DISCLAIMER: It's Paramount's galaxy.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: C/7. AU where Seven of Nine initiates contact with Commander Chakotay two years before the events of Scorpion with knowledge of the past, present and future from other universes.

I'm a bit blocked on my two unfinished stories and have also lost some steam in writing fanfiction in general. I got this idea for another AU, so I thought I'd give it a go and perhaps it might inspire me with the others. We'll see how it goes.

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INEVITABLE

Stardate 49005.3

Commander Chakotay sat at the controls of a shuttlecraft three light years from Voyager. He cleared his throat and activated a button on the pilot's console. "First Officer's personal log, stardate four nine zero zero five point three. The captain has granted me the use of the shuttlecraft so that I may perform the pakra, a solitary ritual commemorating the anniversary of my father's death." He hesitated for a moment. There was so much more he wanted to say, more thoughts he wanted to sort out, but decided to end the recording for now and complete it later, after the ceremony. He put the shuttlecraft on autopilot, picked up his medicine bundle, and moved to the empty space in the center of the shuttlecraft. Sitting down cross-legged, he unwrapped his medicine bundle and carefully placed the contents out on the floor. Atop the leather wrapping were three items. A blackbird's wing he had found as a child with his mother on Dorvan, a chah-mooz-ee river stone his father had given to him, and an akoonah. He placed his hands over the items and then picked up the stone and placed it into the palm of his hand, covering with his other hand and bringing it up to his chest. "A-koo-chee-moya. I pray on this day of memories to speak to my father, the one whom the wind called Kolopak. Though I am far from his bones, perhaps there is a spirit in these unnamed skies who will find him and honor him with my song. A-koo-chee-moya." He closed his eyes and let his hands fall down to the floor, still holding the stone in one of them. Before his vision quest, he would meditate about his father. "A-koo-chee-moya," he repeated.

Suddenly, Chakotay was shaken from his meditation by a heavy hit on the shuttlecraft. He looked up towards the controls. "Computer, report!" he called out as he quickly folded up his medicine bundle and moved back to the pilot's station.

"The shuttlecraft has sustained phaser fire. Minor damage to aft shields."

"Source?"

"A Kazon spacecraft closing at one nine five mark six."

Chakotay glanced at the sensors. It was a small vessel, not much bigger than his shuttlecraft. It discharged its weapons in another volley. "Computer, open a channel to the Kazon vessel." The channel was opened. "This is Commander Chakotay of the Federation Starship Voyager. Why have you fired on me?"

A Kazon youth appeared on the monitor. He couldn't be older than fourteen or fifteen years. "You are in Kazon-Ogla space, Federation."

"I wasn't aware of that. I have no hostile intentions. Power down your weapons and I'll leave."

"No one who violates Ogla space leaves," the Kazon replied, trying to sound ominous but not being fully successful.

Chakotay had no desire to battle with the Kazon boy. "Look, son, my starship is only a few light years away."

"I am not your son, Federation. I am your executioner."

Chakotay was getting frustrated. "Chakotay to Kazon vessel. Listen carefully. I do not want a fight. Stand down or I'll be forced to return fire."

Before the Kazon could respond, however, and before Chakotay could act on his threat, the shuttlecraft lurched as if caught up in a tractor beam. Chakotay quickly checked his sensors. The source of the tractor beam was not the Kazon vessel but from a different unidentified tetrahedron-shaped ship that had arrived unnoticed. The ship with the shuttlecraft in tow turned and went to warp, but only for a few seconds before returning to normal space. The tractor beam disengaged. The whole engagement happened in less than ten seconds.

Chakotay quickly glanced over the sensors when the shuttlecraft's communications were opened. "Chakotay," a female's voice addressed him, audio only, halfway between a question and a statement.

"Who is this?" Chakotay responded. He forgot about the sensors and instead looked about out the front windows of the shuttlecraft to see if he could get a view of the woman's ship, but it was not visible.

"Please confirm you are Commander Chakotay, First Officer of the starship Voyager."

"I am Chakotay. Now who are you?"

There was a long pause, and then in the same matter-of-fact voice, "your future companion and wife."

Chakotay leaned back in his chair. How exactly do you respond to that? "That seems a bit presumptuous," he finally replied. "Explain yourself."

"I have recently come into possession information regarding the circumstances in many other alternate realities existing in parallel with our own," she responded, her voice strong and precise. "In ninety-two percent of these alternate universes, the two of us end up as lifelong companions. In another seven percent, the two of us were intended for each other, but one of us was killed before our relationship is consummated. Since our future together is statistically inevitable, I have sought you out."

Again, not at all what he was expecting and a strange turn of events from his meditation just a few minutes before. "How did you know where to find me in this universe?" he asked, deciding to play along for now.

"Although I do not possess a complete history of all the events in each of these alternate realities, I do have knowledge of some specific highlights from each. From each universe's past, present, and future, particularly as it relates to the two of us. In a number of instances, for universes like our own, at this particular stardate, you were seeking solitude to perform the pakra ceremony in the sector I found you and subsequently came into conflict with a Kazon Ogla boy named Kar. Although Kar was unsuccessful in destroying your shuttlecraft, you were captured by the Kazon Ogla. You eventually escaped and returned to Voyager. I decided this was an ideal opportunity to intercept your shuttlecraft and for us to first meet and to speak with you alone."

"Some of the events you speak of did not take place. I was not captured by the Ogla. I didn't need to escape nor have I yet to return to Voyager."

"Nevertheless. If I had not intervened, that is what would have happened."

It was a lot to take in, and Chakotay wasn't sure he believed anything she was saying. Of course she did seem to know why he was in the shuttlecraft alone and away from Voyager. Could what she was saying possibly be true? "Who are you?" he asked, curiosity building in his mind.

"Request permission to beam aboard your vessel," the woman replied instead.

Chakotay hesitated for only a moment. "Of course."

Immediately, a single individual materialized in the rear of the shuttlecraft in a greenish transporter beam. Chakotay recoiled a bit as he immediately recognized the figure as a Borg drone. She was completely covered with Borg armor, although her hands and arms were intact and had not been replaced with a specialized appendage. One half of her face was covered with an ocular implant and a device protruded from one of her eyes. She stepped forward and raised her hand slightly. "Do not be alarmed Chakotay," she soothed, very uncharacteristically for a drone. "I am no longer Borg. I've been disconnected from the Hive Mind for ten days now, looking for you."

Chakotay was still getting over the shock of her appearance. "Who are you?" he repeated.

The Borg drone appeared to relax ever so slightly. If Chakotay didn't know better, it even appeared as if she was faintly smiling. "I am human. Assimilated into the Borg when I was very young. My name before assimilation was Annika Hansen, and in a number of alternate realities, I am referred to by this same designation after being freed from the Borg. My last Borg designation before I was severed from the Hive Mind was Seven of Nine, Tertiary Adjunct to Unimatrix Zero-One. In the majority of the realities I'm aware of, however, as your wife, you simply refer to me as Seven."