Seven of Nine lied beside her lover in a growingly restless sleep. She'd been up with Gretchen twice so far but this time it wasn't Gretchen who caused Seven to stir. The content happy feeling she'd felt as she drifted off after she and Kathryn had talked, and after each time she'd gotten up to feed their child, had begun to fade. Now, even in her sleep, Seven could tell her happiness was in danger. She hadn't felt these kinds of phantoms in her sleep for a long time and even asleep Seven could feel herself become angry. How dare She keep interfering in her life and how dare She keep invading her mind!
"So much like them. Sentiment. Desire. Emotional Love. Physical Love. You disappoint me, Seven of Nine."
Seven jerked in her sleep as she tried to escape the voice in her mind. There were no images in her dream, only sound, only Her voice. Her presence. Seven jerked again trying to wake her self but something cold kept her in place.
"I know you can still hear me, Seven of Nine. You may be losing more and more of your perfection, but the link we share still remains."
Seven began to mumble in her sleep as she attempted to talk back to the voice. She trashed around on the bed waking her lover whose arms tightened around her, called to her, and yet she could not wake up.
"I'm coming for what is mine, Seven. I created her. She belongs to me. You will not be able to keep her. You are imperfect, Seven, flawed. You will not be able to protect her. I will have her. I will have you all. Resistance is futile, Seven of Nine."
"Annika?" Kathryn said a little more firmly as she tried to wake her lover from her dreams. "Seven! Wake up."
Seven awoke with a start and gasping for air. She would have bolted upright if not for Kathryn's strong arms around her, holding her, cradling her so close she could hear the other woman's heart beating. She allowed Kathryn to sooth her as her own heart slowed it's frightened pace. It had been a long time since she'd felt that presence in her mind, and for a moment she wondered if she would ever truly be rid of it.
Kathryn brushed damp strands of hair from Seven's face as she looked into the younger woman's frightened and angry blue eyes. "It was only a nightmare, sweetheart. Wasn't it?"
Seven shook her head. No, this was not simply a nightmare; this was a warning. "She is coming to reclaim Gretchen. She is coming for Voyager."
Janeway looked deeply into Seven's blue eyes, stroking her damp blonde hair, and then she understood. "We'll be ready for her Annika. I wouldn't allow her to take you from me then and I won't let her take you or our daughter now."
Something about hearing her lover call the child their daughter seemed to steel Seven somehow. Seven nodded as she rested her head on Janeway's chest, catching her breath, and fortifying her thoughts. "We don't have long."
"We'll be ready for her." Kathryn told her in that tone of voice that meant the petite woman would take on the whole galaxy and she'd win.
"Resistance is not futile." Seven whispered. She knew that Kathryn and the crew would do everything in their power to protect Gretchen, but she also knew that the Queen would not be so easily defeated this time. Seven also felt, for the first time, just how personal this all was. Since her liberation Seven had retained a sort of cultural respect for the Borg, sort of how Kathryn held onto her Irish heritage, Seven had held onto the Borg. Seven never harbored them ill will nor had she even truly hated them, but now things were different. Now she knew without any doubt that she would dismantle the whole Collective piece by cybernetic piece if that's what it took to keep Kathryn and Gretchen safe.
The next morning Janeway filled her senior staff in on Seven's nighttime visitor and they began making plans. They had been working on some new weapons, and though it was risky to test them out now, it was a chance they had to take. She assigned Tuvok and Chakotay to getting the new torpedoes ready for us, while asking B'Elanna and Harry to work on getting the new shielding online. Seven was assigned to help both teams as best she could. Neelix would remain in the captain's quarters with Gretchen. The cabin would be shielded and guards would be posted. Finally Janeway and the Doctor would be working on the pathogen they kept up their sleeves.
After the meeting Seven went to check on her daughter before setting about her tasks. In between working with each team she made a few stops of her own. The whole ship was abuzz, every officer and every crewmen preparing for what was to come. The looks that Seven got from passing crew touched her heart. They would defend her child as surely as they'd defend their own.
On the bridge Janeway was checking in with Tuvok about his progress. There was a deep knot of fear in the pit of her stomach that always appeared when they were just about to face off against something, but this was different. This was the first time she'd be facing danger with her daughter on board and that changed the whole game plan. It made her all that much more fierce and determined. After she finished with Tuvok Janeway made her way to engineering and then to sickbay. She was surprised to find Seven there with Gretchen and speaking with the doctor. "Is everything alright?"
"Everything is fine." Seven said as she gave Janeway a reassuring look. "The Doctor was just following up on the procedure Gretchen had done yesterday." She gave the doctor a meaningful look before stepping close enough to Kathryn on her way out to brush her lover's hand with her own.
The Doctor nodded.
Kathryn smiled down at her daughter before placing a kiss on the baby's forehead. "You'd better get her back to the cabin, Seven."
