Chakotay was smiling as he walked to the bridge, his morning tea still steaming in his mug as he pretended to review a PADD. Really, he was thinking about Seven, specifically that her away mission was almost halfway done and he could expect her back very soon. He missed talking with her, teasing and being teased, their evenings together and her cooking. Even simply knowing she was in the cargo bay or astrometrics was something he'd begun to miss. More than once he'd caught himself heading to one or the other location before remembering she wasn't on Voyager at all.
He sighed. She'll be back soon. Then laughed at himself, wondering when he'd grown so soppy and dependent.
"Hey, Chakotay."
Turning at the sound of B'Elanna's voice, Chakotay's smile faltered only when she'd hurried to his side and he noticed her frown. "What is it?"
"Tom and I finished the diagnosis of the Barclay hologram last night."
"Last night?" He eyed her, trying to remember if he'd scheduled a night shift for her. He didn't think so.
"Yes, Tom and I found some coding that didn't seem right and – well – I – it just sort of kept unravelling from there."
Chakotay gave a partial nod. He understood the drive to continue a project when on a roll.
"Well, you're going to want to see what we found."
"Okay." Expecting her to produce a PADD or transfer a report to him, he was slightly confused when she nodded and turned. "What—"
"You're going to have to come to the holodeck for this one."
Confused, but willing to follow, he hurried to keep up.
[Holodeck]
Tom nodded a quick greeting to Chakotay, but refrained from any smartass remarks, which worried Chakotay even more than the couple's identical frowns.
"Should we call the Captain for this?"
B'Elanna shook her head as Tom put some commands into the console he stood at. "We will, but we thought you'd want to see this first."
At Tom's commands, the hologram of Reg Barclay appeared. He stood stoically, the animation removed or paused. Even so, Chakotay felt his shoulders tense, remembering the sight of the hologram standing over Seven's prone figure.
"Well?" Chakotay didn't have all day.
"Reg, what is your primary function?" B'Elanna addressed the unmoving hologram.
Still stoic, the hologram answered, "I am to make contact with the Federation ship known as Voyager."
"And your orders for when you make contact?" She and Tom glanced at Chakotay as she asked this.
"Befriend the crew, convince them to go through grid eight nine eight, a sector of space occupied by a red giant star."
That was odd. Chakotay began to understand Tom and B'Elanna's sombre expressions. "What-"
B'Elanna held up a hand. She wasn't done the interrogation yet. "And what is your ultimate objective?"
"Obtain the nanoprobes and send them through the geodesic fold by any means necessary."
"Nanoprobes?" Chakotay turned to the duo. Tom paused the program. "Are you sure?"
Tom nodded. "It took some work, but we were able to separate out the Starfleet programming from this extra coding. It seems to have been added in after the hologram was created, but not the way someone would normally write a program. It's as though whoever gave him this objective gutted the program, wrote their own encrypted subroutines and then put him all back together."
Chakotay didn't understand. He turned to B'Elanna. "When the Doctor expressed concern, you did a diagnostic."
"I was looking for something broken. He's not broken and the programming was only noticeable when Tom and I began breaking him down subroutine by subroutine."
Seven. Whoever it was wanted Seven. "Why? Who would do this?" How many people even knew Seven was on Voyager?
B'Elanna and Tom again glanced at each other. Tom spoke up. "We thought maybe the hologram got in contact with whoever modified him so we began reviewing communications during his time here."
"Did he send a message?"
"Yes." Tom nodded and pressed a command. The holographic Reg began to speak.
"In accordance with the seventy fourth Rule of Acquisition, Knowledge Equals Profit, I've enclosed the specifications you've requested. See you soon."
"He embedded it in the Captain's message to Starfleet."
"Ferengi." It was a bold and ambitious plan. Chakotay didn't need to ask the hologram what the plan was for the rest of the crew or even Seven. There was no way any of them would have survived the trip. He sighed. There was nothing they could do now and he was only glad the fold had closed on its own. "Do you have this written up?"
B'Elanna provided a PADD.
"All right. You two get some sleep. I'll advise the Captain."
The couple gratefully left for their neglected bed, leaving the unpleasant task of explaining the situation to Janeway.
Chakotay reviewed their report once, paused to let it all sink in, waited a moment more to calm his sudden anxiety with having Seven away, and then left to deliver the news.
[Flyer]
Trailing along behind a comet was not an easy task for a pilot, not even Tom. Harry was not as experienced as his friend, but he thought he was doing just fine. The Delta Flyer was still in one piece and he was as close as he could get without landing on the hurtling chunk of ice. A little shaking, therefore, was to be expected.
"Ensign Kim, please try and hold us steady," the Doctor's voice over the intercom interrupted Harry's concentration. "This sample is extremely fragile."
Harry sighed, his polite words tinged with more than a smidge of irritation. "Sorry, Doc. I'm doing the best I can."
"Maybe I should've insisted on Mister Paris."
"I'd give anything to trade places with him right now," Harry muttered. "Three more days of this and Tom might have to take over sickbay entirely."
Seven, who had witnessed as well as experienced enough of the Doctor's barbs over the last few days, was sympathetic. "We could disable his vocal processor."
Harry laughed, glad yet again for having Seven to diffuse his frustration and act as referee, both tasks she'd had to undertake multiple times already. "Best idea of this whole trip."
The Doctor's voice interrupted. "Seven, can you join me, please?"
"On my way." She stood with a sigh. This mission was tedious for her. It wasn't unworthy, just not a challenge and providing nothing of personal interest. Agreeing to go had simply been a kindness to others, who balked when they heard how much time it would be with the Doctor. She wished she could have stayed on Voyager with Chakotay.
[Aft Delta Flyer]
"I thought you might find this interesting." The Doctor, determinedly oblivious to her disinterest, showed her a magnification of their sample.
"Preanimate biomatter." She was unimpressed.
"Look deeper."
More to maintain peace than because she cared, she did as he asked. Magnified was an undeveloped nucleus in a cytoplasmic matrix.
"You know what is in there?" He waved his arms dramatically, as excited as though he'd made the most basic of biomaterial himself. "Buried deep inside that nucleus are primitive strands of DNA, the beginnings of life, Seven!"
She managed not to sigh. In the cockpit, she could have at least spent this time scanning for supplies or potential dangers, not stared at bits of primitive genetic material that may or may not develop into a moving piece of sludge in several million years. It wasn't that she didn't care, just that it wasn't relevant to them right now. "What's your point?"
Too excited to really care about her lack of interest, he waved a slide under her nose. "When I look at this, I don't see a mere cell. I see the potential for literature and art, empires and kingdoms."
"If you have such psychic abilities, you should consider a career outside of sickbay."
The Doctor didn't lose his enthusiasm. He barely heard her. "Someday, this cytoplasmic matrix may fall into the primordial sea of a distant world where it could ignite an evolutionary process. Eons from now, a creature not unlike you could emerge, look up at the stars and ask, who am I? How did I come to be? It's the miracle of creation, Seven. Doesn't that excite you?"
"I will leave a message to advise it of its humble origins."
The Doctor rolled his eyes at her, but any response he may have had was forgotten as the shuttle gave a violent shudder.
"Ensign Kim!" The Doctor was ready to call the ensign to task, but there was no time.
