A Fire of Devotion: Part 2 of 4: Louder Than Bells: Chapters Four & Five

Chapter Five:

Seven of Nine and Samantha had been given a week of “shore leave” by the Captain. Though with no M-class nearby, and even if there were Voyager was fully stocked with necessary supplies, the options the couple had were limited to their quarters, the holodeck, and little else.

They did not mind however. It had only been a week prior that Sam had nearly died. Seven was unused to the concept of a vacation however, and when word spread through the ship that work on a new slipstream drive, one that could work longer than the one they’d briefly had less than a year ago that had burned out after shaving several years off their journey to the Alpha Quadrant, she learned a new word from Samantha that had not been in her vocabulary before.
“Antsy?” Seven said, lying in bed next to Sam. “I am unfamiliar with that term.”
Samantha laughed. “Basically, it means you can’t wait for your time off to officially be over so you can work on that quantum matrix thing, whatever that means.” Samantha raised her hand. “And don’t try explaining it to me, I’m a biologist. Warp theory has never been my strong suit. It was probably my worst class at the academy besides Command.”
“I never knew you took Command classes,” Seven said.
“I needed an elective, and I waited too long and missed a slot in Early Federation History,” Samantha closed her eyes and chuckled. “Oh sweetie, you’d have been so embarrassed for me. Can you believe I actually tried to use diplomacy during the Kobayashi Maru?”
“Why would that be embarrassing? I imagine most cadets would never even consider that.”

“With good reason. They don’t call it the no-win scenario for nothing. I think they only let me live as long as they did out of sympathy. The simulation ended with the Maru getting captured by the Romulans anyway, and me having to run away to save what was left of the ship.”

“Hmm,” Seven said. She didn’t really have anything to add to the conversation at that point, so she tried to think of a segue into another topic.
“Oh, by the way, I’ve been meaning to ask you something, Annie,” Samantha said, interrupting Seven’s train of thought.

“What were you intending to ask?”

“I didn’t want to say anything until I was sure, but the last two nights you were staying here, since you didn’t need to be in your alcove to recharge or anything, you kind of got up in the middle of the night and wandered off.”
“I did?” Seven said, genuinely confused. “I have no memory of this.”

“Perhaps you were sleepwalking then,” Sam said. “You might want to talk to the Doctor about that. Have you been having any problems with your regeneration cycles?”
“None that I can- No, now that you mention it, I did feel as though my last few cycles were incomplete somehow. This certainly is concerning. I will speak to the Doctor in the morning. I can complete two task simultaneously if I do so after escorting Naomi there for her next botany lesson.”

“Good idea,” Sam said, kissing Seven on the forehead. “Good night, Annie.”
“Good night, Sam,” Seven said, resting her head on her pillow and closing her eyes.

—

“So Neelix told me that the Borg do a lot of the things they do because they’re trying to be perfect,” Naomi said as she and Seven of Nine walked down the corridor side by side. “And even though you’re not a drone anymore, you do still try to be perfect. Right?”

“Mostly correct,” Seven said. “My long term goals are equally divided between achieving perfection, and trying to be a good partner to your mother.”

“Well, if I can learn to be perfect too, then Captain Janeway will have to make me her bridge assistant.”

“If you have been curious about the Borg you could’ve inquired me at any time over the past year,” Seven said, smirking.
“But I wasn’t trying to become a Bridge Assistant until a few weeks ago,” Naomi said, proud of her logic.
“I admire your determination, Naomi. However, your neocortical development is incomplete. You are definitely intelligent, sometimes too intelligent for your own good as Sam sometimes says.”
“Hey!” Naomi said, mildly offended.
Seven looked like she was about to keep talking but then stopped.
“Seven?” Naomi said, feeling a little worried as Seven seemed to stare at nothing for a few moments. Seven started looking around, like she didn’t know where she was until she was looking at straight at her. A huge smile, probably the biggest one Naomi had ever seen Seven have without her mom around, appeared on Seven’s face.
“Hi,” Seven said in a cheery voice.
“Uh, hi,” Naomi said. She couldn’t say exactly what was wrong, but she felt that something was off with Seven, and she was even more worried now than she’d been when Seven had first stopped in the middle of the hall.
“I’m bored, let’s do something fun,” Seven said, acting like a child herself.
Is that how I look to other people when I’m bored? Naomi thought.

“Like what?” Naomi said, playing along for now, wondering just why her mom’s girlfriend was acting so weird.
“Like, swimming?”
Naomi remembered reading some stories that she wasn’t supposed to about other starship’s adventures, and one she’d read about had involved members of the crew of the Enterprise-D being taken over by bodiless aliens. She wondered if that was happening to Seven of Nine, though if it was an alien, it was a very, very young alien, who really didn’t seem to want to take over the ship.
“I’m not allowed to go swimming without my mom,” Naomi said. If Seven was possessed somehow, she was going to find out everything she could about the alien before reporting to the captain, like a good officer would.
“Oh,” Seven said. “Do you like kadis-kot?”
Naomi smiled involuntarily. She actually did love that game, and have even offered to teach Seven how to play it once, but she had said she wasn’t interested.
“I love it,” she said.
“Come on,” Seven said, taking Naomi’s hand and skipping in the opposite direction they had been, giggling the whole way.

—

The last thing Captain Janeway had expected to hear on the bridge was a call from Naomi Wildman, but when Naomi said that she was worried that something was happening to Seven, she sat up straight in her captain’s chair.
“It was like she was someone else for a little bit,” Naomi’s voice over the com system.
“Someone else?”

