Chapter 79.
Season 4 finale
Hope and Fear.
(Scott POV)
7 and I were on the Holodeck playing Velocity. It was the final round as we were hitting it back and forward over again then I hit the wall and dropped my Phaser. But When I got it I heard it come as I turned and fired as it hit 7.
"Full impact, Final round to McCall Winner McCall," Computer said.
"Good game," I said. As I got up.
"For you," 7 said.
"Oh come on, 7, You 4 out of 10 rounds," I said. "Nothing to be ashamed of,"
"On the Contrary, I have superior visual acuity and stamina, I should've won every round," 7 said.
"Well, Velocity is more than a test of stamina, It's a game of wits," I said.
"You are a frustrating opponent," 7 said. "During the final round after your dropped your phaser, you didn't even look at the disc, And yet you were able to acquire the target,"
"Intuition," I said.
"Intuition is a human fallacy, The belief that you can predict random events," 7 said.
"Oh Belief had nothing to do with it," I said. "Done the same thing in Lacrosse too, I was aware of several factors, The direction of the disc after I hit the wall, the sound it made on its return and the shadow it cast on the hologrid,"
"Intriguing but implausible," 7 said.
"I still won, didn't I?" I said. "Thanks for the match,"
"I wish to play again," 7 said.
"Not today," I said.
"You are fatigued and concerned that I will defeat you," 7 said.
"Tired yes, Concerned. no," I said.
"Computer begin first round," 7 said.
"Computer belay that command," I said. "7 try to be a sport, Game's over,"
As I went headed for my quarter where I got Showered and into my uniform. Before I headed to the bridge.
XXX
"Captain's Log Stardate 51978.2 It's been 5 months since we received the encoded message from the Alpha Quadrant, We know that the Transmission was from Starfleet Command, But we still can't decrypt it, B'Elanna thinks it's a lost cause, that too much of the datastream has been destroyed, But I haven't given up, I keep hoping inspiration will strike some how, End log," I said.
As I was in the Mess Hall still trying to get it.
"Good morning," Chakotay said.
"What time is it?" I said.
"0500," Chakotay said.
"Oh well then good morning," I said.
"I just heard from Tom and Neelix, They're about to leave the Trading colony," Chakotay said.
"Any luck," I said.
"According to Tom, the shuttle's so load down with supplies he won't make half impulse," Chakotay said. "Neelix is asking permission to bring one of the locals on board, He's been very helpful, and Neelix wants to repay him by giving him passage to the next system,"
"Permission granted," I said.
"You might want to get some sleep," Chakotay said. "We've got a big day ahead,"
"I will in a while," I said.
"Still hunting for buried treasure," Chakotay said.
"We've found the Treasure, Just can't pick the damn lock. I've tried over 50 decryption algorithms, Every time I piece together a data block, 10 more come unravelled, What the hell did Starfleet send us, A map. The Location of a wormhole, Weapons upgrades, System upgrades. If I could decode this today, Chakotay, We could be home tomorrow," I said. "Then Again, It could be Admiral Chapman's recipe for the perfect pound cake, I've been pinning our hopes on this message, but I'm started to wonder,"
"One way or another we've got to find out," Chakotay said. "I'll talk to B'Elanna, You could enlist 7 of 9,"
"Hm, She should have a few Borg algorithms up her sleeve If she's in the mood," I said.
"Problems?" Chakotay said.
"Beat her on Velocity. But I don't know if she's restless or if it's just me, But we're butting heads more than usual lately, She seems to challenge everything I say," I said.
"She's learned a lot from you over the last year," Chakotay said. "Maybe the Pupil thinks she's outgrowing the mentor,"
"Maybe, Well this mentor would like another cup of coffee, Join me," I said.
"Love to," Chakotay said.
XXX
Tom and Neelix finally got back as I was meeting the guest.
"Captain, This man is a genius, I was trying to negotiate with a xenon based life form When the universal Translator went offline, Arturis here stepped in And acted as a perfect go between," Neelix said. "And he'd never heard either of our languages,"
"Oh they were simple," Arturis said.
"Oh," I said.
"No insult intended," Arturis said.
"Neelix," Tom was shouting.
"On my way," Neelix said. "If you 2 will excuse me,"
"Well Welcome to Voyager, We may be a linguistically simple folk, But we're happy to give you a ride, Let's see if we can find you some quarters," I said.
"Neelix was right," Arturis said. "Voyager is a welcoming place,"
"Well we do our best," I said.
"I can't say I've ever met a living universal translator," I said.
