=/\=
Stardate 56124.4 Personal Log Entry, Cadet Icheb
Axum asked me to come to the house this afternoon for a chat, if I "didn't have anything better to do this Saturday." He's learned a lot about how people live their lives on Earth already. I did have a study session planned with Verit. She was willing to postpone until Sunday night, so I accepted. I looked forward to spending time with Seven, too, since she's always so busy and we can't always schedule a long visit. Now that she's stationed on Utopia Planitia, we have to plan our visits more carefully. Because of this, I was a little disappointed to arrive and discover Seven wouldn't arrive for the weekend until later in the evening. Axum assured me the invitation was for the entire weekend, so I sat down with him for lunch and conversation.
I'd spent quite a lot of time with him on Voyager, when we were returning from the peace conference, but this was the first time I'd spent several hours with him without Seven there, too. We discussed many subjects. All of the worlds which signed the peace agreement are looking for a planet to serve as the former Borg's homeworld. He told me they've identified three so far that they want to investigate more closely. All would need to be terraformed, so that would delay any settlement on the chosen planet until it was habitable.
He asked about my studies. He offered to provide Verit and me with information about Beta Quadrant worlds that he knew about from his Borg days, which the Federation and its long-time allies have yet to visit. I was intrigued and thanked him for the offer, which I accepted. I knew Verit would be delighted. He smiled and told me that Ambassador Boothby (as I call him now, to differentiate him from our Academy gardener, now that I can encounter either) had asked him about Cadet Verit. She'd quizzed him several times about Fluidic Space and its inhabitants during our time at the Rift and during the trip home. "He asked me if all Xenobiology majors at the Academy were like her, and I had to tell him I didn't know. I asked Commander Tuvok, however. He told me, 'From my experience, the good ones are.'" I agreed that Cadet Verit is definitely a very "good one."
Axum told me Ambassador Boothby had read my essay about being Borg. He was very impressed. "He told me, 'Now that I've met a fair number of former Borg who don't have that Queen pushing them around like Kal-toh pieces, I'm sorry we couldn't save more of them.'" He said he'd heard from General Korok, and he's found a couple more spheres wandering around in the Beta Quadrant. "We hope more will turn up, but when I think of how many died, and how many planets and races may have been completely destroyed, it saddens me." We both fell silent for a few minutes after that. It's so hard to contemplate how much evil the Borg Queen and the Collective as a whole did to so many.
Our conversation then turned to our own heritages. Seven told him about what my parents had done to me, which shocked him, as it does most people. He explained that his people, the Ioroni, had revered their families. The parents of a person of marriageable age were always consulted to give their blessing to any planned marriage. Any child in the extended family "of the age of knowledge" would be consulted as well. This extended to after the marriage had taken place. The children of a couple had the right to express their opinions about whether the family was going to move to a new location, for example. It didn't mean the children had final say, but families took such actions by consensus, whenever possible.
When a man or woman wished to join lives with another who has children "of the age of knowledge" from a previous union, they asked them if they would accept him or her as a co-parent. I was surprised to hear that if the children did not wish it, this choice would be respected, and the marriage would not take place. He admitted that this didn't mean it would never happen. The rejected co-parent would often "woo" the child or children to try to win them over. He said more often than not, this would work.
Sadly, this culture is no more. As far as Axum knows, he's the last of the Ioroni. His people had just attained the ability to travel to the planets and moons in their system when the Borg came. Since all of them still lived on their planet of origin, be believes everyone was assimilated. He's yet to meet another Ioroni who is part of the Borg Resistance movement. He hopes a few will finally show up when their new planet is ready for settlement. After he'd finished his description of his culture, he asked me my opinion of it.
I told him I enjoyed hearing about it, but I did wonder why he'd gone into detail about how the children "of the age of knowledge" had such a say in a marriage - and then it hit me. "Axum, are you asking me if I would accept you as my parent? Like you would if we were all Ioroni?"
He nodded eagerly. "Yes! I'm glad you understand." Then he stopped and looked perplexed. "Would you accept me into your family?"
