Chapter 10

"Halt turbolift. Seven, since when was the captain's quarters moved to the brig and why wasn't I informed?" Lt. B'Elanna Torres asked of the tall lanky blonde leaning against the wall of the lift. "The Doc told me to get you home and make sure you rest. I don't think you going to see Gavens in the brig will be a very 'restful' situation."

"Lieutenant... Lanna, I need to go and see him. I need to find out why," Seven pleaded with her ice blue eyes while she cupped the engineer's face. The ex-drone had moved off of the wall and stood within a few meters of her love. "He fooled me into thinking that he needed my help and then proceeded to do me harm. I want to know why. Even when we were at our worst, neither one of us proceeded to take the altercation to a physical level. But even if we did at least I would have some understanding as to why. In this case I did not even know the the ensign held ill-harbored feelings toward me. If we were to return to my quarters I would not be able to truely rest. Not until I know why. Do you now understand why I must go see him?"

"Yeah, I guess so, but that doesn't mean I have to like it. We're only going to stay for a few minutes and if things get out of hand, then I'm getting you the hell out of there. Once you're safe then I'll go back and kill the p'tach."

"Thank you, Lanna."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. I just hope I don't live to regret this," the Klingon grumbled before she ordered the lift to resume it's course.

A few minutes later and Seven had been completely filled in on all the missing facts concerning the incident while arriving at the door to the brig. The two women walked in to find a guard stationed at a console and one cell operative.

"Captain, Lieutenant," the guard, a fairly young ensign, nearly saluted upon seeing two of his superior officers. This also got the attention of the man being held prisoner.

"At ease, ensign. The captain here just wants to have a word with the accused," Lanna couldn't even bring herself to say 'his' name.

"Uh, are you sure that's wise, ma'am?"

"No, but it's what the captain wants."

"And the captain gets what the captain wants," Gavens spoke up for the first time since being thrown in the brig. Seven walked over to the forcefield and just stood there watching the man inside. "Well, aren't you going to ask me why?" Gavens couldn't stand the silence any more. Or the unrelenting staring for that matter.

"No. You obviously know that is why I am here, so it would prove to be a waste of breath to ask a question you already know is going to be asked." Again Seven waited patiently for Gavens to speak up.

"I did it because you deserve to die. Is that what you wanted to hear?" the ensign screamed at the unemotional drone. He missed the slight flinch from the blonde as his rage quickly overtook him. "You assimilate thousands of innocent people and turn them into mindless drones effectively killing them and then Captain Janeway 'rescues' you from the Borg, gives you a home here amoung us without even asking us how we feel about it, then turns you into some pet Borg project of her's. She gave you special treatment and made so many allowances for you when she'd would never do such a thing for any other crew member. Now, some how you get to become captain and think you can actually run this ship? Well I got news for you. Not everyone is willing to kiss your Borg ass and follow your leadership. There are those of us who still remember that you are borg and that you have crimes against humanity that you still must pay for. And mark my words drone, you will pay."

"Enough!" Torres yelled. Although Gavens may not have seen past the ice cold exterior Seven was projecting, Lanna could and underneath she saw a fragile heart being ripped into shreads. Seven was on the verge of tears but she didn't back down from her attacker.

"You are correct, Ensign. I have comitted terrible crimes and have injured many innocent people. But you are mistaken about one thing. I am being punished for my crimes. Every time I end my regeneration cycle I am still remided of that which once was and all that I had done. I must now live with the memories of seeing the fear stricken faces of those who I had assimilated. I must live with the memories of those who were left behind or killed durng an attack. And I must live with the reminders that there are those who will never forgive me for what I had done, those who will never be able to see me as Annika Hansen rather than just an ex-drone. I must live with that pain for the rest of my life and nothing I do or say will ever take that punisment away," Seven said as she turned on her heels and fled the room. Gavens stood there mulling over what the Borg had just said while the guard stood there shocked to have witnessed such a display of hurt and regret by the once emotionless ex-drone. But Lanna stood there torn between beating the shit out of Gavens or chasing after the woman whom she loved. 'Gavens will still be here tommorrow.' And with her mind made up, the engineer took off after Seven.

