Alpha - Chapter 2
Seven of Nine sat in a room with three senior Starfleet officers, Admiral Harris, who headed up the Science unit, Captain Montes and Commander Lew who were both engineering specialists.
"How did you formulate the initial idea for the Gateway technology"
"Voyager encountered a life form that presented the mirage of a wormhole that would take us home. I was one of the few people on the ship that detected a major deception. While trying to prove the wormhole was not real, I picked up some interesting readings. My foremost priority was exposing the wormhole as a fake, so it was not until several weeks later that I began to examine the readings I had taken during the incident. Using the data I gathered that day, and other knowledge I had of similar experiments from many species the Borg had assimilated. I began to work on the theory that I could create an artificial wormhole, or rather a gateway through sub-space that would allow the ship to travel great distances in a short time."
"How did you proceed from there?"
"After formulating my hypothesis, I accessed the Federation database and found information about similar tests in the alpha quadrant. The Romulans, Trill and Vulcans all had science teams working on the idea, some had begun testing. I then took the idea to Captain Janeway and asked her permission to begin working on my Artificial Wormhole Technology theories. She informed met that I was free to continue with any independent research in my off duty time."
"During an 18-month period I worked alone on the project, and made some significant findings. When I began to look at other forms of technology that might expand the project, I kept coming back to my knowledge of Transwarp technology. I then discovered that with transwarp a ship could open a gateway anywhere, therefore using it as a part of routine space travel. Eventually I went back to Captain Janeway with my findings, and asked her permission to form a small working team to begin simulations and testing. When time permitted we worked solidly for another six months. We had found a way to open up the gateway, our next step was to test a variety of probes to see if a vessel the size of Voyager would make it through unharmed. After several setbacks, we eventually found the correct phase variance to make the gateway stable for starship travel. Two weeks prior to arriving in Alpha Quadrant we conducted out first successful flight through a Gateway. We traveled a distance of 1,000 light years. We spent the following two weeks analyzing data from the flight. We ran simulations based on the data, and I worked on a projected formula that would see our return to the Alpha quadrant in area of space that would not be disrupted by our arrival, if there were any problems with the Gateway."
"Ms. Hansen, what are your recommendations for this technology now that you have had a successful trial?"
"Captain, my name is Seven of Nine, I do not use my human designation. You may call me Seven"
"Excuse me, Seven it is then..." The Captain was quite taken back at this.
"I would recommend that we continue further trials. It could be that there was some luck involved in our flight home. I believe there are some further issues to explore before readying the fleet for this technology."
"Readying the Fleet?" The captain choked on this.
Seven raised her left eyebrow. Her natural assumption had been that the technology would be adapted for further use.
"Am I to understand that you want some bastardized Borg technology installed on every ship in the fleet?"
"I had assumed that Starfleet would want to use the technology to explore, irrelevant of its origins. Exploring is your goal, is it not?"
The three men sitting in front of Seven seemed momentarily speechless.
"You are absolutely right Seven, that is our goal." He looked wearily at his colleges before continuing. "Thank you for talking to us. We will obviously want to meet with you again. There is much more to discuss."
"Indeed Admiral"
"I believe one of the counselors will be in to see you. Please feel free to use the replicator if you would like anything."
The three men left the room, and Seven sat there for a few moments, she wished Kathryn was there with her...
"Good morning Annika," chirped an overly cheerful voice. As Seven's thoughts were interrupted she was instantly reminded of Neelix. She looked over at the person whom had entered the room.
"My name is Seven of Nine"
"Right then... Seven it is. Well that's an unusual name isn't it?" She smiled.
"It is my name, I do not find it... unusual. And you are?"
"I'm Counselor Nina McArthur. I just wanted to have chat, and see how you are. You must be finding it a bit strange to be back on Earth."
"I have no recollection of being here before."
"Seven, tell me," She sat down and folded her hands primly in her lap, as if she were about to begin working on a jigsaw puzzle. "What do you remember about your childhood?"
With that Seven took a deep breath and realized it was going to be a long day.
The morning Seven reported to the Starfleet debriefing on Gateway, Janeway stopped by to see Necheyev, and instantly regretted the decision.