Harry's strained voice came over the comm. "We're under attack!"
Not having time to rush to the cockpit, Seven accessed the controls from a console in the aft.
"Seven, we've lost thrusters," Harry advised over the comm.
"I'll try reinitialising the driver coils." Since he left the line open, she could hear Ensign Kim try to send a mayday to Voyager, and the computer advising that subspace communications were offline. She identified the reason as a tractor beam from the alien ship.
"Remodulate our shields. That should break us free."
It was too late. The Delta Flyer just wasn't designed to withstand the alien technology or a full assault by such a larger ship. It was made for fancy flying, not fighting. "Shields are down."
Behind her, the Doctor flickered like a failing lightbulb. "What's happening?"
Distracted from trying to break the tractor beam, Seven realized the Doctor didn't have much time. "They're using some kind of disruption field. It's decompiling your matrix."
Harry, who could hear Seven as she could hear him, called over the comm., realizing there wasn't anything he could do to stop the larger ship from pulling them in. "Seven, you're going to have to hide the Doctor's programme."
The Doctor looked at Seven desperately as he flickered again. "Do something, please."
[Delta Flyer]
It was difficult to tell what surprised the Lokirrim male, Captain Ranek, more when he entered the aft of the Delta Flyer. There was a beautiful blonde, Borg woman – attractive enough for Ranek to briefly let his eyes rove – with metal implants on various parts of her body and her tone verging on what Ranek believed was hysteria. To top it off, there was no sign of the hologram they'd attacked and boarded for.
The Doctor, slightly panicked and occupying a body not his own, answered Ranek's demands with less control than he would have liked.
"You decompiled his matrix," he said, Seven's voice sounding more animated than normal even from his new vantage point. As much to test the limits of his temporary body as to prove to himself he could control it, he paced, waving his arms to emphasise his point to the Lokirrim staring at him. "You murdered him. You murdered our doctor."
Harry, despite the days of snipping with the Doctor was horrified. "Seven?"
"I'm sorry." He repeated Seven's words before she essentially assimilated his program. "There wasn't enough time."
As they walked and Ensign Kim tried to argue their way to freedom, the Doctor took stock of his unique situation. After he got over the strangeness of feeling the basic biology of his host, he began to enjoy being in Seven's body. Each contraction and release of muscles, each breath, every beat of her heart was a miniature miracle to him and a novel experience. To actually experience the processes he was programmed to know everything about… It was practically intoxicating.
They were placed in a small holding cell, the ship either not large enough or their security risk not high enough to separate Harry and Seven.
Upset about the loss of the EHM and naturally concerned for himself and Seven, Harry continued trying to get their captor's attention.
The Doctor, however, was busy testing out his new habitation.
"Careful, Ensign," the Doctor said, distractedly, "or you'll fracture a metacarpal."
Harry, whose hands really did hurt from pounding on the forcefield, stopped and glanced at Seven. "That'd be the least of our problems."
"The situation is not as desperate as it appears." The Doctor smiled to himself, flexing Seven's arm just to enjoy the feel of it.
Harry was incredulous. Seven was known for being infuriatingly calm in distressful situations, but this was particularly callous of her. "Not as desperate? We're prisoners on an alien ship. Voyager has no idea we're missing, and the Doctor's been decompiled."
Proud of his acting in the face of danger, clearly done so well that Ensign Kim had no idea who he was, the Doctor answered with a swagger. "The reports of my decompilation have been greatly exaggerated."
His whole body freezing in shock, Harry finally realized the mannerisms in front of him were very different from the co-worker he knew. Seven neither walked nor talked like the person in front of him. These mannerisms were more like… "Doc?"
Spinning with a wide smile, the Doctor replied, "Please state the nature of the medical emergency. Seven downloaded my programme into her cybernetic matrix." He patted Seven's strict coiffure, enjoying the mix of softness and stability as well as the utter amazement on Ensign Kim's face. "It's an interesting sensation, to say the least."
"And now you're in control of Seven's body?" There was the buzz of shock in his mind.
"Total control, it —" he absentmindedly trailed his hands downward, grazing breasts and he stuttered, dropping his hands, "— it seems."
"What about Seven, is she all right?" Harry thought it rather strange and almost shameful that he felt more concern at the loss of Seven than he did for the Doctor. And yet, she had turned out to be easier to work with than the EMH and had proven a pleasant friend.
Here the Doctor was required to fib just a little. There had only been enough time for Seven to absorb him into herself, but he believed himself a competent enough doctor to make an assessment from his position. "I scanned her before the aliens came aboard. Physiologically, she's fine. As for her consciousness, I'm assuming it's submerged, but there's no way to be sure until I vacate her systems and conduct a neurological exam."
Not entirely fooled, Harry immediately wanted see for himself that Seven was unharmed by this extreme move. "Then we need the mobile emitter… now."
Not really listening anymore, the Doctor paced again, just to feel Seven's strong muscles flex. She was slender, more so than the average human, but her small frame hid a Borg-enhanced strength few would guess at. "I should write an article for the Starfleet medical journal once we're back."
Intrigued by the shimmer of the forcefield he could see through her Borg eye, the Doctor held up her hand and reached out. The sharp zap of the current made him snap back Seven's hand.
"Careful!" Harry began to worry for more than Seven's consciousness. "That's not your body, remember?" Before the words were even out of his mouth, he knew the Doctor wasn't listening anymore. The Doctor raised Seven's hand again. This time the slight smell of singed flesh was the Doctor's lesson to not touch the forcefield. Harry sighed as the Doctor then becan roaming around the small holding cell. He began sniffing, which Harry tried to ignore.
"I know Seven's senses were more acute than the average humanoid but, I had no idea." The Doctor inhaled deeply and caught a strange scent, not stopping to think that any sensation would be strange to him. "What is that?"
Tired and somewhat overwhelmed, Harry sat and tried to think of what else to do.
"What is that smell?"
"What smell?"
"It could be an airborne toxin. Do you think they're trying to poison us?" He'd heard of the way Cardassians experimented on their victims. For all they knew, their captors were the same.
The Doctor followed the trail of sweet and musk around the room until… "It's you!"
Startled by having Seven's nose in his face, and her practically shout at him, Harry jerked away. He grew defensive under the eerie mix of Doctor-Seven accusation staring down at him. It took him a moment to understand what he was being accused of. "It's been a busy day. I guess I'm perspiring a little."
"A little?" His tone, if possible, became even more smug than usual. "Seven's had a busy day too, and she's come through it smelling like the proverbial rose."
Harry sighed, almost wishing the Doctor had been decompiled. He couldn't help thinking even Seven had better manners than to point out a little side effect of basic biology.
[Ready Room]
Janeway smirked as she reviewed her messages and reports for the morning, her trusty cup of coffee in hand. She's just come across the notification from Tom. Poor Tuvok.
The door chimed. She glanced up, welcoming the visitor. Her expression opened in pleasure as Chakotay entered.
"Kathryn."
"Good morning." Her brow raised at his serious expression. "It's too early for frowns that deep, Chakotay. You better have a coffee and come back later."
Shaking his head, Chakotay allowed himself a chuckle. "Sorry, but I think you'll want to see this sooner rather than later."
She took the PADD he held out. "What is it?"
