Chapter 6

The three quickly ate with Tom and Harry dominating most of the conversation. Harry and Tom were so lively, keeping Seven's attention so well that the usual scowls and averted gazed didn't bother her as much as usual.

Once they were fed and watered, they went to the holodeck where a group of people had already started to gather. A few people from every corner of the ship had managed to make it. Some were already known and others had been invited on a whim. They had already set up the program so that Sandrine's was in place with its orange lighting and woodwork setting an atmosphere unique to the place.

Tom led the way into the building, smiling and greeting people as he went. Seven hesitated at the door. Harry had been walking behind her to block any escape route and noticed the uncertainty. Taking a chance, he patted her shoulder and was rewarded with a petite smile. They made their way inside and up to the bar where Tom was ordering drinks.

Seven shook her head when Tom passed her a drink, but he smiled and reassured her it was a virgin pina colada.

"You'll like it," said the doctor, sidling up to them.

Tom jumped at the unexpected appearance. "Jeez, Doc, you scared me." He grasped his heart in mock fear. "Make some noise when you come up behind people, would you?"

The Doctor tilted his head and teased Tom. "I did not attempt to disguise my approach. Perhaps we should check your hearing, Mr. Paris."

Ten minutes later and their group had moved over to stand around one of the pool tables. Seven occupied a stool at the end of the bar and the Doctor stood at her elbow. Harry leaned over the table, lined up his shot and missed.

"Harry, Harry, Harry," chided Tom as he came around the table for his turn. "I thought I taught you better than that."

Harry rolled his eyes.

"I guess I'll just have to show you how it's done." He assessed the angles, taking his time in lining up. He was just about to shoot when the Doctor spoke.

"Actually," the ball missed its mark by a wider margin than Harry's, "being a hologram I would have an advantage over both of you as I can --"

"Yes, thank you, Doc," said Tom. He took Harry's place against the wall, trying to ignore the way his best friend was laughing at him.

As the game continued, Chakotay entered the holodeck. He looked around, but didn't have to search too hard. Tom and Harry were hard to ignore when they started joking around and the Doctor's balding head was visible from almost anywhere. And anywhere the Doctor was… there Seven was.

She could feel his presence before she saw him. Chakotay had a way of making those around him stop and take notice. By no tangible means of perception, several people knew someone was behind them and moved out of his way before he even had to ask.

Before he could get to her, a group of holograms walked between them, blocking Seven from his sight. She took the opportunity. Everyone was looking elsewhere and her civilian clothing allowed her to blend into the crowd.

"Captain," the Doctor greeted with a smile. He didn't actually look at Chakotay but kept his attention on the game.

"Doc." He nodded to the EMH. "Have you seen Seven?" Chakotay stretched out his neck, trying to see over everyone, but there was no sign of her.

The Doctor turned in confusion. "She's right…" He trailed off when he finally looked over his shoulder and noticed Seven had disappeared. "She was right here a moment ago."

The Doctor and Chakotay looked around, but both failed to notice the holodeck door slide open. Seven escaped into the hallway, triumphant and yet somehow saddened that it had been so easy.

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Disappointed that Seven had skipped out before he could even say hello, Chakotay went back to the bridge. The night crew was on duty, but Chakotay didn't care. He needed to get his mind off his personal problems and work was just the ticket.

There were reports from Chief Engineer Fergus that would have to be read. The lanky engineer had been keeping his team hopping, tweaking this and tuning that. Were Chakotay not acquainted with B'Elanna, he would have thought Fergus was the most hardcore engineer in Starfleet.

Chakotay tried to imagine the length and depth of Fergus' report. It would no doubt take awhile to get through and numb his mind. I might as well read it now, he decided.

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Seven entered the cargo bay and prepared her unit for her regeneration cycle. The large machine hummed its readiness. As soon as she entered and aligned herself with it, the cycle would start.

It was a process that she had taken part in countless times before, but this time was different. She hesitated. Without knowing why, Seven felt repulsed. It wasn't disgust but rather a squirming in the pit of her stomach. Unfortunately, regeneration was necessary for her cybernetic systems.

She entered the unit and lined up her body. The machine engaged and darkness took over as Seven closed her eyes. The voices and pale green light came into her vision sooner than the previous nights. She looked around and noted that the area illuminated had expanded. It did not comfort her.

