, but how could she trace it when she had the entire Collective speaking to her at the same time? She tapped her Starfleet commbadge. It made no sound. "Stay there, I will find you."

"You will be assimilated," said the Collective. "Resistance is futile."

"Seven, help me!"

She rounded a corner and there was Tuvok, struggling to escape from three drones. Two had pinned him to the floor while a third was sinking assimilation tubules into the side of his neck. His face twisted in agony as the skin began to turn gray, the nanoprobes already taking hold.

Seven was unarmed, but she charged in anyway. She jumped on the back of one drone and snapped its neck before it knew what was happening, but this alerted the other one, which immediately called for reinforcements through the hive mind. It seized her in its armored fists. Whatever species it had been once, it was large enough to lift her off the ground like a doll. She kicked and squirmed, but it wore a full exosteleton and her arms were pinned to her sides, and meanwhile the nanoprobes would be working on Tuvok. It would only take a few minutes before he became assimilated and turned on her as well. And the reinforcement drones were on their way …

In desperation, she head-butted the drone holding her. A crack of bones sounded; she couldn't tell whether it was hers or the drone's. It grunted and slackened its grip, letting her shove her way free, but she felt so dizzy … there was a ringing in her ears, and her human eye didn't seem to be working, as everything was drenched in shades of green.

The second drone crumpled. Dimly, she realized that all three of them were down. Tuvok must have neutralized the one assimilating him, and perhaps the one attacking her as well. Her shipmate was slowly picking himself up off the floor, shaking, patches of gray spreading on his skin. His eyes had a feverish glitter in them. For the first time in three years, she was seeing him afraid.

"We must return to Voyager," said Seven, reaching out to help him to his feet, even though she was not certain of her own balance.

"No!" He pushed her hand away. "Leave me."

"You need medical assistance."

"It is too late ... you must not allow me … to endanger the crew." He pulled himself up to a sitting position and leaned against the wall, exhausted and in pain, forcing out every word.

She dropped to her knees beside him. "It is not too late. For me, or for you."

"I can hear the Collective." A humorless smile twisted his face, which frightened her more than everything else so far. "Is this how it feels to you, Seven? I never knew how beautiful it was."

"You called me for help, now accept it," she snapped, fear for their lives making her furious. "I will not leave you."

She reached for him again. He caught her wrist in a grip like iron. An implant erupted on the back of his hand.

/

Seven stumbled out of her alcove with a gasp and a shudder.

"Regeneration cycle incomplete," said the computer.

Her first instinct was to glance at the children, who were standing peacefully in a row in their alcoves. She gave each alcove a scan, checked that none of their cycles had been interrupted and that everything was functioning normally. Assured of their safety, she took a few shaky steps until she found a console against which to brace herself. Her heart was still racing, her mouth dry. That was not the first time she'd dreamed of similar scenarios involving her shipmates, but they had been growing more and more vivid since …

Since Unimatrix Zero, which had turned out not to be a dream at all.

That was the worst aspect of nightmares, she thought bitterly. If she could only assure herself that they were nothing but products of her subconscious, she might be able to continue regenerating, but there was always the chance that it might be a symptom of something worse: a message from the Borg Queen, a signal from a dangerous piece of technology nearby, a potentially deadly malfunction … Besides, something her shipmates would call intuition was driving her to Sickbay with a force she could not ignore.

She had to tell the Doctor. Immediately.