* Disclaimer. I don't own Star Trek. Although how cool would that be? This is just something I do for fun and not for money. Okay now that's out of the way, on to the nerdy stuff. *
Inside Cargo Bay 2, Seven of Nine was downloading relevant information pertaining to the Okari from her Borg interface. The Doctor would find this information useful for his diagnosis. From her memory of the Borg's collective mind, she knew the Okari were benign in nature, an entire species endowed with the singular purpose of attaining perfection. She had profound respect for them. Although she felt she had the same distrust for this alien that she had for the Borg, she needed to keep that prejudice at bay.
The download completed and after several swift keystrokes on her padd, the data package had been sent to the Doctor's console. "Seven of Nine to the Doctor."
"Go ahead, Seven."
"I've sent relevant medical data about the Okari to your console."
"I see it here, thank you Seven."
"You're welcome."
The channel closed and only a few seconds later, Chakotay summoned her to the Shuttle Bay.
"Acknowledged, Commander."
Seven set a personal attempt to have genuine compassion for the alien while on her way to the analysis of its ship. She understood the relevance of such an emotion regarding the alien. While Borg at the core, she had become accustomed to the underlying emotion of her human instincts.
B'Elanna extracted the final kiloquads of data from the Okari database when she heard the Shuttle Bay doors open for Seven. "Just the person we needed. Grab a tricorder, although I don't know how good it'll be for you."
When Seven saw the ship, it struck her with a feeling of nostalgia. It wasn't precisely a memory, but it seemed like some extrapolation of a certain technology she'd assimilated in the past.
She grabbed a tricorder and scanned the bow. After slowly walking around the craft, gaining sensor data, she came across something that was very interesting. Through advanced excitations of quantum field formulas, she came to a conclusion, "I am detecting a very faint tachyon field. But sensor resolution is low due to the outer-lining of the hull." She quickly tapped the tricorder, changing the sensor mode. "I will try to compensate."
The hatch suddenly began to slowly rise. Tiny bright lights covered every centimeter of the interior. Its computer shone with extreme complexity. Several lights blinked at seemingly random and swift intervals. The engine had been tucked away inside, toward the bow and behind the intricate computer. Wires were strung all around the ship which converged at the stern. Now it looked more like a cocoon, which was just large enough for the alien lying in Sickbay.
The alien abruptly sat upright, clearly agitated. Its black eyes, covered by the once transparent eyelids were changing to a more red color. It began producing deep guttural moans. The Doctor took notice of this, and hasted his step with concern.
Readings from the biobed would baffle any human physician, but the Doctor quickly diagnosed his patient. "Your synaptic processors are causing the surrounding tissue to accumulate alanine." He had to understand why. "What's happening to you?"
"Doctor! Humans inside my ship! Must not allow this! Not yet!"
The Doctor quickly punched his communicator, knowing his patients distress may worsen if they didn't have this knowledge immediately. "Doctor to Captain Janeway."
"Go ahead Doctor."
"My patient is in distress. He says it's being caused by any of us entering his ship. I strongly recommend we cease the analysis of his ship."
"Understood Doctor. Inform our guest I wish to speak with him again."
The alien nodded and waved his hand.
"I believe he heard you Captain."
"Janeway out." The turbolift had taken her almost halfway to the Cargo Bay, but the Captain's priority had changed with the Doctor's call. "Computer, delay that. Deck 5." The computer let out a confirming tone, and the carriage of the turbolift was redirected seamlessly. "Janeway to Lieutenant Torres."
"Torres here."
"Have you learned anything further about the Okari vessel?"
She looked at Seven of Nine and grinned. "Our resident genius figured out how to open the thing."
Seven stood proud with her hands behind her and nodded a friendly gesture.
"The Doctor seems to think what ever you're doing is causing the alien distress. I want you to suspend your analysis immediately until further notice."
"Understood." B'Elanna didn't want to stop. But following orders became second nature to her.
"Leave it to the Doctor to stop us just when we started to learn something," Harry said with a chaffing inflection.
Seven made several keystrokes on her tricorder. The ship's door began gently close until the outline of it had disappeared along the hull, as if the door were never there.
Tom thought long and hard about the origin of this craft. He felt it to be familiar in a small sense, a part of a dream perhaps. He knew what he had to do, the overpowering urge to understand was growing stronger as he stared at it. "While you two finish up here, Harry and I are gonna go check out something."
"We are?"
"Come on Harry. I've got a hunch."
"One of those again. I hope this time I don't end up stranded on an Akritirian prison ship."
"Don't be so dramatic, Harry. At least this time you don't even have to..." Their banter continued as they exited the Shuttle Bay.
Seven posed an expression that caused her to raise a brow at the two best friends. She looked back down before her work continued on the tricorder to disconnect the interface between it and the alien ship. But before she could execute the command, a brief flash of Borg cryptology appeared before her eyes. She was stunned by it, unable to do anything but process it. It took only a few seconds before her consciousness reintegrated itself. "Lieutenant, with your permission, I have an urgent matter I must address."
B'Elanna seemed surprised at the request, but saw no reason to deny her. She could finish the analysis suspension herself. "Okay. You're relieved."