"Tom and B'Elanna were apparently up burning the midnight oil diagnosing the Reg Barclay hologram."
"And…" Kathryn trailed off as she skimmed the report. Enough sank in that she returned her eyes to the top and began again to make sure she understood everything. When she had finished, she waved the PADD. "This is very serious."
Chakotay nodded. "What do you want to do about it?"
"This will have to go in our next message to Starfleet." That was absolute.
"I suggest we encrypt it in case the Ferengi are still intercepting our communications."
"Agreed." She sighed. The problem was there was only so much they could do. "I suppose other than that we can only wait for the next transmission to see if they realized their hologram didn't get through."
Chakotay again wished to have Seven still on Voyager just to assuage his nerves. Knowing how close he'd come to losing her and the lengths someone would go to obtain nanoprobes left him fidgety and uneasy.
"It'll be all right, Chakotay." Janeway had noticed him shuffling his feet. "The away team will be back soon. They'll be fine."
He forced himself to smile, pretending that her assurances had calmed him. Of course, she wasn't fooled.
[Seven's perspective]
Seven – the person both in the flesh and in the mind – watched as their captors led them back to their ship. She felt her body move, but had no control. Most of her body's movements and basic biology was regulated to some degree by the Borg technology throughout her systems. Since the Doctor's program was in the technology, not her actual mind, he had command while she was forced to move along with him.
She would have shuddered if she could, the feeling of being trapped within so reminiscent of being a drone in the Borg Collective that she had to quell a rising panic.
Panic is counterproductive, she told herself. The mantra didn't help.
Watching like a fly on the wall, Seven was both amused and disgusted by the Doctor's relish for the Lokirrim prison rations. True, she was in the habit of choosing meals for their practicality rather than taste when in a hurry, but she knew enough to understand that a dry ration was nothing to gush over. Time with Chakotay had taught her to appreciate quality as well as function.
"They're prison rations," said Harry as the Doctor relished the dry stick of basic nutrition. He hadn't even touched his own food. "My uniform probably tastes better."
Seven hoped the Doctor didn't decide to test that theory.
"You know," Seven felt her mouth move without knowing what her body was going to say, "I was thinking. When we get back to Voyager, perhaps you and Seven could help me modify my physical parameters."
She would have rolled her eyes if she could. Harry asked the question she already knew the answer to.
"Because I want to eat, of course," said the Doctor, "like any other member of the crew."
Harry couldn't help a little sigh of exasperation. "There's just one small problem. You don't have a stomach. Where is the food going to go?"
Perhaps he also wants a holographic digestive tract.
The Doctor thought about that. "A holographic stomach could be made to store the food for eventual recycling."
Ridiculous. She was just glad he didn't expect to share her body on Voyager just so he could eat.
Not able to resist rolling his eyes this time, Harry answered with rising irritation. "Maybe we should focus on something more productive, like getting out of here."
Yes, please. She wondered if the Doctor was going to ask for reproductive capabilities next.
"Relax, Ensign. I'm sure in no time at all, our shipmates will find us and the captain will clear up this little misunderstanding. In the meantime, are you going to finish that?" he asked, pointing at Harry's rations.
Not hungry enough to eat the rations and happy enough to have the Doctor distracted, Harry handed over the plate.
Ugh. Seven tasted the dry sticks and yet couldn't move to spit them out. She'd never hated Harry's generosity until then.
The prison doors opened and one of their captors, a female with long brown hair and a no-nonsense demeanour, entered. She leveled a coolly professional gaze at Seven.
"You," she nodded at Seven. "Come with us."
The Doctor went with their captors calmly. As he did, Seven took stock of the ship as they walked, but found nothing of real interest, not that she could have acted on anything she saw or found anyway. It seemed to be designed not unlike Voyager, or any other standard vessel. Still, she logged it all in her memory in case it proved useful later.
[Delta Flyer Aft]
Seven bristled to see the Lokirrim male, Ranek, poking and prodding around the shuttle. He ran though his readings of the Delta Flyer. "Much more sophisticated than the typical smuggler's vessel."
The Doctor crossed his arms, tired of repeating the same information without being listened to. "How many ways do you want me to say this? We are not smugglers, or terrorists. We are explorers. If you contact our ship, Voyager, Captain Janeway will explain everything. We were on a simple, exploratory mission. That's it."
Undeterred, Ranek pressed for more information. "If you are innocent, then you won't mind telling me more about this vessel. For instance, this device," he pointed to the replicator, "what does it do?"
"That's a standard food replicator."
"Can it be used to create bioweapons?"
"Not unless you count Mister Neelix's Bolian soufflé."
Seven chuckled to herself. Neelix was the only person who tried to improve a simple soufflé with hot spices and leola root.
The Doctor sighed at Ranek's blank look. "Let me show you." Forcing Ranek to move aside, he went to the replicator and ordered a cheesecake. The item appeared and he held it out to his captor, who eyed it warily.
"How do I know you're not trying to poison me?"
A valid question, Seven thought, though she too was getting tired of the extreme suspicion of the Lokirrim. They saw any gesture as a potential threat despite proof to the contrary.
The Doctor, not really thinking about it, rolled his eyes again and promptly took a bite of the cheesecake. The effect was instantaneous, the sugar and creaminess a thousand times better than the prison rations. "Mmm! Oh, I never imagined!"
Seven began to worry. She had eaten cheesecake with Chakotay and other indulgent meals too, but unlike the Doctor, she had the willpower and perspective to understand proportions.
Amused, Ranek watched the woman's face crumple in raptures over the dessert. "Is this the first time you've tried that?"
An hour later and Seven – the real Seven – was past being worried, past being angry; Seven was livid. Empty plates and glasses of synthehol surrounded them as she and Ranek lay on the floor. Though she had no ability to stop the Doctor from acting, she could still feel her body and its rebellion to the overindulgence he was putting it through. She could have tolerated a little extra food or alcohol, but the thing that she hated the most was her inability to say a word against it.
"So," said Ranek with a slight slur, "Seven, tell me about your cyb – cyper – cypher implants."
"Oh, what's to tell?" The Doctor waved Seven's arm dramatically, letting it thud back to the floor when it became too strenuous to hold it up. "I was a human taken by the Borg and forced by their cruel will to do their bidding."
"Borg?"
"You haven't heard of them?"
"We have, but we haven't really had to deal with them." He focussed on her. "What was it like being part of the Borg?"
"Terrible. The Borg are a vast, heartless collection of drones. Sure, we enjoy a longer lifespan and usually perfect health, but where's the humanity, the art, the beauty of life?" He sighed dramatically. "You know, during my time with the Collective we would go from one end of the galaxy to the other, assimilating cultures from everywhere. We sure knew how to travel! But…"
"But?"
"My life wouldn't have been really worth living if I hadn't joined Voyager. I met the one person who changed my life, the one who always saw my true potential."
"Your Captain." Ranek smiled, thinking himself in a similar position to give purpose and inspiration to those beneath him.
The Doctor scowled. "No, our Doctor."
"The photonic?" Ranek didn't scoff, but his disbelief was clear.
