=/\=
The signs were there. Every instrument monitoring the Rift told Seven and Icheb the same thing. Several ships were approaching, on course to emerge into what was now being called Dry Space by everyone in the convoy.
A few seconds after Verit stepped into Astrometrics to serve her morning shift, Captain Janeway called Seven to the bridge. Icheb nodded to his adoptive mother as she walked out of the lab. The night before, the two had taken the time to talk about experiences they'd never gotten around to sharing with the other before. While neither of them mentioned the words, "just in case we never get the chance again," that possibility loomed large in both of their minds. Icheb was glad that Verit would be with him during this critical time. She always maintained a sense of calm under difficult conditions, which this promised to be.
Every nerve and residual Borg implant in Icheb's body virtually buzzed with anticipation as well as dread. The crisis would be resolved soon, one way or another. With a friend like Verit here, he knew this station would be manned efficiently. Verit worked well in tandem with him, just as he always worked did when he backed up Seven.
The wait was agonizing, even though barely ten minutes elapsed before the first of the ships finally emerged. As each followed another, they formed a line in front of the rift. "I count twelve ships, Icheb. They are bioships, are they not?" Verit asked.
"Yes. The organic lines are distinctive. In fact, the ships are composed of living tissue," Icheb confirmed. "I've seen images through my studies of Voyager's logs, but I also know it from my Borg memories. It's interesting. While I retain much of what was instilled in me during my time in the maturation chamber, there are gaps in my knowledge. The ability to recognize the bioships of Species 8472 is clearly imprinted in my brain. The Borg Queen must have feared they would retaliate against the Collective at some point. Every drone was to realize who they were as soon as they appeared."
"Is it true that your mother Annika told Captain Janeway they were invading our space?"
"The Borg Queen instructed her to say that, but Species 8472 were only defending themselves when the Borg attempted to assimilate their species because of its unique properties. They came into our space in a counterattack. The Borg were the aggressors."
"From the manner in which the bioships have aligned themselves, they do not appear to be taking an aggressive stance towards our convoy," Verit observed.
"I agree," Icheb replied, in a surprised tone of voice. "They've left a large hole in the center of their formation, right in front of the rift. That's poor tactics if they mean to attack. It appears they're waiting for another ship or ships to arrive to fill in that gap."
Verit suggested, "It's as if they're on picket duty, guarding the entrance to the Rift. Not surprising, if you consider the Borg once invaded their space, and that's an entrance into it."
Icheb shook his head. He'd come to the same conclusion. "And we're doing the same thing, in a way, Verit. We're guarding our space from them."
"I trust they'll offer some sort of communication to our convoy before making any aggressive moves," Verit stated evenly, although Icheb could see she was gripping the side of her console so tightly, the fingers of her left hand twitched several times, and the color of the skin had lightened noticeably from the pressure.
"I trust. Perhaps I should say, I hope," Icheb replied, glancing over at his suitemate. She looked back at him and tipped her head ever so slightly, acknowledging that he'd expressed something she herself may feel, but would never state openly in front of anyone but her husband.
Icheb wondered if Torin knew anything about the events happening here. Were bioships appearing in other quadrants as well as this one? Was this, in fact, an invasion? There was nothing more for them to do but wait as patiently as they knew how. And wonder.
=/\=
After enduring two hours of almost unbearable tension, Verit announced that three other ships appeared to be approaching the entrance into Dry Space.
"Yes, but they aren't bioships. At least the first two are not." Icheb sucked in his breath suddenly. "They're Borg spheres!"
Verit maintained her equanimity better than Icheb had. "The third is a bioship. Quite the largest we have seen. Does it appear to be in pursuit of the Borg vessels?"
The three ships burst out almost simultaneously. The bioship, which was, indeed, larger by a factor of three than any of the other ships in line, smoothly pulled into the center of the gap. The two Borg spheres pulled alongside the large bioship, one on either side. While neither of the spheres could be considered small, they were far from the largest of their type. Icheb decided neither of them were bigger than the Borg Resistance ships reported by Neelix and Mezoti.
Icheb had maintained an open channel to the bridge, with the audio turned down to a very low volume. As Icheb had informed Verit, "I find it valuable to keep track of what is happening in this way, especially when the captain makes contact with another vessel." Increasing the audio volume and widening the angle of the image along the side of their large screen, Icheb could see the bridge's main viewscreen, with Tom's head just beneath it as he manned the helm. The cadets watched and listened as Harry announced that the largest bioship was hailing Voyager.
