Chapter 11

Seven was in astronautics when she heard the noise. She stopped what she was doing and listened. The noise was strange, and familiar. The noise suddenly ceased. She looked around for a couple seconds and decided to think nothing of it. She went back to what she was doing. She had been woking for another five minutes when the noise returned. This time she listened more closely. It sounded like voices overlapping each other. She decided to run a computer analysis on the sound to test her theory."Computer, is the current sound made up of voices?"

"Affirmative" came the computer's distinct voice.

"Exactly how many voices are there?"

"Currently verifying that information please wait."

While the computer did that she decided to run a scan of the nebula. She didn't find much. The nebula was made up of all the gases that were common in nebulas...except one. She decided to take a closer look at it. The gas was made up of three unknown substances.

She was about to run a scan of it when the computer finished its scan of the noise. She looked at the number of voices and her heart skipped a beat. There were sixty-eight-trillion-seventy-four-billion-five-hundred-million-eight-thousand-three-hundred-twelve voices speaking at once. She decided to not to worry about it and concentrate on the gas in the nebula.

The gas was quite abundant in the nebula. Only a few spots in the nebula didn't have the gas floating around. She decided to look at the molecular structure of the three substances that were unknown. She started an analysis on all three simultaniously so it would take less time to determine what they were. Seven remembered the noise and braught her attention back to it.

Since the Queen had sent a subroutine into the comm system it was obvious that she meant to have the noise disrupt everyones sleep so that no one would be able to give any resistance when the time came to assimilate them. Or in her case RE-assimilate.

The thaught made her shudder. At one time she may have been glad that this had happened. But not anymore. Being an individual again had given her a freedom she had never known, and now the Queen wanted to take it away from her...and every one else on board. But Seven wasn't going to let her. She would make sure the Queen lost this battle no matter what the cost. But she had a duty aboard this vessel and that always came first. Personal battles would have to be faught later. She returned her attention to the substances and began her research.

Janeway tried to relax in her quarters but wasn't very successful. She couldn't get the word doom out of her head, and the noise which continued mercilessly wasn't helping. She sat in her chair...in the dark...alone wondering if they would ever make it out of this mess. She stared at the blank wall in front of her without blinking. Her eyes were bloodshot and itchy. She hadn't left her quarters or had any sleep in three days. All she could hear was the noise...over...and over...and over...and over...

Suddenly the door chime rang. Janeway just sat there without answering. The door chime rang again. Janeway still didn't respond. The Borg's noise had been playing so long that other noises no longer registered...or at least they occasionally did. The door opened and Tuvok walked in. Still Janeway did not respond. She just sat there staring. Tuvok walked over to her and passed his hand in front her eyes. Janeway flinched, blinked a couple times, and looked around. She looked up at Tuvok who looked calm and passive.

"Do you mind?" She bit out.

"Captian. Seven wishes to speak with you. She says it isvery urgent."

"Is that so? Tell her to meet me later."

"Seven said it can't wait till later."

"I really don't care at the moment. I'll see her later. Unless you can tell me what it is she wants to talk about."

Tuvok nodded. "Very well. Seven has found something in the nebula but has refused to tell me. She insisted that she tell you and only you in a secure area."

"Well unless she hadn't noticed, no area on board is secure."

"I reminded her of this. She claims to have found a way of communicating which will allow you to speak to her without the Borg hearing."

Janeway snorted. "I'll believe it when I see it. But I geuss theres no harm in seeing what shes got. Send her in."

Seven poked her head through the door. Tuvok motioned to her and she stepped into the room and stopped in front of Janeway.

"Hello Captian. You may leave us now Tuvok."

Tuvok nodded and left the room. After the door had shut Seven gave Janeway a small device which looked like an old earphone which had been used in the early twenty-first century. Janeway put it in her ear and Seven placed a similar one into her own and tapped a switch. Janeway did the same, After she tapped the switch she heard the awfull Borg noise fade out untill it was heard no more. Janeway sighed in relief. She tried to speak to Seven but no sound came out. She gave Seven a wierd look and motioned to her ear hoping she'd understand. Seven pulled two other devices from her pocket and gave one to Janeway. This one connected to the ear device and dangled near the mouth. Janeway again did what Seven had done and waited.

"Can you hear me Captian?"

"Yes." Her voice sounded different and she wondered if it had anything to do with the device Seven had given her.

"Good. These devices create anti-sonic wave bubbles around our ears and mouth. Absolutely no sound can get through."

So thats what these things do.

"Anyway, I've just discovered a new gas in this nebula that doesn't exist in any other."

Janeway nodded. "Go on."

"The gas is made up of three substances unknown to everyone in the galaxy...including the Borg. I still haven't gotten around to naming them, but in the time you were in here I conducted several experiments on the gas. The data I recieved from those experiments show that the gas is highly unstable and can create an incredible explosion if exposed to nutrion particles."

"But the only places Nutrion particles are found are in phaser blasts and warp explosions."

"True. But one of the substances I mentioned earlier is slowly producing them. If exposed to too many nutrionic particles the other two substances fuse and ignite the gas completely destabilizing it and creates a micro super nova. If that were to happen to this nebula the resulting explosion would be equal to twenty anti-matter bombs."

Janeway's eyes bulged. "I'm glad I haven't had to engage the Borg in combat yet."

Seven's expression didn't change. "Relax. Phasers don't have enough Nutrion particles to set of the gas and there won't be enough Nutrions to destroy the nebula for another century. So we're relativley safe."

Suddenly an idea hit Janeway. "Seven. Could we used a warp core explosion to set the nebula off early?"

Seven looked at her like she was some crazy psycho-lady. "Why would you want to do that?"

"Just answer the question."

Seven sighed. "Yes. But in doing so we would endanger our lives and the lives of the..." She trailed off as she saw what Janeway had in mind. Janeway grinned evily. Then she realized something which made her grin widen. Her so called "vision" had been a nightmare...nothing more. Janeway stood "Lets go Seven. We have a lot to do."