"That's right, the photonic." The Doctor struggled into a sitting position, Seven's normally graceful body feeling cumbersome and uncoordinated. "You should have met him. He would have proven to you that holograms are more than what you think. Remarkably handsome, witty, a towering intellect. No doubt if we hadn't been pulled to the Delta Quadrant, he would have been treasured by society. He was truly a man among mice. If he and I hadn't been colleagues..."
Even trapped in her own body and loopy from too much synthohol, Seven was torn between exasperation and pure amusement by this self-assessment. Clearly he should have reviewed Lesson 4 more thoroughly: Catching Bees with Honey and Humility.
"I hope you understand I had no choice." Ranek, despite having little remorse for this Doctor, was not immune to the effects of a pretty woman – even a somewhat unusual one as this Seven of Nine seemed to be – any more than he was immune to the champagne. He regretted doing something to upset her, even if it was in the course of his duties.
Uh-oh. Even foggy from the intoxicant, Seven didn't like the way Ranek looked at her. He was a handsome man, enough so to know his worth. He had the confidence of a man who rarely had to ask for anything and he looked at her like a man who didn't doubt he'd be granted whatever he wished.
"I can maybe help make it up to you, do something." Despite his self-assertion as a male and his strict appearance as a captain, Ranek was a kind enough man. He could offer help – to a degree – without demanding anything in return.
"Like what?"
"I'll ask for leniency, insist we contact your captain before we go too much further."
"That will only do so – so much. Even now I'm degrading."
"What do you mean?" Ranek's brow furrowed in honest confusion and concern.
"I need my regener- regeneration device. As you can see, my motor functions are already impaired." It wasn't entirely untrue. Without regeneration, Seven's Borg systems would degrade over time. It just wasn't as dire a situation as the Doctor suggested, not yet. He wouldn't admit it, but the synthehol was getting to him.
Or maybe humans are not the only people who need to learn about limitations, thought Seven.
Ranek thought carefully. Not only could he do something for this lovely woman, but he could bargain for something his ship desperately needed… if she was willing. He took the little device he'd confiscated from his pocket. "If I give this back to you, will you do something for me?"
"What?"
"I need a medic. Did you happen to learn any medical skills from your mentor?"
The Doctor and Seven smiled together. "As a matter of fact, he taught me everything he knows—um, knew. I'd be happy to help you."
Smiling, Ranek handed the mobile emitter over. "Good. You can start tomorrow."
[Corridor]
Standing had been a bad decision. The universe was none too steady as it was, but it practically spun as the Doctor tried to navigate Seven's intoxicated body through the corridors.
Seven was actually grateful to have the escort, who had to help stablize her more than once. With relief, she saw the familiar walls of the brig.
"Are you drunk?" Harry took Seven's arm as the forcefield snapped back, trapping them in the cell again.
The EMH hiccupped and answered defensively. "It wasn't my fault. Seven's unique physiology doesn't react well to synthehol." Another hiccup.
"What did they want?" he asked, eyeing Seven. Her step was wobbly, but overall, she seemed unharmed. He suspected the greater danger to Seven was actually the Doctor, not their captors.
"Captain Ranek asked about the Delta Flyer." Another hiccup. Deciding that standing was too much of a chore, the Doctor leaned against the wall.
"And?" Harry kept close, ready to catch her if she fell or passed out.
"How to use the replicator. It was a surprisingly pleasant meal. He's not so bad, once you get to know him."
He didn't know how Seven would feel about this information, but Harry was incredulous and miffed on Seven's behalf. Didn't the Doctor understand that it was Seven's body, not his own, that she was the only one who had a right to decide what to do with it? "You had a dinner date in Seven's body?"
"It wasn't a date." The Doctor smiled, thinking up an excuse for his behaviour as though it had been his plan all along. "It was a ploy, a rather ingenious one at that."
As the Doctor held up the mobile emitter in triumph, Harry couldn't help forgetting his irritation for his relief. Now they could talk to Seven and see if there were any harmful effects to her consciousness. "I don't want to know what you did to get this."
"Nothing unladylike, I assure you. He's a pleasant man by usual standards, but my preferences lean another way," he said, his eyes beginning to droop closed. Without the laughter and interesting conversation of Captain Ranek to keep his mood elevated, the Doctor felt the need to sleep.
"Fine, but did you stop to think what your behaviour might make Captain Ranek expect from you?"
"I'm sure he's a reasonable man."
"People can be both reasonable and irrational at the same time, especially when romance is involved. If Ranek suggests the only way to get us out of here is to sleep with him, is that what you're going to do?"
No! Seven felt adamant about that, but she knew that if the EMH had different ideas…
"Pfft. I might be slightly out of sorts from the synthehol, but even I know Seven's a one-man sort of woman." He lay down on the prison bed, but there was no way for even the Doctor to believe the austere décor was comfortable.
Harry glanced at the EHM with confusion at the bitter tone. "Pardon?"
A little more under the influence of intoxication than he was willing to admit, the Doctor spoke without thinking as he wriggled on the cot, trying to find a comfortable spot. "They're sleeping together," he said as though Harry were a complete idiot.
"Who?"
"The Commander." The name was spat out with no small amount of animosity. The Doctor rolled to face the wall, but his grumbling remained perfectly clear. "She doesn't realize that it's just a fling, but she will."
"Oookaay…"
"So, even if Ranek suggested it, which I think I'm smart enough to see coming, which won't be happening because he has no interest in Seven, neither she nor I will be participating in such activities with him."
Not entirely sure what to do with this information, or how accurate it was, Harry decided to let it go and hope the Doctor would stick to his decision. "So, what did you do then?"
"I offered to act as their medic temporarily."
He supposed that was fine. There wasn't really a downside to letting the Doctor practice his craft in an attempt to get them leniency. "Fine. Let's download your programme before they change their minds."
The last glass of champagne was catching up to him, the room spinning more than it should. Not too focussed, the Doctor obediently lifted Seven's hand to attach her Borg assimilation tubules to the mobile emitter.
When a fist covered in Borg technology nearly assimilated his forehead, Harry grabbed Seven's wayward arm. "Hey! Careful where you point those tubules."
Blinking to try to restore some semblance of normalcy, the Doctor apologized and allowed Harry to guide Seven's hand to the mobile emitter. It took a little concentration, but the Doctor was able to make the tubules to appear. Following pre-programmed commands, they automatically connected with the closest piece of technology.
One moment he was in a flesh and blood body and the next, the Doctor flickered into existence as himself again.
Seven felt control return instantly, leaving her to manage the pain and discomfort of too much food and alcohol. She almost threw up right then. Only extreme control prevented Harry from being covered in the evidence of the Doctor's indulgences. Without realizing it, she swayed forward. Harry's hands pushing her back were the only thing that stopped her from falling.
"Are you all right? How do you feel?" Harry watched her face worriedly, reassured when her eyes focussed and she ground out a reply.
"Impaired."
The Doctor spoke up eagerly, not realizing what was the cause of her discomfort. "My program took over your system entirely, but I'm sure the symptoms will pass. Let me explain what's happened."
"I know exactly what's happened." Seven glared up at him, unable to do much more until she regained her equilibrium. "You've been abusing my body."
Spluttering a little, he tried to reiterate what he had to Harry.
"I was there, Doctor," Seven reminded him.
"I'm not a spy. I had to improvise."
"Consuming four glasses of wine is not improvising."