"Oh my people have a way with languages, I myself know over 4,000," Arturis said.
"Holy shit, And I think I still struggle with Basic Klingon, You couldn't have heard Neelix say more than a few phrases," I said.
"It was all I needed," Arturis said. "It was enough to grasp the grammar and syntax," Arturis said.
"Impressive," I said.
"Oh not really," Arturis said. "It's a natural ability, Some species are born with great physical prowess, Other's like yours, With a generosity of spirit, My people can see patterns where others see only confusion,"
"McCall to McCall," Clara said.
"Go ahead," I said.
"Dad you coming home tonight," Clara said.
"Yeah, I will be, Just," I said.
"I know, Dad, I will," Clara said.
"Was that," Arturis said.
"My daughter," I said. "Got 2 of them,"
"Is something wrong?" Arturis said.
"No, They're fine, But tell me, How are you at computational languages," I said. "Algorithms? Trinary syntax?"
"It's all the same to me," Arturis said.
"I was wondering if you might do us another favour," I said.
XXX
"You weren't exaggerating, Captain, This Datastream is badly damaged, I'd like to see the entire Transmission again," Arturis said. "Are you Borg,"
"Yes," 7 said.
"You're much more attractive than the average drone," Arturis said.
"I am no longer part of the Collective," 7 said.
"Ah I see, I see, I think I see the problem, Well may I," Arturis said.
"Please," I said. "Have you encountered his people before,"
"Species 116," 7 said.
"Is that what you call us?" Arturis said.
"Yes, the Borg has never been able to assimilate them," 7 said. "Not yet,"
"7," I said.
"I'm just stating that someday, The Borg could one day adapt," 7 said.
"Oh, It's all right, Captain, The Borg collective is like a force of nature, You don't feel anger toward a storm on the horizon, You just avoid it," Arturis said. "Ah, Here it is It's a simple matter of extracting the Iconometric elements and triaxilating the recursion matrix,"
"Now why didn't I think of that?" I said.
"There's a great deal of information here, Captain," Arturis said. "I think it might be useful to utilize the other monitors,"
"You've done it," I said.
"Almost I've Reconstructed over 68 kiloquads of Information, but a lot of it is still garbled," Arturis said.
"What about that data block 14 Beta," I said.
"That part of the message is too degraded, to recover," Arturis said.
"Captain I've found a spatial grid," 7 said.
"They've marked a set of Coordinates, It's less than 10 lightyears from here," I said.
"Maybe Starfleet want us to proceed to that location," 7 said.
"Maybe, there's only one way to find out," I said.
XXX
We were on the Bridge.
"We're approaching the coordinates," Tom said.
"Take us out of warp, Scan the vicinity,," I said.
"I am picking up a vessel," Tuvok said.
"On screen," I said.
"Identify," Chakotay said.
"Unless I am mistaken Captain, The warp signature is Starfleet," Tuvok said.
"I'll be damned they came through," Tom said.
"Tuvok?" I said.
"Hailing them, No response," Tuvok said.
"Life signs," Chakotay said.
"There' is no organic matter of any kind," 7 said.
"No sign of damage to the outer hull," Harry said. "Primary systems are online, Including Life support, Something must have happened to the crew,"
"The Answer is somewhere in that Starfleet Transmission, We need to finish decoding it, May I call on your Talents again," I said.
"Of Course," Arturis said.
"Chakotay, Take an away team and secure the vessel," I said.
"Tom, Tuvok," Chakotay said.
"Captain I won't pretend to know you well, But Am surprised you're not more, encouraged by this discovery," Arturis said.
"I've learned to walk the line between Hope and Caution, We've had other opportunities that didn't work out, But I will admit, I'm leaning toward hope this time," I said. When I was actually stay in between. Something was wrong.
XXX
"Bridge to McCall," Harry said. "The Vessel's moving away at high impulse, I can't raise the away team,"
"Pursuit Course, Harry, 7," I said. As we headed for the Bridge.
"Bridge to McCall, They're gone," Harry said.
"Use sensors see if we can find them," I said.
Not long after we got to the Bridge.
"Anything," I said.
"No," Harry said.
"Set course for that ships last known direction, Maximum warp," I said.
"Aye Captain," Helm said.
XXX
"Captain's Log Supplemental, After 2 days at high warp, we've rendezvoused with the Dauntless, Arturis has helped us reconstruct most of the Starfleet message, The piece of this puzzle are finally coming together, End log," I said. As I was in the Conference room.