The shadowy figures appeared soon. They pressed against the barrier of light with more fervour and ease than the previous nights. The largest of them bent the light so far inward that Seven feared it would break. It did not occur to her how strange a thought it was to think light could break. She knew it instinctually that only a thin shield now was keeping whatever was on the other side away from her.

Millions of voices collected into one. The calmer ones were giving orders, the louder ones were screaming. All of them were like icy hands, gripping her legs and trying to pull her down. A cavern appeared below her feet, though she didn't recall having a body or being on a floor.

Green fire appeared at the bottom of the pit and suddenly Seven could see where the voices were coming from. Thousands upon thousands of hands and warped, half-assimilated heads were reaching out to her as she fell, never getting any closer to the bottom. Their skin was pasty and grey. They smelled of rot and death as they screamed and reached out for her with clammy palms and cold eyes. Seven, too terrified to even scream, reached out to push herself away from the walls, but she was surrounded.

One of the dead hands grabbed hers and she looked up to see it was connected to a whole body. It was her, but not as she was now… as she was when still Borg. Without warning, the Borg version of her let go and Seven was falling faster than before to the now solid, metal ground below…

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3 days to Beta 12.

Seven left her regeneration cycle early, but wasn't sure why. For a while she just wandered around the cargo bay looking for something. Just what she was looking for she didn't know. It was just a nagging feeling in the back of her mind that told her there was something she had forgotten to do, or forgotten completely.

Finally, after a half hour of simply wandering aimlessly, Seven stood and stared at her regeneration unit. There was something about it that tickled her memory. It was terribly frustrating not being able to remember.

The lighting at the top of her unit caught her attention. The dancing of the electric display was captivating and the more she watched, the more intriguing it became. Green danced against black…

Her eyes widened as her memories flooded back.

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Voyager's corridors were lively early in the morning. Seven passed several people on her way to astrometrics. Those who noticed her or bothered to raise their eyes either glared or quickly averted their gazes, fearful. She bypassed the mess hall completely, deciding it was best to get something to eat when less people would be there.

There were a two ensigns, Nancy Clemens and Edward Burns, already in astrometrics when she entered. Despite her unnerved state, Seven gave them a tiny smile and a nod as she entered. One of them smiled back, having been working in astrometrics with her for a few days now. The other tensed and looked away. Seven didn't bother trying to engage either of them in a conversation. For the rest of the day, she remained in near solitude and almost perfect silence.

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1 day to Beta 12.

A new species was being brought aboard to be assimilated.

Drones converged in the chambers where assimilation would take place. There, they caught the still struggling families, the hysterical children, even the violent males trying to fight back. They were all subdued with effortless force and some with nanoprobes.

Ignored in the corner were several Starfleet officers. An ensign and a lieutenant pointed to the various things the Borg were doing as two admirals made notations on Padds.

In the maturation chambers, new drone fetuses were built even as the parents of the former children were taken apart and put back together in the form of machines. And all through this operation, the drones watched without thought of mercy, without thought at all.

A human male was struggling with the others. He was wearing a red and black captain's uniform. Sweat formed on his forehead as he struggled, dripping down the tattoo on his forehead. His struggles were cut short with a few nanoprobes and he fell to the deck, his body shielded from view by a swarm of drones.

Red eyes glowed in the dark. The blinding green of Borg technology and depressing dark began to pulse, to take on a life of its own. It threatened to consume the whole ship and go far beyond. One heart on the ship sped up with the threat, thumping in ever growing fear of the darkness.

Blue eyes met dozens of red ones. Seven struggled to breathe.

"It's just a dream. It's just a dream," she told herself over and over. It did no good. She trembled as one of the drones came towards her. At first, the Borg's face was blurred by the pulsing lights, the sickly green and red glow casting unnatural shadows on its face.

Seven tried to move, but was rooted to the spot. She tried to look away, but the only things to see were more drones. Wishing to block the image of metal-infected flesh from her sight, Seven closed her eyes.

Muscular hands wrapped around Seven's upper arms, holding her in place. The drone's warm breath on her cheek shocked her into opening them again. It was Chakotay, unblinking and accusing in his stare.

The Starfleet officers in the corner watched and pointed to her and Chakotay. The admirals were frowning as the ensign and lieutenant shouted that all this was Seven's fault.