Harry looked at the Doctor, brows raised. "Four?"
"I guess I sort of lost track." He tried to appeal to Seven, but she pulled away angrily.
"Have you been aware this whole time?"
"Unfortunately." She was none too happy about the Doctor telling Ensign Kim about her relationship with Chakotay. She didn't even want to discuss the Doctor's intoxicated assessments of her life. Judging by how he paled as he realized what she would have heard, he didn't want to discuss it either.
Recovering a little, the Doctor pointed to his mobile emitter. "But it worked!"
"Yes, you succeeded in consuming more food in one sitting than any human needs in three days."
"I apologise if I overindulged. I'll be more careful next time."
"If?" She shook her head. "There won't be a next time."
"But they'll decompile my programme." Since he knew Seven rarely gave empty threats, there was a real note of panic in his voice. "Please, Seven, I know you're angry, but we'll have to do this if we're going to get out of here."
"How do you propose we do that? Will another cheesecake make Captain Ranek spontaneously disobey his orders?"
"Maybe you can tap into their comm. system," said Harry, eager to put an end to the argument. "You could get a message to Voyager."
The Doctor shook his head. "Deciphering alien computers isn't exactly my forte."
"But it is one of mine," said Seven, cottoning on to Harry's plan. "If you can get close enough while they're accessing their systems, I'll be able to observe their command protocols."
The three of them paused when they heard the guard speaking.
"It appears your medical skills are required," said Harry. He looked to Seven. "You're up."
Sighing irritably, Seven still managed to stand and reach for the mobile emitter. The change was instant as the Doctor's programming once more filled her cybernetic implants. He could even feel how quickly Seven's nanoprobes were ridding her body of the alcohol. His head was becoming clearer.
[Lokirrim Sickbay]
In the medical bay, the Doctor was at least not disappointed by lack of resources. A glance told him the only thing they really needed was a trained medic. Part of him was glad he could then be of use.
"Please state the nature of the medical emergency."
"Miss Seven," the pretty, somewhat stern brunette who'd escorted the Doctor to the shuttle earlier greeted him with a strained smile. "I'm Jaryn."
"It's a pleasure to meet you." He gestured to the lone patient. "What happened?"
"Yet another victim of the photonic's viral weapons," Jaryn answered. She moved to stand next to the invalid's bed. Though her soft face was the kind to naturally express kindness and sympathy, the war left her feeling hollow and impassive. Where once she would have cried for her shipmate, she could only relate his medical condition factually and with only a hint of the anger simmering beneath the surface. "They've become very skilled at attacking our biology. This particular one attacks the cerebral cortex. Within days, the victim suffers complete synaptic failure."
"Luckily, I know a little something about that." Taking a scanner, which he recognized as pilfered from the Delta Flyer, he assessed the suffering man. "I don't have a cure on hand, but if we can't stop the virus, we may be able to slow its progress, buy him some time. We need to synthesise a neural inhibitor."
Jaryn nodded and retrieved the required medication without further instruction.
"Forgive me," the Doctor observed the familiar way she moved in the medical bay, the way she replicated what he needed without hesitation or question, "but aren't you the ship's tactical officer?"
"Tactical officer, medic, engineer." She remembered wanting to cry at the deaths of all those who used to hold those positions, but her tears had dried up long ago. "We've lost nearly a third of our crew to the photonics."
Seven, listening with only minor interest to their conversation, felt a pang of pity for the woman and even Captain Ranek. No wonder he was so desperate to eradicate all holograms within his reach. She didn't even want to imagine losing so many of Voyager's crew.
Despite this moment of sympathy, Seven wasn't really paying much attention to the conversation at first. While the Doctor asked Jaryn about her past, her family, and why she was where she was, Seven let her mind wander to other things. There wasn't anything to interest her in the medical bay, or nothing that could help them escape. There also wasn't anything to indicate what their command codes or communications systems would be like.
Icheb will be in astrometrics, unless he is studying. Seven knew he'd scheduled a plethora of research and review for his Starfleet courses even though he likely already knew more than any other student.
I wonder what Chakotay is doing. She imagined he was on the bridge, probably reading reports. She wondered if he was thinking about her. The possibility cheered her. Memories of their nightly trysts warmed her to the core.
They worked for a few hours and as they did, it slowly occurred to Seven just how much time her physical eyes were turned to Jaryn instead of the patient and she became both amused and concerned. She didn't like the idea of the Doctor becoming attracted to this female, not while in her body anyway. It wasn't as though she was disturbed by two members of the same gender being intimate, but it was her body and she had no control. The Doctor had the ability to act on anything, regardless of how Seven felt about it, and so far, the Doctor had shown little care for the fact that she was the primary owner or even that she was witness to his actions.
Though she was somewhat loathed to do it, Seven began to pay more attention to their conversation.
"His progress is remarkable," Jaryn said, amazed that the damage had not only slowed with the treatment but begun to reverse. It was more than she'd ever expected. A little hope that she and those she loved could survive the war began to creep in. She turned to Seven, that buoyant attitude and gratitude shining in her face. "I want you to know, I'm going to tell my superiors everything you've done for us."
Pleased, the Doctor puffed himself up without realizing it. "First Ranek and now you. I may become the first prisoner of war to be decorated by his captors."
"I know someone who'd really enjoy meeting you." Jaryn smiled at the thought of the introduction.
"Who?"
"My brother, Lohden."
Seven had never before been so inclined to burst into laughter as she was then. Perhaps it was a good thing she was relegated to the role of observer. She could feel the Doctor's reaction in the way he tensed, the way his jaw almost dropped to the floor. She could imagine his expression so clearly that a mirror was unnecessary.
"Your brother?" the Doctor spluttered.
Unaware she'd said anything extraordinary, Jaryn nodded with a smile. "You'd like him. He's ambitious, accomplished, and he'd love your sense of humour."
"Apparently, it's my most attractive quality," the EMH grumbled.
Seven wasn't sure she'd go that far, but it amused her just the same.
Ranek's voice came over the comm. "Seven of Nine, please report to the bridge."
"I'll be back to check on him again," the Doctor assured Jaryn, handing over the medical reigns.
Trapped in her own mind, Seven was unable to give the warning she wished to the Doctor. It seemed highly unusual that Captain Ranek would call her to the bridge. The situation didn't sit quite right with her, especially given their dinner the night before. Her sense of alarm increased tenfold when she entered the nearly empty bridge.
The lights were dimmed and the Doctor blinked, glad for Seven's increased ocular acuity. It didn't occur to him to ask why the lights were practically off, nor why Ranek was on the bridge alone. These things were all seen without being absorbed since he'd never had to analyse such behaviour. Instead, he quipped, "Did your crew abandon ship?"
"I wanted to thank you." Ranek smiled and moved closer, gesturing for the guard to leave. His voice grew deeper, husky and seductive in the dimmed lighting. It had been a long time since Ranek took so much as an evening to forget they were in the midst of outright war. Now he'd had a taste, it was like finding an oasis in a desert. "I had a wonderful time the other night."
Desperate to give some warning – especially since whatever happened would happen to her body – Seven tried to convey to the Doctor what was going on. She shouted in her own mind, tried to move a limb, tried to invade the technology that his programming had wrested from her control, but it was all useless.