"Thank you, Lieutenant." Seven handed her the closed tricorder and briskly walked out.
B'Elanna opened the tricorder. She noticed that Seven had neglected to stop her program for tachyon detection, and also that the interface with the ship had not been severed.
Sickbay had seen its fair share of strange aliens before. But this one was causing some of the surgical instruments to power up while they're on the tray. The Doctor knew it was because he was producing small bursts of high frequency electromagnetic fields powerful enough to power anything electronic within arm-lengths' distance. It was a unique feature of the Okari, who seemed to have a bit more desire to speak with the Captain. Their conversation was going much more smoothly this time. The Doctor still felt the need to be nearby in case anything went wrong.
"You may call me Anshar. Name given by humans."
"Humans from the past?"
"Yes." Anshar said, in a deep tone.
"Well, Anshar. Do you know how far into the future you traveled?"
"Time makes Humans synchronized. Not necessary for me. However. Changed time format upon arrival. Pulsar chronometer adjusted per Human year and spatial distance measurement. Current year 2378. Traveled approximately 30,000 light years and 329 years into the future."
The doors to Sickbay opened and Seven of Nine walked in to interrupt their conversation. She hurriedly marched toward Anshar, and in a lightning-fast swing placed her assimilation tubules in Anshar's jugular artery. Thousands of nanoprobes filled the alien's body in an instant. It was too late for the Captain to stop it, but she tried anyway.
"What the hell! Seven!" She grabbed Seven's arm and threw it aside.
Seven's purpose had been fulfilled, and the programming that drove her to assimilate Anshar had deleted itself, leaving Seven without any knowledge of why. She snapped back to normal, looking at her hand with confusion. "I'm sorry, Captain, I could not control it, it was not of my will."
Anshar's strange displays of emotion emerged, eyelids flickering. But all of it stopped to help reassure the Captain. "Captain Janeway. Be peaceful. Not as it seems to you."
She turned her attention closer to Anshar. "Explain yourself."
"You are peaceful Humans. Sensed it all around me. Save Doctor."
The Doctor shifted, knowing Anshar couldn't sense him because he was a hologram, it still shortened his affection for Anshar slightly.
Anshar continued, "When Seven of Nine accessed my ship, the datacore, I felt her mind, her peaceful mind. Attritional in my methods. Humans have respect for free will. I understand. But you must understand. I am peaceful too."
"I'm not sure I believe your peaceful intentions when you treat my crewman like Borg drones." The Captain reinforced.
"I tend to agree with Captain Janeway," The Doctor added.
Anshar trembled to alter his position toward the Captain. "Trust earned within. I do not merely speak the words, comprehend and embrace them." Anshar had their attention at this. "My act of trust, will be to open my ship to you."
Janeway liked the proposal. But her training made her aware that there are always two sides to a coin. "Sounds like a good start. But what's the catch?"
"Catch?" Anshar didn't understand at her query.
"It means, what do you want in return?" Seven said as Janeway's surprise at Seven's progress was made obvious by her proud grin.
The grey alien delayed in its response, unsure if these Humans would agree to perhaps unreasonable terms. "Seven of Nine establish subspace link between cortical nodes."
Seven restrained from displaying any kind of emotion that Janeway could notice even though she focused keenly on Seven's response to Anshar's proposal. She debated thoroughly, conjuring the required steps in order to carry out the process. She knew the Doctor's assistance would be essential.
As if the alien had read Seven's mind, "Link is temporary. Control parameters indexed by your protocols. Information exchange only."
Seven nodded and finally agreed to Anshar's request. "I accept your terms."
The Doctor butted in with bated restraint. "Now wait just a minute. I didn't agree to this. Seven, are you sure you want to do this? There's no guarantee I will be able to prevent permanent damage to your cortical node should anything go wrong. And we all know how difficult those are to come by."
"I appreciate your concern Doctor. However I believe your assistance will be required. I will need you to monitor the link to make sure I remain in control." She turned toward Anshar, excited at Seven's decision. "An alcove will need to be adapted to your physiology. It will require approximately one hour."
Anshar stood on his feet for the first time. He raised his hand in a greeting gesticulation, "My ship connects to me. Can open it now. Please. Push no buttons. Scanners only."
"That seems reasonable to me." The Captain said reluctantly, thinking that trust had to start at least without strings, but tried to cut them one string at a time.
With Anshar's connection, the hatch on his ship suddenly began to rise, and that surprised B'Elanna, nearly scaring her into delivery.
"Chakotay to Janeway. Report to the bridge."
"On my way." She gave Anshar one last smile and left, slowly walking away with pride. Progress was made.
The bridge tension was high. Tuvok had discovered something that made Chakotay grimace with medium calamity. Upon the Captain's arrival, Tuvok conveyed his findings. "Captain, I've detected Borg debris located approximately 1.2 light years from here. The debris is scattered on a Class H planet in the nearby star system."
Janeway saw this coming. And in preparation for such a discovery, she already knew the command she would give, "Set a course, Ensign, warp 5."
Tuvok sent the coordinates to the helm. The relief helmsman set the course and initiated the engines. As the Nacell's extended and powered up, the ship jumped at warp speed toward the system.