Kingdom Come

Source Episode: VOY 6x18 Ashes to Ashes

A/N: Thanks to Caladeniablue for helping me edit this chapter!


Once we were out of harm's way, all of the stress that had kept me going for so long dissipated. There was still so much to do, so much to discuss, but my body was just about done. Thankfully, Captain Janeway relieved us all for the night with orders not to return until we'd had at least a few hours of sleep.

But Harry and I couldn't resist the urge to visit sickbay first.

Despite knowing what was waiting for us there, the sight of Lyndsay alive and covered in cybernetic implants was still a shock. She sat on the surgical bay biobed, presumably behind a force field, while Schmullis scanned and prodded and took samples.

Her brown hair was gone. Fair skin had become an almost transparent gray, dark lines of nanoprobe-infested blood vessels twisting along the bones and muscles beneath. Her one remaining eye had gone from hazel-green to gray, and the other had been removed to make room for her ocular implant. They'd taken an arm, as well, replaced by a multi-tool implant installed on engineering drones.

Harry froze in the doorway, his grip tightening on mine and his stiff arm jerking me to a stop.

Lyndsay forced a smile. "I was wondering when you guys would show up."

A tremor passed through Harry's hand. "I watched you die."

"In glorious battle, no less."

"How?"

"Well, the quick version is that the Borg have access to technologies we can't even begin to understand. They picked up my pod, did their thing, and abracadabra! I'm back from the dead." She embellished her story with a dramatic wave like a showman performing to an audience. "Pretty great other than—" she lifted the implant on her left arm— "this whole get-up. And the part where I was a drone. That was ass."

Harry took a step forward, still clinging to my hand. Then another. And another.

By the time we reached the edge of the surgical bay, Schmullis had finished his exam. "I've compared her DNA with the genetic samples from Ensign Ballard's file. They match." Setting down his instruments, the doctor wheeled his tray towards the bay's boundaries and nodded at one of the security guards.

The guard released the force field.

Harry stepped into the surgical bay, his hand slipping from mine, as Lyndsay slid off the biobed. "So it's really you?" he asked quietly.

She smiled. "In the flesh... so to speak."

The way his face melted told me he'd decided to believe her. Soon enough, he was pulling her into a tight hug.

She smiled, closing her eye and allowing a tear to fall. "I've missed you, too."

The whoosh of doors announced more visitors—Captain Janeway and Tal Celes. As they approached, Janeway crossed her arms and shot a look at Schmullis. "I hope this means you've confirmed her identity, Doctor."

Harry released his hold on Lyndsay and stepped back, wiping tears from his eyes. "It was my fault, Captain. I broke security protocol."

"And disobeyed orders," she said. The twinkle in her eyes and smirk on her lips framed the words as a tease even as her tone implied a rebuke.

"Lyndsay?" Celes choked out, her voice failing her. All color had drained from her face. "Is... is it... is that you?"

"It's me, ja'Tal," Lyndsay murmured back. All the jocularity in her demeanor had disappeared, replaced by the weight of love and loss and hope.

"Ma'am?" asked one of the security officers.

Janeway held up a halting hand.

With cautious steps, Celes made her way to the place where Lyndsay stood. "I can't believe you're real. Are you... real?"

Lyndsay stepped forward, closing the short distance between them, and pulled Celes into a deep kiss. Celes's arms circled around Lyndsay's armored body, and Lyndsay's hand caressed her partner's face.

I wove my fingers between Harry's and squeezed, smiling when he glanced down at me. He pressed a kiss into my hair.

When the couple finally broke apart, Lyndsay rested her forehead against Celes's. "I'm real, Tal. I'm real, I'm home, and I'm never leaving you again."

"Thank the Prophets," Celes whispered.

Indeed.

And although I got the sense that Captain Janeway's visit had been intended for more than simply escorting Celes, she followed Harry and me out of sickbay less than a minute later, leaving the two lovers within clinging to one another and weeping with joy.


The next day was a flurry of activity. Having arrived at the Unity Alliance base in the early hours of the morning, Voyager left her hiding place in Korok's sphere and docked at a repair station orbiting a planet the Zahl called Sinoso. It was less than a light year from the last comm net node this side of the border between quadrants, so Captain Janeway was up early to share updates with Queen Nessav and to schedule meetings with our allies.

