After spending about an hour and half on the bridge Captain Janeway making sure her people were ready for whatever might come their way, she decided to keep the promise she made to Seven and headed towards the mess hall to check on the baby and Neelix. She was pleasantly surprised when she stepped inside the mess hall, the sight before her causing her to smile. Naomi Wildman, Voyager's first child, was reading to the baby as she sat on the floor next to the baby carrier. Watching Naomi, Janeway could feel the spike of fear she'd felt when she'd heard about Samantha Wildman's pregnancy, the extra weight of burden that came with knowing she'd be responsible for the safety of a child aboard her ship, but she also remembered the huge amount affection and pride that washed through the ship when the little girl was born. Janeway walked over to the two girls quietly and sat in a chair near them. She didn't want to disturb the story, but after a few more stolen moments Naomi finally looked up from her book and smiled at the Captain.
"Oh hello, Captain." Naomi greeted brightly. "I hope it's ok that I was reading to your baby. Neelix needed to start dinner for the crew and I said I'd read to her till he got back."
It was more then a little odd hearing Naomi call the baby hers, but Janeway didn't show it. Now that Neelix knew the truth the news would soon be all over the ship. Janeway knew she'd have to work on something official to tell the crew, not to meant Starfleet. "I think it's wonderful that you're reading to her. Babies like to be read too and it helps them to learn to like reading for themselves as they get older."
Naomi beamed at the thought of helping the baby to become smart. "She's really cute and really little. Neelix said her name was Gretchen, that's a nice name I like it, we can call her GeeJay for short, you know cause her name's Gretchen Janeway, G. J."
Janeway laughed softly as she reached down to touch the baby who was now staring up at her. "Geejay huh? I think that could work and it'll help when we get back to Earth, because my mother's name is Gretchen too, so we'll have a way to tell them apart."
Naomi was delighted that the Captain liked the nickname and practically bounced to her feet. "She's lucky to have you and Seven as her moms cause you'll be good at it." She told the Captain before adding. "Well, I have homework to finish. Can I come read to GeeJay again soon?"
"Of Course you can, Naomi." Janeway said with a warm smile. "Thank you for keeping an eye on her."
"You're welcome." The half Human half Ktarian girl replied before giving the Captain a quick hug and then skipping out of the mess hall.
Janeway blinked at the hug but then smiled. She really did adore Naomi. The girl was so sweet and incredibly bright, and brave. It wasn't easy to live on starship, and it certainly wasn't easy living on one that was lost so far from home. Looking down at her daughter Kathryn knew that it wasn't going to be easy for her either. Not only did Gretchen have to deal with being on Voyager, but she also had to deal with being the Captain's daughter and being partly Borg. That was an awful lot to ask a child to deal with. But then she was a Janeway and Janeway's were a pretty touch lot. Reaching down Kathryn lifted her daughter from the carrier and snuggled her in her arms. "You're grandmother is going to burst when she hears about you."
She looked into the baby's ice blue eyes and gently caressed her face with her fingertips as if she were memorizing every little perfect inch of her. Then she put her feet on the coffee table, unwrapped the baby and laid the baby on her thighs so she could look over every other inch of her; her nose, her ears, her hands, her tiny little toes, she was perfect, a tiny little wonder that was hers and Seven's. Leaning foreword Kathryn Janeway place a kissed, for the first time, on her daughter's forehead.
Neelix walked up behind the Captain as he wiped his hands on his apron. He noticed her talking to Naomi and had decided to give the woman some time alone with the baby once Naomi had gone. It was a sight to see that was for sure; the mighty Star Fleet Captain and the tiny infant who so clearly belonged to her. "Ahh Captain. I hear there are congratulations to be offered."
"Thank you, Neelix" The Captain replied, still looking at the baby who was once again testing out her physical limits by stretching and flexing out in her little limbs not that she wasn't confined to a swaddled blanket or bio-suit.
Neelix stood there and smiled as he looked down at the baby and her mother. His smile was warm when he noticed what looked like tears in the Captain's blue-gray eyes. He said nothing, he simply stood there feeling blessed to witness such a private moment between his very private Captain and her child.
Janeway finally swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat as she looked down at her daughter, and then paused until she knew her voice would not betray the sudden wave of emotion she felt. "Will you be able to look after her a little longer, Neelix?"
"Of course, Captain, as long as you need." Neelix said as he went to get the Captain a cup of coffee.
Neither one said anything for a long time after Janeway had taken the coffee from Neelix, each lost in their own thoughts, and then finally Janeway just had to ask. "Neelix, this blanket looks oddly familiar."