"Is Seven of Nine in with Admiral Harris?" Necheyev asked as soon as Kathryn stepped through the door.
"Yes, she went straight there."
"Good, it is very important we keep a close eye on her. From the ships logs I can see there have been a few problems with her."
Kathryn could feel her jaw begin to clench.
"Admiral, with all due respect those problems all happened in a few months of us severing her link to the collective. Teething problems have to be expected under such extraordinary circumstances." Janeway could have gone on defending Seven, but she dug out her silver bullet.
"Are you forgetting that we would not have made it home without Seven? Nor would we now have in our possession the most ground breaking technology since Zefram Cochrane first achieved Warp speed."
The gauntlet had been thrown down.
"Captain, of course we know that. However she is still a Borg. Something you and your crew seem to have completely forgotten. My memory is not so short, Captain. I was at Wolf 359."
"Admiral, I witnessed enough Borg destruction in the Delta Quadrant to know what a threat they are. I also know Seven of Nine, and believe me, severing her link to the collective was the best thing I did in the Delta Quadrant."
"I understand that she has been a useful member of your crew, but we are talking about someone who was a drone for the Borg collective for eighteen years. I don't want to see her going back to any of her old habits. She's still infected with Borg technology, that could leave her open to past Borg programming or even being recalled to the Collective." She sat down at her desk and appeared to be interested in its surface more than Janeway, scooting around some pads that were piled in front of her. "Seven will stay under Starfleet observation," she stated, finality coursing through her words.
She didn't like the way this conversation was going and it was time to draw the line.
"Seven of Nine is a human being with a free will, and you will not keep her here if she wishes to be elsewhere. I've moved back into my old apartment, and she and I will be staying there. If you need to reach either of us, that's where we'll be."
Before Necheyev could say anything Kathryn continued.
"I will take responsibility for her. I was the one who made the decision to sever her link. If you or anyone else has a problem with that, then please let me know."
Without being dismissed Janeway turned and walked out of Necheyev's office. It was possibly one of the most disrespectful actions she had ever exercised with a superior officer. It occurred to Janeway that she was completely unaccustomed to taking orders, after all, all she had done for eight years was give them. Or maybe she had just picked up a few bad habits from Seven.
At about eighteen hundred hours Kathryn, Chakotay, Tuvok and Torres left the briefing room they had been in all day. This was not the ideal way to spend their third day on earth, but they all knew it had to be done. Tuvok's wife was arriving from Vulcan later in the evening, and he was given permission to miss the following days briefing.
They spent the majority of the day going over some of the more gross violations of the Prime Directive from the past eight years. They each had a similar response to each incident... "We were 75,000 light years away from home, we had to do what we could in order to survive."
Admiral Paris and several other of Starfleet's top brass were present. By the end of the day it had become apparent that none of these action were serious enough to warrant sanction. In fact they were all given a good pat on the back for having stuck so closely to the Prime Directive under such hard circumstances. Torres had been skeptical of their praises. They were a little too quick to dismiss their concerns.
"They'll hit us with it later, you watch." She nudged Janeway. "Where's Seven anyway?"
"They're going over the Gateway development with her right now."
"Are they...okay with her?"
Janeway was unsure of the answer herself.
"We'll see."
In fact, she was planning to do that right now.
She headed down the corridor and instructed the security guard she was here to see Seven. 'God, they even posted Security on the door!' She really had to speak to Paris about this.
A couple of minutes later Seven appeared, she was ready to go.
"Seven you look..."
"Tired and frustrated would be the correct descriptions to use, Kathryn. I have had a very? strange day."
They walked outside to the garden area.
"Shall we walk home? You can tell me all about it."
They continued in silence for while before Seven spoke again.
"Sorry Kathryn, I have been talking all day. If one more person asks me about my parents, my childhood, or what my favorite color is, I think I will consider assimilating them."
There was a hint of sarcasm in her voice, but Janeway could tell Seven was truly angry.
"I wish you had been there with me."
"Seven, who have you seen today?"
