Rebirth

by Xariann

What happens to Borg who managed to sever their links to the collective and return to their homeworld? What issues to they face, how do they "adapt"? The main character, Luthien Vausse, is one of the characters I roleplay in the 38th Fleet Argo, an STO fleet, which has inspired me to write this and other stories.

2. Chapter 2

Counselor's log, Commander Luthien Vausse of the USS Guardian.

We arrived at Rikel IV today. We were welcomed by the Head of State and a few of his Aids. They were very hospitable and seemed very happy to meet us.

I learned soon enough that they don't look approvingly on uninvited telepathic scans, not that I tried to do one without permission, but they mentioned it as soon as they realised I was a Betazoid. They banned any form of mind sharing without prior permission, due to how much the Collective link affected a lot of the ex-Borg. Attempts to recreate any Collective link are also illegal.

They don't really have any cities as their population isn't big enough to warrant one, and the villages are close to each other. There are city ruins dotted around the planet however – a remnant of what their civilisation used to be.

The Head of State talked of his dreams of populating those cities again, once the people have recovered from the aftermath of the Borg assimilation and the pirates have been permanently deterred from visiting them.

Both ex-Borg and people who had escaped the incursion share in the same resources, but as I walked around the streets the tensions between the two groups were evident.

Even amongst kids there were problems, where the same division was present and brought about arguments. I had to talk down a few kids who were threatening another, who had allegedly stolen a toy from one of them. It turns out she did steal the toy though.

Some of the adults mentioned she was one of the ex-Borg, and it seemed that she didn't understand the concept of property, probably a side effect of having been in the Collective. Her parents were also captured, but they all live on the planet now.

I am going to spend some time with the kids, see if I can ease off the tensions so that they don't grow up with them, and also to learn from them. There are a lot of things that they can reveal which the adults might feel they don't want to share.

I am not in any way distrusting anyone, but sometimes a bit of investigation is required so that I can get to the root of problems and help with the rehabilitation, which is our primary purpose. We are not here to punish anyone. Everyone is on the receiving end of a life that was imposed on them.

/SIGNED/

Commander Luthien Vausse

Counselor, USS Guardian