ONE OF THE COLLECTIVE
by Joseph Anderson
All elements from the TV show Star Trek: Voyager belong to Paramount. All other
elements belong to the author. No copyright infringement is intended with this fan
fiction which may be copied for personal use only, may not be sold, and must contain all
notices of copyright.
7 of 9 had been standing in her “cabin” for 11 “hours.” She felt fatigue in her lower
extremities and therefore sat on the padded object which she had deduced from scanning
library records was intended for that purpose and, more importantly, for sleeping and
procreation. It had been 37 “days” since she had been on this vessel. She had served the
collective well and assisted these beings in defeating their shared enemy. When 7 of 9
had informed them they would then be assimiliated they had broken her contact with the
collective. She stared at the wall in front of her. After several days in the sickbay they
had informed her she was staying with them, they could not return her to the collective
because of the danger to themselves. 7 of 9 understood that and awaited termination of
her functions; however, they did not proceed with that. They escorted her to this cubicle
and said they hoped she would come to understand them and be one of them. 7 of 9
stared at the wall. She was severed from the collective. The pale shadow of 7 of 9’s unit
thoughts was dwarfed by the power and cohesion of the collective. She knew they would
attempt to reclaim her. Borg never gave up one of the collective–EVER. 7 of 9
considered what the aliens had said–that although she was severed from the collective,
they wanted her to be one of them. Something tugged at her mind. That was how she
had joined the collective. 7 of 9’s expressionless face continued staring at the wall of her
cubicle. Until she could return to the Borg she would consider herself a member of this
new collective. 7 of 9 considered and lay down as she had seen in the historical data and
slept.
Katherine Janeway opened her eyes and saw she was in her command chair on the deck.
However, she was slumped over and halfway out of it. She sat up and looked around her
deck and saw unconscious figures all around her at the various posts. Along with 4 dead
V’dians. The only conscious being was at the helm and was the Borg prisoner. In an
instant the captain was next to her, her phaser at her neck.
“What have you done?” she hissed.
7 of 9 was linked directly to all of the ship’s functions. She had rerouted everything so
she could control them from the helm. The Borg returned the ship to it’s autopilot mode
and disconnected her left extremity from it’s interface.
“The collective has survived. I shall return to my quarters.” 7 of 9 stood up ignoring the
phaser held by the pale faced captain and walked to the turbolift and disappeared.
Janeway watched her, then turned as she heard other members of the crew begin to stir
and went to help them.
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In her readyroom Captain Janeway looked expectantly at Tuvok and he stood and a
screen instantly appeared behind him on the wall.
“Captain,” he said in his clipped Vulcan way, “the ship has sustained an enemy assault.
There are hull breaches at levels 6, 18, 22, …”
Impatiently, the captain broke in, “That can wait! Are there casualties? V’dians attacked
us; why were we unconscious, and what repelled them?”
Primly the Vulcan answered, “Very well, Captain. No, we suffered no casualties or
injuries of any kind. A V’dian ship attacked us. They possesed a new weapon which they
had recently captured and which allowed them to render all of us–or almost all of
us–unconscious.”
“7 of 9” Janeway and Chakotay said simultaneously.
“That is correct. The Borg was unaffected by the technology which rendered the rest of
the crew helpless. She took action against them.”
“Took action?” Chakotay said.
“7 of 9 destroyed 6 V’dian fighters and a battle cruiser after she took control of
Voyager.”
Chakotay spoke up, “We don’t have that kind of fire power.”
“I would have agreed with you, Commander,” Tuvok said. “However, after 7 of 9
interfaced with the ship at the helm she essentially BECAME Voyager. I believe you and
Captain Janeway, and a great many others at Starfleet, will be interested in the speed
with which she was able to maneuver the ship and make combat decisions. It is all
largely recorded in one way or another. If I may, Captain?”
“Please,” Janeway said, glancing over at Chakotay and the others.
The screen behind him lit up and the Vulcan said, “Here we see the first views of the
approaching V’dian ships. Now a routine scan of deck 3 at 1623 hours shows the effect
of the V’dian’s new technology.” Janeway and the others saw several crew simply
collapse in the hallway they were in. “This scene was repeated throughout the ship
including the bridge at that instant. Except for one being.” The people in the readyroom
watched the monitor as a cabin door opened and the Borg strode out, reached out to
touch the com link on the wall, and without expression walked out of the camera’s view.
Tuvok continued, “7 of 9 made her way to the bridge, and there opened communication
with the V’dians.”
