A/N: This is a finished fic BUT it is still subject to contraction and re-editing. Where's the love, peeps? LOl

Reparata

Taken – Chapter 2

It took Sheldon a few minutes to find a way out of what the Doctor had called 'sick bay'. He'd grabbed his gear (messenger bag and paint ball rifle), donned his helmet and walked down a windowless corridor lined with many closed doors.

He increased his pace, almost on the verge of panic. It took him almost 40 minutes to realize that he was on a lozenge-shaped floor and that was because he passed by the entrance to 'sick bay' again. What kind of idiots design a hospital without safety exits? There must be a stairwell or an elevator and I just missed it.

He heard voices approaching and he ducked into an alcove of sorts and listened to their chatter. 'I can't believe it, can you? A soldier from Earth's past all the way out here? One of the security team said he attacked the captain! They've left the probe in cargo bay...'

The two women walked past him and stood at a door several meters down the corridor from him and Sheldon carefully observed their protocols. They announced their destination and the doors closed and they were gone. He figured it was a high tech elevator of sorts and he waited a decent interval, slouching down on his haunches and taking out a bottle of water from his survival pack.

Figuring that enough time had elapsed, he stood before the doors and announced 'Cargo Bay 3, please' and waited. The computer voice told him that 'Cargo Bay 3 was restricted to command and security personnel only'.

Miffed, he figured that a cargo bay was a cargo bay and that if it was their name for a loading dock then he was almost outside and from there he need only find a phone.

"Cargo Bay 2, please." The doors opened and he stepped in and repeated his destination and in seconds he felt the rapid acceleration and lateral movement and then the doors opened into another corridor and he stepped out.

He walked down the corridor until he came to a door labeled 'Cargo Bay 2' and waved his hand as he'd seen others do but the door remained closed. "Computer, open the door to Cargo Bay 2, please."

"Unable to comply. Access is restricted to senior officers and medical staff."

He pressed his ear against the door and heard a buzzing sound like electricity and then examined the keypad beside the door. He took out his multi-tool from his messenger bag and pried the cover plate off and then rummaged around and found a paperclip and used it to complete a circuit and the door whooshed open.

He stepped into a cavernous area that was poorly lit. The door whooshed closed behind him. There were packing cases and what looked like chairs and a table. Against one wall was an alcove of sorts and inside, surrounded by a greenish glow that made her skin appear gray and mottled, appeared to be a woman undergoing some sort of electro-therapy. He wasn't a medical doctor but he knew that something was off.

Sheldon removed his helmet and messenger bag and set them on the table beside his rifle and slowly walked over to the device. A young woman was standing prone against the rear of the device, her hands holding onto handles while her head was enveloped in green bolts of what appeared to be electrical energy of some kind.

"My God, what are they doing to this poor woman?" he muttered to himself. He approached her, noting that she was either sedated or unconscious because of the tortures she was enduring.

He was afraid of being electrocuted but he couldn't allow the woman to suffer. It was inhumane. He grabbed both of her arms at the wrist and placed them around his neck and then stepped forward and grabbed her around the shoulders and pulled.

Her head fell forward against his shoulder and he saw that a belt or strap of some kind was holding her in place. Sheldon unsnapped it and wrapped his arms around her waist and felt electrodes disappearing into her spine.

"What kind of experiments and tortures are they subjecting her to?" he thought, shuddering at the memories of his own 'examinations' as a child.

Determined to free her, he pulled each of the wires from her back and she sighed as Sheldon pulled her free and lowered her gently to the floor. She was heavier than she looked. He pulled his messenger bag down off the table and took out the plastic bottle of water.

He pulled the young woman into a sitting position against his chest and her head lolled back over his shoulder. He tried to get a little water between her lips, but she coughed and pushed his hand away.

"Easy now. I'm not going to harm you. Why are you being held in this cargo bay? Who are you?" The woman was tall and wearing what looked like a 1950's high-altitude pressure suit that failed to hide that she was abundantly mammalian. Her blonde hair was done up in some twisty thing that kept it from her face.

"I am…Borg." She wasn't fully conscious yet.

"Social protocols suggest that I respond with my identity. I am Dr. Sheldon Cooper. Can you sit up on your own, Borg? I need to find an exit out of this mad house and then I'll be right back to help you escape. Are you injured?"

"No. I – my regeneration cycle is incomplete and I am – yes, I can sit up on my own. I am Borg, after all." Her tone of superiority and condescension irritated Sheldon and he snapped back at her.

"Yes, you already told me that. I'm not damaged in any way and my hearing is quite acute. Once I find an exit, we'll be able to leave and contact the authorities. My friends will come for me and you're welcome to stay with me until your family or friends can take you home."

