The darkness was unnerving as it slowly started to lift from around her. Seven slowly started to come around as she listened to someone call out her name. It was a low male voice and Seven slowly realized that it was the Doctor. "What happened?" She said hoarsely as she attempted to sit up. Her head was pounding and she felt a little light headed but she pushed that away until she was in a sitting position.

"You hit your head pretty hard." The Doctor explained as he ran a tri-corder over her. "You have a concussion and your ocular implant is slightly maladjusted, so your vision might be a little blurred."

When Seven opened her eyes she found that the Doctor was right. Her vision was blurred and she didn't like it. "Can you repair the damage?"

"I can take care of the concussion but I don't have the equipment with me to readjust the implant." He answered as he reached for his medical kit.

Not for the first time, Seven wished that all of her implants were gone. She rubbed her eyes in an attempted to clear them as she asked, "How much damage was done to the shuttle?"

"We have very little power, just enough to set up a looping distress call for Voyager." Harry said from the front.

Neelix smiled down at the tall blond as he finished looking though their supplies. "We have enough ration kits and emergency supplies for about a week."

"We shouldn't just sit here waiting for Voyager. It will take time for them to realize that something has gone wrong and then find us. We should begin making repairs." Seven said as she tried to get to her feet, stumbling a little.

"Easy Seven, you need to rest a moment." The Doctor said as he settled his friend on her feet.

Seven waited until her head stopped swimming and then took a step towards the cockpit. "There is no time to rest." She took in what Harry was attempting to do and then fell into step with him as she aided him in making repairs. There was only so much they could do with out power but at least they would have the ability to get up and running. There was no way she was simply going to wait around for a rescue. She wanted to get back to Voyager as soon as possible.

The sound of people approaching caught Seven's enchanted hearing long before the other's heard it. She stood quickly and looked out the forward view window of the shuttle, but couldn't see anyone coming yet.

"Seven?" Neelix asked when he saw the young woman suddenly become alert.

"We are being approached." She told them flatly.

All four crewmates looked out the window and watched as a group of humanoids walked out of the brush. It looked as if they were carrying rescue equipment. Seven wasn't very trusting in these types of situations, but Harry on the other hand was quick to head for the hatch as the people began to call out.

"Hello? Anyone in there? Are you alright?"

Harry was glad to see that their universal translators were still working. "Yes," Harry said as he stood in the hatchway. "No one is seriously hurt but our shuttle is trashed and we need to contact our ship."

A tall man with dark hair and orange eyes stepped forward. He smiled at Harry as he made a hand gesture that seemed to be of a friendly nature. "Prepares we can aid you. We have short-range commutations. If your ship is close you can try to reach them. We can also help you repair your shuttle."

Neelix stepped into the hatchway to join Harry and smiled in greeting. "Thank you. We appreciate your help."

The man seemed to beam at the sight of Neelix. "Him we have never seen before." He pointed at Harry. "But you are Talaxian. You are a long way from home."

Neelix rose to the balls of his feet as he smiled and then fell back again as he spoke. "That I am and you are Zokinian." Neelix seemed a little surprised. He hadn't known that the Zokinian had made it out this far. "My friend here is human." He added when he noticed the odd looks of the others. "He is from the Alpha Quadrant, so he is a lot further from home than I am."

Another man, this one with reddish hair and orange eyes, stepped forward to join the other. "We are always happy to meet new people and to open trade. How many more of you are there and are they like him?"

"Two others," Neelix replied. "Our Doctor, he's a hologram, and Seven a human female. This is Harry, and I'm Neelix."

"Greetings and welcome Neelix, Harry, your Doctor and Seven." The first man replied as he preformed what they other assumed was a gesture of welcome. "If you come with us we will take you to our village and you can call your ship and have a hot meal."

The Doctor came right out and joined the other two men but Seven lingered behind. "Someone should stay here and continue repairs."

"Come on Seven, we'll come back to work on the shuttle once we try to call Voyager." Harry said.

Seven couldn't explain what she was feeling, but she knew it was telling her to be leery. Kathryn would say it was her instincts, but Seven was still unfamiliar on how to act on them without analyzing what she was feeling. Neelix and Harry were still waiting for her so Seven decided that staying together would be better then splitting up. "Very well."

She walked to the hatch and stood at the top of the ramp and watched as the people smiled up at her, but as she walked down with the others she could see the expressions on the faces of the people around them change.

The people backed up when they saw the implants on the woman. "She is Borg!" Someone shouted.

The first man with the dark hair hushed the people behind them and then turned to look at Seven and then at Neelix. "She is a Borg?"

Neelix shook his head. "This is Seven she is a member of our crew."