Eleven lightyears. We were eleven lightyears from the Beta Quadrant.

After the usual morning senior staff briefing, Janeway asked me to stay for a meeting with Annika and Lyndsay. Chakotay had his hands full overseeing repairs and running alpha shift, but I knew Janeway would fill him in later. The room sat in uncomfortable silence until Tuvok returned with Annika in tow, the pair taking seats opposite me and Lyndsay.

Annika seemed even less Borg than she had when she left us. She wore short sleeves, and the only implant visible on her arms was the exoskeleton reinforcing her left hand, wrist, and forearm—something she'd probably opted to keep for practical purposes. Her civvies were more form-fitting than her uniform had been, yet there was a noticeable lack of bulges and lines from the exoplating that once armored her torso. The outward portion of her cortical implant had been almost completely erased, only a thin metal eyebrow left as a way to interface with the cybernetic systems that lay beneath.

Other than that, she looked exactly as I remembered her—long angular face, golden-blonde hair falling to her shoulders, fair skin glowing with a healthy pink hue that spoke of regular sun lamp exposure, and piercing blue-green eyes. She walked with a confident stride and sat with a posture that, while still proper, no longer spoke of stiff discomfort.

"Captain Janeway," she said, inclining her head. She glanced over to offer me the same greeting. "Lieutenant Commander Eelo. I hope you are both well."

"All things considered," Janeway said, "I'd say we're doing alright. You remember Ensign Ballard?"

Annika nodded at the ex-drone next to me. "I do, although it seems some important changes have taken place since our battle with General Annorax. Perhaps we should begin there."

"Very well. Ensign?"

Lyndsay shifted, looking a bit surprised by Annika's eagerness to get to the point. "Oh. Um, okay. Well, uh, I guess the last thing I remember was being on Harry's unit trying to take Solassat's engine room. A Krenim soldier was about to shoot out a conduit by Ayala's team. I wasn't even thinking, I just had to stop it. I yelled, jumped out of line, and then..."

She shook her head. "The next thing I remember is waking up strapped to a table in a Borg lab. It didn't feel like I'd been assimilated, except I had implants. It was like a bad dream where what you fear the most is twisted in some way your conscious mind would never think to twist it. There was a stasis chamber beside me... and I was inside. Not me, of course, but another version of me. No implants. She was wearing a dress uniform laser-cut right down the middle, and she had a big black hole in her chest like she'd been shot with a phaser set to kill. I kept thinking, 'I'll wake up eventually,' like it was all a dream—"

Janeway held up a hand. "Hold on just one moment. Are you saying that the Borg didn't revive you, but that you're actually a—"

"A clone of Lyndsay Ballard?" she interrupted. "I think so. At least, that's my best guess."

"Were you aware that the Borg possessed this technology, Miss Hansen?" Tuvok asked.

"Yes. It is not new, though knowledge of it is not widespread within the collective. The Borg acquired it from species two nine six, Vorta. I believe the Federation is familiar with their cloning capabilities."

"The Dominion," I said.

"Correct. We have yet to determine what the Borg use this technology for."

"I think you just found your answer," Janeway said.

Annika ticked her eyebrow. "Perhaps."

"Please continue, Miss Ballard," Tuvok said.

"Well, eventually a drone came in. She looked like she could've been Terran once—course, I know now she's El-Aurian. It was the queen herself, come to assimilate me."

"Loran?" I asked.

"No. The queen of a different faction. At the time, there weren't factions, and she was just the primary administrative drone for unimatrix zero one. She's called Ashan. I don't know why she wanted to assimilate me herself. She just walked up, smiled down at me, said, 'Good, you're awake.' Then she assimilated me.

"After that, I don't remember anything. Like, I know things. I know I was an engineering drone. I know how to do engineering tasks on a Borg ship. That sort of stuff. But I don't have memories. Not until our collective fell to Loran's collective yesterday and I somehow got disconnected from the hive mind. That's when I contacted you."

