Chapter 62
The Raven.
(Scott POV)
7 and I were in my Red Dead Program.
"It's not as difficult as it looks, The first rule is don't be afraid of the Gun," I said.
"I fear nothing," 7 said.
"I mean you can't concern yourself with making a mistake," I said. "Just aim point and fire, Easy," As I did it to a O'Discoll. "Go on give it a try," Passing her mine.
As 7 did the same thing. "I don't see why I need to learn these," 7 said.
"Simply, I do it to relax, Reason why I made this program up, Reminds me of my favourite Game," I said.
"The concept of Relaxation is difficult for me to understand, As a Borg, my time was spent working at a specific task, When it was completed I was assigned another, It was efficient," 7 said.
"Well so is this, Yes I do it to relax as well as keep my aim up, And forget about Voyager for a while," I said.
"But why here is this simulation among these archaic objects and this environment?" 7 said.
"Cause it get's me out the 24th century every now and then, And this environment, Will it's basically 19th century, Gets me getting into the mood for it," I said.
"Are you suggesting that I create one of these holodeck programs," 7 said.
"You might find it interesting, Gives you a chance to explore things about yourself that probably didn't fit into your life as a Borg, Imagination, Creativity, Fantasy," I said.
"I am uncertain why these things are necessary," 7 said.
"Well, they aren't necessary, 7, but they're an important part of one's life, because imagination frees the mind, it inspires ideas and solutions, and it can provide a great deal of pleasure, Human progress, the human mind itself couldn't exist without them, When I was a kid, I ran into my uncle who was at the Airforce then. Taught me how to use all these guns, even a bow. That was taught to me by someone I really did care about," I said. "Those were the days," As 7 was saw something flying. "7," But nothing. "7, You okay,"
"What is that?" 7 said.
"Condor," I said. "7, 7, What is it?"
"I don't know," 7 said.
XXX
After a bit, I was Called down to sickbay as the Doc and 7.
"It's happened 3 times now," 7 said. "In different locations, at different times of the day, I experience a series of Disjointed images in my mind,"
"Can you be more specific?" Doc said. "Were these Hallucinations,"
"I don't know, I've never hallucinated, It's as if I were aboard a borg vessel but, I was frightened I felt fear, each experience is similar, I'm pursued by the Borg, They want to assimilate me, I'm running from them and then and then each time I see a bird," 7 said.
"A bird," I said.
"Yes a large black bird flying toward me," 7 said. "Shrieking, attacking me,"
"Hm, Your hippocampus is in a state of Agitation," Doc said.
"What does that mean?" 7 said.
"As your human physiology continues to reassert itself, Psychological symptoms are bound to manifest, in a variety of ways, through dreams, Hallucinations, Hypnagogic regression," Doc said.
"Hypnagogic regression?" 7 said.
"Flashbacks, You could be experience some sort of post traumatic stress disorder," Doc said.
"Makes sense, You were assimilated by the borg, You've gone through an intense, prolonged trauma," I said.
"I was not traumatized," 7 said. "I was raised by the borg, I don't see them as threatening, Why would I experience Fear,"
"I don't know," Doc said.
"Will I keep having these flashbacks?" 7 said.
"I'll need to study your neural scans further, In the meantime, Your digestive system is fully functional, Now is as good a time as any for you to begin taking solid and liquid nutrients," Doc said.
"Oral consumption is inefficient," 7 said.
"And unnecessary if you're lucky enough to be a hologram, But your human physiology requires it," Doc said. "I'll draw up a list of nutritional requirements, Take it to Mr. Neelix in the Mess hall, I hesitate to inflict his cooking on you, But it'll have to do,"
"I do not enjoy this sensation," 7 said. "Something is happening to me and I don't know what it is, It's as though I'm being driven somehow,"
"That Bird you mention, Large Black bird, There is only one I know of like that, A Raven," I said.
"Chakotay to the Captain," Chakotay said.
"Go ahead," I said.
"Our guests have arrived, they're being escorted to the Briefing room," Chakotay said.