The captain had managed to make it into the turbolift even before the lieutenant was able to get out of the doors to the brig. Torres then decided to wait a few minutes until Seven got where she was going before questioning the computer as to her location. Three minutes later the computer kindly informed Lanna that Seven of NIne was in Lt. Torres's quarters. And two minutes after that, so was B'Elanna. She considered asking the blonde why she was here intead of in her own quarters or at least cargo bay 2, then deciding against that was going to ask her how she got into her quarters to begin with. But upon seeing Seven's form huddled in a corner on the floor rocking back and forth Lanna just opted to hold the woman. She sat down next to the upset woman and jus held her as she cried for all the innocent lives she helped to destroy and for all the pain she has caused so many others.

An hour later and the crying had finally completely stopped. Seven had finally let go of all the pain she felt and had garned over the last few years. She not only cried for the pain she caused others but also the pain done onto her. She cried over her lost childhood and for losing her parents. She cried over being assimiated and then severed from the collective. She cried for all the mistakes she made during her continuing battle of becoming human again and she cried for the most recent loses she had suffered; the lose of her friends and crewmembers during the Grendali attack. Lanna's back finally started to became stiff so she spoke up.

"Hey, are you hungry? How about I make you some comfort food? How does a bowl of chicken soup sound?"

"Very unappealing. I do not think I can ingest any foods at this time. Perhaps later," Seven said as she was helped up off of the floor by the Klingon.

"Well, then how about you just sit right here and I'll make you a bowl of soup." B'Elanna was not going to take no for an answer as she directed the Borg to sit at the kitchen table. She came back a minute later with two bowls of soup and two glasses of 7up, a type of soda that supposedly had healing qualities.

The two women ate in silence but it was a comfortable silence. Each just enjoying being in the presence of the other. After the meal Lanna suggested that Seven call Naomi and let her know that she was okay while she cleaned up.

"I informed Naomi of my well being and assured her that everything was 'alright'. I hope you don't mid but I also informed her that I will be staying here with you tonight because the Doctor wished for you to monitor my condition. If that is okay with you?" Seven asked in a very shy voice while sitting on the couch. The engineer joined her and cupped the blonde's face in her hands.

"That is more than okay with me." It was only meant to be a chaste kiss on the lips but with both women being so naturally passionate it turned into something more. Not even the shortness of breath could break apart these two women as they tasted the sweetness of the other's lips. B'Elanna could no longer resist reaching out her tongue and running it along the lips in front of her. Seven gasped at the sudden shock of feeling the other woman's tongue so intimately caresseing her, but maoned in sweet pleasure as that same tongue dived into her mouth. Tongues met and performed an intricate dance of passion as hands began to join in on the exploration. Seven may not have known exactly what was happening or what to do but that's where instinct comes in. Of their own voilition, the drone's hands found their way under Lanna tunic. The half-Klingon let out a low growl at the feel of Seven's hands, one human and the other Borg, on her bare flesh. Soon the lips were no longer enough for the demanding lips of one captain and she moved down to suckle upon the sweet soft skin on Lanna's neck. That's when B'Elanna realized that this was getting way too out of hand.

"Seven, Seven, wait. Please hold on a minute," she said as she tried to get the attention of one very determined ex-Borg.

"What is wrong Lanna? Have I done something wrong?" Fear over shadowed the desire that only a minute ago had darkened the blue eyes now staring intently at her.

"No, love. You did everything so right. But I don't think we should be doing this tonight, no matter how much I want to. After all you have just been through, I don't want to overwhelm you with even more emotions. Besides we just admitted our love for one another earlier today and it might not be such a good idea to go rushing into things." Torres tried her best to explain without further hurting the drone.

"And if I want this, need this? I love you, Lanna. I may have only had the courage to admit that today, but I have been feeiling this for quite some time now. For the past four years after being separated from the collective I have felt nothing but pain. Pain from being seperated from all that which was familar, pain from being alone and lonely, pain from being accused of still being a drone. It is now time to feel something other then pain. I want to feel accepted, wanted, and most of all loved. Will you love me Lanna?"

"Yes. Oh god, Seven, I do love you. I love you so much it hurts. It would be my pleasure to show you just how much you are loved and cherished, my heart." And with that Lanna took Seven's hands in her's and lead her from the couch and into the bedroom.

The next morning found the two women both sated and asleep, not surprisingly, with smiles gracing their lips. The night before had been one filled with intense passionate love making. It was far from the copulation Seven had at one time been willing to engage in with Harry Kim. Lanna was laying half on top of Seven snuggled up to her chest while the ex-drone held onto her keeping her near. Seven was in that stage between sleep and consciousness when she heard someone calling her.

