Picard, still tuned to the quiet hum of the voices in the Borg hive, heard Data call to him on the bridge. He, Worf and Beverly had just set the Enterprise's self-destruct sequence for a fifteen minute silent countdown, and were evacuating. He'd been taking his final look at the ship they'd hardly had the chance to know before going to his escape pod, but he couldn't leave now. Not while he knew Data, and possibly Naseema, were still alive. He had to help them, he owed them that much. He made his way through the eerily quiet, dark ship until he reached engineering, where he found it's doors now wide open. Borg drones passed him, barely acknowledging his presence, and he could feel the dead eyes of those resting in their pods follow him as he moved deeper into the hive. Many of them were still clad in Starfleet uniforms, a sick reminder of the humans they'd once been. Picard felt a shiver run down his spine as he approached the ship's throbbing, glowing warp core. He scanned the room for any sign of his gentle-natured assistant, and his equally gentle second officer. A familiar voice from behind startled him, and he spun around to confront it.
"Welcome, Captain." Naseema said.
A brave man, Picard found himself unusually gripped by a sudden rush of fear at the hideous hollow quality in her voice. He immediately noticed the inky blackness that had taken over her normally vibrant blue eyes, and what he'd feared was confirmed. The Borg had control of the Feeonix.
"Oh god...Naseema...what have they done to-" he whispered, but was loudly cut off by a second familiar voice, and this one brought with it a flood of terrifying memories.
"What's wrong, Locutus?" the queen asked, entering behind Naseema, her tone thick with malice. "Isn't this familiar? Organic minds are such fragile things. How could you forget me so quickly?" she spat as she continued to approach him. "We were very close, you and I. You can still hear our song."
Picard took several steps back before finally standing his ground, and letting the queen get close to him. "Yes, I-I remember you," he again whispered, almost to himself. "You were there all the time...but...that ship...and all the Borg on it were destroyed."
"You think in such three dimensional terms. How small you've become," the queen hissed back, barely letting Picard finish. "Data understands me," she continued, and glanced over Picard's shoulder as she moved past him. "Don't you, Data?"
Picard turned, and followed her gaze over to the far side of the room where his eyes finally landed on his second officer, standing motionless in a Borg pod, his face void of expression. Picard felt his stomach churn at the sight of the android's new patchwork face, and the stolen human eye. "What have you done to him?" he gasped, the horror of what Data had faced here, slamming into him like a missile.
"Given him what he always wanted, flesh and blood," the queen replied, so casually Picard was almost ready to believe he was in the middle of a nightmare instead of this gut-wrenching reality.
"And much more." Naseema added, now standing next to her captain. His head whipped over to look at her, and she raised her eyebrow at him before returning her gaze to the stoic form of the android he knew she desperately loved.
Her subtle facial gesture had conveyed everything she'd intended it to, and he felt his heart breaking for both Data, and Naseema. It was almost too much for him to handle. He thought he'd understood the enormity of their loyalty to each other, she'd always been a brick wall when it came to Data, and despite both his Starfleet training, and his programming, the android was equally stubborn in his devotion to the Feeonix ambassador, but what was happening here was past the point of insanity. Each of them so terribly lonely, and wearing their hearts on their sleeves. It made them such easy prey for malevolent manipulators like Lore...like the queen. The Feeonix's love for the android had, once again, been used against her...their love for each other, once again, used against them both, and he feared that this time, they would be swallowed up by it, neither one able to sacrifice the other, regardless of the cost.
"Oh, Naseema, not like this," Picard said gently, but she ignored him, and stepped away, moving towards the one who now had control of her mind. Picard returned his gaze to the queen, and glared at her with steely determination.
Data and Naseema had served the Enterprise with everything they could give, repeatedly placed their lives in jeopardy for her crew, and their captain. What the queen was doing to them made him burn with murderous rage. His own assimilation had seeded an unnatural hatred in him, but now the Borg had targeted those he cared about, and that crossed an unspeakable line. Even if it meant his own life in exchange, he would ensure Data and Naseema's freedom, they had earned it. He only hoped the queen would accept his offer...and that his two trusted friends would finally reveal to each other how they felt...before it was too late for them.