Janeway and the others watched fascinated as the screen suddenly showed 7 of 9’s
calm–if that was the word–face. “What do you want?”
Next a rotted V’dian face appeared–they made the Borg look good. “You belong to us
now. I’ll have your lungs myself!”
Everyone in the readyroom had an intake of breath and a knot in their stomach at the
thought of themselves helpless at the V’dians approach.
7 of 9’s face reappeared on the screen. “You have attacked the collective. Prepare to be
destroyed. Resistance is futile.” The screen went blank.
Tuvok spoke, “I have prepared a split screen for what followed. On the left is a
representation of the ship maneuvers which ensued and on the right are views from
various cameras. As you can see, 7 of 9 dropped Voyager straight down at a rate, I, for
one, did not know the ship was capable of. She then destroyed 3 V’dian fighters with
phaser blasts, which you can see here. Voyager then went into warp–I know Captain.
She did not escape though she could have. 7 of 9 returned and as she came out of warp
hit the V’dian battle cruiser with a photon torpedo.” They watched as the huge vessel
seemed to have a chunk bitten out out of it. There was no other way to describe it.
Tuvok resumed, “At this point the remaining fighters attacked Voyager and scored
several direct hits–the hull breaches I referred to earlier, Captain. The cruiser also
scored hits. If you will look at the schematic of the battle, you can see that 7 of 9 then
sent Voyager into a spinning maneuver which to my knowlege has never been done with
anything but a fighter before now. As you can see, she catches the fighters in her energy
wake and causes two of them to collide with each other.” Tom Paris had never seen
anything like that in his life. He didn’t know of a better pilot than himself; but that made
him look like a cadet. He looked at the captain and first officer; they were just as
mesmerized as he was. “She destroyed the final fighter with a phaser blast as she was
coming out of the spin. Commander Data of the Enterprise is the only being I would
have thought capable of the calculations required for such a maneuver.”
Torres spoke up. “Since she had interfaced with the ship, 7 of 9 possessed all the abilties
of Voyager’s computers. That’s considerably beyond even Commander Data.”
Janeway spoke, “What about the V’dian battle cruiser?”
“Interesting, Captain. Here we see another message they sent.”
The V’dian commander’s face was on the screen again. “This is just a misunderstanding
we want peace! Break off your attack!”
Tuvok said, “At that instant V’dians had transported to the bridge. They had been able to
tell that was where the only conscious being on the vessel was. The recording which
automatically starts with an intruder alert recorded this.”
They watched as 4 V’dians appeared on the bridge. 7 of 9 was calmly sitting at the helm.
Her left extremity linked but no other sign of anything happening. The intruders began
firing weapons at her which had a slight initial effect, then none as her personal shield
adapted to it. While remaining linked she turned in her seat as the V’dians continued
firing at her. Finally one tried to physically attack her. She grabbed his throat and, in
the readyroom, they saw him go limp after a moment’s struggle. Then 7 of 9 calmly took
his weapon and killed his 3 comrades as they continued firing fruitlessly at her. She sat
back down. The V’dian commander on the screen had been able to observe all of this.
7 of 9 spoke. “Up until now the Borg have never had contact with your species. I shall
send a message to them. You are too diseased to be assimilated, however, your
technology will be. Know you have destroyed your race. Resistance is futile.”
The V’dian started to say something but the picture went blank. Tuvok spoke, “7 of 9
launched 3 more photon torpedos at the V’dian ship. There were a great many V’dians
who attempted to escape in life pods, some of whom begged for mercy.
“Let me guess.” Tom Paris said. “7 of 9 used them for phaser target practice.”
“She destroyed them with phasers, yes. I would not describe it as target practice.” Tuvok
said primly.
Captain Janeway looked at Paris. She didn’t like how happy he was. He had a ruthless
streak, she knew, and he approved without reservation. She would have picked up the
survivors. She looked at her first officer. He would have acted as she would but
probably felt somewhere between her and Paris. The captain could see the admiration in
B’Lanna Torres’ face.
“She had the ship. Why didn’t she take it back to Borg space?” Janeway asked her first
officer.
Chakotay didn’t have an answer.
“Well,” she said. “I guess this means we all owe something to our guest.”
Chakotay spoke. “She doesn’t consider herself a guest. We are her collective–for the
time being, anyway. The V’dians attacked the collective and she acted accordingly.”
Paris spoke up. “Can I buy her a drink? That was some kind of flying. She saved all our
lives.”
The captain looked at Chakotay. He shrugged. “I think we all owe her a drink, Mr.
Paris,” Janeway said.
The End