"It's one of Seven's bodysuits. It's been working wonders at keeping her relaxed."
Janeway laughed. "Well that was creative."
As gently as she could Janeway placed the child back in her carrier and quickly gave her the pacifier that was clipped to the side of the blanket when she began to fuss. She looked down at the baby as she lifted the carrier from the floor to an empty table and smiled while she rewrapped Seven's bodysuit around her. She then picked up her coffee mug and turned to Neelix. "The Borg will come after us in order to reclaim her. At the first sign of trouble I want you to take her to my quarters, and I want you armed. Once you're there Tuvok will place a security shield around the cabin."
Neelix nodded. "Of course, Captain. Her safety is my top priority; in fact I'm pretty sure it's the whole crews'. Well, for those of us who know, the rest when they find out."
That thought warmed her heart in such away that Janeway couldn't help but give the small man a bright smile as she squeezed his shoulder.
The Delta Flyer hovered near the Slayer on autopilot while Tom, Harry and the Doctor roamed around the larger ship looking for more clues. Tom and Harry showed the Doctor the room with the Borg parts and the Doctor told them that it looked as if they had tested the compound of the gas on living Borg. There were reels of assimilation tubing stacked three or four reels high. This would have prevented the drones from injecting anyone with nanoprobes or accessing the ship's computer. Effectively they'd defanged the cobra before experimenting on it.
"So they knew how to cut the drones off from the Collective." Harry said as they went deeper into the room which they found out was a part of a maze of rooms.
The Doctor nodded. "That isn't surprising. We did the same thing after all."
"Yeah but we gave back a life." Tom said as he shined his wrist lamp onto what looked like a small sealed chamber. "We didn't cut them off just to kill them."
"They're Borg, Tom." Harry said in a way that seemed to sting a little.
The Doctor looked at Harry with a hard stare. "As were Seven and Icheb once upon a time"
"Borg or not Harry," Tom said as he approached what was clearly a gas chamber. "This was just cruel. We know from Seven's experience that a Borg cut off from the Collective mind for to long will start to remember their former lives. How many of these drones had reverted while they were being gased?"
Harry swallowed hard. He felt bad for what he'd said now. "I didn't think of that."
The three men continued to walk though the ship gathering information until they came to a room full of small gray canisters. The Doctor scanned the room first and then when he felt it was safe he allowed the other two in. They scanned the canisters carefully finding most of them still full.
"I think I found B'Elanna's goof." Tom said as he scanned a canister. "This one has a small crack in it and it's completely empty."
"It's also right under an environmental vent." Harry said pointing to the steel vent behind Tom's head. "Gas leaks into the air system, spreads throughout the ship, kills the people who created it without their knowledge."
"Crew's dead, ship's heavily damaged, no one to repair it and it's left dead in the water." Tom added.
"They targeted the biological side of the Borg rather then the technological." The Doctor said with a shook of his head as he held out a small, easily concealed, black canister and what appeared to be a valve tap. "It would never have taken out the Collective and in their obsession they ended up destroyed themselves." The Doctor very carefully collected some sampled before saying, "This could be a very powerful weapon if it feel into the wrong hands."
Harry looked at all the left over containers and then at the Doctor. "Then we can't let this ship just float here. Who knows who might find it next? If the ship were to be destroyed would it cause any problems?"
"Do you mean would the release of all this gas harm passing ships?" The Doctor asked in return to Harry's question. "No. An explosion would burn away the gas."
"Then I say we get the heck out of here and tell Captain Janeway to fire away." Tom added.
"Excellent suggestion Mister Paris." The Doctor said.
As they three men made their way back to the Delta Flyer Harry couldn't stand the eeriness so he decided to break the silence. "I still can't believe that the Captain and Seven have a baby together."
Tom laughed. "Man I thought being raised by Admiral Paris was hard. Can you imagine what being the daughter of Captain Janeway and Seven of Nine is going to be like?"
"That little girl is going to be under a lot of pressure." Harry agreed. "But then again the Captain was raised by an Admiral so she understands what it's like."
"Yeah." Tom agreed. He was planning on using his own knowledge of being an Admiral's son when it came to raising his own child. He was going to think about what his dad would do and then do the opposite. "I bet she has one hell of a temper."
Harry laughed.
As soon as Tom, Harry, and the Doctor returned and reported what they'd found out, Janeway agreed that the ship needed to be destroyed. With B'Elanna and Seven's help they figured out a way to kill two birds with one stone.
