summary:

TITLE: Janeway Redux
AUTHOR: halfofone
RATING: R
CODE: J/7
FEEDBACK: Constructive feedback welcome.
SUMMARY: Set after five years after the events of Counterpoint in season 5. Janeway gets remade and returns to find her old ship. She needs Voyager and the crew but can they trust her?
SPOILERS: Some Season 4 and Season 5 spoilers.
ARCHIVING: If you want ... I would quite like to know where.
DISCLAIMER: TPTB are Paramount/Viacom. In a perfect world I would own Star Trek but it's not and I don't.

disclaimer:

TPTB are many. In a perfect world I would be one of them but it's not and I'm not. No infringement of copyright/trade marks or other intellectual property is intended. This story was written for fun and not profit.

warnings:

Warning: This story includes same sex relationships between women. If you are offended by this or it is illegal where you live or you are underage then please read no further.

Full warnings, credits and disclaimers can be found in the contents page and chapter 1.

text:

Part 7 - Desperate times

In a Devore research laboratory on Devore II Seven of Nine and Professor Derrish reviewed the tactical data from the 73 battles fought against the Borg by the Devore Imperium. All but four encounters had been lost despite the Devore fleet outnumbering and even outgunning the Borg. The Borg had conquered 63 planetary systems in only four weeks. There had been a slight lull since the last battle but terror had gripped the remaining four hundred systems in the Imperium. There was widespread panic and disorder; an unneeded distraction for the hard pressed Devore military machine.

Janeway sat quietly to one side and watched Seven of Nine, as the ex-drone studied the tactical analyses on two workstation view screens. Seven was still a little thin and pale but regeneration had returned the beautiful woman to something close to her normal physical perfection. Her customary body suit had been replaced by Devore military fatigues. Janeway thought the black rather suited the ex-drone.

Three armed guards stood behind the Captain watching them at all times; trigger happy and very nervous of Seven of Nine. We won't survive if Seven makes any rapid movements Kathryn thought as she pondered their overall tactical position. She wanted some kind of escape plan as a fall-back.

The laboratory was clean and tidy except for two tables where the components of a disembowelled Borg drone were laid bare for examination. Living tissue and organs lay dissected, prepared for microscopic examination. The inorganic components were also being disassembled, labelled and studied. An isolated Borg eyepiece, mounted in a network of experimental circuitry, glowed red as the scientist working on it adjusted and monitored the control circuitry. Kathryn observed that Seven of Nine turned her head away whenever she had to pass the Borg remains.

Despite the circumstances Kathryn felt a curious sense of freedom. She had allowed herself to admit her feelings for Seven and the customary sense of guilt that pervaded her thoughts whenever she looked at Seven or thought about the younger woman had vanished.

The Starfleet Captain had been constrained by fear of acting inappropriately towards a member of her crew. Starfleet ethical protocols were unanimous and absolutely prescriptive about relationships between the Captain and crew. These must be wholly professional. Captains were trained to understand that even friendships lead to problems and that essentially the Captain must be aloof and alone. Which just about worked in the Alpha quadrant where the Captain had lovers, friends and family, port side but was a damned sight harder for the Captain of Voyager lost and alone in the Delta quadrant.

I am not a Starfleet captain any longer. I have new friends and enemies, a different life. But if that life is to amount to anything, Seven and I must avoid assimilation by the Borg and torture and execution by the Devore.

Kathryn concluded with some amusement that perhaps she was being a little premature in planning a long term future. She also forced herself to consider the possibility that Seven might not be interested in a middle-aged former Starship captain. She wondered what Seven was thinking. The Borg seemed totally in control and had shown little emotion, only speaking to Janeway when required to do so, concentrating absolutely on the information being presented.

The laboratory's occupants were watching and listening to visual and aural records (retrieved from intelligence probes) of a recent battle. The events were played out on a large view screen on the wall.

Three Borg cubes had come out of a transwarp conduit close to the major manufacturing and mining colony on Malta VI only 130 light years from the Devore home system. The colony was well defended by a fleet of thirteen warships and massive planetary phaser cannons located on the two moons of Malta VI.

'We are the Borg'. The customary Borg hail rolled through the small laboratory with an echo of the fear that must have swept the doomed Devore fleet.

In the opening stage of the conflict the Devore fleet was successful as it concentrated its enormous fire power on the leading Borg cube. The moon based defences kept the other two cubes at bay, the great phaser beams slicing through the Borg shields. The leading cube was damaged severely as three waves of jet black Devore warships flew past and strafed it on three sides. The cube was finally destroyed by a blast of phaser energy from one of the huge planetary cannons. The second cube was also taking heavy damage but the tide was turning. One Devore warship was destroyed and three others were now non combatant. Soon several more of the warships had fallen silent or had left the fighting. The moon based cannons ceased firing soon after.