"Kim to Seven. Please respond."

"Seven here," she immediatley answered slapping at her chest forgetting that she didn't have her commbadge on.

"Commander Kim to Captain Seven... please respond."

Lanna reached up and over Seven to the night stand where there was a computer console. After being woken up by the hail she tapped a few buttons then nodded to her love.

"Seven here. Go ahead Commander."

"Sorry to wake you up, Seven, so early in the morning, I know the Doctor wanted you to get some rest but we are picking up strange sensor readings coming from the next sector ahead. I think it has to do with an alien race, but we can't make heads or tails of this. Thought you might want to come and take a look at it yourself."

"Thank you Commander. I'll be there shortly. Seven out."

Lanna was already out of the bed and had started to get dressed when she noticed Seven's apologetic look.

"Don't worry. I understand. A captain's duty never really ends, especially on this ship." And that little statement earned a quick but passionate kiss from Seven.

"Thank you for understanding, but I truely am sorry," Seven apologized as the two women got dressed and headed off to the bridge. 'I wonder what surprises will occur today.'

Chapter 11

"Report." For a second there Harry had to do a double take from his chair to make sure Kathryn Janeway didn't come back to life.

"We seem to be picking up some strange readings from the space directly ahead of us. It looks like space fairing vessels but the computer's having a hard time trying to figure out exactly what type of ships they may be. All of our information comes back garbled. We can't figure out the size of the ship, the shape, the origin, or even how far away they are. It also may be that we are too far away for any good readings to begin with, so I ordered Voyager to move in closer at a non-threatening pace," Kim reported to Seven as she took the captain's chair.

"All stop, Lt. Kayla," Seven ordered as she looked over the most current readings from the console on the arm of her chair. The commander was eyeing the captain curiously when suddenly Seven's eyes grew wide. "Raise sheilds! Red Alert!" The ex-drone managed to yell out right before a volley of torpedoes impacted the ship.

The ship rocked and bounced as all hell broke loose, again. "Lt. Harris return fire. Kayla, evasive maneuvers. Keep us out of the line of fire. All hands battle stations," the commander called out over the comm as the ship continued to pitch and rock.

"No effect, Commander. The computer can't seem to get a lock on their ships so that I can fire at them. I don't even know how many ships are out there," Harris yelled above the chaos with a slightly panicked voice. How was he suppose to attack a ship he can't even see or detect? That's when Seven got out of her command chair and headed over toward helm control.

"Lieutenant, bring us into this nebula here." The captain pointed out the course she wanted Voyager to follow as she leaned over the pilot. Kayla nodded her head and did just that. Within a few minutes, Voyager had flown into the gas cloud and the attack seemed to stop. Looking back over the command deck, the captain saw that it was a few minutes too late. The entire deck was a mess again. Consoles destroyed, debrie lying about. It reminded her of that fateful encounter between Voyager and the Grendali. The only difference here was that Seven managed to react in time to prevent any of her crew from becoming seriously injured. The ship was another story.

"What the hell was that?" Keller asked from his station at ops. "I didn't even see them coming."

"That, Mr. Keller, is because they didn't want you to see them coming. Species 3785. Advanced weaponry which can pentrate most shielding, advanced cloaking technology which can 'garble' sensor readings. A species that you may consider 'roving bandits'. They seek out unsuspecting targets, destroy their shields and weapons, then board the ship to strip it of anything of value while mudering the entire crew. They travel in packs, a group of at least 4 or 5 ships, therefore easily out numbering their intended targets."

"If they're so advanced then how come they don't come in here and finish the job?" Coty asked with quite a bit of contempt for the species in his voice.

"Because, lieutenant, although them may have advanced weapons and a cloaking device, their shields leave something to be desired. They are highly sensitive to any form of gas and, with the gas in this nebula, it would destroy their sheilds and render their cloaking devise inoperative. They will not risk it. Instead they will wait for us to come out of hiding which we must do eventually as our shields are affected by the gases as well. Once we do, then they will 'finish the job'. Commander, I have only delayed the fight therefore we must convene for a staff meeting and discuss possible courses of action. Have all the department heads do a quick survey of the damage done and have them meet in conference room one in 30 minutes."

"Aye captain." Harry said as he began to follow captain's orders.

