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Final Frontier

Chapter 3

When Janeway pushed open the door, Dr. Hernandez was at her computer terminal. She was very young, with short black spiky hair and a blue tinge to her skin that suggested distant Bolean ancestry. "Hello Captain!" she exclaimed. "I'm so glad you could stop by. I'm getting some fascinating results from your Borg."

"My Borg?" Janeway said from the doorway, in a voice that Chakotay recognized as dangerously low.

Hernandez, oblivious, gestured at her monitor and waved Janeway over without any display of discomfort. "Yes! Her neurology is enough to base a career on! I can't tell you how excited I am to have her in the lab. It's not every post-doc who gets this kind of opportunity."

"You're a post-doc?" Janeway confirmed. Hernandez nodded. "Who's your research supervisor?"

"Stanislaw Topolski," Hernandez answered with obvious pride.

Janeway knew the name. Topolski had a reputation as a brilliant researcher who sometimes cut corners to get his results. "Where is he?" she demanded.

"He's been off world several months doing research at the Vulcan Institute. But I'll forward him all my initial data as soon as I've finished this report."

"Initial data on what?" Chakotay inquired. "I thought Seven was undergoing debriefings here."

"Oh, debriefings of a sort," Hernandez said with a laugh. "I've been downloading everything from her cortical node – unbelievable resource – and finding out how she responds to certain stimuli. These are completely unprecedented findings."

"Stimuli?" Janeway repeated. "What sort of stimuli?"

"Let me just draw up my research protocols." Hernandez clicked a few buttons on her console and the screen rearranged to display color images of Seven's brain. "I began with pharmaceutical reactions, to get a baseline for her body chemistry, then I started to make some subtle adjustments to her implants, and today I started hypnotherapy, to introduce new suggestions and evaluate her emotional range."

When Janeway looked over her shoulder at Chakotay, she saw his mouth hanging open the same way hers was. She turned back to Hernandez's screen. "I must be losing my mind," she said. "Seven gave you permission to do this?"

"Permission?" Hernandez asked with wide eyes. "No no, you don't understand, I was given full discretion by Professor Topolski and Admiral Hayes to evaluate her in any way necessary to understand her capacities and any potential threat she might pose. I assure you, I haven't harmed her in any way. This is purely for scientific purposes."

Janeway's spine got very straight. Her voice came out in the same kind of threatening hiss she'd used on the Hirogen when they'd demanded things she wasn't willing to give. "You've been experimenting on a human subject – a member of my crew – without her permission. You are in violation of Federation civil and criminal codes and the eighth protocol regarding research on sentient subjects." She slapped her combadge. "Janeway to Admiral Paris."

There was a long pause while Hernandez stared at Janeway with confusion and the very beginning of dawning horror on her face. "But… but," she began, "it was research on her cybernetic technology."

"You can argue that at your court martial," Chakotay snapped. At last, just as Janeway was reaching again for her combadge, Admiral Paris's voice brought the connection to life. "Katie? What's wrong?"

"Owen, I'm very sorry to disturb you, but you did say to contact you in case of any urgent matter with the crew during debriefings." Janeway announced.

"Yes. Yes, of course." The voice became instantly more alert. "What's happened?"

Janeway summed up Hernandez's experiments in brief, angry words. "I need security here immediately. Voyager's EMH is with Seven now, but I want this so-called Dr. Hernandez taken into custody before she can do any further harm."

"Stay where you are," Paris answered. "I'll be there with officers in 15 minutes."

As soon as Paris's voice disappeared, Hernandez moved instinctively toward her computer. "You will not touch a thing," Chakotay ordered, stepping between her and the console.

Janeway moved behind the desk chair and aimed it at Hernandez. "Sit," she commanded.

The woman folded her lab coat around herself and meekly obeyed, her hands beginning to tremble. "What will happen to me?" she lifted her eyes to Janeway beseechingly.

Janeway sighed and shook her head. "Assuming this is a first offence, Starfleet probably won't be too severe. But if Topolski and Hayes are really fully aware of what you've been doing and have allowed it," she glanced over at Chakotay, who had begun to click through screens of data, "well, that will be another matter."

The security officers accompanying Admiral Paris swiftly notified Dr. Hernandez of her legal rights and removed her from the lab. Janeway pulled Paris aside as the sound of footsteps retreated. "I hope you'll get to the bottom of this. It goes beyond her. She mentioned reporting to Professor Topolski and Admiral Hayes. And there seems to be a problem with treatment of our EMH as well. You promised me, Owen, that my crew would be treated justly." She pinned him against the steel lab door with her eyes.

Paris glanced from her to Chakotay, who stood behind her like a cranky, red-shouldered wall, looking somehow taller than he had a moment ago. "I will go to my office tonight and resolve this," Paris told them. "There will be no further experimentation on your crew."

Janeway tilted her head and was giving him a grateful nod when she felt a hand on her shoulder. "One more thing, Admiral," she heard Chakotay say.

Paris's eyebrows shot up as he raised his chin to look Chakotay in the eye. The former Maquis remained very much an unknown quantity. "Yes?" Paris inquired.