“Yeah. She started acting like a little kid. Littler than me even, and she wanted to go swimming, and play kadis-kot. And when B’Elanna called her she didn’t even respond, like she didn’t know her own name.”
“Did she give another name?” Janeway asked, looking at Chakotay. He simply shrugged.
“No, but after the second time B’Elanna called for her, Seven looked kinda confused, and didn’t remember coming back to mom’s quarters to play. She left for engineering just a minute or so ago. I’m really worried about her captain. I’ve read about alien possessions, but I’m not sure that’s it anymore. I think Seven might be sick.”
“Okay Naomi,” Janeway said. “I’ll have her report to sickbay to talk to the Doctor, if there’s anything wrong he might-”
Janeway was interrupted by a sound coming from Tuvok’s console.
“Security alert in engineering captain,” he said. “Apparently Seven of Nine just attacked Lieutenant Torres.”
“Set up force fields to try and contain her. Take a team, but take the Doctor as well. Seven might be-”
“I heard your conversation with Ms. Wildman captain. I will go personally to make sure Seven of Nine is unharmed.”

“Do it,” Janeway said.

—

Tuvok and his team, the Doctor following close behind them, walked up to the turn in the corridor where the force fields had Seven of Nine contained. As he approached he saw another security officer, lying face down, but breathing, and Seven of Nine, huddled up against the wall, holding a hand phaser, and quietly sobbing.
She looked up, presumably hearing them approach. She looked terrified, and glanced at the downed crewman.
“He’s hurt. Please help him,” she said.

Tuvok kept his phaser out, but motioned for the people on his team to sheath theirs and go aid the injured crewman, who was already trying to stand up, groaning as he did so. Seven looked at him, then looked at his phaser and began fidgeting.
“Did I do something bad?” she said.

“Who are you?” Tuvok said.
“My name’s Maryl,” Seven said. “Are you a Vulcan?”
“Computer,” Tuvok said. “Deactivate force field.” The energy shield dropped immediately, and Tuvok calmly knelt down by Seven and said “give me the phaser,” in a tone he would when speaking to his own children when they were young and had not yet mastered the ability to suppress fear. Seven did so, holding it cautiously by the very end of the handle, as if afraid she would accidentally fire it. Once Tuvok deactivated it and handed it to the security officer standing next to him, Seven’s demeanor suddenly and radically changed. She stood and began speaking in a tone not unlike that of a Vulcan.
“You are not a physician commander, the logical course of action would be to take him to the infirmary,” she said.
“Maryl?” Tuvok said.
“Subaltern Lorot, Vulcan High Command,” Seven said. “May I be of assistance?”

“Yes, Tuvok said. “Please accompany me to sickbay.”

“Certainly,” Seven said, walking ahead of Tuvok without any prompting. “Clearly your crewmate was attacked, we should use caution and-” Seven stopped walking, and began to look around, appearing confused.
“Pah’tak,” she said, saying the Klingon word with bitter anger in her voice. “You will drown in your own blood.”
“Keep moving,” Tuvok said sternly.
Seven turned around, starting to scream. Tuvok fired his phaser, and Seven fell to the floor, unconscious.

—

Seven woke up abruptly, gasping as her eyes opened. She quickly realized she was lying in a bio-bed in sickbay, unsure of how she got there. The last thing she was remembered was B’Elanna Torres suggesting she see the Doctor about her memory lapse that she’d experienced with Naomi.

“Seven?” she heard the captain say.
“Honey, are you okay?” Sam said. The two women were standing over her on one side of the bio-bed, The Doctor and Tuvok on the other. Seven thought she could hear other people talking as well, talking over each other, but she couldn’t see anyone else.
“Captain? Sammy? Why am I here?”

“You’ve been unconscious nearly two hours,” Janeway said. “We believe you are experiencing some kind of neurological disorder.”
“Voices,” Seven said. The voices she’d heard a few seconds before, that she thought might’ve been other people in sickbay, were getting louder now, and it was clear that they were in her head. There were just too many of them, and they were shouting. “I hear voices.”
Sam frowned, and squeezed Seven’s hand.
“Describe them,” the Doctor said.

“They are agitated,” Seven said, feeling a growing sense of unease. “Chaotic. Too many voices.” She heard a piercing scream, and tensed up, gasping again. She felt Sam’s hand squeeze her’s a little tighter.
“Mommy, where are you?” she distinctly heard one of the voices saying, the voice of a scared child. “Somebody rescue me!” another voice, a male one, cried out. The voices became less and less distinct and soon she couldn’t make out a single word. She sat up abruptly.
“Too many voices!” she said, panicked. Samantha put her free hand on Seven’s back.
“Baby, it’s okay. I’m here,” she said. The Doctor began running his medical tricorder scanner over her.
“The cortical inhibitor is destabilizing,” he said. He began adjusting a device that Seven only now realized was on the side of her neck. “I’m increasing the neurotransmitter levels.”
As he adjusted the device, the voices got quieter and more distant. She leaned against Samantha, who was looking at the Doctor with grave concern.
“What’s happening to her?” she said.
“I wish I knew,” the Doctor said, “Seven, do you still hear the voices?”
“They are fading,” Seven said, breathing heavily. “They are gone.”
“Good,” Captain Janeway said. “Let’s see what we can do to keep them from coming back. What’s the last thing you remember?”
Seven told her.
“You have no recollection of a confrontation with Lieutenant Torres?” Tuvok said.
“A confrontation? No, like I said, the last thing I remember is her telling me to see the Doctor about my memory lapse.” Seven was feeling scared. She imagined it would be worse if Samantha wasn’t there with her, close enough to her that Seven could hear her heartbeat.
“I’m not sure why,” the Doctor said, “but you seem to manifesting personalities other than your own. Naomi said that briefly you were a child, and played kadis-kot with her this afternoon.”