The man then looked once again at Seven. "You are a Borg?"

Seven stood as tall as she could and folded her hands behind her back. "I am human, but yes, I once was Borg."

"Is there a problem?" The Doctor asked as he looked on in concern. Without meaning to he moved closer to Seven as if to protect her.

The two men looked at each other and appeared to be having a conversation but no words were spoken. Then the first one looked back at the group. "Of course not. Please, our village isn't far."

The four Voyager crewmen walked closely together. There was a sudden feeling of unease between them. None of them liked the way the people in the rescue party were looking at Seven. This wasn't the first time people acted negatively when they discovered Seven use to be a Borg, people in this quadrant feared and hated the Borg and will good reason, but Seven wasn't Borg anymore.

"They must be telepaths." Neelix said as he watched a couple of them look as if they were talking to each other.

The Doctor and Harry nodded and Seven just continued to watch them. She had seen the look in their eyes in the eyes of other races that had come up against the Borg. The look caused a sickening feeling in her stomach and heavy guilt in her chest. Seven understood that what she did as a Borg she had no control over, but that didn't stop her from feeling guilt over it now.

The walk to the village was short and as they walked towards it's center the group around them grew smaller. When they finally reached a small building in the center of the village the only people around were the first two men, another man with blonde hair and violet eyes, and a woman with long dark hair and violet eyes.

"This is the great hall. You will be able to make your call from here and then Nunciata and Kentaro will take you to their home. They have offered a hot meal and a place to rest." The first man said to them as they entered the building.

Neelix nodded as he smiled. "You are very gracious and we thank you for your hospitality."

The four of them were lead to a room full of what looked like mid-sized view screens. The female, the one who had nodded when the first man had said Nunciata, pointed to an open screen. "You can use that one. If you need help I can show you how it works."

Seven stepped forward and Nunciata stepped back. "Thank you." Seven said as she stepped past the other woman. She walked over to the view screen and attempted to contact Voyager.

Nunciata and Kentaro stood close together and watched Seven. ~She is a Borg.~ Kentaro said mentally.

~She does not look like the ones who came. She looks like the male but with a few pieces of metal.~

~But she was Borg.~

When Seven came back over to the group Nunciata and Kentaro both stepped back. "Voyager is not in range. May I try again later?"

Nunciata nodded. "Of course."

"Voyager." Kentaro said as he and Nunciata lead their guests through town. "What an unusual name for a vessel. What does it mean?"

"It's a term where I come from that means traveler." Harry told them.

"Are there many of you on the ship?" Nunciata asked. "We have small ships and do not travel the stars much any more. We only send a few people to gather things we need and to trade."

It was Harry who once again answered. "We're small I guess maybe not your kinda small, but small compared to some of the ships back home."

~I wonder if they have more of them.~ Kentaro said bitterly.

Nunciata just shot him a nasty glance.

"Excuse me." The Doctor said as they enter the small home of their two hosts. "Are you telepaths?"

Both Nunciata and Kentaro looked concerned over the question but finally Nunciata answered. "Yes, does this bother you?"

The Doctor shook his head. "Just asking. We have telepaths were we come from as well and we thought we recognized the way you looked at each other while talking. Can you read the minds of others?"

Kentaro shook his head. "Only the strongest of us can read the minds of off-worlders."

That eased the away teams' minds a little but they still didn't like the fact that there were people out there who could read their minds. They didn't know how these people felt about privacy.

"Night will be falling soon. You may stay here with us and then try contacting your ship in the morning." Nunciata told them as she showed them to a small room with bunk beds. "Dinner shall be ready soon."

"May I help?" Neelix asked with a smile. He was always more then willing to learn new recipes.

Nunciata returned the smile and nodded. Neelix went off to learn a new way of cooking while the other three remained behind. Before Neelix's return to call them to dinner, they had agreed that after their second call attempt they would go back and work on the shuttle, and they also agreed there was something odd in the looks Seven had received.

"I do not know them." Seven said. "They must have been assimilated after I was disconnected from the Collective, but their people were assimilated."

"How can you be sure?" Harry asked carefully.

Seven looked away from him and the Doctor. "The look in their eyes is of fear and hate."

"Seven." The Doctor said softly as he moved closer to her.

"I have seen that look before." Seven explained. "I have seen it in the eyes of people on Voyager."

"The crew respect you Seven." The Doctor cut in.

"They have adapted to my presence." Seven said as she looked up at her friend. "They have gotten to know me. There will always be those, even when the ship returns to the Alpha Quadrant that will see me only as Borg. I have accepted this fact."

The Doctor gave his friend a sympatric look. "Doesn't make it any easier thought does it?"

Seven shook her head ever so slightly. "No. It does not."