Trapped by the horrifying vision of Chakotay as a drone, Seven couldn't look away from him. She wondered how this happened and as though reading her thoughts, the drone of Chakotay answered.

"You did this to me."

Seven struggled within her own mind, trying to regain consciousness. At first nothing happened. It was as though the grip the Borg had her in was real. The feel of hands on her felt real, but then it faded along with the image of Chakotay's mutilated face.

The cargo bay was dark and unwelcoming.

"Chakotay." The whisper escaped her lips before she could stop herself. She looked around, half expecting to see him there, but he wasn't. Seven stepped from her unit, ignoring the computer as it warned her that the cycle was incomplete.

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When the two ships arrived at Beta 12, the two senior crews stared from their respective positions at the solar system before them. Two suns revolved around each other, pulled close by their own gravity. Twelve planets, and one dense, brown nebula the size of a large ship circled the two suns. Of the twelve planets, only one had been able to support life and it was now no more than a dusty rock.

Of all the items in the system, the brown nebula was the most interesting. It had appeared around the same time as the Enterprise disappeared and evidence of small rifts in subspace was all around the area. Scans were able to reveal little about the nebula itself.

Outside the pull of the two stars, but still within viewing distance was an asteroid field and beyond that shone a bright blue nebula. It too was providing little information for the scanners, but otherwise appeared to be a normal nebula.

"Anything?" Chakotay asked from the captain's chair. He, like many of the other officers was daunted by the sight of the barren wasteland. The wide scale loss of life saddened him.

Seven of Nine's fingers danced over the controls as she spoke. She was too used to viewing similar destruction to waste time in sadness when she could be discovering why and how such a thing could have happened.

"Report," said Chakotay.

"Theta radiation is still interfering with scanners." She continued to work and after a moment, the group released a breath in relief. "No, there are no traces of either the Enterprise or life on the planet." Data scrolled by on her console faster than any human could read. "Nor are there any new anomalies." She looked up, her usual stoic expression in place. "Unless the Enterprise was vaporized, they were not destroyed - at least, not here."

Harry Kim nodded. "I suppose that's good news."

She gave her friend a smile. Her expression didn't reveal it, but she was as glad as the others were. "It is."

"One more thing, Captain," said Seven, still not looking at him, though he had partly turned to hear her better. "Our scanners are unable to get a clear scan of either of the nebulas." Something on her screen caught her attention. "A closer proximity may help us receive clearer readings."

"Agreed," Chakotay said, but wasn't sure if Seven had heard him as she continued despite his confirmation.

"There appears to be several unknown elements composing the brown nebula but I'm not detecting anything to explain why they're restricted to this area, or this nebula."

A slightly whimsical tone broke into Chakotay's thoughts. "I think we should call it the Mud Hole," said Lieutenant Ellie Horne from the helm.

'"Mud Hole'?" asked Chakotay with a smile.

"It seemed an appropriate name for the nebula," she said quickly, but still a faint blush crept over her cheeks.

Tom, though he looked straight ahead, was fighting hard not to smile. "I think it looks more like mushy beans."

Shaking his head, Chakotay pressed a communications button on his console. "Chakotay to Regulus."

Over the bridge's intercom came Captain Jim Silas' steady voice. "Regulus here. That brown nebula shouldn't be here and I've not seen anything like it anywhere else in the Beta Quadrant. Whatever it is, it must have developed around the time of the Enterprise's disappearance."

"Agreed. Any sign of our colleagues?"

"No, we're not picking up any signs of the Enterprise, intact or otherwise."

"Neither are we and there's no sign of the rifts either. We think the Enterprise must have moved elsewhere, or been moved."

Onboard the USS Regulus, Captain Jim Silas stood with his hands clasped behind his back as his calm, assessing eyes took in the planet. "Understood," he said, not bothering to raise his voice any louder than as though Captain Chakotay were right beside him. His voice carried well enough and due to the sombre nature of their mission, his bridge crew was being especially silent. "With any luck, the Enterprise will have landed on one of the moons or continued on to search the rest of the system."

In the chair beside him, Silas' second in command furrowed her dark brow, but didn't say anything. Silas' premature wrinkles grew deeper as he smiled at Commander Imani Roux. She knew the chances the Enterprise stood of finding a safe place to land and hide on the barren, unwelcoming planets and moons. For that matter, so did Silas, but he preferred to remain hopeful.