“I am familiar with that game,” Seven said. “But I have never played it.”
“You also attacked B’Elanna,” Tuvok said. “after claiming to be a Klingon, the son of K’Vok you called yourself, before initiating a Klingon mating ritual. Before we brought you to sickbay, you also presented yourself as a member of the Vulcan High Command.”
Seven shook her head. “I have no memory of these events.”
“Come look at this,” the Doctor said, having moved across the room to one of sickbay’s monitors. Seven and Samantha both moved to see what he was talking about, Janeway and Tuvok close behind.
“This is your neural pattern,” the Doctor continued, “And here are thirteen new neural patterns that have emerged in your cerebral cortex. Klingon, Vulcan, Terrelian, Human, several others I can’t identify.”
“How?” Seven asked.
“They’re coming from within you,” the Doctor said. Seven just looked at him, while Samantha sighed.
“My hypothesis is that they belong to individuals assimilated by the Borg during your eighteen years as a drone. They, like the neural patterns of all who are assimilated, are incorporated into the Borg hive mind, stored in the cortical implants of all drones. They are now very active in you, and they appear to be manifesting themselves randomly, causing you to randomly mentally become that person.”
“So,” Samantha said, “are you saying that she’s basically got the Borg equivalent of multiple personality disorder?”
“I think you put it very succinctly Ensign Wildman,” the Doctor said.
“Did I hurt anyone else? Is B’Elanna alright?” Seven asked.
“You stunned a security officer,” Tuvok said, “But he has already been cleared for duty. And B’Elanna’s wound was treated on site.”
“Can you correct the malfunction?” Seven said.
“The cortical inhibitor is suppressing the effect,” the Doctor said. “But it’s only a temporary measure.”
“B’Elanna detected a Borg interlink frequency coming from a field of debris that used to be a Borg cube that we were going around,” Janeway said. “Could that be the cause of this?”
“Yes,” Seven said. “That makes sense. I was unaware that such a debris field had been found.”
“You were on vacation Seven,” Janeway said. “We briefly considered the idea of trying to find out what destroyed the cube, but figured it would be safer to be nowhere near it if another cube showed up trying to find out the same thing. Maybe we should increase our speed, try to get out of range.”
“The signal permeates subspace,” Seven said. “We cannot avoid it.”
“We have to find that signal and shut it down,” Sam said.
“I agree,” the Doctor said.
Janeway nodded. She turned to Tuvok. “Have Tom set a course for the debris field.” As Tuvok left sickbay, Janeway turned back to face Seven. “When we arrive we may need your help. Feel up to it?”

Not really, Seven thought, but she turned her head, looked into Samantha’s eyes, and smiled. “Yes, Captain,” she said.
Janeway nodded. “Keep a close eye on her Doctor,” she said. “In case she has any more unexpected visitors.”
“Is it alright if I stay here with her?” Sam asked.
“Of course,” the Doctor said. “But we’ll want to have some sedatives on hand in case the Son of K’Vok comes back. Hopefully he’s not into human women.”
“If that was supposed to be reassuring, Doctor,” Seven said, “it was a failed attempt. You do however raise a valid concern. Sam, if someone bad comes through, you need to back away. This is as much a technological issue as a mental one. How much I love you won’t matter if one of the personalities that asserts itself wishes to harm you.”
Sam touched Seven’s cheek gently.
“Okay,” she said. “Do you want me to tell Naomi what’s happening?”

“Yes,” Seven said. “though for obvious reasons it’s best she be kept away from me until this issue is resolved.”
Samantha nodded sadly.
“I’ll go tell her. I’ll be right back, I promise.” Samantha gave Seven a quick kiss before exiting sickbay. When she was gone, Seven heard the Doctor sigh.
“It’s a shame that love can’t cure all really,” he said. “If it could, I imagine you’d be getting better already.”
“Doctor, please stop talking,” Seven said, shaking her head.

“Actually Seven, I was thinking we should go to your alcove.”
“Why?”
“I want to try and determine exactly when this started occurring. That may prove invaluable in helping treat your condition.”
“That is logical,” Seven said. “But we should be quick about it so we can return to sickbay before Sam does.”
“Agreed.” She followed the Doctor out of sickbay and the two headed for the nearest turbolift. Once they were inside, the Doctor began asking more questions.
“Has any drone ever experienced symptoms like this before?”
“The Collective does not tolerate imperfection,” Seven said. “Any drone with a malfunction as serious as mine would be destroyed immediately.”

“Lucky for you this crew is a little more tolerant,” the Doctor said. Seven, still feeling agitated and tense as a result of her condition, considered bringing up the Tuvix incident from three years ago, but was by sheer coincidence interrupted by the approach of one-half of that now deceased hybrid being.
“Ah, Seven,” Neelix said. “I was hoping I’d find you. B’Elanna told me you were ill.”

“That is correct,” Seven said, not really wanting to talk to him but not wanting to be rude either.
“Well, if there is anything you need help with I’d be happy to do it. Any assignments you might need a hand finishing, anything special I can cook up for you, things like that. It can’t fix whatever’s going on, but I can at least boost your morale while you’re dealing with it.”
“I imagine that Samantha will want you to look after Naomi while she stays with me during my treatment. That will be adequate,” Seven said.
“Well, I have some wonderful medicinal teas that might help you relax if you’re interested,” Neelix said. Seven held back the urge to snap at him. He was only trying to help after all, even if he was being a bit overzealous in doing so.
“Talaxian homeopathy? I don’t think we’re quite that desperate yet.” The Doctor said.
Seven sighed, and rolled her eyes as she kept walking, the Doctor and Neelix both close behind her.
“I’ll let you two get back to what you were doing then,” Neelix said, turning down another corridor. “Feel better soon, Seven,” he added.
“Your concern is noted,” Seven said. Shortly, they were in cargo bay 2, the Doctor going over the data from Seven’s Borg alcove.
“I suspected as much,” he said. “There were several interruptions in your regeneration cycle.” He pointed to them on the monitor, and Seven saw numerous periods where the computer recorded her leaving a cycle early for periods as short as thirteen minutes, and as long as an hour.
“It’s not just that,” Seven said, remembering now what Samantha had said to her the previous night about the possibility that Seven had been sleepwalking. She explained this to the Doctor.
“So it’s been going on for several days,” he said. “Amazing how no one picked up on it until today.”