"Slipstream technology is experimental and high risk, But It's come a long way in the past year, We've conducted 47 trail runs all of them successful, but each flight lasted only 5 days, In order to reach Earth, You'd have to remain at Slipstream velocity for a full 3 months, Can your crew survive that long? We believe they can, and we encourage you to try, Everything you'll need is on the Dauntless. Power Cells Supplies, Living quarters, Safe journey, We hope to see you soon," Admiral Hayes said. As it went off.
"Admiral Hayes, Good man, Fine officer, Bit of a wind bag," I said. As everyone chuckled at that. "Let's talk about the risk, Doc,"
"I've examined the away team for signs of cell damage or physiological stress nothing. Their little joyride didn't harm them in the slightest," Doc said.
"Long term effects," I said.
"I'm running the medical projections right now, So far the result are encouraging," Doc said.
"And the Dauntless Itself," I said.
"I'd say it's in pretty good shape considering," Chakotay said.
"I've been looking over the Primary systems Helm ops, tactical, They're comparable to Voyager's, But it's a lean ship Captain, No shuttlecraft, only one transporter, No holodecks, no replicators,"
"Well Mr. Neelix you may have your work cut out for you," I said.
"Ready and willing Captain," Neelix said.
"So what are we waiting for," Harry said.
"You enthusiasm is premature, Voyager is a proven Vessel, It would be reckless to abandon it so quickly," 7 said.
"Come on, Where's that Borg spirit? We'll adapt," Harry said.
"My Borg Spirit gives me an objectivity you lack," 7 said.
"She has a point," Tuvok said. "This would mean leaving Voyager behind,"
"Is there any way we could modify Voyager to create a slipstream," Chakotay said.
"In theory, but I don't think the ship would hold up very long under the quantum stresses," Tom said.
"Try to make the modifications, If there's a way we can bring Voyager along for the ride, I'm all for it, I Don't plan on leaving this ship behind, Harry, B'Elanna, I want you to take an engineering team down to the Dauntless, Start working on a way to shut down the slipstream drive at a moment's notice," I said.
"Aye Captain," B'Elanna said.
"Once we have that safeguard in place, We can start making the test flights, I want this entire crew to familiarize them selves with that ship," I said. "See to it, Dismissed,"
"Tuvok, a Moment," I said. "Big Day,"
"Indeed," Tuvok said.
"A way home, We've been waiting for this moment for years, Why don't I feel more enthusiastic," I said.
"Perhaps my mental discipline is rubbing off on you," Tuvok said.
"Perhaps, What do you think about this little miracle of ours," I said.
"I share your concern about the crew's safety, We must take every precaution," Tuvok said.
"Somehow I don't think standard diagnostics and security protocols are gonna make me feel any better," I said.
"Captain," Tuvok said.
"All of this is just a little too perfect, The Alien genius with the answers to all of our problems, The Message from Starfleet telling us everything we wanna hear, A starship delivered to our doorstep, What more could we ask for?" I said. "They even turned down the beds, They only thing missing was chocolates on the pillows, I don't know about you, But I can feel something isn't right here,"
"It does seem convenient," Tuvok said.
"Too Convenient, But all of this started something was wrong," I said.
"It started when Arturis boarded Voyager," Tuvok said.
"Exactly, Something about him just didn't sit right with me, We'll proceed as planned, But I want you to investigate that ship from Stem to Stern Every damn Scan we can. And Keep an eye on our guest, See if you can find out more about him," I said.
"Understood," Tuvok said.
"Let's hope we're just suffering from some good old fashioned paranoia, Keep me updated," I said.
XXX
"Captain's log Supplemental, So far, the crew hasn't found any evidence to support my doubt about Arturis, Nevertheless I've told them to keep looking and to keep their optimism in check, but that one order I don't expect them to follow to the letter, Despite my apprehension, I can't help but wonder what I'll be doing in 3 months time, Still guiding Voyager through the Delta Quadrant, Searching for a way home, Or looking up Kathryn's sister, End Log," I said.
I was in the Astrometrics lab. Trying to get the Chuck Arturis said it was saying was in retrievable. But I wasn't going to take his work for it. As the door opened as 7 came in.
"7 I could use your help," I said. "I'm trying to reconstruct the last fragment of the starfleet message,"
"Arturis said it was irreparably damaged," 7 said.
"I know, But I think he gave up too easily," I said.
"Intuition," 7 said.
"Instinct if I'm right, I've designed a new decryption algorithm, Let's give it a try," I said.