Mindful of his promise to Seven, the Doctor tried to imply gently that such a night would not happen again. "It's not often that I indulge myself like that."
"It's been a long time for me, too." Ranek cleared his throat and gestured to the main screen. "I remembered your interest in stellar phenomenon, so I requested a course change to show you something."
Her eyes, courtesy of the Doctor remembering to observe their command codes, locked in on Captain Ranek's movements at the console instead of the screen as Ranek intended.
Seven, who was more eager than ever to get back to Voyager, paid close attention, memorizing everything. It wasn't too difficult. Compared to some species, the Lokirrim technology wasn't complex. If she could just get access to it, she could easily send a message.
At Ranek's commands, a nebula appeared on the viewscreen, providing a new and soft lighting to the room.
Seven immediately identified the phenomenon as a pulsar cluster, but the Doctor required an explanation.
"Our poets call it the Window of Dreams. You can travel from one end of the Quadrant to the other and never see anything like it."
When a musical rhythm started, Seven again tried to take back her body, barely hearing the conversation anymore amidst her rising panic.
Ranek's eyes barely glanced at the pulsar cluster, his attention all for the unusual woman before him. "I once thought this was the most beautiful sight in the sector. Now I see that I was wrong."
She recognized the tone of his voice and intent behind his comment, Chakotay having made similar comments to her over the course of their courtship.
Chakotay… Seven hoped he would forgive her for whatever was about to happen.
"Oh, I almost forgot." Ranek produced a glass of champagne and held it out.
The Doctor almost took the glass, but remembered Seven's ire. "Oh, I promised a friend I'd go easy on the synthehol."
Grateful for small blessings, Seven still continued her internal war to gain the Doctor's attention.
"Do you hear that?" The Doctor, naively and totally oblivious to what was happening, listened with amazement to the sounds of the pulsar. He waved a hand like a conductor, timing the sounds. "It's identical to the rhythm produced by the eight-chambered Ktarian heart."
Turn around! He's trying to seduce you!
Amused and turned on by his companion's charming obliviousness to his advances, Ranek drew closer. He was within kissing distance when she turned to him. She was smiling, seemingly a welcome to him. So close, moving closer still, he was distracted by Seven pulling out a tricorder. "Is something wrong?"
"Rapid pulse, respiratory distress. You may be having a reaction to the pulsar's radiation. We should get you to the medical bay."
Fighting both laughter and frustration, Ranek took the hand holding the tricorder and gently lowered it. "No, I'm not going to the medical bay."
The Doctor huffed. Clearly Janeway wasn't the only captain who liked to ignore sound medical advice. "If I didn't know better, I'd swear it was a requirement for starship captains to have a fear of simple medical exams. Really, you can blast your way through enemy lines, but—"
"I don't need an exam to know what I'm suffering from," Ranek interrupted. His entire focus was on her face.
Neither do I, thought Seven as she braced herself.
Ranek pressed his lips to Seven's, pulling her to him.
The Doctor, truly shocked – and yet intrigued by the physical touch of another being – pushed Ranek away after a slight hesitation. Seven's enhanced strength meant he didn't have to push quite as hard as he did. Ranek stumbled back.
"I'm sorry. I thought…"
Breathing a sigh of relief, Seven calmed herself. A kiss wasn't so bad and there was nothing she could do anyway. Though the Doctor was still riled, she could see the confusion and regret in Captain Ranek's expression. She could even pity him a little despite the unwanted embrace. He had no way of knowing the Doctor's behaviour was the result of ignorance instead of coyness.
"You were wrong."
"I didn't mean to offend you. It's just I've never met a woman like you before."
No doubt.
"That's because there are no women like me." At that, the Doctor left the bridge for the refuge of sickbay.
I can't believe he did that, thought the Doctor. He just grabbed me. And yet it hadn't felt unpleasant, quite the opposite. The more he thought about it, the more intrigued by the biological and emotional responses to physical intimacy he became, thoughts and images of Seven in his arms intruding before he even realized.
Seven, in tune with her body if not in charge of it, could feel her physical reaction to the Doctor's thoughts. Since she wished to simply forget about the incident, or at least not feel like she'd cheated on Chakotay, the Doctor's interest in the kiss angered her more than the kiss itself.
Jaryn was still there when the Doctor stormed into the medical bay.
"Is something wrong?"
The Doctor paced and explained what happened, with some colourful language.
Seven, who was now more relieved to be away from the situation than scandalized by Captain Ranek's actions, settled down and mostly tuned out of the rest of the conversation until…
"You have – have feelings for him?" The Doctor watched Jaryn blush. Though he wouldn't admit it out loud, the whole thing reminded him of Seven and Chakotay, making his outburst more vehement than it otherwise would have been. "I've known lotharios like Ranek. Commanding officers all tend to be the same, just jumping from one bed to the other. Relationships based on lust never last. Trust me, you don't want anything to do with him. You need someone who can appreciate your many talents. You're too special to waste yourself with him. You need someone overflowing with intelligence and compassion, someone capable of understanding you. Ow!"
Inside, Seven felt pained as much by the neck spasm the Doctor worked himself into as she did by his words. Was that how he saw her relationship with Chakotay?
Jaryn, despite being surprised at Seven's outburst, kindly helped the other woman sit. "It looks like a spasm in the trapezius."
"I had no idea it could be so excruciating."
Good thing you don't have to suffer clamp alignments, Seven thought with what would have been a roll of her eyes. Her neck certainly hurt, but not to the degree the Doctor expressed.
"That's what happens when you work so long without rest." Jaryn felt a little guilt at that, having forgotten just how long their shift in the medical bay had been. For all she knew, this woman's unique physiology required more rest. "Our last medic showed me a technique that might help. I'll try it if you like."
No, you don't need it. You're just looking for attention. Of course, her thoughts directed at the EMH went unheard.
The Doctor naturally agreed and Jaryn began to massage the knot of tense muscles.
Stop it. Of course, he couldn't hear her.
"Oh, that – that feels wonderful."
At least this time it was the Doctor's actions which Seven had to worry about. It was small comfort as she felt her body react to the Doctor's thoughts and feelings.
I could just enjoy this all day. She's so good with her hands, so lovely. I could ask her to have dinner… Seven can't fault me for wanting a nice meal with someone whose company I enjoy so much.
Suddenly realizing Seven was probably watching and feeling the whole exchange, the Doctor stood quickly and moved away. He was grateful human females didn't show their arousal to the same degree as males. With fingers figuratively crossed, the Doctor hoped Seven wouldn't notice his reaction as he hurried to reassure Jaryn that she hadn't hurt him.
"Well then, what's wrong?"
"There's something you don't know about me. Something I have to tell you."
No, Doctor, don't! As disturbed by the whole situation as she was, Seven didn't wish for the EHM to be decompiled if he confessed to their trickery.
"It's all right." Jaryn smiled kindly. "I know."
"You do? How could you?"
"Your cybernetic implants? Your portable regenerator?"
The Doctor sighed in relief, but Seven was not so quick to relax. Hatred of the Borg was nothing new to her. Though Jaryn and even Captain Ranek clearly had no problem with her, that didn't mean everyone on the ship would be so accepting. It could also mean they wouldn't release her and Ensign Kim as hoped.