Thirty minutes later and the staff meeting was ready to begin.

"Lt. Torres, how extensive is the damage done to the ship?"

"Well, considering that my engineering crew had all systems operating at 120 percent of capacity, as a way to say sorry to for what happened in engineering, we aren't as bad off as we could have been. Don't get me wrong, we still are bad off but it is a good kinda of bad off. Okay, this whole optomisim thing isn't working for me. Here's the deal. Weapons are completely offline as that was the first target of this species. Shields aren't much better and are functioning at 35 percent of normal. Unfortunately because of that, we are going to have to leave this nebula within the next hour or else the gases will start to penetrate the hull. Even the engines managed to take some damage. They're still operational but I wouldn't recommend going to warp any time soon. Other than those three areas everything else was pretty much left alone and not targeted. We still have communications, transporters, life support, and sensors, though I'm not sure how much good those things will do given our current situation."

"Doctor were there any severe injuries reported?"

"None, Captain. Just a few minor bumps and bruises this time."

"All right then. You have all read my report on species 3785. Any suggetions?"

The room suddenly errupted in chaos. Thanks to Borg enhanced hearing, Seven was able to sort through most of the suggestions being suggested all at once. Raising her hands, she called for order again.

"Lt. Harris, although I am confident in your skills at being able to manually fire weapons at the cloaked ships, it will be impossible to fire without any weapons to speak of."

"But Torres could do some repairs to the weapons and then we could come out firing."

"Possibly, but you forget our time constraint, our low shielding, and the fact that there are at least four other ships out there as well. Fighting our was out may not be the best option here."

"So how about we come out flying? Engines weren't that badly damaged. We could push the engines as far as they'll go and make a run for it," Kayla suggested.

"I don't think that the engines are up or that kind of stress. We could end up over heating the core and cause a core breach," Torres interjected.

"But if we could do some minor repairs to the engines and peraps reinforce them. It might be able to work. I don't think any thing else will." Harry added his thought on the matter.

"But, Commander, we will have less then an hour to complete whatever repairs we can and do the reinforcements. It's just not enough time." The engineer argued her point.

"Lieutenant, I believe that it is our only option here. We cannot fight back, nor can we stay here and wait for help to arrive. I will send the commander to help out in engineering so that the two of you may complete what ever repairs can be completed. You and your engineering staff will get top priority for the next 45 minutes. Once the time is up it will be up to you and Kim to make sure the warp core does not breach. I will monitor the situation from the bridge and as soon as we are clear from danger, will cut the engines," Seven said, but B'Elanna still looked like she was going to argue.

"Lieutenant, I think we could do this. With the command team monitoring things, what can go wrong?" Davis spoke up for the first time since the meeting began.

"Command team?!" Lanna asked surprised at the title.

"Well, yeah. You three 'are' the command team. It's what everyone calls you. The three of you can do anything together and accomplish whateever your goals are. You can even put this ship back together when it breaks into a million pieces. You can do this, too. We believe in 'your' talents." And that was what convinced Lanna that maybe they could pull this off. It wasn't going to be easy but when was anything in the Delta Quardrant easy?

"Alright, alright. Let's do this then."

"Very well. You each know what must be done. Dismissed." And with that, the staff filed out of the room all praying to avoid yet another harrowing experience.

* * *

Fourty-five minutes later and Seven was standing on the bridge in front of her chair.

"Engineering reports all stations ready," Coty Keller reported from ops. 'I just hope they were able do get enough of the repairs done in time.'

"Ms. Kayla, Are you ready?" Seven asked of her pilot.

"As I'll ever be."

"Good. Battle stations everyone." Seven announced over the comm. "On my mark, Lieutenant."

Chapter 12

"On my mark, Lieutenant," the captain said as she stood in the middle of the command deck emmenating an aura of power that some only thought Janeway possible of.

Commander Harry Kim, on the other hand, sat nervously in his chair awaiting for the command to engage the warp drive. His job was to sit there and watch the power fluctuations of the warp core while B'Elanna did everything in her power to coax the engines into giving her everything they got. He was suppose to be the go between for the captain and engineer and let either one know if the engines are overheating or if they get clear of danger, which ever came first. His money was on the engines overheating. It's bad enough that the engines were damaged and not functioning at peak efficency but now they would have to jump to warp immediately. No time to warm up the engines or slowly allow them to go from impulse to warp as would normally happen. 'Instead we have to go from 0 to warp 4 in sixty seconds. I wonder how many miles per hour that is,' Harry irrevelantly wondered.