"I have no family or friends. My link to the collective has been irreversibly severed and I can no longer hear the others. The silence…is painful. I can never go 'home' again."

There was the hint of wistfulness, longing and bitterness in the blonde woman's voice and Sheldon knew how she felt. He always felt sadness when he thought about those few people who mattered to him. He never seemed to really fit in with any group except for the guys and Penny and even then he still felt awkward, still an outsider. He knew that it was only a matter of time until they went about their life-business and left him behind.

"Well, you're welcome to stay with me until you can join a new collective, Borg. Now, if you'll excuse me, I must find an exit to the outside."

He gently laid her down because despite her claims to be able to sit up, she was obviously weak and in need of medical treatment.

"Wait! You cannot open any of the external hatches while we're in space. Are you mad?"

He drew himself up to his full 6'2 height and responded in his typically disdaining and superior manner: "I'm not the one in the insane asylum, Borg. I'll have us out of here and safe in a blink of an eye. You'll see."

"Computer, alert Security. Intruder in cargo bay 2."

Sheldon whirled around, shocked at his new acquaintance's betrayal. "Now that was downright rude, Borg. I might reconsider my earlier offer of hearth and home. You may like this dark and dreary place but I much prefer the sunlight of California. Perhaps I shall visit you if it is permitted once I contact the proper authorities and this place is back in the hands of the medical staff."

He spent too much time gabbing away and making himself the center of attention as usual. Two security crewmembers materialized in the cargo bay and one of them shot him with a phaser set on stun.

When Sheldon awoke, he had a horrible headache and a matching taste in his mouth. His field of vision was filled with the face of the EMH who was not smiling as he had been before.

"Here, Dr. Cooper, drink this. It will help with the headache and cottony mouth. Now, don't try to deactivate me. Your computer privileges have been revoked. Once you are feeling human again, the Captain wants to see you in her ready room. She's not in a good mood. Mind your manners."

"Where is Borg? She requires medical attention. You monsters had her hooked up to some horrible torture device. The poor thing suffered terribly."

"Borg? Oh, you mean Seven of Nine. We don't call her Borg. It's impolite." The doctor seemed very protective of Borg unless Sheldon was totally misreading his expression.

"She told me that that was her name – Borg. She said 'I am Borg' when I asked her name."

"Seven can be very literal. She's adapting quite well to her situation. And that 'torture device' you spoke of keeps her alive, Dr. Cooper. She requires a period of regeneration to keep her Borg components properly functioning. Without it, she will die."

"Now, if you're feeling better, I'll summon security to escort you to the captain's ready room, Dr. Cooper."

Whatever was in the liquid he'd ingested worked because his headache was gone as was the revolting taste in his mouth. He wished he could brush his teeth and floss. And wash his hands. And apologize to Borg. It was never his intention to cause her harm and he felt badly for misreading the situation.

"I should apologize to her. This social construct is alien to me and I had no idea my misguided attempts to assist her would cause her harm. If you see her…"

"Yes, by all means. You should apologize. It will be a first for her - a human being apologizing to her for his actions. I wish to be present when you do so that I may observe her reaction. It should be fascinating to see how she responds."

"Hmm, no doubt. Well, summon the gendarmerie, Leonard, and let's get this over with."

"Leonard? You called me 'Leonard'. Why?" The doctor looked uncertain for the first time since Sheldon had met him.

"You lack a 'personal designation' so now you have one. You remind me of Leonard – so uncertainly certain of just about everything."

"Leonard. I like it. Thank you, Dr. Cooper." The EMH was smiling like an idiot and Sheldon silently muttered 'Bazinga!'

Two big men from security entered the sick bay and each took Sheldon by an elbow and led him out into the corridor.

"Good day, Dr. Cooper. Remember to mind your manners with the captain."

The EMH busied himself with minor details. He was smiling and it broadened when the sick bay doors opened and Seven of Nine walked in.

"Hello, Seven. You just missed Dr. Cooper. He wishes to apologize to you for interrupting your regeneration cycle. He thought you were being tortured."

"I do not require an 'apology' since no harm was done." There was a distinct haughtiness in her manner that turned most humans 'off' when they first met her.

"Where is this Dr. Cooper and how did he come to be on Voyager? He left these in my quarters." She dumped his helmet, rifle and messenger bag on the bio-bed recently vacated by Sheldon.

"It's really a remarkable story, Seven. It seems that our young Dr. Cooper is considerably older than he appears to be. And he's from Earth!"

She raised one elegant eyebrow and looked at the Doctor, suddenly interested in hearing his story. She remembered his comment regarding her 'new' collective and his offer of 'home and hearth'. She almost regretted summoning security, almost.

A/N: Thanks for reading. So far 87 brave souls have hit this. Kinda sad, really.

Reparata

6/28/2012