"Captain," 7 said. "I will not be going with you to the Alpha quadrant,"
"I can understand your reluctance, It's been hard enough dealing with a crew of 152 individual humans, The prospect of an entire planet must be overwhelming," I said.
"I am not overwhelmed, I simply do not wish to live among humans," 7 said.
"Well, whether you like it or not, You're one of us, You've come a long way from that drone who stepped out of a borg alcove 9 months ago, Don't turn your back on humanity now, Not when you're about to take your biggest step, Earth. Your home," I said.
"I may have come a long way, But not in the direction you think, You've attempted to influence my development, You exposed me to your culture, your ideals, You hoped to shape me in your own image, but you have failed, you may have noticed our tendency to disagree," 7 said.
"Oh I've noticed," I said.
"They you must also recognize that I do not share your values, Your desire to explore space is inefficient, Your need for familial connections is a weakness, You infatuation with this planet is irrational," 7 said.
"I won't argue that you've turned out differently than I expected, And that we often have conflicting points of view, But right now the stakes are higher, This crew needs your expertise, Abandon them and you diminish their chances of getting home," I said.
"Irrelevant," 7 said.
"No it's not, We've given you a lot 7, It's time you gave something in return," I said.
"I have on many occasions, Now I refuse," 7 said.
"What would you do, Go back to the Collective," I said.
"I don't know," 7 said.
"Then what exactly do you have in mind?" I said.
"I don't know," 7 said.
"That's my point, you're asking me to cast you adrift in the Delta Quadrant alone and without support, I wouldn't grant that request to any member of this crew, Because it's too dangerous," I said.
"I will survive," 7 said.
"On what, Borg Perfection?" I said.
"Precisely," 7 said.
"I don't buy it, This isn't about your independence, your superiority, This is about you fear, You're not making this choice because you've outgrown humanity, I think you're afraid to go back to Earth," I said. As the console beeps. "The Algorithms working, It's reconstructing the Data Block, Nice one McKay, Knew that bs of your may come in handy. That's strange, I thought we already recovered this part of the message,"
"Perhaps it is an addendum form the Admiral, You did designate him a windbag," 7 said.
"No, It's not, The Data index doesn't match, This is a completely different message, Got it," I said.
"Apologies from Everyone at Starfleet command, We've had our best people working around the clock trying to find a wormhole, A new means or propulsions anything to get you back home, But despite our best efforts, I know it's not what you were hoping, But we have sent you all the data we've collected on the Delta Quadrant, Including System upgrades. With any luck you'll find at least some part of it useful, Maybe enough to shave a few years off your trip, Safe journey, We hope to see you soon," Admiral Hayes said. As it cancelled.
"Your instinct was correct," 7 said.
"Unfortunately," I said.
"Arturis must have created a false message," 7 said.
"Look exactly like that," I said. "McCall to Tuvok,"
"Yes, Captain," Tuvok said.
"My suspicions have been confirmed," I said as we left astrometrics. "Arturis tampered with Starfleet's message, The Dauntless isn't what it appears to be. It's not a Starfleet ship,"
"I agree, We've discovered alien technology behind a bulkhead in Engineering I can't identify it," Tuvok said.
"Where's Arturis now," I said.
"On The Dauntless Bridge working with Lt Torres," Tuvok said.
"Go to the Bridge, But Don't tip our hand, I'll be there with a full security team within Minutes," I said.
"Understood," Tuvok said.
"McCall to Bridge," I said.
"Go ahead," Chakotay said.
"Get everyone apart from the people on the Bridge of the Dauntless, Arturis tampered with the Starfleet message, The Dauntless is no Starfleet Vessel, Tuvok just found alien technology on the Dauntless Engineering section," I said.
"Understood," Chakotay said.
"Have a security team meet me in Transporter room 2, With Phasers," I said.
"Aye Captain," Chakotay said.
"Let's get weapons," I said.
Once we got weapons we headed for the Transporter room and the Team was there also.
"Ready," I said.
"Yes, Captain," Munro said.
"Let's go," I said. "Energize,"
As we beamed over to the Dauntless Bridge.
"Evacuate the Repair teams," I said.
"Captain," B'Elanna said.
"Do it," I said. "Explain yourself,"
"I don't know what you're talking about," Arturis said.
"You a shit liar, You fabricated the message from Starfleet, I recovered the real transmission, The one you said was irreparably damaged," I said.
"That's absurd," Arturis said.
"Starfleet didn't send us this vessel," I said. "And you're not here to help this is your ship,"
"Please I, Stay calm, There must be an explanation," Arturis said.