"Now, as soon as we are clear from the gas cloud the ships will have quite a bit of time to aim and fire upon Voyager. It will be a 'bumpy ride' and we will suffer some more damage before we distance ourselves from them. But after those intial few moments, we will have gained enough distance between us and the bandits. They will not be able to persue due to a lack of advanced warp technology and after we are out of danger I will immediately power down the warp drive. We should then have sufficent time to repair most of the damage before species 3785 catches up to us. Is everyone prepared?" Seven informed her bridge crew one last time of what to expect in the next few minutes. After receiving slight nods from everybody the captain turned towards the view screen.

"All hands this is the captain. Prepare to go to warp. Lt. Kayla...... Engage." No sooner did she give the order then the ship start to shake violently. The stress on the hull caused from the sudden jump to warp almost destroyed what was left of the shields. Then the ship began to rock and pitch once again.

"Captain, we have cleared the nebula and the ships are firing on us. Shelds down to 20 percent, 15, 10. Shields are gone," Harris reported from tactile trying his best to read the readings that were shaking in front of him.

"We have hull breaches. Decks 6 and 15 have been sealed off." Keller yelled from ops.

"The distance between us and the bandits is now 4 lightyears, 6, 10. We've cleared the distance of their weapon's range. Engineering reporting minor hull fracture all over the ship. The engines have begun to overheat and we are getting reports from all sections reporting injured. Engineering has taken quite a hit and systems down there are failing. Engines will aproach critical in five minutes. Plasma leaks have also been detected. Those areas are now being sealed off. Three minutes to engine auto shut down. Overriding auto shut down now. Four minutes to warp core breach. Heavy causalties reported in engneering. Dispatching back up crews. Two minutes to warp core breach. Captain?!" Harry questioned as he gave his report on what was going on down in engineering.

"There is still not enough distance between us. Hold her steady, Lieutenant," Seven ordered watching the piloting console to monitor their distance and course.

"60 seconds to warp core breach." Kim gave one last report.

"All stop. Shut down the engines and secure all stations. Send emergency crews into engineering now," Seven finally said ending their dangerous flight. The ship lurched and the metal creaked under the pressure of the abrupt stop but a few moments later and everything was earily quiet.

"The warp core has been successfully shut down," the commander reported and shortly thereafter the entire bridge errupted in cheers. Yet another potentially fatal disaster avoided. "Congradulations, Captain. You helped us survive yet another close encounter of the Delta Quadrant kind."

Seven nodded her head and gave an almost imperceptable smile. "Bridge to engineering. Report."

"Captain, we sustained heavy damage to the engine systems but repairs are already under way. The plasm leaks have been contained. The hull breaches are sealed and the engines are now cooling down. We also have several injured and a few casulaties."

"Vorik, where is Lt. Torres," Seven asked as her tone chilled perceptably.

"Lt. Torres was one of the injured. She was directly in front of a console when it blew. I am currently in charge of engineering as she was taken to sickbay to be treated."

"Acknowleged. Keep me informed of the repairs. Bridge out. Lt. Keller make sure you monitor the surrounding space for sensor readings that come back garbled," Seven ordered as soon as the channel with engineering was cut. And now she was just standing in front of her command chair not knowing what else needed to be done. They were outof danger and all that they needed to do now was to make sure the bandits don't follow them and that repairs get started. Neither of which Seven could help with. Besides, even if she was able to keep busy, Seven doubted she could keep her mind from worring about one Klingon engineer currently residing in sickbay.

"Go to her." Harry ordered. "There's not much else to do now and I think I could handle the bridge for a little while. You need to make sure she's okay or else you won't be much good to us anyway. Go."

After a few moments of indecision Seven took a look around the bridge only to see the sympathetic looks the others offered to her. They all knew of the special relationship between their chief engineer and their captain and could understand Seven's desire to go check on the woman.

"Thank you," The ex-drone said as she turned to leave the bridge.