Seven, B'Elanna, and three security officers materialized on the darkened Borg sphere. The two women and their escort moved though the sphere carefully as they headed for the main controls with the tools they'd need to get the sphere moving again.
"Are you sure this is a good idea? Won't the Collective know the moment this thing goes back online?" B'Elanna asked as she walked along side Seven.
"I will disable all systems that could pose a threat to our goal." Seven said as she pointed to a green and black section of panels and control screens.
They walked towards the area Seven had pointed out, steeping over the bodies that had been left behind. The smell was making B'Elanna sick to her stomach and for a moment she wished that she hadn't agreed to this. She tried not to look down as she tried to keep up with Seven but the toe of her boot smacked into something. When sheshined her wrist lamp on it she found a small black canister. "Looks like the ones the Doc described."
Seven looked at the canister and then at the body it had been near. It had come from one of the half assimilated humanoids. "They sacrificed themselves."
"Got the Borg to take notice of their ship, a few of them allowed themselves to be brought over, and while they were being assimilated they released the gas." B'Elanna added with a shake of her head.
Seven only nodded and walk on towards the control room. She went right to work on disconnecting everything but what they needed to set a course and engage engines. B'Elanna watched as she stood as close as she could to Seven with out getting in the way. She hated the unnerving feelings she got from being on these ships. She'd been assimilated once in her life and that was once to many. Deciding that she needed a distraction she asked, "Gretchen huh?"
Seven didn't look up from her work. "The Doctor made a point of informing me of the importance of names. I chose a name I felt would fulfill the guide lines." Looking up and over to her friend she added, "Gretchen is the Captain's mother's name as well."
"It's a nice name and a nice gesture." B'Elanna replied with a warm smile. "Have you and the Captain had the chance to talk about all of this yet, Seven?"
"Not in-depth." Seven answered. "We took a few minutes after the staff meeting."
B'Elanna rolled her eyes. Even when Seven was being emotionally honest, she still made things sound so clinical. "You're going to need more then a few minutes, Seven. Trust me when I say a kid changes everything. It affects your life, her life, your work, her work, and your relationship together."
"Once this situation is more under control I am sure we will continue our discourse on the matter." Seven replied as she injected her assimilation tubules into the interface.
"Good." B'Elanna said as she crossed her arms. "The two of you are a lot less annoying then you use be when you were both single and fighting your feelings."
Seven had moved to another panel, she paused what she was doing to look up at B'Elanna who just gave her a 'what?' look. Seven rolled her eyes.
B'Elanna's eyes were bright at the sight of the eye roll. She'd like to think Seven had gotten that from her but she knew the Captain did it too. Once Seven have her the signal, B'Elanna opened a panel and stared at the components trying to figure out how to hot wire this floating creep show.
"I will go to the navigation controls and set course and engage the timer." Seven informed the other woman.
B'Elanna nodded and watched as Seven went off alone. She wasn't sure this was a good idea and she knew that the Captain wasn't going to like this, but she knew better then to send one of the security officers with her. Seven just had that look on her face that said she didn't want to be slowed down by the limits of non-ex-Brog life forms.
Seven of Nine stood alone in auxiliary control. As she worked a cold shiver raced down her spin and for a moment she thought she wasn't alone. She looked up from her screen and looked around the small area. She was alone, so she went back to work. A few more minutes passed and then for a moment she thought she felt a hand on her shoulder.
"Lieutenant Torres?" Seven asked aloud. There was no one there. Seven looked around again and actually stepped out into the hall and looked around. She could see all three of the security officers and B'Elanna just where she had left them. Seven began to feel uneasy but she went back to work on navigation control. She couldn't shake the feeling that someone was there with her but she ignored it. When she had the course set she reached for her comm. badge to alert B'Elanna to bring the systems online but stopped when she thought she'd heard someone behind her.
Seven became defensive as she turned around. "Who is there?" She ordered. No one replied and Seven went for her phaser. She stopped short when a figure stepped into the room.
"Easy Seven it's just me." B'Elanna said as she stepped in. "Are you ok?"
"Yes." Seven said curtly. "You may bring the systems online now." Seven added coolly as she forced her heart to stop racing. "Once the systems are online I will start the timer."
B'Elanna looked at the ex-Borg for a long moment before asking again, "Are you sure you're ok? You look a little spooked."
"I am fine." Seven told her again and then walked past her and back towards the other room. "I just do not... like, being on Borg vessels."
B'Elanna nodded. "You and me both, Seven, so lets get this done so we can call the boys and then get back to Voyager."
The second away team of Harry and Tom made their way once again though the halls of the Slayer. The door to the bridge was just as they had left it and the two men had no trouble getting in.