"We're going to take a few scans and a sample of this brown nebula, see if we can't figure out what it's made of. We can both start our scans of the system and move on from there if we don't find anything."

"Acknowledged. We're preparing to take samples of the Mud Hole as well."

'"Mud Hole?'" Silas looked to Commander Roux, but she just shrugged, equally puzzled.

Silas swore he could hear amusement in Captain Chakotay's voice as he replied. "Someone over here thought it would make a good name for the brown nebula."

"Of course," said Silas. "It seems to have appeared about the same time as the rifts. If we can each work on it, we might be able to figure out where it came from."

"Shouldn't be a problem. Keep an eye out and stay in regular contact."

"Understood. Regulus out."

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Though not a lauded war hero, Silas had gained respect from Starfleet during the Dominion War. It was that respect which pushed him towards caution in situations such as these. As his crew went through the simple and familiar procedures for bringing a sample from a nebula onboard, Silas watched Voyager do the same from his bridge.

As a man of science and adventure, it was just a normal thing for both the scientist and captain in Jim Silas to be extremely interested in the murky nebula circling the two suns.

"Sample is in Lab 3 and secure," reported Commander Roux said.

"Excellent."

To his pilot, Lieutenant Teya Ackeela, he gave the command to head for the first of the moons to be inspected. Silas then turned from the large screen before him and headed out the main doors, anxious to see this foreign substance for himself. "Inform Captain Chakotay that we have our sample and are on our way."

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"Sample is secure," said Fergus. He and another engineer watched as a container filled with the brown gas.

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"Good work."

Tom tapped in a few commands. "The Regulus has their sample as well. We're good to go."

Chakotay nodded and addressed Ellie Horne. "Whenever you're ready, Lieutenant."

"Yes, Captain." Almost immediately, Voyager made a slight shift and began to follow the Regulus as they toured the small system.

Assured that everything was being well taken care of, Chakotay approached Seven's station. "Seven, I want you to help with the analysis of the nebula sample."

She lifted what would have been a brow if there were no silver metal there. "Captain?"

"You have a lot more experience with foreign substances than we do. Use what resources you deem necessary."

She nodded once to him. "Yes, sir." She said it as smartly as any cadet and hurried from the bridge to do as commanded.

It was lucky she did not turn around as she would have been unable to ignore or brush off how Chakotay watched her with pride and more than a little sadness in his eyes.

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Unfortunately for the crews of Voyager and the Regulus, the reason for the Enterprise's disappearance was close and prepared to do anything it took to protect what they had worked so hard to build. Months of planning and effort would not be compromised, not now when they were so close.

On a ship unlike any other in the Beta or Alpha Quadrant, enemies of Voyager waited for their moment. A substance they had designed to recreate their natural environment surrounded them, hiding their ships and so much more from view.

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The two crews stayed in constant contact as they scoured the passing planets of the small solar system. It was estimated the trip would take two days if they kept scanning at their current rate.

They travelled together and worked together, but it did nothing to improve the lack of information they were gleaning from the unforgiving system. Still, the scientists on both ships continued to prod and poke their samples, hoping to identify the compounds making up the unusually dense nebula. Nobody worked as hard on deciphering the mystery as one particular person.

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Seven was tired. Usually she could have pushed her fatigue out of mind, but it had been a long day. It had taken a toll on the whole crew, including her. She needed a full night of uninterrupted regeneration, preferably without any disturbing dreams. She knew it was very likely that she would go wanting.

"I'm beat. I'll see you tomorrow," said Fergus. His trip up from his post had not been eventful. Fergus and Seven had spent the better part of the day trying to glean some truth from their sample of the Mud Hole, but come up with nothing.

"Goodnight."

Ensign Nancy Clemens entered astrometrics as Fergus exited. A strand of brown hair fell into her eyes and she impatiently flicked it away. She listened patiently and attentively as Seven of Nine brought her up to date on the results of the days' scans and bid the ex-Borg a goodnight.

She breathed a sigh of relief as Seven disappeared. Clemens liked her colleague well enough, but it was nice to have the night shift all to herself. It let her feel like the lab was her own.