"I spent half an hour with some science and engineering officers, and the rest of the day with a parade of Starfleet counsellors, who proceeded to ask me the most irrelevant questions I have heard. And? they all called me Annika." She finished the statement with a tensing of her jaw muscles.
Janeway had never seen her partner so frustrated; it was never an emotion one would relate to Seven. As they walked home Seven gave her a taste of the line of questioning. Janeway was careful not to laugh too much it really was ridiculous. She made another mental note to speak to Paris first thing the next morning.
"Captain, I know it seems a little bit strange, but I believe Necheyev's people are trying to ascertain how human Seven has become. Once they understand that she is no threat they will leave her alone." Paris tried to explain.
"I have a responsibility to her, I severed her from the Collective, and I made her a member of my crew. She deserves to be treated as free willed being. For heaven's sake, they have security guards posted to her everywhere she goes."
"Kathryn, leave it with me, I'll clear this up by the end of the day."
"Thank you Admiral."
"It's the least I can do for you Kathryn." The Admiral paused, then added,
"By the way, how would you and Seven like to come over for dinner sometime..."
The Admiral gave Kathryn a look that told her he knew of her relationship with Seven.
She smiled, "Thank you Admiral, we would love to."
"No I would like The Doctor thank you." Seven spoke with a sense of forcefulness to her voice.
"The Doctor? Which Doctor? I can assure you Ms. Seven, that I am a fully qualified Doctor."
"The holographic Doctor who was aboard Voyager. He knows the most about my biological make up, he should be present if you wish to examine me."
"Seven I just have to run a few tests. If you would please lay down on the biobed "
"NO!"
Doctor Wardlaw tapped his comm badge. "Admiral, she is refusing to undergo an examination, do I have your permission to restrain her?"
"Of course, I will send down more security Doctor."
Seven tapped her own comm badge, relieved to find it working "Seven of Nine to Captain Janeway", there was a slight hint of desperation to her voice that Janeway immediately detected. With that the comm line was severed.
Janeway tapped her comm badge again trying to get through to Seven. She looked at Chokatay and Admiral Paris, "Come on we have to find her."
"Computer, locate Seven of Nine"
"Seven of Nine is in room 466, Starfleet Medical section."
"Admiral Paris to Security. Belay the last message sent by Admiral Necheyev. You will send no more security to room 466."
"Are you sure sir?"
"Of course I'm sure, I outrank Necheyev, so follow my order or I will report you!" Shouted Paris down the comm line.
Janeway, Chakotay and Paris arrived at the medical building and found their way to room 466. Paris bypassed the lock on the door with his command codes.
Inside they found Seven on the biobed, with Dr Wardlaw and a nurse running a medical tricorder over her.
"Doctor, you will cease you examination immediately." Order Paris.
"Admiral, I am under orders from Admiral Necheyev to examine the drone."
"Doctor, she is a human being, and deserved to be treated with some respect. We do not examine people against their will. And need I remind you Doctor that I outrank Necheyev."
Wardlaw released Seven from the biobed.
"I will be speaking to you later, Doctor." Warned the Admniral.
Necheyev went into Admiral Paris' office, and found Captain Janeway and Seven with him.
"Necheyev, you've got some explaining to do. I could understand the questioning, however forcing people against their will to undergo a medical examination is out of the question."
"Paris, I would prefer not to have this conversation with Janeway and the Borg present."
That was as much as Janeway could handle.
"The Borg? Seven deserves as much respect as every member of the Voyager crew, and so far she has received none from you. Neither of us is leaving this room."
"She is Borg."
"I am a human being who was assimilated by the Borg. I am no longer Borg, I am no longer human." Seven raised her voice, but the coolness was still there.
She continued, "Admiral I am not a Starfleet officer, therefore I do not need to be here. I wanted to assist you with any questions you might have about the Gateway technology. In the last two days I have discussed everything but. It is clear you do not need me. So you have two options, let me continue to work on the Gateway project, or let me go home. Right now I would prefer the latter."
"Your home is on a Borg cube it the Delta Quadrant." Said Necheyev.
"No Admiral, my home is with my lover, on 101 Nth 81st on Russian Hill". Seven voice could have cut a diamond.