* * *

Walking down the corridor towards sickbay, Seven could see the injured being assisted into the room and the healed walking out. As she neared the entrance, she could feel her heart pounding furiously inside her chest. All of the worst senarios played out in her head and she tried valiantly to keep the tears in check. She walked on. Her hands began to shake and she thought now was as good a time to try out what humans call praying. "Whoever's listening, please don't let me lose her. The ship needs her. We can't take one more loss. I cannot take one more loss. I need her so much. I love her." She walked into sickbay and immediately saw that the room was quite conjested. Two of the Doctors trainees were out and about administering hyposprays. Doing a quick scan of the room, Seven thankfully noticed that most of the injures were minor. That's when she spotted the Doctor leaning across a biobed. She couldn't see who the Doctor was treating because he was in the way but she could tell it wasn't good. The tricorder picked up the patient's heart flatlining. After a few moments of frantic work the Doctor gave up realizing that this patient was beyond his medical expertize. The flatline continued until he closed the tricorder and set it down. With slumped shoulders and a deep sigh of regret, the Doctor stepped back and reached over to pull up the sheet to cover the patient's face. That's when Seven finally saw where B'Elanna was.

"Nnnnnooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Chapter 13

"Nnnnnoooooo!!!!!!!!!" Seven screamed as she fell to her knees, doubled over from a pain far from anything on the physical plane. The sight of her beloved being covered by a sheet was now burned into her eyes and, even though they had closed, she could still see the lifeless body of B'Elanna Torres just laying there. Tears came unbidden and sobs racked her body as the arms she knew were coming, held her tight. But something seemed off. They were not the muscluar arms that she would have expected from the Doctor but rather they were more feminine in nature.

"Seven?" A familar voice questioned with an extremely worried tone. This was definitely not the voice of the Doctor.

"Kathryn?!" Seven asked as she looked up into the grey blue eyes of her former friend, mentor, and captain.

"Yes, it's me Seven. Are you okay?" Janeway asked letting the fact that the ex-borg had called her by her first name go. For now.

Seven took a look around her, noticing that she was no longer in sickbay, but rather in cargo bay 2 collapsed on her knees in front of her alcove being held by Voyager's former captain. Scanning the room further, the blonde noticed that the Doctor was there as well, scanning her with a medical tricorder. Tuvok was also in attendence, standing off to the side observing the situation.

"Well, she seems to be no worse for wear and perfectly healthy, but I'd like to take her down to sickbay for further tests." The Doctor said after conducting his scans.

"Agreed. Seven, do you think you can walk or should we beam you directly into sickbay?"

"I can walk," the drone answered automatically as it seemed that the rest of her higher functions were too busy trying to comprehend what was going on.

* * *

The walk from the cagro bay to sickbay was made in total utter silence. Seven noted off-handedly that she must have been in shock. Janeway was too concerned for the drone to figure out anything worth while to say and the Doctor was pouring over his latest scans.

When they had arrived in sickbay, it was completely empty. There was no sign of the previous chaos that Seven had walked in on earlier. One thought suddenly became clear in the Borg's mind above all others.

"Is Lanna okay?" Seven asked in such a whisper that if Janeway wasn't standing right next to her she would have missed the question completely.

"Lanna? B'Elanna's fine Seven. She's down in engineering completing her duty shift. It's you I am more worried about. Are you sure you're okay?" 'Lanna? Since when did Seven start calling her Lanna?' Captain Janeway wondered as she directed the woman next to her to sit up on a biobed.

"I am functioning within acceptable parameters. Explain your presence. Who are you and what do you want with Voyager." Seven began to regain some composure, albeit Borg composure, but composure nonetheless.

"Seven what's the last thing you remember?" the Doctor asked trying to bring control to the conversation again. Seven considered the question before answering but answered it as she felt it posed no danger or hidden meaning.

"I was in sickbay checking on my crew after an attack by species 3785."

"Your crew? Species 3785? Seven what's that suppose to mean? Doctor?" The captain looked to him for answers.

"I believe I understand now. Seven, do you remember the Grendali?" The other two present in the room noticed the young woman uncharacteristicly flinch at the mention of the species that killed so many of her friends.

"Yes, after our inital meeting with them, they attacked Voyager nearly destroying us to serve as a waring against entering their space again. As further warning they killed our captain, first officer, chief pilot, chef and moral officer, our chief tactical officer, and a security officer. We were spared because of some pity for our situation of being so far from home."