Battlefield communication logs revealed the desperate events aboard the warships as panicked Devore officers reported their ships boarded by squadrons of Borg drones. Six vessels managed to initiate self destruct sequences before being fully assimilated and hundreds of tiny escape pods could be seen floating away from the stricken vessels like thistle seeds in the wind only to be picked off by Borg weapons fire or caught in tractor beams and dragged inside the surviving Borg cubes.

The Professor's thin face was grey and pained, his voice hoarse as he spoke. "Only one ship, and three escape pods that were picked up, survived. The entire system of 23 million people was assimilated in a 72 hour period. We do not believe there were any civilian survivors."

He stopped and blinked and when he began speaking again he had recovered his customary detached nasal monotone. "Malta VI was a serious loss to the Imperium. Ten percent of all dilithium in the sector was found on planets in the Malta system and were processed on Malta VI for use by the fleet."

Now fully in control of his voice the Professor addressed the assembled scientists, engineers and technicians as though he was delivering a lecture. "This defeat followed the pattern of all the other conflicts with the exception of four early battles where reinforced shields prevented the Borg from boarding. Unfortunately the Borg have adapted to those modifications."

"Tactical analyses suggest we require a minimum ratio of 11 warships to 1 cube in any conflict. We must destroy each Borg cube within one or two minutes of engaging, or the Borg adapt to our shield frequencies and drones are transported aboard the fleet vessels to assimilate our soldiers and the warships. The firepower of a large Devore fleet can defeat the Borg but if our ships cannot be deployed in adequate numbers assimilation inevitably follows. Since we lack the transwarp capabilities of the Borg ships it has proved impossible to ensure sufficient ships are available wherever a threat is identified. The area of space is simply to large to allow rapid reinforcement."

Pausing to bring up a three dimensional colour coded image of Devore space he indicated the present location of Devore fleets. "Current strategy is to withdraw military units from all but the most important systems and mass our forces sufficiently to allow defence of key systems. This strategy will fail eventually but may give us a little more time to develop alternatives. As a side issue we are experiencing some problems with refugees fleeing from the unprotected areas to the defended systems. It has not been possible to prevent rumours about the strategy of selective defence circulating widely in the Imperium. The wide scale ship movements have made identifying invading Borg forces even more problematic."

"The Imperium's scientists and engineers must provide technological solutions to the tactical problems of fighting the Borg if we are to survive. The Imperium requires a new type of space propulsion system to rival the Borg transwarp engines and several teams are working in that area. Other groups are concentrating on developing better weapons and defences designed to exploit weaknesses in the Borg, be they tactical, physical, chemical or biological or even psychological."

"This team is to concentrate on identifying weaknesses in the physical and biological structure of individual Borg to allow us to develop weapons which may be used at close quarters and enable our soldiers to defend our warships."

Seven interjected.

"The Borg have no such weaknesses. They will adapt to whatever weapons you devise."

Seven said this with undeniable arrogance. The ex-drone had no wish to rejoin the Borg but part of her still believed in the strength and perfection of the Collective.

"I don't agree Seven" said Janeway calmly. The Professor regarded the former Captain cautiously but did not interrupt. "If the Borg cannot assimilate a life form or technology they cannot adapt to defeat that life form or technology. We learned this from the war between species 8472 and the Borg." She shrugged a little. "It is a weakness but I admit exploiting it is a different matter since we lack the biological advantages of species 8472."

The Professor was clearly interested.

"Expand please Captain Janeway."

The Captain recounted the history of the Borg war with species 8472 and that species subsequent defeat by Voyager. A defeat based on medical research on species 8472 by the Voyager doctor using modified Borg nanoprobes. The Starfleet crew, in alliance with the Borg, had then applied the same knowledge to building a military weapon to defeat the previously invincible species 8472.

"A fine solution."

The steely eyed Professor was regarding her with admiration verging on awe. Kathryn felt immediately uneasy. When species such as the Devore or Cardassians were complimentary about your methods then your ethics must be questionable.

"But I am puzzled Captain," the Professor said thoughtfully, "We found no mention of any of this in the records of Voyager when they were inspected."