"I tried to ignore my gut feelings, Because I got carried away with the excitement of getting my crew home," I said. "But you preyed on that didn't you, You took advantage of our hopes and Now I want to know why,"
"I," Arturis said. "Believe that there is a threat here, Captain, But not from me, I didn't feel it was my place to make accusations, But I saw her, Reconfigure several key algorithms 2 days ago, in the Astrometrics lab. And it seemed obvious, She must have been tampering with the Starfleet message,"
"You are lying," 7 said. She was telling the truth.
"She's been sabotaging your every effort to reach Earth, You don't have to believe me captain, You can find the evidence you need in her personal database," Arturis said.
"Evidence you placed there," I said. "In case you got caught. Take him to Voyager, Throw him in the brig,"
As he tried to do something as he knocked the security off him.
As Tuvok shot him but it didn't stop him as the ship changed.
"McCall to Voyager Get us out of here," I said as he put up a forcefield.
As They got Tuvok and the Security team but as they were beamed 7 and I he blocked it.
"Where are you taking us," 7 said.
"Home," Arturis said.
"How'd you create the Starfleet bridge," I said. "Holograms,"
"Particle synthesis," Arturis said. "Beyond your knowledge,"
"Is this what your people do, Prey on innocent ships?" I said.
"Innocent, Typical of Captain McCall, Self righteous," Arturis said.
"If I've offended you or your people in someway, Tell me," I said.
"Diplomacy Captain," Arturis said. "Your diplomacy destroyed my world,"
"What," I said. "What are you saying,"
"You negotiated an agreement with the Borg Collective, Safe passage through their space, And in return, you helped them defeat one of their enemies," Arturis said.
"Species 8472," 7 said.
"In your colourful language yes, Species 8472," Arturis said. "Did it over occur to you that there were those of us in the Delta Quadrant with a vested interest in that war? Victory would have meant annihilation of the Borg, But you couldn't see beyond the bow of your own ship,"
"Species 8472 was a greater threat to the universe than the Borg," I said.
"Who were you to make that decision," Arturis said. "A stranger to this quadrant?"
"There wasn't exactly time to take a poll, I had to act quickly," I said.
"My People managed to elude the Borg for centuries, Outwitting them always one step ahead," Arturis said. "But in recent years, the Borg began to weaken our defenses, They were closing in and Species 8472 was our last hope to defeat them, You took that away from us,"
"And then what, We left 8472 to destroy anything else that stood in their way. They threaten to destroy this entire Galaxy," I said.
"The outer colonies were the first to fall, 23 in a matter of hours, our sentry vessels tossed aside, no defense again the storm, and by the time they had surrounded our star system, hundreds of cubes, we had already surrendered to our own terror, A few of us managed to survive ten, 20,000, I was fortunate, I escaped with a vessel, alone but alive, I don't blame them, They were just drones, Acting with their collective instinct, You, You had a choice," Arturis said.
"I am sorry for what happened to your people, but try to understand I couldn't have known," I said.
"It took me months to find you, I watched and waited for my opportunity to make you pay for what you'd done," Arturis said.
"The Borg did it not us," I said.
"You did it, Then the Starfleet message, And I knew that your selfish desire to get home would surface again, that I could lure you to this vessel, That I could see to it that you'd all be assimilated and spent the rest of eternity as Borg," Arturis said.
"You wanted to get my Daughters over here to didn't you," I said.
"I was hoping to get your entire crew, but I'll settle for the 2 of you," Arturis said. "In a matter of hours this ship, will return to my homeworld, Inside Borg Space,"
"When that happens you will be assimilated as well," 7 said.
"That's irrelevant, This is what you wanted all along, Isn't it, To go back to your collective? You should thank me," Arturis said.
Be then he threw us into a brig on this ship. Then Left.
"Any ideas," I said.
"Not presently," 7 said.
"We better think of something, We come face to face with your former family in less than an hour, And that's one reunion I'd like to miss," I said. "Unless, of course you're looking forward to rejoining the collective,"
"I do not believe I am," 7 said.
"Not the ringing opposition I was hoping for but I'll take it," I said. "A drone could walk through this forcefield like it was thin air, Is there enough Borg technology left in your body to let it adapt?"
"If I activate the appropriate nanoprobes, I could alter my Bioelectric field, However I would need to adjust my cranial implant," 7 said.
"Would a microfilament do the trick," I said.
"It might," 7 said.