The view of the bioships in front of the Rift split into thirds, revealing images of the beings manning three ships. The equivalent of the bioship bridge filled the center of the screen, while the views on each side revealed Borg vessel interiors.
"Isn't that old Boothby, the Academy gardener?" Verit asked, pointing to a white-haired human figure in the exact center of the screen.
"Not the gardener himself, I'm sure. This must be his facsimile from the station Captain Janeway and Chakotay visited before I came on board Voyager. They met him there. That suggests the woman is called Valerie Archer. Captain Chakotay also met her at that station."
"The other male looks like Admiral Bulloch," Verit said. "But the person on the left. He looks like a Klingon Borg."
"General Korok! I met him on Voyager once. He visited our ship after his sphere helped us rescue Captain Janeway, Commander Tuvok, and B'Elanna Torres. Mezoti said he visited the Borg recovering on Wysanti a short while ago. I'm surprised he could travel here so quickly."
When the Klingon Borg image spoke, Icheb's identification was confirmed; but against all protocol, the person Korok addressed was not the captain. "Paris! It's good to see you again, and under better circumstances, I trust."
Icheb and Verit exchanged hasty glances with one another. "Better circumstances? That sounds positive, Icheb, does it not?" she said.
Icheb didn't get a chance to respond. He heard a gasp, and then his mother murmured a name. "Axum!" He turned his attention the to the other side of the split screen. The person standing there was also formerly Borg. When he spoke, Icheb remembered his voice from anxious, often shadowy fragments Mezoti had transmitted to him when he was still capable of communicating subvocally, during the time she was so upset by Seven's visits to Unimatrix Zero. Before he could answer Verit, the image spoke in the hissing, husky flutter of an improperly functioning vocal processor. Icheb knew those sounds well from when he'd had issues with his, when his Children's Collective first encountered Voyager. "Annika, it iss alsso good to ssee you oncse again."
The Boothby image interjected, "Well, now, that's a good start. We've found friends on the good ship Voyager. I hope the rest of the folks on your ships are just as willing to talk first before firing their weapons at us. We've come to visit. We need to relay some things you need to know and, I suspect, do a fair amount of negotiating, too. Peace talks, I gather you call it?"
Verit slapped her palm against the side of her console. Icheb leaned forward and took several very deep breaths in rapid succession. Verit had once told him this was a good preliminary to initiate meditative techniques. Deep cleansing breaths were calming.
Peace. Not war. It was almost too good to be true.
But, as it turned out, it was true.
=/\=
A select group of admirals and captains boarded Voyager later that day at the request of the representatives of Species 8472 and the Borg Resistance. As the Boothby facsimile explained when the location of the initial talks was discussed, some of their people had met Captain Janeway and her crew before and trusted them. "We don't know the rest of you yet, so I hope your love of protocol doesn't force you to insist we have our first meeting anywhere else." Consensus was quickly reached. The Federation would be pleased to hold the first meeting on Voyager.
At Icheb's request, Verit was put in charge of Astrometrics by Seven that afternoon, when the first meeting would take place. Three other cadets and Noah Lessing were also stationed in Astrometrics for that shift, to keep close watch on the bioships and Borg spheres, as well as the Rift itself. Captain Janeway suggested Icheb should be given his freedom for the duration of the first talks, since he was acquainted with Korok. Icheb thanked the captain and stood on the bridge next to Seven as the guests began to arrive.
When several Species 8472 representatives, Captain Korok, and Axum exited the turbolift for the meeting, Captain Janeway was standing there to greet the visitors. The two former Borg stepped to the right, not the left, allowing the others to pass by them. The captain smiled slightly and said blandly, "Would you like to say hello to the people on the bridge you've met previously . . . in one reality, or the other?"
Korok, true to form, responded heartily, "I would indeed! The estimable Commander Chakotay! Good to see you again. And your 'first officer,' Lieutenant Paris! Greetings! Your wife is well again after her ordeal, I understand?"
The captain stepped in and corrected her guest. "There have been several promotions given out since you last visited Voyager. It's now Captain Chakotay and Lieutenant Commander Paris. And B'Elanna is also a Lieutenant Commander."
"Well deserved!" Korok exclaimed, clapping Chakotay on the back with sufficient force so that the captain - who was currently filling the first officer post on Voyager - had to take a step forward to maintain his balance.