"Do you think you'll be able to get the warp core going from here?" Tom asked as he made his way to the helm.
Harry looked for and found the engineering station. "Well I'm no B'Elanna Torres but I think I can muddle through. We don't really need warp just impulse."
Tom laughed. "Damn right you're no B'Elanna."
Harry just rolled his eyes as he bent down to hook up the power pack they'd brought with them. He pulled the panel from the wall and started hooking in the temporary power jump when something in the corner caught his attention. He crawled over to the little black box with the blinking red light and scanned it. "I think I found out why no one can beam onto the bridge." He called out after several minutes.
Tom walked over to where Harry was and knelt down next to him. "What is it?"
"Some kind of shielding device. I'll see if I can remove it so we can take it back with us. Maybe B'Elanna can have a look."
"Looks like there's one in each corner." Tom replied after looking around the bridge.
Harry nodded as he removed the one he'd found. After placing it in his kit he went back to getting the engines back on line. It wasn't as easy as he had hoped. There were more firewalls to get past and odd-looking programs to find back doors to. "Man these people were paranoid." Harry said after nearly ten minutes of working. "I think I got the computers up. I'm starting on the warp core."
"I got helm control. Once you have full power back I'll start setting the course." Tom replied. While he waited on Harry he found and removed the other little black boxes to take back with them.
"I wonder how the other two are doing over on the sphere?" Harry asked as he worked.
Tom frowned. "I really wish B'Elanna wouldn't agree to go on away teams like that."
Harry laughed. "She's pregnant Tom not helpless. Besides I don't think that Seven would allow her to get hurt. It's taken years but I'm pretty sure they've stopped hating each other."
"I guess they have become friends in their own wired kinda way." Tom smirked.
Once he'd been able to get past the safety programs, Harry had no real trouble getting things working again. "Ok, we have a steady power flow and engines are up and running."
"Course is set. Setting the timer now. All we need is word from the girls that they're ready and we can head back to the ship and out of dodge." Tom said from the helm as he looked over his shoulder at Harry. "What are you doing?"
"Downloading more information from their computer." Harry replied without looking up.
"Why?" Tom asked.
Harry shrugged. "They have some defensive programs and things I thought maybe we could analyze and adapt for Voyager."
Tom laughed. "You're such a geek." Harry looked up and was about to say something but the sound of Tom's comm. badge stopped him. Tom smiled as he pressed the gold and silver badge on his chest. "Go ahead B'Elanna."
"We're ready over here Tom. Set the timer for fifteen minutes and get yourselves out of there."
Tom nodded as if his wife could see him. "Fifteen got it." Tom set the timer and looked over at Harry. "Ready?" Harry nodded. "Timer starting... Now."
B'Elanna heard Tom's mark and looked over at Seven. "Start the timer."
Seven nodded and set the timer. As she pressed her hand to the proper control and pressed in the proper command she heard a whisper.'So much like them.'. Seven looked over at B'Elanna. "Did you say something, Lieutenant?"
B'Elanna looked at Seven oddly and then shook her head. "No. Why did you hear something?"
"Apparently not." Seven replied before looking back down at her screen. "Timer set. We should return to the ship." Seven looked over her shoulder as she joined the rest of the team at the beam out site before tapping her comm. badge. "Seven to Voyager. Five to beam out."
Captain Janeway and the rest of the bridge crew all watched as Tom, Harry and Seven walked onto the bridge. Janeway was glad that the away teams had made it back and that at least part of this was about to be over. "Time?" Janeway asked.
Seven looked down at her counsel and replied. "Eight minutes thirty-seven seconds."
"Tom move us to a safe distance." The Captain ordered.
Tom nodded and set a course that would take the ship out of the area as quickly as possible. Once the ship was out of range Harry put the view of the two other ships on the screen and zoomed in. He also sent the image down to B'Elanna who was watching from engineering. The crew of Voyager watched in silence as the nacelles on the Slayer lit up and as the sphere began to move slowly.
The two ships moved into their positions and then all at once jumped into a quick movement that sent them at each other. The crew watched as the two ships plowed into each other head on and then exploded into a mass of bright blue and orange partials and bits of metals.
"Scan the area and make sure the gas has burned away and check to make sure there is nothing for the Borg to find." Janeway ordered.
It took a few minutes but the reports came back that all was clear. Janeway congratulated everyone on their fine work and then ordered Tom to set course back to the Alpha quadrant warp four. She didn't want to wait around any longer. If something, or someone, was going to come after them they could do it while Voyager was once again heading home.