Spock's daughter

10

[In the Maturation area]

I still sat in the corner half sleeping, my head leaned against the wall. I felt someone looking at me, so I opened my eyes again and saw the teen standing next to me. He reached a hand out to me. I looked at it confused.

"Can you help me?" he asked.

I nodded and took his hand. He pulled me up and put a hand on my back for support. We walked up to a Borg computer when we heard steps coming nearer. The leader and the little girl came in with another person who was unconscious. The leader looked angry. Very angry. He stomped up to me and grabbed me by the neck, like he wanted to choke me. He then threw me against a wall. My head banged first and hard against the wall, causing my vision to get blurry with black spots.

"You fooled us!" he yelled furiously.

"What are you talking about?" I asked holding my head.

"Bring him forward."

He stepped to the side and I gasped. Harry was thrown on the ground in the front of me. I sat up and laid his head on my lap. He was unconscious but still breathing. But his skin had some silver shining spots.

"What did you do to him?"

Right in that moment Seven came in.

"You complain of delays then you interrupt my work." (Seven)

"Can you identify this?" the leader asked holding something up.

"It's a plasma charge", Seven answered the leader's question.

"You tried to deceive us." (Leader)

The children stepped aside to reveal the unconscious Harry and me.

"Nanoprobes were injected into his bloodstream. He won't survive without medical attention. Call your Captain. Tell her to give us the deflector", the leader demanded.

"That won't be necessary. I only need a few more minutes to repair the..." (Seven)

"No more delays. No more deceptions. The deflector. Resistance is futile", the leader interrupted Seven.

[On the Bridge]

The Borg's leader was on the viewscreen of the Voyager.

"Comply", he demanded.

"Return Harry Kim, then we'll talk." (Janeway)

"We've talked enough. Your requests are irrelevant. Comply or we'll assimilate the others." (Leader)

"It'll take us at least an hour to dismantle the deflector and transfer the components." (Janeway)

"Now", the leader yelled and there was a scream.

The leader pulled Lil next to him by her hair.

"NOW! Or I'll assimilate her!"

Lil had tears in her eyes.

"I can't give it to you now. It's complex technology that's part of our ship. We can't simply remove it. And no amount of threats from you is going to change that." (Janeway)

He threw Lil to the side. Then the ship suddenly jerked.

"They've locked a tractor beam onto the deflector", Tuvok reported.

"They're trying to tear it off. Hull stress is increasing. Breaches on decks ten and eleven", B'elanna said.

"Increase shield strength and randomise the harmonics", Janeway commanded.

"They're adapting", Tuvok said.

[In the Maturation area]

I sat up with a wave of massive pain hitting my head and some other body parts.

"Even with Voyager's deflector, your efforts to return to the Hive will fail", Seven told the drones.

"They'll come for us", the leader said.

"No, they won't. The Borg received your message but chose to ignore it. They consider you irrelevant." (Seven)

"Irrelevant?" the little girl asked.

"We are damaged. They don't want us." (Icheb)

"Ignore her. It's another lie." (Leader)

"Their reply is in data grid four two six. Use decryption protocol theta three", Seven said.

The second teen walked up to the Borg computer.

"Return to your station", the leader ordered.

The second teen had stopped and looked between Seven and the leader. He decided to ignore the leader's order and walked to the computer.

"It's another deception. She's manipulating us." (Leader)

"The transmission is authentic." (Icheb)

"It's a mistake." (Leader)

"The Collective does not tolerate imperfection" Seven stated.

"Then we'll assimilate more species. Prove we're worthy." (Leader)

"You really think that would work?" I asked.

[On the Bridge]

"Hull stress is reaching critical levels", B'elanna said.

"Reroute all emergency power to structural integrity", Janeway ordered.

"That'll buy us another minute at most." (B'elanna)

"Captain, I have found a fluctuation in their shield grid near a plasma duct. It's too intermittent to beam out the hostages, but we could use it to deploy the pathogen. ... Captain." (Tuvok)

"Not yet", Janeway said.

"There is no alternative." (Tuvok)

"There's always an alternative. We just need to find it. ... Their tractor beam draws power from the same grid as their shield matrix. If we use the deflector to send a feedback pulse along the beam, it could disrupt their shields. Do it", Janeway ordered B'elanna.

"Rerouting warp plasma. If this doesn't work it'll do more damage to us than the Cube." (B'elanna)

"It'll work. Prepare to fire", Janeway said.