“Some did Doctor, they merely interpreted the data incorrectly, reaching a logical but wrong conclusion.”
“Fair point. Hmm, look here. Apparently you made a log entry under the name Ensign Stone. Shall we listen to it?”
“I do not believe that would be necessary,” Seven said.
“Very well,” the Doctor said. “At the very least we have a timeframe for when this started.”
Seven’s comm badge chirped.
“Bridge to Seven of Nine,” Commander Chakotay said, “we are approaching the debris field.”
“On my way commander,” Seven said. After the channel was closed she turned to face the Doctor. “I should tell Sam I’ll be on the bridge. If I’m not in sickbay when she returns from telling Naomi about my condition she’ll be worried.”
“Go ahead. I want to collect some more data from the alcove logs. I’ll meet you on the bridge.”

—

“Survivors?” Janeway asked as Voyager flew into the middle of the debris field that had once been a Borg cube. The last time she’d seen a site like this, Species 8472 had been the cause. She wondered if that could be the case here.
“None,” Tuvok said.
“Any other Borg ships out there?” Janeway said, hearing the turbolift door open behind her as she spoke. She spared a quick glance over her shoulder to see Seven of Nine going to an open console at the rear of the bridge.
“None, Captain,” Tom Paris said from the helm. “Looks like we’re the first ones here.”
“I’m picking up the source of the interlink frequency,” Harry Kim said. “Bearing 0-2-7 mark three.”
“On screen,” Janeway said. A device that Janeway didn’t recognize, but was certainly Borg, appeared on screen, floating in the middle of the debris, surprisingly intact, glowing as though it still had power.
“A Borg vinculum,” Seven said.
“Vinculum?” Chakotay said.
“The processing device at the core of every Borg vessel,” Seven replied.
“Looks like this one has established a link to your cortical implant,” Harry said. “It probably thinks you’re an errant drone.”
“Precisely,” Seven said. “I believe it is attempting to reintegrate me into the collective. It is malfunctioning, sending me erratic commands.”
“Can you sever the link?” Janeway said.
“Not without risking permanent damage to my own systems,” Seven said. “It must be taken off-line. I request permission to beam it aboard. I’ve worked with this technology, I may be able to disable it.”
“We’re talking about the heart of a Borg cube. I’d rather not take it inside my ship,” Janeway said.
“Could you disable it remotely?” Chakotay said.
Seven sighed. “Yes, but I would need several days. The Borg may return by then. We should take the vinculum and leave this region immediately.”
Janeway looked at Chakotay. He nodded slightly, so much so that Seven might not have noticed it had she not been standing where she was.
“Tuvok,” Janeway said, standing and walking over to the tactical console. “Beam it aboard, and put it behind a level ten force field. Maintain constant surveillance. The moment it poses a threat beam it out into space. Tom, soon as it’s aboard, get us out of here, warp 9.”
“Aye, captain,” Tom said.
Janeway walked over to Seven.
“I can’t begin to imagine what this must be like for you, and I want to help any way I can. but the safety of the whole crew is my first responsibility.”
“Understood, Captain,” Seven said.

—

As little as six months ago, B’Elanna Torres likely would’ve tried to kill Seven of Nine for what she’d done. But even before she heard about the vinculum and what it was doing to Seven, she felt more concern than rage. Not at the exact moment that Seven’s teeth were sinking into B’Elanna’s cheek of course, but once the initial adrenaline had worn off. Hopefully they could fix whatever was wrong and that bastard Son of K’Vok would never try to force himself on her again.

“Let’s keep an eye on those anti-grav struts,” she said, walking through engineering double and triple checking everything to make sure the Borg device would not threaten the ship. “Joe, lock out all primary command consoles. Vorik, reroute all transporter controls to main engineering.”
She didn’t bother to listen for the affirmatives. She knew her team well enough to trust them with this task. While she was on the upper level she heard the main door to engineering open. She glanced down to Seven of Nine and the Doctor walk in. They passed by the vinculum, and Seven stopped, looking anxious. B’Elanna couldn’t hear them but she could guess what Seven was saying as the Doctor began adjusting the device on her neck that was suppressing the voices.

B’Elanna went down to the lower level to meet them.
“Do not worry, Lieutenant,” Seven said. “The Son of K’Vok will not be joining us.”
“Good to hear,” B’Elanna said. “Though I do have to wonder why he keeps calling himself that. Does he think his given name is embarrassing or something?”
“What would a Klingon consider an embarrassing name?” the Doctor said.
“Can we focus on the task at hand?” Seven said, sounding exasperated.
“Right,” B’Elanna said. “So where’s the off switch on this thing?” she added, now looking at the vinculum.
“The vinculum is equipped with many safeguards. I will need to access its transneural matrix and disable it directly.” Seven began tapping at the console in front of her. With seconds an alert noise started.
“I’m reading a power surge,” B’Elanna said.
“It’s a normal response to my intrusion,” Seven said, continuing her work. A few seconds later her brow furrowed. “Curious. There appears to be an organism in the vinculum. It appears to be a viral agent.”

“Let me see it,” the Doctor said. He looked at the data on the screen in front of him, B’Elanna looking too, even though viruses were outside her field of expertise. “It’s a synthetic pathogen,” he continued. “The virus was originally a biological agent, but it’s mutated. It’s attacking the vinculum’s programs as it would living cells.”
“An organism that attacks technology? That’s interesting. Maybe unheard of,” B’Elanna said, curiosity combining with concern for the ship.

“According to the data the cube was infected less than a standard week ago after assimilating a ship belonging to species 6339,” Seven said. “They are native to this region of space.”
“Looks like we found our Typhoid Mary,” the Doctor said.