"I can't believe you didn't say anything."
"It wouldn't have been appropriate. You're part Borg. It's nothing to be ashamed of."
Seven only had a moment to feel grateful at this attitude before a female security officer called for a medic to the holding cells.
Worried there really might be something wrong with Ensign Kim, the Doctor grabbed a medical kit and hurried to the brig. Upon entering, his concerns seemed validated. Ensign Kim was on the ground, groaning and clutching his stomach. A number of possibilities ran through the Doctor's mind, but they all soon proved irrelevant.
"Where the hell have you been?" Harry hissed, cutting off his groans.
The Doctor sat back on Seven's heels with a frown. "Not particularly original, Ensign, but I suppose it did the trick."
"I had to fake a seizure before the guard would let me see you."
"Calm down. Seven and I have been making progress." He raised the mobile emitter and with more ease than the first time, downloaded his program.
Seven managed not to sway this time, but felt her irritation spike now that she had the ability to voice her opinion.
Harry, eager to escape the confinement of the brig and return to Voyager, hurriedly asked if she had a sufficient look at the computer.
"During the one brief moment when the Doctor wasn't indulging himself."
Thinking of how little he'd had to eat and passing up Ranek's alcohol, the Doctor was defensive. "I think I've shown considerable restraint, under the circumstances."
"Another dinner date?" Harry asked. Seven ignored him.
"Kissing Ranek on the bridge. Is that your idea of restraint?"
Harry didn't know which one of them to look at. "Kissing?"
"Not that it's any of your business," the Doctor huffed, "but if you must know, Ranek kissed me."
She glared. "We tried to warn you what his intentions were. You ignored us."
"I pushed him away."
"And the massage you got from Lieutenant Jaryn?" She wasn't quite angry enough to out his preoccupation with the kiss in front of Ensign Kim, not yet.
"Entirely therapeutic."
That was too much. He didn't even want to take responsibility for his actions. He'd promised and she knew he'd come way too close to ignoring that promise. "You became sexually aroused in my body."
"When did it become a crime to enjoy a sensation or two? Of course, you'd be the last person to understand that."
Seven stiffened. "What do you mean?"
But the Doctor caught himself, realizing he'd come dangerously close to throwing a barb in the heat of the moment, a barb she neither deserved nor would ever forgive him for. "Nothing. I didn't mean anything."
"I am perfectly capable of enjoying indulgences in moderation," she said, her voice level but threatening to explode, "though you disapprove of them, possibly because they are not to your taste."
The Doctor didn't trust himself to answer.
Harry wasn't entirely sure where this argument was coming from or where it was going, but he knew they didn't have a lot of time. "All right, listen. You can argue all you want when we get back to Voyager, but that's not going to happen unless we come up with a plan. Did you learn anything about their comm. system?"
Seven took a deep breath and focussed on Ensign Kim. "It can only be accessed from the bridge, but I saw Ranek enter his command codes."
Harry nodded. "If we can get those codes to Voyager, they may be able to disable the shields and beam us out."
"We can use the subspace transceiver on the Flyer."
"Can you get aboard?"
Seven contemplated it. "It's heavily guarded."
"I can get us aboard," the Doctor piped up.
"I did not say I couldn't." Seven spared an angry glance at him.
"But can you do it without violence or arousing suspicion?"
Seven glared and even Harry looked uneasy.
"What did you have in mind?" Harry finally asked.
[Delta Flyer – aft]
The Doctor, ensconced in Seven's body again and joined by Captain Ranek in the rear of the Delta Flyer, tried to look alluringly embarrassed. Since it wasn't something he'd had to do before, it was a bit of a trick. "I owe you an apology."
Ranek shook his head, still ashamed of having misread the situation between them so badly. "I was the one who acted inappropriately."
"A kiss is hardly a court martial offence. It's just that you caught me by surprise."
"I won't make that mistake again." Indeed, he wouldn't. The woman had some startling strength in those cybernetic arms. Besides, he truly was ashamed of himself.
"Perhaps we should start over." The Doctor batted Seven's lashes just a little, trying to emulate Sandrine's mistress, who tended to practice the same move to the extreme.
"What did you have in mind?" Though intrigued by this inviting behaviour, Ranek was determined not to overstep his bounds this time. He had never behaved like a boor before and was eager to make up for his earlier blunder.
The question, not delivered in quite the same seductive manner Chakotay would have, nonetheless reminded Seven so much of her lover that she felt a pang. She hadn't realized until then just how much she missed him. Good thing they were working on a way to get back to Voyager.
"We could start with a toast."
"I thought—"
"Oh, I can make an exception for a special occasion." The Doctor turned to the replicator. "Computer, champagne, two glasses."
Ranek took the offered glass with a tiny, grateful smile.
"To new beginnings," the Doctor toasted.
"Maybe there's some hope for us yet." Ranek's smile widened just a little.
"As I've discovered recently, anything is possible. Computer, dim the lights. Play EMH music file gamma twelve." Tugging Seven's hair out of its restrictive twist, the Doctor pulled Ranek close, but not for an embrace. He began to move, forcing Ranek into a rigorous waltz.
Ranek's brows climbed to his hairline in surprise and confusion. Utterly bewildered at this behavior and yet not wanting to be rude, Ranek went along with the dance. "This is interesting."
"It's called a waltz. Something else I learned from our doctor."
I don't remember it being this vigorous, though, thought Seven.
The comm. beeped. "Captain Ranek, please come to the bridge."
"What is it?" He answered as best he could while being dragged around the shuttle.
"We've received an encrypted transmission."
"I'll be right there." He stopped moving his feet, forcing Seven to halt as well.
"You're not leaving?" If he hadn't been on the verge of panic at the loss of opportunity, the Doctor might have tried to sound seductive. As it was, he only sounded out of breath. Ranek, luckily, didn't notice.
"I'll be back as soon as I can."
"I really think you should stay." Thinking quickly, the Doctor used Seven's enhanced strength to force Ranek into a twirl and back, swiftly injecting a sedative into Ranek's neck. "Never play hard to get with an hologram."
Overdone, but effective, thought Seven.
[Voyager - Bridge]
"Still no sign of the Flyer's warp signature." Tuvok, still under the throes of what he and Lieutenant Paris agreed to pretend was the Tarkalean Flu, was feverish and irritable, but he was determined to give his regular updates. This may be my demise, he thought.
Janeway, not fooled by the euphemism for Tuvok's affliction, turned to him with a mix of amusement and sympathy. "I appreciate your sense of duty, Tuvok, but we can handle the situation without you."
"Under the circumstances, abandoning my post would be a dereliction of duty. My illness is still in the early stages. I can control it."
Tom, who was on shift at the helm, did his utmost to keep his back to the conversation and his amusement to himself. Don't laugh. Don't laugh… This just might kill me.
"If I remember correctly," said Janeway seriously, "the last time you came down with the Tarkalean Flu was seven years ago." Yes, she knew, and Janeway wanted to remind him of that without outright exposing him, not that anyone couldn't guess what was wrong with him. Why did he think he could or should hide his condition from her? It was pure biology, something she and the rest of the crew could easily show sympathy for. "As soon as this is over, the holodeck is at your disposal."
Tuvok nodded, grateful and relieved.