"Of course I would. I'd be delighted!" I told him. "You didn't really have to ask me, though. It's Seven who must agree to marry."
"We've discussed marriage, but before I made a formal proposal, I wanted to make sure you agreed. You see, the customs of the Federation are so varied, I was very confused about how to proceed. I went to your Aunt Irene and asked her how things are done here. She said what you did, about asking Annika herself, but she also mentioned that in Earth's past, a man would ask the permission of the intended's father before asking her for her hand in marriage. I thought it was similar to the way my people did it. Used to do it."
I could tell it made him sad about the loss of his entire culture, so I clasped his hands in mine and said, "I do approve, so ask Seven tonight, if you want. I think your culture handled things a lot better than most do. I would imagine families might be happier if they always worked together to make such important decisions."
Maybe a shadow crossed my face at that moment, also, since I couldn't help thinking about my own parents' actions. They certainly didn't bother to account for my attaining the "age of knowledge" by asking me if I would volunteer to save the Brunali. Axum must have thought I was thinking of something else, however. He said, "If you still had your cortical node, we wouldn't have needed to use speech for me to ask this of you. You would've known from my thoughts what I was trying to say."
"If I still had my cortical node, Seven - Annika - would not be here for you to propose to. It's all right. I've grown accustomed to living in my own head, without another's thoughts coming into it. I think it's helped me develop my individuality, especially since I've lived at the Academy. Cadets who are telepathic must live there alongside those of us who aren't. I've spoken with Commander Troi about it. She's of a telepathic race. Betazoids have to be trained extensively from childhood to block out unwanted thoughts projected by others. Sometimes I'm sad I can't communicate subvocally anymore, but I've adapted. It's just the way things had to be."
"Thank you for saving Annika's life. I'll always be grateful you did."
We spoke a while after that of other things. He turned the conversation towards how I felt about Mezoti living so far away from me. I admitted that losing her was much harder than losing the ability to communicate through a cortical node. "She was my sister. If she'd stayed with us, we would have made up our own little Collective within the greater one of Voyager. I still miss her very much." I told him how we stay in touch through Project Watson. "We send datastream messages instead of actually talking 'live,' the way we can with Neelix and his family on Talax II. I wish we could speak with one another like we're doing here, but it doesn't look like it's going to be possible with this technology. I should be grateful we can communicate at all."
He told me he understood. I'm sure he does, because his own family and entire race have been erased from the universe. He must get lonely sometimes, thinking he's the only one left. We spoke about the adoption process Seven had to complete to make me her son. While he will petition the court to become my father, the way things are done here, Axum explained his people never developed such a cumbersome system. "When Annika and I married, you would be my son. It would be just the same as if I had been the one to quicken you into life and Annika had carried you within her body to give birth to you. I look forward to having a family again."
I told him about Neelix, and how I was sad and glad when he found Dexa and Brax, and that they all have their little girl Alixia to love now.
From the moment I met Axum, I knew he was the right one for Seven. I'd had reservations about Chakotay from the first, and I'd been right to have them. They weren't really suited to each other. I didn't say anything about that to Axum, but I did tell him how Seven mourned when she thought she would never meet him in real life, since he was living so far away. "Marrying you will be the very best outcome for Seven."
Axum answered, "For me, too."
When Seven arrived at hour 1709, she was very pleased to see me. I told her I had some studying to do and would be in my room for a while - but they could call me if they needed me for anything. An hour later, they did call me. Seven showed me a ruby ring. "I'll have to wear it on my right hand. It won't fit over the Borg circuitry on my left," she explained.
"It doesn't matter which hand it's on. I'm happy for both of you. Should I call you Annika now, too? Or Mother?"
"Icheb, you can still call me any name you like. I'll know what it means. Axum will, too."
When I get home tomorrow, I'll have to think of an engagement present for them. I'm not sure what to get. Now that they have each other, I think they already have the most important things: love and family. I'll check with Naomi, though. She always has good suggestions for that sort of thing. I'd like them to have something to remind them of the time our new family was formed.
I can't help wishing Mezoti was here. I'll just have to accept that our family tree will always have that "other branch" far away, on Wysanti.
=/\=