Seven nodded. The two women shared a look of love and reassurance and then Seven slipped out of sickbay. She made sure Gretchen was safe before checking in with B'Elanna. Then she returned to her own work.
After checking in with the Doctor, Janeway headed back to the bridge. She'd just stepped off the turbo lift when the ship went to red alert. "Report!"
"Borg ship, Captain." Tuvok reported. "It just dropped out of transwarp."
The tension on the bridge was smothering as the view screen showed what they were up against. It was a single diamond shaped ship that seemed to just dangle there in space before them, forcing them to stop.
"We're being scanned." Harry reported from his position at ops.
Moments later the bridge watched in helpless shock as their captain was suddenly engulfed in the green partials of light that was a Borg transport beam. Several seconds passed as the shock washed over them, but then Chakotay snapped out of it and quickly took command. "Tuvok? What the hell just happened and where the hell is the Captain?"
"I am reading one human life sign on the Borg vessel." Tuvok replied.
"Just one?" Chakotay asked, turning to Harry he added, "Seven and the baby?"
"Still on the Voyager, Sir." Harry reported.
"Keep a lock on them, Harry." Chakotay ordered. "Tuvok, get the Captain off that ship!"
Aboard the Queen's ship Janeway found herself standing in the Queen's central chamber. She looked around quickly to see if Seven or the baby were there but she was alone. She hit her comm. badge but of course there was no reply. When she heard the all to familiar sound of machinery suddenly in movement she turned sharply on her heels towards the central alcove. She watched, her blue-gray eyes burning with anger and hate, as the Borg Queen was lowered from the rafters above to join with her cybernetic body.
The Borg Queen smiled a sick and twisted smile. "Hello Captain."
"Your Majesty." Janeway said with as much sarcasm as she could muster.
The Queen circled Janeway slowly while she shimmed into her body like a cat shaking out its fur. "So glad you could join us."
Janeway swallowed against a suddenly dry throat. Her eyes darted around the chamber but they were still alone. "It was an invitation I couldn't say no too."
"I did not want you to miss a moment of this." The Queen said just before titling her head in that odd way that let others know she was issuing a command of some sort. A moment later the Queen began to speak out aloud but she wasn't speaking to Janeway. "Seven." She purred. "You can see who I have, Seven of Nine. Bring me the child or I will assimilate her."
Anger raged inside of Janeway. "She won't do it so you might as well go ahead and assimilate me."
The Queen turned towards Janeway, her voice still that lush, sedative tone as she said, "We will just have to wait and see won't we Captain? Captain, that sounds so formal. We're closer than that now, aren't we Kathryn? After all, I'm going to be raising your child."
Janeway's eyes ever left the other woman as she turned her own body to match the movements of the Queen. She wasn't even trying to hide her emotions behind a mask there was no point. "Why?" She finally asked after several long seconds. "Why have you done this?"
"I seek perfection." The Borg Queen answered as she took several steps closer to Janeway.
"I?" Janeway asked. Her mind was wheeling. She wasn't sure what to do, how to get back to the ship, all she could think of was keeping Seven and Gretchen safe but she couldn't do that from here. "What happened to the royal we?"
The Borg Queen smiled. "I am the we." Stepping closer the Queen raised a hand and caressed Janeway's hair. "You were so lovely as a drone. Such a pity; such a waste."
Janeway jerked away from the Queen's touch. Her skin felt like it wanted to crawl right off her bones every time the other woman got to near. "Answer my question."
"You already know the answer." The Borg Queen replied as she looked into the human's blazing eyes.
The two looked at each other for several seconds before Janeway said, "You're prefect heir?"
Again the Borg Queen smiled. "I am the Borg. I have always been the Borg; I will always be the Borg. I am perfection. Each and every species that is added to the Collective, I take their uniqueness and I add it to that perfection, and in return when I assimilate them I give them the gift of that perfection."
"And people call me arrogant." Janeway quipped.
The Queen continued. "That perfection must always continue. There must always be a Queen. I will live on, the Collective will live on, and how poetic that it will do so through your child. How fitting that humanity will finally fall at the hands of one of their own."
"My daughter will never be your successor!" Janeway barked, her anger rushing to the top. She reached out to strike at the Queen but the Queen grabbed hold of her arm and it was all Janeway could do not to flinch as she hissed, "She will never be one of you."
The look of pleasure on the Queen's face brightened as she said, "I don't know Kathryn, perhaps we should ask Seven of Nine what she thinks, don't you?" The Borg queen moved slowly so that Janeway could see what stood behind her.
Blue-gray eyes went wide as Janeway's mouth opened in a surprised 'oh' as she watched Seven appear in a transport beam holding their baby in her arms. Gretchen was wrapped in a soft pink blanket but Janeway could hear her soft whimpers and see the movement beneath the fabric. "Seven? Seven, no!"