—

Samantha paced back and forth in her quarters, feeling helpless. Last she’d heard Seven and the Doctor had gone to brief the Captain on the species who appeared to be the origin on the virus that had infected the Borg vinculum, and consequently were likely the ones responsible for Seven’s condition. Samantha was a biologist, she knew a fair amount about viruses, so she should’ve been able to help, but the complexity of the infection in the vinculum was beyond her.

Naomi sat at the table, barely touching her food, just looking at her mother with concern.
“I’m sure she’ll be fine mom,” she said. “The Doctor and Captain Janeway will find a way to help her, I know it.”
“Oh how I wish I shared your confidence sweetie,” Samantha said, finally giving up on pacing and settling for worrying while sitting on the edge of her bed. Naomi got up and walked over to give her a hug.
“Do you wanna play kadis-kot?” Naomi asked.
Samantha smiled, and tousled Naomi’s hair. “Not tonight Naomi, I’m too distracted.”

“Sickbay to Samantha Wildman,” the com system blurted out.
“Yes, Doctor, what is it?”
“Seven is back in sickbay. The inhibitor is no longer working. We’re going to try disabling the vinculum soon. I think you should be here, whichever way it goes.”
“I’m on my way,” Samantha said, bolting for the door. Naomi tried to follow, but Sam stopped her.
“No Naomi, you can’t, I’m sorry.”
“Why not?” Naomi said, looking both scared and angry.
“She wouldn’t want you to see her in the condition she’s in. Please, just go find Neelix, tell him I said to look after you tonight, okay? Promise me.”
Naomi pouted, but didn’t put up a fight. “Okay,” she said softly, leaving their quarters just behind Samantha, but going the opposite direction.

Samantha walked quickly towards sickbay. When she got there, she saw Seven standing at the far end of the room, leaning against the surgical bio-bed, her face in her hands. She moved quickly to stand next to her, only registering the Doctor telling her to be careful after she walked face first into the containment field.
“Shit, that hurt!”
“Sammy, are you alright?” Seven said, sounding as worried for her, as Samantha felt for Seven.
“I’m okay. What happened?”
“The voices have started getting worse. I’m fine at the moment but that won’t last. A few minutes ago, according to the captain I was a Ferengi Damon, and before that a woman who was assimilated at Wolf 359. I believe the number of personalities I’ll be displaying will only increase if the Captain and Lieutenant Torres can’t safely get the vinculum offline. I-”
“Seven, breathe,” the Doctor said. “You keep talking at that pace you’ll hyperventilate.”
“Hold it together, Annie,” Samantha said. “I know you can. You are one of the bravest people I know, you can soldier through this.”
“I fear my courage may be insufficient,” Seven said.

—

The Doctor wondered if he should wake Ensign Wildman, who had decided to get some rest while waiting for the procedure to disable the vinculum to begin. Seven of Nine was also asleep, having to be sedated after twelve new personalities had emerged in the past hour, including a Krenim scientist. a Bolian manicurist, and even a Talaxian trader at one point.

On the one hand, if something went wrong, the sickbay computer’s alert sounds might wake Samantha anyway. On the other, he was concerned that she might get in the way if the procedure went badly. When B’Elanna alerted him over the com that they were about to begin, he decided to simply wake her. Much to the Doctor’s relief, Samantha wisely stood back, making sure she wouldn’t be in the way while he worked. He wished more crewmembers could follow her example.

The comlink kept open, the Doctor heard B’Elanna begin the final countdown.
“Three, two, one, mark,” she said. “Power output is dropping,” she said a few seconds later. Seven’s body convulsed slightly, but not alarmingly so.

“It seems to be working, her neural pattern is stabilizing,” he said.

“Seventy-seven percent, seventy-one,” B’Elanna’s voice continued. “wait a second, it’s increasing now.”
“I am refocusing the dampening field,” The Doctor could hear Tuvok say. “The vinculum is rerouting its internal circuitry. It’s adapting.”
Before the Doctor could respond to that, Seven began thrashing on the bio-bed, cursing in Klingon, followed shortly by crying “Mother!” in a scared tone. He heard Samantha gasp, but to her credit she stayed where she was, as difficult as that must’ve been for her.

“Her synaptic pathways are failing!” he shouted into the com. “Abort the procedure!”
“Too many voices!” Seven cried out. “Help me!”
“Abort dammit!” the Doctor yelled
“Annie, stay with us baby, please,” Samantha said, fidgeting anxiously as the Doctor tried to stabilize Seven.

“Stand by Doctor,” Tuvok said. After several seconds, Seven fell unconscious. Samantha bolted to the other side of the bio-bed and took Seven’s hand in hers, trying to coax her into waking up.
“Bridge to sickbay,” Captain Janeway’s voice said, “Report.”
The Doctor looked over his data, and sighed.
“Seven’s neural pattern has disappeared Captain,” he said quietly. “It appears that the other patterns have taken over completely. We’ve lost her.”

“Annie?” he heard Samantha say, sobbing. “Wake up, I know you’re in there. Please wake up. Please.”

—

“Captain’s log, supplemental. Long range sensors have detected a vessel belonging to Species 6339. We’ve set a course to intercept them in the hopes they can help us restore Seven of Nine.”

Almost as soon as Janeway finished her entry, the Doctor reported to her ready room as ordered to update her on Seven’s condition. Tuvok was there too, as he suggested that he might have a solution to the problem. She suspected what that was, but she wanted to wait until she heard what the Doctor had to say before approving.
“I’ve managed to stabilize her primary cortical functions,” the Doctor said, “but the woman in sickbay is not Seven of Nine. Not anymore. New personalities are emerging every few seconds now. She can’t even finish a sentence at this point. It’s creating intense strain on her cerebral cortex. If we don’t deactivate the vinculum soon we may never get her back.”