"How much of your previous memory have you retained?" Annika asked.

"What, you mean from Voyager?"

"Yes. Technical specifications of this vessel and of Equinox, for example."

Lyndsay frowned, seeming to think about this for several seconds. "I think I remember everything. It might be a little rusty, but I could go back to work today if I needed to."

"Then we must presume the Borg know everything Ensign Ballard knew," Annika said, turning back to the captain.

"Meaning they might be able to track down Equinox," Janeway said.

"Shit," I muttered.

"I'm sorry," Lyndsay whispered.

I touched her arm. "It's not your fault."

"I know, but still..."

Janeway folded her hands. "Thank you, Ensign. You may go."

Lyndsay nodded, and the room fell silent as she left. The hissing of the doors seemed to enhance the general sense of tension permeating the room—permeating me.

"Now," Janeway said, drawing my attention back to the meeting. "Annika, I believe it's your turn to explain yourself."

Annika's arms tightened against her sides. "Yes, but first we must come to an understanding."

"Oh? What about?"

"General Korok wishes for me to be the liaison on Voyager representing unimatrix zero. I confess, I am eager to return. Voyager became my collective—my... home—while I was here." She paused, collected herself, then continued in a clearer voice that swelled as she spoke. "That being said, while I will respect your authority aboard Voyager, I must also respect the wishes of those I represent. During this meeting, for example, you may ask me questions, but I reserve the right not to answer. There are delicate matters involved with the circumstances of my departure, and it is best at this juncture not to discuss them."

Janeway's posture straightened, spine snapping taught and arms crossing in warning. As she lifted her chin, those blue eyes flashed like lightning above a churning sea. "So, what you're saying is that your actions were part of a classified mission above and beyond the mission I sent you on as a member of my crew, after which you defected to unimatrix zero whose leadership still believes I shouldn't know the truth despite what my crew and I have sacrificed to help them."

"I understand your frustration, Captain, but it is not a slight against you or this crew. On the contrary, this knowledge must be guarded in order to protect you, and to ensure our success against the Borg. You know as well as I do that, while the division of the collective will delay their progress for a time, they will recover and push forward into the Alpha Quadrant."

My thoughts strayed to the terrible future I'd seen in dreams and visions—a thin barrier separating us from the Borg, the alarm on Deep Space Nine when the collective broke through, Annika forced into being the queen's messenger and demanding me as tribute, General Worf insisting that the Borg had no honor, the Emissary calling me into the Celestial Temple. I thought of what had happened after the final vision's end, when I challenged Captain Janeway about how to respond.

"They'll bring war to the Federation," I'd said, "and, eventually, win that one, too."

"Perhaps," Janeway was saying to Annika, her voice low as she leaned forward and narrowed those stormy eyes on our former crewman. "But let me make myself abundantly clear. If you ever harm a member of my crew again, use them against their will or without their knowledge, I don't give a damn if it's for the greater good or not. I will consider that an act of aggression and you will be held accountable according to our laws. Do we have an understanding, Miss Hansen?"

Although I knew her words were in defense of me, my insides still recoiled from the venom in her tone. I never held Annika's actions against her, but Janeway clearly did.

Annika didn't even flinch. "Yes, Captain."

"Good. Now that we have that settled, I'd like to know what you know about the Borg and how we're going to stop them."

With a slight nod, Annika sat back and began to explain. "Loran was the administrator of unimatrix zero two. You refer to her as a 'queen,' which is an even more apt term than it was before the splitting of the collective.

"For more than a century, the Borg have existed as one single collective brought to order by six primary administrative drones. However, it seems Loran wishes to be the only administrator over all of the unimatrices. Not long after our mission to liberate unimatrix zero, Loran overwhelmed unimatrix zero three, located near what the Federation refers to as the J-25 system, using the primary transwarp hub."

"Transwarp hub?" I asked. "I haven't heard of that before."

"I'm not surprised. The transwarp hubs form a series of interconnected transwarp conduits. The Borg assimilated this technology with the El-Aurian species more than two hundred years ago. It has allowed them to assimilate hundreds of species previously beyond their reach and build unimatrices across the galaxy. They have since adapted the technology to build transwarp coils for their vessels, but the hubs are more stable and their conduits can traverse much greater distances."