"On my Way," I said. "Representatives of the B'omar, I've been trying to negotiate passage through their space, but so far they've been difficult to deal with, I hope they've had a change of heart,"
"I'll stay here and wait for the Doctor's instructions," 7 said.
"We'll help you through this 7, You'll be alright," I said before heading up.
XXX
"Have you had a chance to consider our request," I said.
"Congratulations Captain, Against our better judgement the B'omar sovereignty has agreed to grant your vessel passage through our territory," Gauman said.
"On behalf of my crew, Thank you," I said. "That will cut 3 months off our journey,"
"However there are a few stipulations guidelines that you must adhere to," Gauman said.
"You'll have our complete cooperation," I said.
"We expect nothing less, While in our space, Your vessel will not exceed warp 3, and your weapons systems will remain off line," he said. "You will avoid unnecessary scans and you will not conduct surveys of any kind, You will make no attempt to explore our space, And you will avoid all communications with non-military craft," Gauman said.
"We've also plotted the course your vessel is to follow," His friend said.
As they put it up.
"It'll take us weeks to follow that course," Tom said.
"If not months," Chakotay said.
"We've designed this course, so that your ship would avoid our populate systems and industrial areas, Deviation is not recommended," He said.
"There are a total of 17 checkpoints where you will submit your vessel for inspection," Gauman said.
"Chancellor Gauman If I may interrupt, I appreciate your efforts in plotting this flight plan, But if we could, I'd like to negotiate a course, that's a little more, direct," I said.
"What about this course," Chakotay said. "It's a marginal adjustment, The nearest populated system is more than 3 lightyears away,"
"Definitely not," Gauman said. "You'd pass directly through the Agrat-mot Nebula, A key resource in our trade negotiations, with the Nassordin"
"I could chart the Nebula, Try to avoid," Tom said.
"No, No, Are your Translators malfunctioning," He said.
"Captain McCall to the Bridge," Tuvok said.
"If you'll excuse me," I said. As I headed for the Bridge as we went to Red Alert, "Report,"
"I've received an alert from security, 7 of 9 attacked Neelix in the Mess hall, and 3 other crewmen on Deck 2," Tuvok said.
"McCall To 7," I said. "7 if you can hear me Respond,"
"What's her location?" Chakotay said.
"Deck 6 Section 28-Alpha," Tuvok said.
"Take a security team," Chakotay said.
"Captain what is happening here," Gauman said.
"I wish I knew Chancellor, Chakotay Seal off Deck 6," I said.
"Security to Captain McCall," He said.
"Go ahead," I said.
"We've just seen 7 of 9, Her borg shields are cully operational and they've adapted to our phasers," He said.
"Acknowledged, Bridge to all security personnel, Configure your Phasers to a rotating modulation, But keep them on Stun," I said.
"Borg, you have Borg on your ship," Gauman said.
"It's not what you think, She is a member of my crew, We liberated her from the collective, She's no longer Borg," I said.
"Then why is she equipped with Borg Shields?" Gauman said.
"I don't know," I said.
"She's able to cross through the security fields, She's entering the armory on Deck 6," Chakotay said.
"She's in the Turbolift," Harry said.
"Cut power to the Turboshafts," I said.
"She's blocking my commands, With a Borg encryption code," Harry said.
"McCall to Tuvok, 7 apparently headed for Deck 10. Can you get there before she does," I said.
"I'm moving into position Now Captain," Tuvok said.
"She's on Deck 10," Harry said.
"Tuvok to Bridge, We were unsuccessful, I have wounded, She's moving toward junction 32 alpha," Tuvok said.
"The Shuttle bay, Seal it off," I said.
"I've erected a forcefield. Harry Reroute all available power to Deck 10," Chakotay said.
"Done," Harry said. "She's accessing transporter Control,"
"She used a site to sire Transport, She's in a shuttlecraft, Powering Engines," Chakotay said.
"Seal the Launch doors," I said.
As she Blasted through it.
"Tractor Beam," I said.
"No effect," Chakotay said. "She's remodulated the shuttle's shield harmonics,"
"Captain, 7 is headed directly into B'omar space," Harry said. "She's gone to warp,"
"She's masked the shuttle's ion trail," Tom said. "I've lost her signal, she gone,"
XXX
"We'll do everything in our power to find her, But we will need permission to enter B'omar space to Track her shuttle effectively," I said.