“Understood. How is Sam holding up?” Janeway said.
“Better than expected,” the Doctor said. “When I asked her to leave sickbay she didn’t argue. I think it’s not entirely sunk in yet how severe this is. The last time I saw her this sad was, well, you know.”
Janeway was certain she did know, and simply nodded.

“Tuvok?” she said.
“Lieutenant Torres is taking measures to try and prevent the vinculum from adapting, but there is no guarantee she’ll succeed. I believe the time has come for me to attempt a mind-meld with Seven of Nine.”

“I don’t like it,” the Doctor said. “But that may be the only choice we have left. I’ve exhausted every medical option I can think of.”
“Agreed,” Tuvok said. “Seven’s neural pattern, her sense of self is immersed in chaos. I will attempt to isolate her true self and guide it to the surface.”
“A mind-meld with one person can be dangerous enough when you’re not dealing with another Vulcan,” Janeway said. “or with someone who is participating willingly. This is hundreds of personalities, and all of them will be fighting you every step of the way. Are you sure this is worth the risk?”
“This is my risk to take Captain,” Tuvok said. Janeway knew Tuvok well enough to know that arguing with him on this point would be a futile gesture, and frankly she wasn’t even sure she should fight him. He was her best friend, and she had full faith in his abilities. If anyone could pull this off…

“Alright, what will you need on our end?” she said.
“I will require two hours of meditation to prepare,” Tuvok said.
“Start now,” she said. “Report to sickbay when you’re ready.” Tuvok nodded, and headed out.
“Good luck Mr. Tuvok,” the Doctor said to the Vulcan as he departed the room. “With any luck I won’t end up with a second patient.”

“I’ll be on the bridge,” Janeway said. “Report to me as soon as you’ve started.”
“Understood, Captain,” the Doctor said.

As soon as Janeway was on the bridge, Commander Chakotay began speaking to her.
“I was about to call for you Captain,” he said. “We’ve found a ship belonging to Species 6339.”
“Scanners show that ship is heavily armed Captain,” Lieutenant Kim said. “I’m picking up twenty-two phaser cannons on the aft section alone.”
“Damn, 6339 doesn’t play around,” Ensign Paris said. “How do they even power that many weapons? Their ship isn’t much bigger than ours.”
“We can ask them later,” Janeway said. “after we’ve gotten them to help us with Seven’s condition. Hail them.”
“They’re responding,” Kim said.
“On screen,” Janeway said, turning to face the viewscreen, where two members of Species 6339 stood. “I’m Captain Janeway, of the Federation starship Voyager. We recently found a piece of Borg technology that’s been infected with a viral agent we believe was transmitted b-”
“The vinculum,” one of the aliens on the viewscreen said curtly. “You have it?”
“Yes,” Janeway said.

“You’ve made a terrible mistake Captain,” the alien said, stepping closer so that his face filled the whole screen.

—

B’Elanna listened intently to the conversation that Ven, the captain of the Species 6339 vessel, was having with Captain Janeway and Commander Chakotay. I wonder why they didn’t just tell us their actual race’s name, she thought as the alien captain described the virus.
“A weapon?” Janeway said.
“Yes,” Ven said. “since the Borg decimated our world we’ve been looking for ways to retaliate. We created this virus to infect their technology. Thirteen volunteers were injected with it, brave men and women all of them, and they allowed themselves to be assimilated so that the virus would spread to that cube’s vinculum. Once another Borg ship retrieved it they would be infected as well.”
While the alien captain continued speaking, B’Elanna heard the door to engineering open behind her. She glanced over her shoulder to see who was entering.
Oh no, she thought as she saw Samantha Wildman enter, still in her civilian clothes, and having a look on her face that B’Elanna knew all too well even though she’d never seen it on Samantha before. It was the face of someone ready and willing to cause pain. She quietly took a few steps back, and caught Samantha’s arm as she tried to pass.
“Stay, cool,” B’Elanna whispered harshly.
“These are the people who made that virus?” Sam asked through gritted teeth.
“Yes, now don’t do anything rash, and no snide comments about how funny that is coming from me.”

“-virus has had one unexpected casualty,” B’Elanna heard the captain say to Ven once she was focusing on their conversation again. “A member of my crew.”
“It wasn’t designed to infect other species,” Ven said, sounding offended.

“She’s Borg,” Janeway said. Ven looked surprised and angry.
“We liberated her from the collective over a year ago,” Chakotay said. “She’s an individual now.”
“We were hoping you could help us treat her,” Janeway said.
“We designed that virus to destroy Borg, Captain. There is no treatment. I’m afraid your pet drone won’t survive.”
“She has a name you bastard,” Samantha barked out, trying to pull away from B’Elanna, who nearly lost her grip more due to surprised at how hard Sam was fighting her than anything else.
“Sam, Sam, relax,” B’Elanna said. Janeway, Chakotay, Captain Ven, and his armed guard were all looking in their direction now. B’Elanna feared that if she let go of Samantha both of them might get gunned down.
“Her name is Annika Hansen, and she’s dying because of you,” Sam cried. “You have to help her.”
The alien captain motioned for his guard to keep his weapon holstered, and walked over to stand closer to Samantha than B’Elanna felt comfortable. Janeway and Chakotay must’ve felt the same because they were positioning themselves to make a move on the alien captain if he tried anything.
“This drone, you and her are bonded?” he said.
“Yes,” Samantha said, looking like she was about to spit in his face.
“I’m truly sorry. I did not realize just how much this ex-Borg had integrated into your crew. I must admit to being impressed, I would never think such a thing possible. Taking on a name, a bondmate, and clearly earning a good deal of loyalty from her captain. Nonetheless, we never considered a treatment for this virus, considering its purpose. There is nothing we can do. Striking me may make you feel better, Sam, I believe the chief engineer called you? But it would only be temporary.”