"Could these conduits extend all the way to Earth?" Janeway asked.

"Or Cardassia?" I added, the visions still lingering in my mind.

"Yes, although it is more likely that such conduits would originate in the Beta Quadrant hub as it is closer to the Alpha Quadrant."

"Where is that hub located?" Tuvok asked.

"Approximately two thousand light years from our present location in the El-Aurian system. Now that Loran has conquered unimatrix zero one, she controls three of the six transwarp hubs."

I frowned. "That battle seemed a little small to be the deciding factor in taking an entire collective."

"The battle you witnessed was one of many. Loran used her greater numbers to draw Ashan's forces into multiple simultaneous confrontations, leaving unimatrix zero one—and thus Ashan herself—vulnerable to invasion. Loran does not need to defeat an entire collective. She only needs to assimilate their queen."

Janeway tapped her fingers on the table. "Let's get back to these transwarp hubs. Is there a way to destabilize the conduits—cut the Borg off from expanding any further?"

Annika nodded. "We devised a similar solution. The hubs are located within each unimatrix. They will be difficult to infiltrate, but it is possible so long as we are able to complete another mission first."

"Which is?"

"At the moment, three of the six hubs are disconnected from the network to prevent an attack from a rival collective. We intend to return the Borg to their natural state by reunifying the remaining queens. The Borg will reopen conduits connecting all six hubs, at which point we will capture and destroy the network entirely."

The slightest of frowns crossed Tuvok's face. "Will the Borg not be able to simply rebuild a new transwarp network?"

"They will not. The Borg have attempted to recreate the technology many times, but have never been successful. The collective will be spread too thinly across the quadrant to continue assimilating new species in an efficient way, and the queens will consolidate their forces. They will return to their own space in the Delta Quadrant."

It was my turn to frown. "That might help us, but it won't help our allies here. Has Queen Nessav approved this?"

"No. Many of our forces have been out of contact with the Krenim Commonwealth since the liberation."

"I'd like to wait and see what she says before I make up my mind," Janeway said.

Annika nodded. "Of course. There is one other thing. Regardless of whether or not we move forward with this plan, it would be to our advantage to understand the origin of the Borg and these so-called 'queens.' The collective's memory prior to the assimilation of El-Aurian is fragmentary, and prior to the twenty-second century it is non-existent. If we are to unite the queens and their collectives, we will need to understand how they were first united. If, however, our allies choose to move in a different direction, the information would still be quite valuable to our common cause."

"Agreed," Janeway said, drawing out the word like an invitation to say more.

"We believe the most logical place to look is the Vaadwaur homeworld. They were the original species to discover and utilize the underspace network. Any records left behind after their destruction may contain clues into the collective's history."

"Uh, not to be a downer," I said, "but the Turei have that system locked up and guarded like an Obsidian Order base of operations. There's no way we could get in, and even if we could, it would be a serious breach of our alliance."

Annika's one blonde brow lifted. "That will only be a problem if we are discovered. Initially, we had intended to ask Captain Ransom to take us there aboard Equinox, using the vessel's cloaking capabilities to complete the mission undetected. As an alternative, I propose you contact the Srivani for assistance."

I shook my head. "I don't like it, and I doubt they will, either."

"You have strong diplomatic relations with their leadership, Commander. Convince them."

I opened my mouth to protest, but Janeway held up a hand. "There might be another way to get the information you want."

"Explain."

"That signal we were sent into the nebula to find? It was a damaged Borg cube. Most of the drones were dead. Only a few of the children in maturation chambers survived. One of those children is a Brenari secret-keeper, carrying generations of history and memories in her head."

For the first time since walking into the room, Annika's cool affect cracked. She flinched as if she'd been struck. "Brenari?" she asked quietly.

"It's Anelina," I said. "Queen Nessav got her out of the Devore work camp and hid her on another world. It's a long story, but she's here."

"On Voyager," Annika said, eyeing me skeptically.

"Yes," Janeway confirmed, her tone softening. "She wants to see you."