Necheyev looked at Janeway; "Well that explains everything. Paris, can't you see what is going on here? Janeway is under the influence of the Borg."
"I am under no one's influence, Admiral."
"Necheyev, you and I need to talk to the Fleet Admiral together and sort this out. But I can tell you one thing, Seven has done nothing but serve Starfleet faithfully in the Delta Quadrant of her own volition, and I am sure she will continue to do the same thing here. We need her to be a part of the Gateway project and if you have a problem with that, then I suggest you think about your own future."
Later in the day Janeway was still at Starfleet headquarters she was trying to relax during a break from her debriefing when her communicator chirped. It startled here momentarily and she tapped her comm badge.
"Janeway here."
"Excuse me Captain, this is Commander Sarel, we are having some difficulty activated the EMH program on Voyager. We were intending to his program-"
"Lock onto me and transport me there immediately."
"Yes, Captain."
She was transported to Voyager, which was now in orbit around the planet. It was unsettling to see strange people running around her ship. Her ship, well that wasn't exactly accurate any more. She went directly to the Sick Bay and found a rather serious looking Vulcan science officer waiting for her, with that mildly peeved look only Vulcans can get.
"Commander, what's the problem."
"The program will not activate, nor can I find any traces of it within the ship board computer."
"That's not possible. Computer, activate EMH." Nothing happened. The lights seemed almost glaring for some reason and she ran her fingers through her hair anxiously. How many times had she done this in the past?
"Computer, activate EMH."
The commander merely rose his eyebrow, as again there was no response. She pushed past him and activated the computer terminal. She was remembering something, an expression that he had on his face the last time she had seen him at the homecoming celebration, he had seemed sad, but there had been something else. There was no trace of his program anywhere, it was as if he had never existed in the first place.
"Contact Seven of Nine, I want her up here to look at this."
Seven was beamed on board and came to the same conclusion.
"It does not appear his program was tampered with."
"It's just gone, I know," Kathryn sighed. "I keep thinking of the last time I saw him, it was like he knew somehow, that it was the last time he'd be seeing any of us."
"Could he have deleted himself?"
"I don't know." She continued to work feverishly at the console, when suddenly it lost power. "What the-"
The sick bay plunged into darkness. Kathryn froze, feeling her heart pound in her chest. She could hear seven attempting to activate her communicator with no success.
"Computer, respond."
Nothing.
With a hum the lights came back on. The console at Janeway's fingertips began to scroll numbers and letters furiously, and then stopped. They looked at each other. Seven spoke quietly, feeling so detached from herself it was like someone else was speaking through her.
"He's gone."
Janeway nodded, feeling tears well in her eyes. He was gone, and right now there was nothing left to say. Before the tears escaped her grasp she turned and began walking towards the door. As she left she heard Seven's voice, almost too soft to hear.
"Computer, activate EMH."
The doors slid shut behind her.
The following day Seven was working at a computer console from home trying to unravel the mystery of the Doctor's missing program, when a transmission came through from Starfleet command.
They were staying in Kathryn's old apartment, the one she had lived in before leaving with Voyager. Luckily, Gretchen Janeway had decided to keep the apartment and they had been attempting to clean it up for the past few days.
"Seven, Admiral Paris here. Could you please report to head quarters at fourteen hundred hours. We would like to speak to you."
Seven looked blankly at the screen and raised her left eyebrow.
After a moment she replied "I would like Kathryn to be present."
"Anything you want Seven. See you then. Paris out".
Later in the day Seven, Kathryn and Admiral Paris were sitting with Fleet Admiral Walsh, who had just arrived home from Betazed where he was inspecting damage repairs from the recent war with the Dominion.
"Captain Janeway, good to see you home safely. Seven of Nine, it is my pleasure to meet you." The Admiral shook her hand. "I'm sorry I was not here when you arrived."
"Of course Admiral, if we had known when we were going to turn up we would've sent you some notice," replied Janeway with a wry grin.
"Now Seven, I have been briefed on the situation regarding your treatment since arriving on Earth. Would you please accept my apology for not being here personally to see to your transition?"
Seven nodded cooly at the Admiral, her eyes hard.