"Let him go," he said with a calm steadiness. "Naseema too, they're not the ones you want."
"Are you offering yourself to us?" the queen replied, arching a brow bone, her tone weighty. She glanced at Naseema, who blinked, and returned the queen's look with a placid expression.
"That is what you wanted, is it not, highness?" she asked, almost too politely.
"Offering myself?" Picard asked, his brow furrowing as he moved his eyes between the two women. "That's it," he gasped as the realization struck him. "I remember now. It wasn't enough that you assimilate me, I had to give myself freely to the Borg," he paused before adding, "to you."
"You flatter yourself!" the queen snapped, insulted, and pointedly turned her back to him, stalking away. "I've overseen the assimilation of countless millions! You were no different." Her voice was loaded with a strange mix of venom and indifference, designed to confuse, but Picard saw through it.
"You're lying," he boldly countered. The queen stopped dead in her tracks, and spun around, her silver eyes wide with shock at his audacity. Picard continued before she could respond, "You wanted more than just another Borg drone! You wanted a human being, with a mind of his own, who could bridge the gulf between humanity and the Borg! You wanted a...counterpart, but I resisted. I fought you."
"You can't begin to imagine the life you denied yourself," the queen replied, her regal arrogance was astounding, but Picard had already made his choice, and he moved forward with a smile.
"It's not too late," he said, his voice becoming calm, and soothing. "Locutus could still be with you, just in the way you wanted...an equal." He came up close to her, and looked in her eyes with firm resolve. "Let Data go, and I will take my place at your side...willingly, without any resistance."
The queen relaxed her posture, and gazed at Picard almost tenderly. "Such a noble creature, a quality we sometimes lack," she said sweetly. "We will add your distinctiveness to our own." She touched his face delicately, drawing her gloved fingers across his lips. "Welcome home, Locutus."
Naseema smiled at the queen's affectionate gesture. "All is as it should be," she said softly.
The queen looked over Picard's shoulder at the android still frozen in place. She blinked purposefully, and the forcefield surrounding him released. "Data, you are free to go," she told him.
"Data, go," Picard said, his tone turning stern as he kept his eyes locked on the queen. "Take Naseema with you."
"No," the android replied, determinedly, and Picard whirled around to stare at him, his eyes wide with horrified surprise as Data added, "I do not wish to go."
Picard jerked his head towards Naseema, praying she would hear reason and leave, praying Data would follow her, but instead she offered the android a beguiling smile, and when he returned it, Picard's heart sank.
He was too late. They'd been through too much, and were already lost. The queen had presented them with an offer simply too great for either of them to refuse, and the sacrifice he'd been prepared to make was for nothing. They were all doomed.
A sickening smile of smug satisfaction spread across the queen's lips. "As you can see," she said. "I have already found an equal. Data, deactivate the self-destruct sequence." The android descended from the pod, and moved to the control panel with unquestioning obedience.
Picard's eyes widened further as he watched him follow the queen's order without hesitation. "Data, no, don't do it!" he cried as he shot forward with increasing alarm. "Data listen to me!" The growing panic in his voice was audible, but Data ignored him, his fingers moving deftly across the panel until the computer clarified the deed had been done. Picard let out a frustrated sigh, desperate for a way out of this, refusing to believe Data and Naseema would betray everything they'd stood for.
"Now enter the encryption codes, and give me computer control," the queen continued as Data turned to face her, anticipating her next instruction.
Picard glanced back at her, and saw Naseema had moved to her side again.
He knew the Feeonix would be of no help to him now, her mind was in a tunnel, and the queen had complete control of her, but Data was still capable of free thought, he had to get through to him.
Picard returned his attention back to the android, and raced forward,"Data!" he barked, and was again ignored. He softened his voice to a quiet plea, his hazel eyes mirroring the emotion inside him. "Data," he begged, but the only acknowledgement he received was a cold stare of indifference. Data then moved briskly past him to join the two women.
He stood beside Naseema, and ran his hand affectionately down the length of her hair before bringing it to rest in the small of her back. Then, looking at Picard with the same icy stare, he smirked and said, "He will make an excellent drone."