As Lieutenant Jenkins slipped into the helm chair to relieve Tom, the helmsman walked up to the group and exchanged a Klingon salute with Korok before vigorously shaking his hand.
While all this was going on, a much quieter introduction was taking place on the upper ramp of the bridge. Axum slowly approached the station Seven always assumed when she was on the bridge. At first he said nothing, but as he peered intently into Seven's eyes, Icheb, standing behind her, felt like an interloper. At last Axum took a final step towards her, close enough to touch Seven's Borg-enhanced left hand. "We were sso far apart, but now I'm closse enough to touch you. Perhapss a visit to Vorothon Gorge iss no longer out of the quesstion."
Uncharacteristically, Seven didn't seem to know what to say, but Icheb felt their powerful attraction. There was no overt sign of their connection, but Icheb knew it was there, lingering even after Axum pulled his hand away from Seven's and stepped aside to let her pass. The captain had requested Seven's presence at the meeting. Icheb would cover her station on the bridge, even though, technically, he wasn't on duty at the moment. Nothing was going to pull him away from Voyager's bridge now, short of the direst of emergencies down in Astrometrics.
As Axum and Seven stepped quietly away, in the direction of the corridor leading to the conference room, Icheb looked around. No one seemed to be looking at the pair. Korok's effusive conversation with Chakotay and Tom had taken center stage. Icheb wondered if there was a method to that mad performance. Had Axum asked Korok to distract everyone else on the bridge while his first "real life" meeting with his Annika took place? Whether he had or not, that's what had occurred.
Finally, a gruff old voice issued forth from the corridor near the turbolift. "Much as we've all enjoyed this reunion, we're here for a reason, not simply to . . . what do your people call it? Cavort with one another?"
"Close enough," Captain Janeway chuckled. "He's right. Just about everyone else has arrived. We can socialize after the meeting, if all goes well. As it must, for all of our sakes!"
The number of people on the bridge rapidly declined. Tuvok took over the captain's command chair. Ayala stepped in for him at Tactical. Harry stood at his normal station. Lieutenant Jenkins remained at the helm, since Admiral Paris had requested his son serve as his attaché at the meeting. The other backups all returned to their assigned positions, waiting to be called into action if and when their assistance was needed. For now, all they could do was speculate about the momentous talks which were taking place in the conference room. And wait.
All of the parties assembled here had just cause not to trust each other, yet they also had ample evidence such trust may be warranted. They must try to find a way to work with each other, for the good of all.
While Icheb stood behind Tuvok, he monitored the activities of Verit and his "staff" in Astrometrics. He was alert and attentive to his task, but in one corner of his mind, he was aware of a tingling sensation traveling through his spine, along the implant running the length of his vertebrae, and right down to the tips of his toes. He was privileged to be on board Voyager at this critical moment in time. Decisions would be made that would affect the Milky Way galaxy and, quite possibly, the entire universe.
That wasn't the only reason he was thrilled. Seven had been so certain she'd never see Axum again. Unimatrix Zero had been destroyed. She'd learned his physical body was at the other side of the galaxy in the Beta Quadrant, among the stars of the galactic fringe. She'd thought they were too far away from each other to ever have the opportunity to meet in person. Yet now Axum was right here, in the flesh. Was it possible his adoptive mother would discover she'd never lost her true "First Love" after all?
=/\=
While Icheb, through sheer force of will, maintained his attention to his tasks, his natural curiosity about the changes made at Utopia Planitia to the console in front of him lured him into a surreptitious examination of the bridge Astrometrics station. This was Icheb's first visit to this post on the bridge since the refit. Some changes were quite minute, but the dials and controls seemed subtly different. His need to maintain contact with Verit in Astrometrics, coupled with his study of the console, caused him to lose track of time. As a result, he was momentarily startled when a crowd of people issued from the direction of the conference room, chatting with each other as they waited for their turn on the turbolift. The meeting must have ended, and from the pleased, or at least, non-angry faces on those leaving this deck, the meeting must have gone well. Icheb couldn't detect any signs of discord among them, even though he could see a mix of Starfleet people with the newcomers.
Before the last person waiting for the turbolift had been accommodated, Icheb's communicator signal was activated. :::Cadet Icheb, please report to the conference room.:::
He exchanged surprised glances with Harry as he responded, "Acknowledged, Captain."
Now the cadet was even more curious. What did the captain need him for, so soon after this momentous occasion?
=/\=