"Seven, that never happened. Yes, Janeway went on a diplomatic mission bringing Chakotay, Neelix and the rest with her but the meetings were cut short," the Doctor tried to explain but only received wide yet disbelieving eyes and silence in return. He continued. "I think you were dreaming. Well, probably having a nightmare might be more appropriate from what it sounds. Yes, we did meet with the Grendali, but they turned out to be a nice race. Much different then our usual run-ins with Delta Quadrant species."

"But I do not dream." Seven interrupted.

"Normally I'd agree with you because your regeneration cycle doesn't allow your body to go into REM sleep therefore you can't dream. But this time was different. The night that Captain Janeway had left for the homeworld of the Grendali, we came across an electromagnetic gas cloud while traveling through their space. We must have come too close to the cloud because an electrical surge was able to strike Voyager. Nothing major would have happened except for a few burned out gelpacks, but you just have that perfect sense of timing. Right at theexact moment of the surge, your regeneraion cycle was ending. You were 'hit' during that stage of a few seconds that you are between the conscious state and uncoscious state. You couldn't end your cycle yet you couldn't go back to regenerating. Your body as a response went into a dream like sleep where you had this dream of yours. I may not be a psychologist, but I can almost gaurantee that the dream was a manifestation of your worst fears. Because you failed to give the captain any relevant information from your vast Borg knowlege regarding the Grendali, you had no idea of what to expect from them. Your mind probably just conjured up the worst possible senerio involving them and then played it out in a dream. I can assure you that it really didn't happen in reality."

"So, anything that I remember after the intial meeting with the Grendali was a 'dream'?"

"Precisely."

"How long have I been 'dreaming'?"

"Nine days now. We couldn't find a way to wake you up. No matter what we did, it wouldn't work. Right before you did wake up, we were about to have Tuvok try a mind meld with you. It was one of our last hopes. But then suddenly, it seemed like you were torn out of the dream. Like something so terrible had happened that your body had to wake itself up," the captain interjected for the Doc.

"So it is really you then, Captain? You did not die?" Seven asked as her eyes began to fill with unshed tears. "It was all a dream?"

"Just one bad dream," Kathryn said as she once again wrapped her arms around the young woman rocking her, comforting her.

Seven couldn't hold back anymore and for the second time in as many days, she wept like a baby. There were happy tears for the fact that her friends really weren't dead and that B'Elanna was alive as well. Tears of relief for no longer having to be captain and bearing the weight of that responsibilty. And tears of saddness that what she had experienced with Lanna never really happened. The love that she had come to realize might not be returned.

* * *

It was four hours later and Seven had finally been completely checked out by the Doctor. She was also forced to promise the captain that she would talk to her later about all that had transpired in her 'dream,' but that promise required one in return. For right now, Seven had just wanted to be alone. To sort out her own thoughts and feelings by herself. She was told about everything that had transpired aboard Voyager in the past nine days, but assimilating that knowledge was a lot easier than trying to forget what had happened to her while she was captain. Could she just go back to a semi-friendship with B'Elanna Torres? Could she ever look at Ensign Gavens again without finching? What about Lt. Paris? After all, he was still married to her Lanna. Could she keep her jealousy in check and not kill him?

Seven wandered the halls of Voyager, not really knowing where she was going or what she was going to do. Unbeknowst to her, she ended up in engineering. Shocked at her location, she quickly did a survey of the room. Lt. Torres was no where insight. Although a few crewmen gave her a second glance as she walked up to a console near the warp core, no one bothered to give her a second thought as she was always wandering in and out of engineering. No one even bothered to really 'look' at her or else they would have seen the haunted look contained in ice blue eyes that once held no emotions whatsoever.

Standing in front of a console, not unlike the others laid out in the room, Seven carressed it as if it was what held all of her cherished memories from her dream. She wondered idly if this was the same console that had killed her beloved, then in turn waking her from a most wonderous dream. She wondered what would have happened in her dream had Lanna not died. 'Would we have moved in together? Would we have married and lived as a family with Naomi? Would we have had a little girl of our own?' Seven thought as a smile tempered with eyes filled with longing crossed her features.

"Seven?" the woman of her dreams questioned not more than two feet away. As if by it's own accord, Seven's right hand lifted up to carress the cheek of the Klingon standing in front of her just as lovingly as she had carressed the console a minute ago. And again, that smile appeared making the drone look so heavenly. But this time a matching smile lit up the features of the engineer as well as she leaned into the touch.

'I believe I am begining to like suprises.'