"Let's tally the event, shall we?" Gauman said. "First you arrive uninvited and unwelcome, Requesting a shortcut through our space, then you proceed to unleash some sort of Rogue borg, and now you want us to help you get it back,"
"Get Her back, I apologize for what's happened here, But we certainly didn't unleash anyone, We can resolve this situation quickly gentlemen, If we work together," I said.
"Captain McCall after what I've seen here, I question your competence," Gauman said.
"May I remind you that you're still on my ship," I said.
"And you are only one Vessel among many of ours," He said.
"Your Borg will be dealt with quickly and efficiently, It's being tracked as we speak," Gauman said.
"Track how," Chakotay said.
"Every Vessel, every object, every particle of dust that crosses our borders is immediately identified and traced by our perimeter grid," He said.
"The Borg will be found and destroyed," Gauman said.
"Chancellor," I said.
"There will be no sharing of information From this point on, your Vessel will maintain a distance of at least 5 light years from our borders," Gauman said. "Any deviation Will be considered an act of Aggression,"
"And Destroying one of our shuttle will be consider an act of war," I said. "Commander Escort our guests to the Transporter room," As they left. "McCall to Kim Report to my ready room,"
"On my way," Harry said. As he came in. "Captain,"
"How long before you can activate the Cloak," I said.
"5 minutes Captain," Harry said.
"Get on it, We're going after her, Dismissed," I said as Harry left.
XXX
"Captain's log Supplemental, I've assembled a team to analyze every square meter of the cargo bay, This has essentially been her quarters for the past 2 months, I'm determined to find something here that might shed some light on 7's actions, End log," I said.
As I got down to the Cargo bay.
"Anything," I said.
"It's a borg Datalink, It's contains a succession of Log entries, written in Borg Alphanumeric code," B'Elanna said.
"I'm getting pretty good with the Borg Language I think I can translate them," Harry said.
"Get on it," I said.
"It's seems we've made quite an impression on the B'omar, In the last how, they've doubled the number of ships patrolling their borders, And they've increased the sensitivity of the perimeter grid by 36%," Chakotay said.
"So much for diplomacy, But I would bet it wouldn't stand a chance against our cloak," I said.
"The Doctor Analysed the data from 7's last transport, He's found something he wants us to see," Chakotay said. "Maybe this was inevitable, Even if 7 did want to stay on Voyager, Her Borg nature may have won out, We can remove implant after implant, But maybe at her core, She'll always be part of the collective,"
"No, I won't accept that, Deck 5," I said. "She was responding to us, Interacting with people outside the collective for the first time, she was adapting to this environment and to this crew, But where is she going, We've scanned space for a distance of 40 light years, We've found no evidence of Borg ships, so she can't be trying to rejoin the collective,"
"She may plan to take the shuttle back to Borg space," Chakotay said.
"10,000 lightyears from here, I don't think so, No, Something else is going on, We're missing a piece of the puzzle," I said.
"In the meantime the B'omar intend to find her, and if they do she'll probably resist them," Chakotay said.
"One more reason for us to find her first, To hell with the B'omar if it needs to be," I said. "What have you found doc,"
"Something most peculiar," Doc said. "This graphic represents the matter conversion data, from 7 of 9 last Transport. If you'll notice there's a high concentration of Borg Organelles in the bone marrow and lymphatic tissue. The Dormant nanoprobes in 7 of 9 cells, have reasserted themselves, Taken over blood cell production, and they're growing new Borg implants, 13% of the Borg technology I removed 3 weeks ago has regenerated in a matter of hours,"
"You said the Nanoprobes in her bloodstream were dormant, What reactivated them?" Chakotay said.
"I don't know, But I've developed a way to stop the process, this hypo spray contains a genetic resequencing vector, It should neutralize the nanoprobes," Doc said.
"That means someone needs to get close enough to do it," I said.
As we got to the Bridge and found Tom.
"Report," I said.