"Seven I know it is no excuse, but I must explain that Admiral Necheyev's husband was assimilated by the Borg during the battle at Wolf 359 and I fear she may harbor some personal feelings in regard to the Borg. We have asked to her seek counseling in light of her behavior since your arrival. It is out of character for her."
"I understand Admiral, I am accustomed to my presence causing strong reactions in people."
Kathryn grimaced a little at the statement.
"Still it is no excuse... Seven, I for one am very glad you're here on Earth, the technology you developed to get Voyager home is astounding. I am looking forward to a long association between yourself and Starfleet. In fact, that brings me to the reason we have asked you here today.
"We would like to offer you command of the Gateway project, and a Starfleet commission."
Seven looked at Janeway who gave her an encouraging smile. She was surprised the reaction was so subdued, she was almost expecting her to begin jumping up and down and screaming for joy.
"That is very kind of you Admiral. What are the specifics of the project?"
"We want you to continue your research and hopefully develop the Gateway technology to a point where we can adapt all ships in the fleet. We also want to develop some exploration perimeters."
"I am willing to take command of the project, although you will understand if I take more time to think about the commission?"
"Of course..."
"Would you allow a non-Starfleet person to head the project?"
"Seven, the choice is yours, we will try to accommodate you in any way possible."
"Thank you."
"There was one other thing. I believe you are staying with Captain Janeway currently."
"That is right, sir." replied Janeway.
The Admiral, clearly expecting Seven to respond looked at the both of them.
"Well Seven, if you are interested we arrange accommodation for you nearby to the base."
Captain Janeway glanced at Seven, with a look that said 'let me handle this'.
"Admiral, I must inform you than Seven and I are..." She paused for a second as she sought the proper words.
"Do you require assistance?" Seven asked helpfully.
"No," she snapped. "We're involved in a romantic relationship, we have been for a while now, so co-habitation is not a problem."
"Oh, right then. Yes, well... " The Admiral was lost for words. "OK, so I suppose we don't have to worry about putting you up anywhere then?"
"No, but thank you for the offer Admiral." Seven replied She was quite surprised at Janeway's honesty, prior to arriving home they had decided to be very discreet about their relationship. As Janeway had said "It's not Starfleet's business." Now she wondered whose business it was.
Later as they were leaving the base, Seven sensed Janeway had something on her mind.
"Kathryn, you seem uneasy about my decision to think about the commission further"
"Seven, I think it is a wise decision to carefully consider your future. However I know you well enough to know that rarely does it take you longer than .4 nanoseconds to decide anything."
"You are right."
"So you are going to decline the offer?"
"Are you disappointed?"
"Seven, it is your choice, not mine."
"And if it were your choice?"
"I can't answer that Seven."
"Kathryn I still want to head up the project. I just don't want to be a member of Starfleet."
"Is that because of recent events?"
"Partly. I want to further my research in the areas of science and engineering, but not as a member of Starfleet. I would like to exist outside the command structure. I functioned well on board Voyager without being in Starfleet."
"Seven, things will be different here."
"And I will adapt. Kathryn, I do not wish to take orders from Starfleet. You know how hard it was for me to even take them from you. Here there will be a greater number of people to order me around." Seven looked deep into her lover's eyes and hoped that she understood what she was trying to say. "Kathryn I spent over sixteen years of my life in the collective. Now that I have a chance to be an individual, I wish to be just that."
Seven's words sank in, "I understand, my darling. I'm sorry if I made you think otherwise. Starfleet has always been a big part of my life, I shouldn't have assumed you would want to join just because it mean something to me."
"I will still be working for Starfleet, you just can't order me around any more!" Seven gave Janeway one of her precious smiles.
"I don't know about that. I have some news of my own. Starfleet have offered me the role of commanding a new department that will ready the fleet and for multi-quadrant travel. While you will oversee the running of the Gateway project, it will ultimately be under my command."
Seven's initial reaction was hard to gauge. "So we will be working together?"
"Not directly, however we will both be working towards the same goal."
"This is most acceptable. I am glad we will still be working together. We make a great team."
"You're right, we do."