=/\=
Star Date 56057.9 Personal Log Entry, Cadet Icheb Hansen
Everyone says the treaty talks are going very well. Sessions are alternating between a room inside the Fluidian's largest bioship, which they've converted for "Dry Space Dweller Use," and the conference room on the Enterprise. Captain Picard has as much experience conducting sensitive treaty negotiations as most of the admirals in Starfleet. The fact that he knows what it's like to be Borg, even for a little while, smooths the way with the Borg Resistance drones. Of course, that's true of Captain Janeway, too, since she allowed herself to be partially assimilated when she went to a cube to save the Unimatrix Zero drones from being destroyed by the Queen. Her presence, along with Captain Chakotay's, soothes the Fluidians because of their "Second Contact" with them on their training station in the Delta Quadrant. Boothby admits that the meetings on Voyager at that time made a big difference when their "operatives" in the Alpha Quadrant confirmed what she'd told them. The clashes going on during the Dominion War had nothing at all to do with the Borg or Fluidic Space, and they couldn't detect any plans by the Federation to attack them. They also reported that Captain Janeway told them the truth when she said few people in the Alpha Quadrant were aware of the existence of Fluidic Space at the time of their second meeting in the Delta Quadrant. Although Starfleet learned about the Borg attack on the Fluidians through the logs Captain Janeway sent through the Hirogen network shortly before that communication system was destroyed, no dialogue about the report could take place until after Project Pathfinder succeeded in contacting Voyager, when regular contact between the ship and the Alpha Quadrant became feasible. That happened during the sixth year of Voyager's journey, only a couple of months before our Children's Collective came on board.
Of course, the Admiral Bulloch replicant still isn't exactly thrilled with Seven. She'd obeyed the Borg Queen's orders to lie to Captain Janeway about their invasion of Fluidic Space so that Voyager would also attack them in their own realm. Seven had read the essay I wrote for Admiral Virdian. (Fortunately, I'd taken Admiral Virdian's advice and submitted it to the editors of the Academy Literary Magazine, and they published it.) She showed it to Axum, who shared it with the Fluidians, to give them an "insider's view" of being Borg. The Queen was responsible for the actions of the drones, who were helpless to disobey her. He mellowed a little after that. The Boothby and Valerie Archer replicants adjusted to Seven more quickly. I'm not sure what Captain Janeway told them about her, but she was on Voyager when they visited the training station. It's possible that helped them realize Seven had also been a tool of the Queen.
By the way, from now on I'm just going to call the Fluidians Bulloch, Archer, and Boothby in this log. Adding "replicant" to their names is cumbersome. The real Admiral Bulloch has been part of some meetings, but if I use his rank when I refer to him, there should be no confusion. And unless the real Boothby shows up, there won't be any misunderstandings about which Boothby I'm talking about, either. I understand the humanoid Commander Valerie Archer presently works in the Beta Quadrant as a liaison to the Andorians, so I don't think it's likely she'll show up here anytime soon, either.
Anyway, the talks are proceeding at a rapid pace. Ships from the Klingon Empire have arrived to take part, as have several from other governments which are not part of the Federation. A few are allies, like the Bajorans. While the Cardassians aren't allies, the ones in power now, like Elim Garak, are working so hard to rebuild their world that they've accepted how vital achieving a lasting peace with the Fluidians would be. They've also learned that some of their own people on ships that were "lost" over the past several years were among those assimilated by the Borg. They want to welcome the survivors - and there are a few - back home to Cardassia Prime.
The Romulans have shown up, too. Tom says you can always trust the Romulans to show up to protect their interests - or if they sense an opportunity to create turmoil. I don't think they're going to be able to do much to disrupt these talks. Now that several meetings have taken place, it's very clear to everyone that the Fluidians have been keeping a very close eye on the "Dry Space" peoples for several years, just as Boothby told Captain Janeway on their station in the Delta Quadrant. They have a pretty good idea about the differences between Klingons, who bluster but are committed to their code of honor, and Romulans, who talk about honor but exhibit an amazing capacity for duplicity. Maybe knowing how vulnerable everyone is because of the power of bioships might make the Romulans a little more likely to cooperate. I hope so!
Although all the meetings are taking place on other ships, once a session is over, the Fluidians and the former Borg we know like to visit Voyager to discuss matters on a more relaxed basis. According to Admiral Paris, a lot of diplomacy occurs this way. He told me to remember that. I don't know why, since I don't expect to become a full-time diplomat. If he's hinting I'll have a shot at following in the footsteps of someone like Captain Picard one day, I'm flattered; but I'm not about to let it go to my head.
One former Borg spends almost all of his time here now. Axum is practically a resident. He goes to his own sphere daily to check up on his people, but he spends his nights regenerating in Cargo Bay Two. All four alcoves in Borg Central are active once again. I have a portable regeneration unit to use, but I did hook up one night after visiting with Seven and Axum for a few hours. I had a lot of questions for him. A lot of his answers were very sad, but he told me what he knew.
I wondered how the alliance between the Borg Resistance and the Fluidians came to be. Axum went to them for help. He was on a sphere patrolling an area of space in the Beta quadrant where the Fluidians had formed a rift like this one at our current location. When the Unimatrix Zero action took place, he disabled the Viniculum on his sphere, which broke the link of the Queen with the drones on his vessel. They were all very confused at first, but since Axum understood what was happening, he was able to calm most of them down before they terminated themselves. A few of the drones who had been part of the Collective for decades actually did perish. They couldn't adapt. Axum was able to provide the strong leadership the majority needed. Thanks to his help, they've adapted to individuality. Once Axum's sphere began to meet other Borg Resistance ships, he discovered that disconnecting the Viniculi before the Queen could destroy their vessels was the way most of the Borg Resistance drones were able to take over their spheres and scout ships.