Neelix, never one to neglect a crewmember in distress, chose that moment to enter the bridge with a steaming bowl, speaking so quickly that no one could have stopped him if they tried. "There you are, Commander! Now, a person in your condition really ought to be in bed. This is my grandmother's recipe, guaranteed to cure even the most stubborn flu."
Tom snorted, but was unnoticed since all attention was on Neelix.
"Now, Smell that?" Neelix waved his hand over the top of the bowl so Tuvok would get a waft of the dish.
Janeway found it exceedingly difficult not to laugh. She forced herself to face the viewscreen, but caught a glance at Commander Chakotay as she did. Though he was more strained than any of them over the missing Flyer and crewmembers, even his lips were twitching at the exchange behind them. He pressed a hand to his mouth, trying to fight his amusement.
Tuvok, though exasperated by the Talaxian, obligingly sniffed. "I don't smell anything."
"Exactly. I prepared it just the way you like it. No herbs or spices of any kind. It's practically tasteless!"
His console beeped at him and Tuvok gratefully took refuge in his work. "We're receiving a hail. It's the Delta Flyer."
There was a collective sense of relief around the bridge. Everyone knew Tuvok was suffering, and why, but they forgot it all in the face of finding their missing compatriots. Even Tom focussed more closely on his work and the readings in front of him.
"On screen." Janeway waited with baited breath. The stars disappeared and Seven, looking unusually dishevelled, appeared. Beside her, Chakotay's rapt attention and strain was palpable. "Seven, it's good to see you."
The Doctor shook his head, sending Seven's gold curls bouncing. "I'm afraid there's no time for pleasantries, Captain. We're being held prisoner on a Lokirrim patrol ship. I'm sending you our precise location and the command codes to disable their shields."
It was as they'd suspected, but clearly it wasn't too bad if Seven was able to contact them. She didn't look hurt either, just… different. "Are the Doctor and Harry all right?"
Rolling his eyes, the Doctor was grateful to have someone to grouse to again. "Ensign Kim is his usual chipper self. As for me, I'm looking forward to a long, uneventful shift in Sickbay."
Janeway and Chakotay glanced at each other, their eyes wide. "Doctor?"
"It's a long story, Captain. Delta Flyer out."
The Doctor's in Seven's body? Chakotay's eyes couldn't get any wider. He shuddered. "They may be in more trouble than we thought."
Janeway nodded, equally surprised by the turn of events. "Set a course."
Tom couldn't believe how entertaining his day had turned out. "Our escort isn't going to take kindly to a detour."
"What's the status of their weapons?"
"They've repaired their forward phasers," Tuvok advised.
"Target their power matrix. We may only get one shot, so make it count."
We're coming, Seven. Chakotay hoped she was okay despite the invasion of the Doctor's programming.
They made good time, arriving within half an hour to the coordinates.
"They're raising shields," said Tuvok.
Janeway nodded. "Stand by with those command codes." She ordered a channel open. "This is Captain Kathryn Janeway. We don't want a fight. Return my people and we'll be on our way."
Captain Ranek appeared. "Your people were caught transporting a photonic insurgent and biogenic material."
"We don't want to disable your ship, but we will if we have to."
Not requiring a verbal order, Chakotay entered the command codes. It worked, but they tried to compensate for the invasion. "They're rerouting power. He's tying their shields directly into the warp matrix."
Ranek couldn't match them if they had his command codes, but he had one bargaining chip. "If you fire on us, you'll trigger a core breach. You'll be killing the people you're here to rescue."
Janeway was done with the chat. "End transmission." The screen turned back to a view of the scene. "Tractor beam."
"Chakotay," Janeway turned to the Commander, "can you send a comm. signal directly to Seven's cortical node?"
He nodded, setting it up before she'd finished the question.
[Lokirrim ship - Bridge]
The Doctor almost jumped as Janeway's voice suddenly invaded his mind. "Doctor, if you can hear me, we need your help. Try to disable their shields."
For a moment, he didn't know what to do. He wasn't a fighter and they were outnumbered. It then struck him; they could be two against one. He swiftly downloaded his program back to his mobile emitter.
Ready for action, Seven was prepared when the Doctor suddenly vacated her system. She swung her arm, knocking the guard closest to her unconscious. She scooped up his weapon as well.
Jaryn, who watched the action, was shocked at the appearance of the hologram they'd thought was decompiled. "It's a photonic."
Seven gave the Doctor the guard's weapon. "Cover me."
"Stay back! I'm not afraid to use this." He held the weapon up, but the tremble in his voice made it clear he was not as eager to shoot as he claimed.
Working quickly at the closest control panel, Seven was still unprepared and subsequently slightly singed when Captain Ranek shot in her direction. The shot didn't hit her, but damaged the control panel.
"Step away." Ranek, levelled the weapon at Seven, who backed away. Jaryn looked over the damage from her post.
"She destabilised the shield grid. It's failing."
Ranek handed off watch of the prisoners to Jaryn.
It was clear what Ranek was going to try to do, but Seven had seen enough of their systems to know his actions would be dangerous. "If you try to re-initialise the grid it'll overload. We could all die."
Ranek ignored her and the Doctor's calls to stop. As anticipated, the panel exploded, sending him sprawling, clearly hurt.
Jaryn watched in horror as the EMH approached her captain. "Stay back."
Ignoring her command, but approaching with care the Doctor knelt down next to the unconscious man. "I'm a doctor. Let me help."
[Cargo Bay Two]
Chakotay leaned against the console as Seven finished putting her report into the computer. "Are you sure you feel all right?"
Seven smiled. "This is the fifth time you have asked me that. Besides requiring regeneration, I am fine."
"I know, but having the Doctor inside your body…"
"More accurately, he was inside my cybernetic implants, using them to control my body." She saw Chakotay's frame tense at that and shared his reaction.
"And you were conscious of everything?"
She nodded.
"Seven." He waited until she looked up at him. "That makes me feel uneasy and it wasn't even my body."
She took a deep, calming breath. "It was to save the Doctor, but I would be lying if I said it was pleasant."
"It can't be easy for you to give up that much control." Even without being female or having lived through it, the very idea felt invasive to the extreme.
Seven hesitated. "I believe he would like to experience more things through a flesh-and-blood body, but I… I can't…"
"It's all right." He put his hand on hers. "You don't have to explain yourself, and you definitely don't have to do that again."
"His actions were nowhere near as deplorable," Seven admitted, squeezing his hand back, "but being trapped in my own body while he had control, it was not unlike the Collective."
"I'm sorry you had to go through that." His grip on her hand tightened. "It's been a rough year for you, hasn't it?"
Seven chuckled because it was either that or feel depressed. "Yes, I suppose it has, but it has had its benefits."
"Do you want to talk about it?"
"Not now." It had been a long couple of days and she really was exhausted. Going without regeneration for a few days was one thing, but taking on the Doctor's programming on top of it was a bit much. She dredged up a smile to reassure him. "I'll see you tomorrow?"
Smiling back, he nodded and patted the console. "I'll swing by and pick you up for breakfast. If you want, I thought we could also join a few people in Fairhaven in the evening."
"It's a date." He kissed her quickly and she watched him leave before settling into her alcove, the days' events slipping away as oblivion took hold.