"We've analyzed the B'omar perimeter grid, It's sophisticated, but not without it's vulnerabilities, It might be possible to penetrate the grid by recalibrating our shield to match its frequency," Tuvok said.
"The trick is going to be our energy signature, Voyager's too big to hide," Tom said.
"But a shuttle isn't," I said.
"With the shield modulations and it's engines powered down could drift right through without so much as a peep," Tom said.
"Nice work, Tom you're with me, Chakotay you got Voyager," I said. "With this Doctor's genetic sequencer, Should keep her sedated to get her back to Voyager, Once we've penetrated the perimeter, we won't have communication with Voyager, we'll be on our own,"
"Captain it is possible that 7 will adapt to the sequencer," Tuvok said.
"I know, If it fails, And we can't reason with her, We stop her with any force necessary, Ready," I said.
"Let's go," Tom said.
"Voyager's yours commander," I said.
XXX
"I'm detecting weapon signatures, Federation and B'omar," I said. "5 B'omar vessels are adrift, Heavily damaged, Lifesign are stable,"
"I've located 7's shuttle," Tom said. "It's 2.5 Million kilometers from here, Captain,"
"Adjust course to intercept," I said.
"Aye Captain," Tom said. "The Implants in 7's body are disrupting the Transporter signal, I can't get a lock,
"Remodulate our transporters to match her shields," I said.
"Captain, you want to beam in there," Tom said.
"Yes," I said.
"I don't think That's such a good idea Captain, Close quarters, Borg against human, No offense but you don't stand a chance f she decides to put up a fight," Tom said.
"Let's hope the element of surprise works in my favour, Tom you got a better idea," I said.
"Come to think of it, No," Tom said. "She's charging weapons, Captain,"
"Set my coordinated for the aft compartment," I said.
"Ready, Captain," Tom said.
"Energize," I said.
"Good luck," Tom said.
"I will need it," I said As I was beamed over. As 7 was right behind me. As I tried to use it on her. But she got the upper hand and used a Vulcan neck pinch to knock me out.
XXX
When I finally came round. And got up. As I was going for the Hypospray. But a god damn forcefield blocked me.
"That's a level 5 forcefield, Captain, I suggest you be more careful," 7 said.
"Why have you left Voyager," I said.
"I am Borg," 7 said.
"You were borg, But you're human now, You are part of my Crew," I said.
"For a Brief time I was human, but I have come to realize that I am Borg, I will always be Borg," 7 said.
"What made you realize this," I said.
"Every Borg ship is coded to emit a distinct resonance frequency to guide Drones who have become separated from the collective," 7 said.
"A homing Beacon," I said.
"Yes," 7 said. "I am following a signal, A Borg Vessel is waiting for me,"
"We've scanned this entire region for Borg, There are none," I said.
"You're wrong," 7 said. "They are here,"
"7," I said.
"No," 7 said. "I will not assimilate you, Once I have returned to the collective, You will go back to Voyager, Tell the rest of the crew what's happened to me,"
"7, you been experiencing Hallucinations. Flashbacks," I said.
"Yes," 7 said.
"Does that usually occur when a resonance signal is activated?" I said.
"No," 7 said. "But I can hear them, calling me, I'm frightened,"
"That's understandable, Lower the force field, Let's go back to Voyager find out what's happening to you," I said. "Let's go back together,"
"I must rejoin the collective," 7 said.
"7 they may have raised you but you were born Human, They took everything you could of been when they assimilated you, But what I heard of them, They force people through this assimilation. They did that to you the first time, They took everything from you, Your family, Your memories, Forcing you to forget about them like there are nothing, But they are wrong those memories are what makes us us," I said. "This Bird, What's it look like,"
"The feathers are black, Wingspan approximately half a meter, Yellow eyes, and It has a powerful triangular beak," 7 said. "When it looks at me, I am paralyzed, I cannot move, It seems to know me, But I don't understand how that's possible, It's merely a bird, An inferior form of life, But the sight of it fills me with fear,"
"Sounds like a, Raven, You are describing a raven," I said.
"What is that important?" 7 said.
"That's it," I said.
"What," 7 said.
"The ship you were on with your parents, Before the borg got you," I said.