Chakotay stepped in closer, hands on hips. "You've been working Captain Janeway every waking moment. She's no good to you exhausted, and we all know there will be public events following the debriefings when you'll want her looking healthy, not like a prisoner of war. She needs rest. Give her some leisure time." As Chakotay spoke, Janeway watched the admiral's face perform fascinating maneuvers at the younger man's angry tone and direct orders. She struggled not to smile.

Admiral Paris looked back and forth from Chakotay to Janeway a few times. Finally he asked Janeway, "So this is the sort of protection you've had from your first officer all these years?"

Janeway smiled at last and glanced sideways at Chakotay. "I wouldn't have survived without him, sir," she answered.

Paris nodded with a thoughtful look. "I see that. And you're right, Commander, we've been working her too hard. She will have her evenings free for the rest of the debriefing period. And I will look into reducing the daily hours. This has been a forced march and I see no real reason for it. We want to get you out of here quickly, but if it's become a burden, it's not worth it. Does that suit you?"

Chakotay dropped his hands and stood at attention. "Yes sir. Thank you, sir."

"No thanks required." Paris said a rather awkward goodnight, eyeing the two of them, then promised a swift prosecution of Hernandez. When he was out the door, they turned toward the near end of the room, where the Doctor had stepped up to make some final adjustments to Seven's cortical node before awakening her. He applied a hypospray to her neck and her eyes opened as Janeway and Chakotay moved closer. The Doctor was immediately in front of Seven, the first thing her eyes took in, and she stared at him as if she'd never seen him before. "Doctor?" she asked at last. He nodded. She looked around her then and saw Chakotay and Janeway watching from behind him like anxious parents at a sick child's bedside.

"Seven?" Janeway asked, stepping forward to put a hand on the younger woman's forearm. "Do you feel all right?"

Seven ran her hands up her own arms, as if literally testing how she felt. "I feel… calmer. Something has changed."

"Yes," the Doctor affirmed. "You're recovering from the effects of some fairly heavy psychotropic drugs, along with manipulation of your implants. You may suffer some - "

"Oh!" Seven cried out and staggered to her left, where the Doctor stepped in to support her. "My head!"

As she gripped her forehead, the Doctor lifted another hypospray to her neck. "As I was saying," he announced, "withdrawal from the drugs may cause headaches and bodyaches. I will stay with you to provide medication as needed."

"Thank you," Seven said. "Commander, will you stay too?"

Chakotay hesitated and cleared his throat. Janeway, who was closer, patted Seven's shoulder. "I think it's better that the Doctor ride this out with you, Seven," she said. "The Commander and I will visit in the morning and talk more about what's happened. I expect you'll want to press charges against Dr. Hernandez. She's committed some very serious crimes against you."

Seven's confused eyes moved between Janeway and Chakotay, as if she was trying to remember something. "Charges? I don't understand. No," she began, but faltered. "I don't want the Doctor. I want Commander Chakotay. He – he belongs with me. We are … we are going to be married."

The Doctor flinched but erased the expression instantly. Janeway took her hand from Seven's shoulder and swallowed audibly. "I'm sorry, Seven. We speculate that the idea of an – " she paused before pronouncing the word, "engagement between you and Commander Chakotay was a false memory implanted by Dr. Hernandez during unauthorized hypnosis. She was experimenting on you, altering your perceptions to elicit certain reactions, to test the interface between your human physiology and your Borg implants. Some of the experimentation involved post-hypnotic suggestion. It was unconscionable. She will be court-martialed for her actions, and it will take some time for you to recover fully. I'm so sorry that this happened. I should have been more vigilant."

Seven's expression of bewilderment began to morph into anger. She looked Janeway up and down, straightening so that she towered over the smaller woman next to her. "Why are you saying these things? Why do you want to come between us? Chakotay, tell her the truth. Tell her!"

Seven pushed past Janeway, reaching for Chakotay's hands, but he gently shook his head. "She's telling you the truth, Seven," he said, holding her hands between his and patting them in a paternal gesture. "I'm sorry this was done to you, but things were never like that between us. We are… friends, nothing more."

Seven's hand went to the implant at her temple. "I have memories. Memories of us together… intimate memories." She looked up at him in consternation, then toward Janeway. "All this is false? How can I know what is real?"

The Doctor moved forward and carefully turned Seven away from Chakotay, but she clung to one of Chakotay's hands. "I have treatment protocols to undo the damage," the Doctor said. "The false memories will be wiped. But it didn't seem right to perform the treatment without explaining to you what's happened and getting your consent. I didn't want to violate you again."

Seven finally released Chakotay and backed away from the three friends who watched her with such concern. "I see. I – I apologize for any discomfort I have caused you, Commander. Please, implement the treatment immediately. I no longer wish to experience these… false emotions." She turned away with a confused, embarrassed expression.

Chakotay took a small step toward her but the Doctor raised a hand toward him and shook his head emphatically. He stepped briskly between his patient and the visitors. "I think it's best that I take over from here," he told them. "This is difficult enough without the implanted emotional connection she's suffering. I'll contact you first thing in the morning with an update on her condition."

"Thank you, Doctor," they said in unison and moved slowly toward the door, watching Seven with troubled, sideways glances. Chakotay stepped behind Kathryn into the hall and pulled the door shut without a sound. She sagged against the wall. "If this is what your nights have been like," she said, "I have every sympathy."