"Why aren't there any large cubes left?" I asked him.
He said it's likely the Queen concentrated on the vessels with the largest crews when she was identifying the drones she could no longer "hear." That's why debris fields dating from the Unimatrix Zero action have almost all been the remains of the largest cubes. He also thinks that although there may have been more than one Unimatrix Zero drone on a larger cube, it was harder for them to get to the Viniculum and disengage the link before the cubes were destroyed.
I asked him how many Borg Resistance drones survive. So far they've rescued about a hundred thousand, but they're hopeful they'll still find more. They've begun finding small groups that have landed on uninhabited planets in an attempt to escape detection by the Queen. While these drones manage to eke out a living, when the Resistance contacts them, almost all have asked to travel with other Borg vessels. They believe multiple ships traveling together provide more tactical options for the Borg Resistance. If their vessels were too damaged to operate safely, the drones themselves have moved onto other Resistance ships.
General Korok had organized some into a fleet to search for more survivors. Most of those ships were ones which were reported in the sectors near Wysanti and Talax II. After Axum contacted the Fluidians, they discovered Korok's group and told him about the alliance Axum was promoting. He was pleased to hear Axum had survived. By this time, the Fluidians already felt they had enough information to agree to Axum's proposal. After forming their alliance, they decided the next step was to seek a treaty with the Federation and any "Dry Space" species which would respect Fluidic Space. They spent the past several months traveling here.
The physical properties of Fluidic Space, Axum explained, are very different from ours. You can travel much faster through their realm using the bioship's equivalent of warp drive, but not as rapidly as the Borg Trans-Warp conduits had permitted. It's a good thing Captain Janeway didn't learn about that when Voyager entered Fluidic Space. She might have found a shortcut home to the Alpha Quadrant - if she'd been able to negotiate with the Fluidians - but that would have meant they couldn't have rescued me!
Korok isn't around all the time like Axum is, but he occasionally uses one of Borg Central's regeneration alcoves. Klingons like drinking contests, and when he's taken part in a competition on Voyager, he generally regenerates here. There was one contest last night, as a matter of fact. The winner: Archer. When Korok expressed amazement that a Fluidian could beat a Klingon in a drinking contest, she asked him what else did he expect? "What's a little alcohol dissolved inside a beaker for a Fluidian? I live in fluid. I BREATHE fluid!" He finally admitted she was the winner, but he claimed it was because of her "unjust advantage." Archer fired back that if he felt that way, he'd better not challenge her again.
I heard they're having another contest tonight.
I spend most of my off duty time in the Mess Hall, socializing with Verit, the other cadets, or my former shipmates. I sleep in the quarters I share with Ensign Bristow. Since he resigned before he was granted a promotion, he's still technically an ensign, although I understand Captain Janeway has recommended he receive the rank of lieutenant j.g. because of his current service. Like Marla and Noah, Freddie was considered a reservist after he resigned. He admits he didn't read that part of his separation papers very well, so when he was called up because of the Rift crisis, he was in shock for days, even after he arrived on Voyager. He had a decent job on Earth, but now that he's back on the ship and has had a year to recover from our Delta Quadrant "ordeal," he's thinking of requesting reinstatement. While he may not have studied his separation papers as closely as he should have, in many ways he's matured a lot since I saw him last. I think he'll do much better in a Starfleet career now than he would have if he hadn't taken a break from the service. Whatever he chooses to do, I'll support him. He's become a true friend.
Anyway, the next time I need to regenerate for a couple of hours, I'll use my portable unit. I hardly need it anymore. The Doctor has suggested I try going without for three or four weeks to see if I need to do it at all. I'm not sure I'll try that. My cortical array probably still needs some "juice" from time to time, as Tom put it when I discussed the Doctor's idea with B'Elanna and him. It's not really that much of a problem, since I know I can go a long time without needing it.
The main reason I sleep in the quarters I share with Freddie, besides the fact that I prefer to sleep in a bed now, is that I like to give Seven and Axum their privacy. It's pretty clear to me, not to mention just about everyone in the convoy, that they're lovers. I'm not sure what sort of sexual activity they might have shared while in Unimatrix Zero, but it was strictly mental, no matter how real it seemed to them. While I'm sure their love has a mental aspect, their physical connection is pretty obvious. It's hard to miss their affection for each other whenever they're together. It's a good thing Seven had that emotional inhibitor removed from her cortical node. Axum had his removed by our EMH shortly after the first meeting in our conference room. He got "all fluttery," he said, when Seven fixed his malfunctioning vocal processor in Borg Central. The Doctor knew exactly what his problem was when Axum reported to our Sickbay, and the Doctor removed his inhibitor, too. I understand he's been doing a lot of operations of that nature lately, along with surgical procedures to deal with implants that aren't functioning as they should, and plastic surgery to reduce scarring from previous removals that were poorly done.
Earlier today, I asked Seven about her relationship with Axum. I was nervous, since I wasn't sure how she'd take my curiosity, but I really wanted to know. I asked her how her feelings for Axum compare with the ones she'd experienced when she was with Chakotay. She didn't get mad. Her face just glowed with happiness and she told me, "There is NO comparison. What Commander Paris told you when you asked him about love was absolutely correct. When you're truly in love, everything you do together is so much better. You can tell the difference. Axum was my First Love, although we were never physically together. Because of my time with Chakotay, I know that what I feel for Axum is Real Love. I hope you find it with someone someday, Icheb. It's truly wonderful."
I hope I do, too. In the meantime, I'm very happy that Axum and my mother were able to find it and be together in actual reality. There's nothing "virtual" about their love this time.
=/\=