"What does that mean," 7 said.
"7, Your family's ship was called the USS Raven," I said.
The Resonance Signal is coming from the lunar surface, The Borg are waiting for me there," 7 said. "I don't know why I'm frightened, There are my people,"
"If you are afraid then leave this place," I said.
"Once I have been reintegrated into the collective, My fears will disappear," 7 said.
"Deactivate the forcefield, I'll go with you," I said. "You don't need to go alone,"
"You would be assimilated," 7 said.
"Not so sure, This situation isn't what it appears," I said.
"What do you mean what else could it be?" 7 said.
"I got a idea, But I'm willing to go with you to the surface and find out," I said. As 7 did it. "Now let's check that out,"
"What," 7 said.
"Computer, Scan the planet for a Federation signature," I said.
"One Federation signature detected," Computer said.
"What is it?" 7 said.
"If my idea is right, That's the Raven down there, Something must be happening. That resonance signal isn't calling you to the Borg, But Somewhere where you need to be," I said.
"No It is the Borg," 7 said.
"7, Let's go find out," I said. Grabbing a tricorder and Phaser. Then Beamed us down to the surface. As we were getting close to it. "The Signal's getting stronger,"
"They're here I'm sure of it," 7 said.
"This way," I said. "7, If you want we can return to the shuttle,"
"No, I have to find out," 7 said. "Captain, What is it?"
"It's a Federation Vessel, Partially assimilated by the borg, No lifesigns, Titanium decay it's been here for nearly 20 years, Roughly the Borg assimilated you, I say found the Raven," I said.
As we keep going.
"This vessel is familiar, This is the signal that's drawn me here," 7 said. As 7 shut it down.
"7," I said.
"Papa help me," 7 said as we went under the console.
"7, I'm here, Listen to me, Come on," I said as I got her from underneath.
"It happened here," 7 said. "This is where it began, This is where I was assimilated, This was our ship, We lived here," As I set my Tricorder to Download what was left in the Database. "We lived her for a long time. My father did experiments, They were very important and we had to travel a long way, I had my birthday here, My cake had 6 candles on it and and one more to grow on, And then the men came, Papa tried to fight them but they were too strong, I tried to hide, Maybe they wouldn't find me because I was little, But they did, And the Papa said we were going to crash and the Big man picked me up, And then suddenly we weren't on this ship anymore, We were somewhere else, And then I became Borg,"
"The Signal must have been active since the ship was assimilated and Voyager passed within range, It drew you here," I said.
"The ship is under attack," 7 said.
"The B'omar, The Ship will collapse, Let's go," I said Grabbing my Tricorder as it was finished and we ran for it.
"This way," 7 said.
"Are you okay" I said.
"I am undamaged," 7 said. "This was the only way to the hatch,"
"Then let's clear it," I said. As we started to clear it. "7 give me a hand, Ready go, Come on," As we got out. As we got beamed up. Onto the Shuttle.
"Captain," Tom said. "Voyager, I got them we're on our way back to Voyager,"
"Commander as soon as we are onboard, Warp 8," I said.
"Aye Captain," Commander said.
As we docked and we went to Warp.
XXX
I went to Find 7 and found her on my Holodeck program so I went in.
"There you are, I wanted to tell you that the Doc said he could adjust one of your implants so that you won't receive any more homing signals," I said.
"Thank you," 7 said. "I hope you don't mind That I activated this program,"
"Not really," I said.
"You were right, When you said those things about the Borg. I would have been raised by them, Learned form them, They would have influenced what I became, Who and what I am," 7 said.
"And you," I said. "Would have done the same for them, If you'd like to know more about your Parents, There's information in the Database,"
"Information," 7 said.
"It seems they were fairly well known, For being unconventional, and for some rather unique scientific theories, You might like to read what's there, It might, Tell you a few things," I said.
"Perhaps I will," 7 said. "Someday, Captain I couldn't help but think there was another reason why you came with me,"
"Do you want me to tell you," I said.
"No, I would rather figure it out," 7 said "Good Night,"
That's all for this chapter.
More to follow.
Stay tuned and safe.
Love Y'all
PEACE!