The look on Samantha’s face didn’t change, but she was no longer struggling to break free of B’Elanna’s grasp to attack the alien captain. She decided to hold onto Sam’s arm anyway, just to be safe.

“The vinculum must be returned to the Borg debris field immediately Captain,” Ven said, now speaking to Janeway. “If the Borg arrive first we’ll have lost our chance, and those thirteen people will have died in vain.”

“How do you know they haven’t already? Janeway said. “When we came across the debris field it had been sitting there for several days, perhaps even a week, with no sign of any cubes coming to investigate. The Borg have transwarp technology, they could’ve been there in hours after the loss of the cube if they were truly determined to learn it’s fate. It’s possible that the collective detected the infection and cut the cube off to prevent it from spreading. Or even if they didn’t they might’ve just written it off as a loss. We found a dead Borg cube ourselves nearly two years ago that had been drifting in space even longer; five years. Five years with no Borg coming along to find out what happened to it or retrieve it s remains.”
“You’ll understand if I’m not willing to merely take your word for that and leave, Captain Janeway,” the alien captain said.
“Commander, show him the logs from Stardate 50614.2,” Janeway said.
“Yes Captain,” Chakotay said. “If you gentlemen will follow me over here,” he added motioning towards a console at the far end of engineering. B’Elanna figured that was for Samantha’s sake, since he easily could’ve shown them the mission logs on any of the monitors mere feet away from them on either side.

“If I let you go,” B’Elanna whispered into Sam’s ear “are you going to be a problem?”
“No,” Sam said. “I’m fine. Thank you for stopping me B’Elanna.”
“You know, you’re stronger than you look,” B’Elanna said, smiling.
“Thanks, I guess,” Samantha said, giving a sad small smile of her own before walking out of engineering, walking with the slow gait of someone hoping to delay something inevitable.
“Well done, Lieutenant,” Janeway said quietly, somehow having gotten right next to B’Elanna without her noticing. “We could’ve had an interspecies incident on our hands.”
“Don’t thank me too much Captain,” B’Elanna said. “If it were Tom dying in sickbay right now, I’d probably have tried to kill that man myself.”
“Not the response I was hoping for,” Janeway said. “but I appreciate the honesty.”
“You’re welcome.”

—

Seven of Nine felt like herself for the first time in days when her eyes slowly and tiredly opened while the Doctor ran a device over her hand that she didn’t recognize right away, her cognitive functions not at their usual capacity.

“Doctor?” she said.
“Seven, are you alright?” the Doctor said.
“I..” Seven started to speak, but noticed that she was now in restraints. Before she could ask, the Doctor explained.
“A necessary precaution.” he said. “A few of your guests have been violent.”

“The vinculum?”
“It keeps adapting, we haven’t been able to shut it down. Your own neural pattern was nearly destroyed in the process. At one point I thought we actually had lost you.”

The Doctor returned to running the device over Seven’s hand, and she finally recognized it.
“I was injured?” she said.

“One of your personas hurt your hand trying to force her way out of the restraints,” the Doctor said.
“Sam?” Seven said, looking around, but not seeing her.
“She’ll be here soon, I sent her to her quarters to get some rest.”

“How is she?” Seven said.
“Worried sick,” the Doctor said. “Almost certainly not eating or sleeping as much as she should. Normal behavior for a human in her position. As for you, it is my duty as your physician to inform you about an alternative treatment option that has presented itself, but informed consent is required. Mr. Tuvok is planning to attempt a mind-meld, to help stabilize your neural pattern.”
Seven nodded. “What is the probability of success?”

“I don’t know,” the Doctor said. “A mind-meld is not really a standard medical practice. I know vaguely how it works, having seen Tuvok perform one a few years ago, while he was dealing with a virus that gave him false memories, but while the connection itself is scientific, what goes on in the minds of the parties is purely mental, unquantifiable.”
“Are there any risks to him?” she said.
“He could suffer brain damage, but he is confident he will be able to break the meld if he has to.”
Seven was reluctant to put the ship’s chief security and tactical officer in danger, but she was also scared; of the voices, of dying, of never seeing Sam or Naomi again.
“If he can help me,” Seven said, but couldn’t finish the thought, as the voices returned with a vengeance, louder and more painful than ever.
“Seven? Seven, focus on the sound of my voice!” she heard the Doctor yell, but couldn’t respond.
“Get them out, please!” she screamed.

—

Tuvok, sitting in a meditative position, opened his eyes. He was ready. He quietly made his way to sickbay. An armed guard was there as a precaution against the worst case scenario. Samantha was there as well, standing by the bio-bed where Seven lay unconscious.
“Are you ready?” the Doctor said.
“Yes,” Tuvok said.
“You might want to make it quick. So far Species 6339 hasn’t made an aggressive move to try and retake the vinculum, but the Captain is convinced that diplomacy is just a holding action at this point.” The Doctor applied a device the same as the one on Seven to Tuvok’s neck.
“This will allow me to monitor your neural activity as well,” the Doctor said. “At the first sign of trouble-”
“You will do nothing,” Tuvok said. “You have sat in on a mind-meld before Doctor, you know full well that there will be many signs of trouble for the duration of the meld. You must have confidence in my ability to endure them.”
“I don’t like it,” the Doctor said, “but you would understand better than I could. I’m neither Vulcan nor telepathic.”

Tuvok simply nodded in response, and walked towards the bio-bed.
“Ensign Wildman, I will need you to step aside during the meld.”
Samantha appeared nervous, but she simply sighed rather than arguing, bending down to kiss Seven of Nine on the forehead before stepping back. Once she was clear of the surgical bay, Tuvok ordered a force field erected as a precaution. While he did so, Seven woke up.
“Why am I tied to this bed? Please let me go,” she in a tone of voice that was clearly not hers. Tuvok ignored that voice, as well as the one of the Klingon warrior, the Ferengi captain, and the Vulcan commander, the latter of which trying to use logic to discourage him from making the attempt.