"Let's get one," I said using my combadge. "Once you get outside access that control panel and disable the forcefield. Then we'll try to reach the engine room,"
"And employ the emergency shutdown procedure," 7 said.
"Bingo," I said.
"Sufficient," 7 said. "You will need to cross link the third and sixth nodules,"
"Easy," I said. "Deja vu,"
"Captain," 7 said.
"If I recall, This is where our relationship began, in a brig 9 month ago, I served you from the collective, and damn you weren't exactly happy about it," I said.
"No, I was not," 7 said.
"In case I never get a chance to say this, I realize that I've been hard on you at times, But it was never out of anger or regret that I brought you on board, I'm your Captain, That means I can't always be a friend," I said. "understand,"
"No," 7 said. "However if we are assimilated, our thoughts will become one, And I'm sure I will understand perfectly. A joke, You yourself have encouraged me to use my sense of humour,"
"It still needs some work," I said.
"You were correct, Captain," 7 said.
"What about?" I said.
"My desire to remain in the Delta Quadrant was based on fear, I am no longer Borg, But the prospect of becoming human is unsettling," 7 said. "I don't know where I belong,"
"You belong with us. Me," I said.
"The Adaptations are complete," 7 said.
"Let's go," I said.
As 7 walked through the forcefield, and got the it shut down, As I got my combadge back together.
"We're in Business," I said.
As we headed for Engineering as we went and to a station.
"I can't initiate the emergency shutdown," 7 said.
"Our commands are being blocked from the Bridge," I said. "He's detected us,"
"The ship's velocity has just increased," 7 said. "At our present speed, We will enter Borg space in less than 12 minutes,"
"Do we still have access to the power distribution grid," I said.
"Yes," 7 said.
"If we can't throw the brakes, Let's swerve the wheel," I said. "Send a power surge into the Starboard thrusters,"
"the torsional stress at these speeds could tear the ship apart," 7 said.
"That or join the hive, Do it," I said. "If we're still in one piece, try and gain control of Navigation, I'll be on the bridge. We have a game of Velocity scheduled for tomorrow Holodeck 1, Keep the appointment,"
"Aye Captain," 7 said.
As I headed there as just before I got in. 7 hit the thrusters. Then Got into the Bridge.
"Sorry about the bumpy ride," I said.
"You can slow this ship down, But you can't stop it," Arturis said. "In 4 minutes Captain McCall will be gone, and a new drone will be born,"
"Don't count on it," I said as 7 threw us again. "7 has accessed your navigational systems, You taught us how to use this ship a little to well, I can't begin to imagine your loss, but try to see beyond your desire for revenge,"
"Revenge is all I have left," Arturis said.
"No, As long as you're alive, there's hope, Your people's accomplishments their Knowledge, their dignity can survive in you, End this," I said.
"I have just destroyed the navigational controls, No one can stop this ship now, Not even me," Arturis said. "2 minutes to Borg space,"
As we got hit.
"Wow," I said.
"Voyager," Arturis said.
"Come with us, it's not too late," I said. As I got beamed out.
"It is for you," Arturis said. trying to shot me
As I showed up on the Transporter room as did 7.
"Is it good to be home," I said.
XXX
"Captain's Log Supplemental, We remained in the Quantum slipstream for an hour before it finally collapsed, Our diagnostics have concluded that we can't risk using this technology again, But we did managed to get 300 light years closer to home, End log," I said.
As I got 7.
"Full impact, Final round to McCall, Winner, McCall," Computer said.
"Nice play, you almost had me," I said.
"Almost," 7 said.
"Go for another," I said.
"I must report to the astrometrics lab, There is work to be done," 7 said.
"Work, I gave the crew strict orders to take some R&R over the next few says, and that includes you," I said.
"There are more pressing needs, I am attempting to design another method of travelling at Slipstream velocities without Damaging Voyager," 7 said.
"I thought that was impossible," I said.
"Impossible is a word that humans use far too often, I wish to continue my efforts," 7 said.
"B'Elanna is trying to install the Hyperdrive we got back from that outpost. Then we gave that a test try. A few days ago you were ready to abandon ship, and here you are, practically laying in a course to Earth," I said.
"As we approached Borg Space, I began to reevaluate my future, The prospect of becoming a drone was unappealing," 7 said.
"Sometimes you've got to look back in order to move forward, Sounds to me like you're starting to embrace your humanity," I said.
"Maybe, But as I said, Nothing is impossible," 7 said.
"Computer, One more game," I said.
That's all for this chapter.
More to follow.
Stay tuned and safe.
Love Y'all
PEACE!