“My mind, to your mind. My thoughts, to your thoughts.” He kept repeating the mantra even as Seven grew more erratic, one voice claiming he was messing around while the Borg were attacking the ship, and another still crying for its mother. Soon, he was inside Seven of Nine’s consciousness. Through a green haze, down corridors like those on a Borg cube, he began his search.

—

The ship shuddered under the impact of the first volley from Species 6339.
“And now you know why I chose science division over the diplomatic corps,” Janeway said angrily. “Return fire,” she said to Lieutenant Ayala who was standing at Tuvok’s station.
“I thought for awhile we’d convinced Captain Ven that trying to take the vinculum by force wasn’t worth it,” Commander Chakotay said.
“So did I,” Janeway said. “Bridge to engineering, how long until the vinculum is off-line?”

“A minute, maybe two,” B’Elanna said over the com. “Provided Voyager doesn’t get blown up before then.”
“I appreciate the vote of confidence,” Janeway said. “Tom?”
“I can avoid some of their fire, Captain,” Tom said. “But as many guns as they’ve got they don’t need to have great aim to hit us.”
The ship shuddered under another volley as if to emphasize Tom’s point.
“Shields down to sixty percent,” Harry said.

“Target their weapons array,” Janeway said.
“Targeting scanners are malfunctioning,” Lieutenant Ayala said. The ship shuddered yet again.
“We’re losing main thrusters,” Tom said. “If they go we’re an easy target. Well, easier anyway.”
“Shields at thirty-five percent,” Harry said.
“Reroute all available power to the shields,” Janeway said. “Initiate manual targeting.”

“Torres to bridge,” B’Elanna said. “The vinculum’s stopped adapting. Looks like the new dampening field is working. We should have it down in the next sixty seconds.”
“Then that’s how long we need to hold out,” Janeway said. “As soon as that thing is off, we’ll give it back to Ven and we can get the hell out of here.”

After a tense minute that felt nearly like an eternity while her ship was being pounded on by enemy fire, Janeway finally heard some good news.
“Got it” B’Elanna’s voice shouted over the com. “Power’s down to nineteen percent and, no, make that thirteen and falling.”
The ship took another hit. This one felt worse than the others.
“Shields are down Captain,” Harry Kim said.
“Sickbay to Bridge. We got her back Captain,” the Doctor said.
“Hail the lead vessel, tell them we’re surrendering the vinculum,” Janeway said.
“Yes ma’am,” Harry said, tapping at his console. “No response,” he said, shaking his head.
“Lock onto the damn thing and beam it into space.”
“On it Captain,” B’Elanna said.

—

Samantha couldn’t say anything she was so overjoyed. The moment the Doctor had said the words “We got her back” it felt like a weight in her chest just fell away. And as soon as the force field surrounding the surgical bay was down she was by Seven’s side.
“Sam? Seven said, weakly.
“I’m here, Annie.”
“Seven,” the Doctor said. “can you still hear any voices?”
Seven seemed to need to think about that for a moment before responding.
“No. They are gone,” she said. Samantha breathed a heavy sigh of relief upon hearing that.
“Thank you so much,” she said to Tuvok and the Doctor.
“I did only what was necessary to save a fellow crewmember,” Tuvok said. “But your thanks is appreciated nonetheless.”
“I recommend you get to your alcove as soon as possible,” the Doctor said. “You’ll need a considerable amount of time to properly recharge. And the trauma of what you went through won’t go away quickly.”
“Doctor,” Seven said, “with all due respect the last time I was given ‘time off’ I ended up worse off than when I’d started. I’d prefer to return to my duties as soon as possible.”
“That’s just pride talking honey,” Samantha said, smiling, and stroking Seven’s hair. “If you like I can ask the captain to give you extra duty after you’ve recovered.”
“That is acceptable,” Seven said.

Should I tell her I was kidding? Samantha thought. “I- okay, I’ll do that.”

“Why are you shaking your head and laughing Sam?”
“Oh, nothing. Just that I had to go and fall in love with a weirdo.”

—

Several days later, in cargo bay 2, Seven stood at attention while the Doctor did his latest check-up on her, hopefully the last one he would do for awhile. She was already feeling much better after her ordeal, though she would admit only to Samantha a bit of guilt at having stayed in her alcove for nearly twenty-four hours straight after her first night out of sickbay. Sam had told her she had earned her rest.
“Neuroprocessor, cortical receptors, all stable,” the Doctor said. “You are fit to return to duty.”
“And what of my other personalities? Any risk they may resurface?”
“Those neural patterns have returned to their dormant state. They’ll always be with you, but I suspect you will not hear them again anytime soon.”

“That is not the response I desired, but I will accept it,” Seven said. She turned when she heard the door to the cargo bay open, and smiled as Naomi Wildman rushed in. She had not seen the child in nearly a week and realized how much she’d missed her. She wondered if that was part of being a parent felt like.
“Was it scary?” Naomi said. “All the voices in your head? I know Mom was scared for you, but she wouldn’t tell me what it was like for you.”
“It was,” Seven paused for a moment, considering just how much detail she should share with the child. She decided to keep it simple. “It was the most scared I think I’ve ever been. But I’m better now. And, I’ve decided that I am going to help you in your mission to become a captain’s assistant.”
Naomi smiled, but also looked somewhat confused at the same time.
“I thought you said my ‘neocortical development is incomplete.’.”
“It is,” Seven admitted. “But that is insufficient reason to discourage you. Before we begin your instruction however, I do require your assistance.”
“For what?” Naomi asked.
“Kadis-kot. Instruct me how to play.”
Naomi smiled.
“I will comply,” she said.
“And I will leave you two alone. Have fun,” the Doctor said.