"Any information that we deemed classified was hidden and encrypted by Seven of Nine. And that included all and any knowledge of superior technologies which we acquired in the Delta quadrant. In any case your inspection teams were more concerned with finding helpless families of telepaths than advancing Devore knowledge or understanding of other species."

Kathryn said this last part, knowing that Kashyk had just entered the room. He scowled but ignored her and nodded curtly at the Professor.

"Inspector. How may we assist you?" asked Professor Derrish politely enough though the tension between the soldier and the scientist was noticeable.

"I merely wish to observe and possibly contribute Professor, if that is agreeable" replied Kashyk equally politely though from his tone Janeway deduced that being agreeable was not the true motivation. "My knowledge of Devore military installations, tactics, ships and combat expertise may be of value to your research. There is not normally much need for such military knowledge in the day-to-day work of a penal colony." He smiled without humour.

Janeway did not like the idea of spending any time with Kashyk but objectively he was a more than competent scientist and a creative lateral thinker. They had worked together effectively while hunting for a wormhole and she shuddered to remember that she had even enjoyed working with someone of equal status, a colleague rather than a junior officer. That was something she had greatly missed in the Delta quadrant.

The Professor was studying the reaction of the ex-Voyager captain to Kashyk's suggestion with some concern and was slightly nonplussed when Kathryn remarked quite coolly "I have no objection Professor. Inspector Kashyk may be useful."

Seven stared at her with a very peculiar expression almost angry and hurt. Kathryn was not sure what was wrong and smiled uncertainly at the Borg. The ex-drone turned away and muttered fiercely "As you wish Captain, the Inspector's presence is irrelevant."

Her reaction reminded the Captain of how little she knew about Seven's motives and how or why Seven came to be looking for her without Voyager. However Janeway certainly did not want to ask direct questions about Voyager's whereabouts in front of the Devore soldiers and scientists, so she kept quiet.

Professor Derrish was also thinking of Voyager but his thoughts were more pragmatic.

"It is unfortunate that we do not have access to Voyager's database now. Your research on nanoprobe technology would be of great value. We have carried out extensive research on a few captured Borg drones but it is clear we have not reached the same level of understanding. It has so far proved impossible to devise a method of destroying the nanoprobes at a microscopic level."

Seven of Nine hesitated for one moment. "It is possible that data relevant to the Borg is stored in the Federation shuttle data banks."

"Unlikely Seven of Nine. Our technicians have thoroughly examined all the shuttle records and databases. Nothing with any reference to the Borg could be found. The technology aboard the shuttle is however of great interest particularly the weapons and shields."

"And did your technicians identify the Borg encrypted databases hidden within the astrometric database?" Seven asked without irony. Kathryn bit her cheek to avoid laughing when she saw the Professor flush a dark red.

"I will check. But you can be sure a thorough inspection took place." Derrish walked to the back of the lab and spoke quietly into his communicator. The anger on his face after a few minutes discussion did not require translation.

Inspector Kashyk was grinning openly at the Professor's discomfiture.

"This will be more entertaining than I had hoped," he murmured to Kathryn looking into her eyes with a hint of the charm he had employed on their first meetings on Voyager. A creaking noise drew their attention to Seven of Nine. She was watching Kashyk without expression while her Borg enhanced hand crushed a heavy alloy tube she had picked up off a lab bench. Kashyk's grin faded and he busied himself looking at a view screen image of a stasis field containing a few wriggling nanoprobes magnified many hundreds of times.

The Professor stalked back to their end of the lab.

"The shuttle databases will be transferred to this laboratory for further analysis by Seven of Nine and my team." he said shortly. "We must commence our research. Time is not on our side."

*~~~*

*48 hours later*

The latest war news display on the wall of the laboratory showed 68 planetary systems lost and 13 billion individuals assimilated. Like watching a scoreboard the numbers rolled over every time another battle was lost.

Kathryn leaned tiredly against the wall. The laboratory was nearly empty. The Professor was talking to one of his technicians at the far end and three guards sat at a table playing some kind of gambling game that resembled poker. Inspector Kashyk had left to deal with a matter of prison administration.

Seven of Nine and the shuttle databases had provided a great deal of information and assistance to all the research teams. The group working on the transwarp propulsion project were reporting a great deal of success and predicting an imminent breakthrough directly as a result of the Borg's advice. But that success was not being repeated in this team.

Seven of Nine was working on a calculation of staggering complexity but without any direct relevance to the problem of fighting and defeating thousands of drones in hand to hand combat. Most of the team's effort seemed to have gone into modelling the adaptive technology of the Borg and proving that the Borg could deal with every form of armament the Devore possessed.

Seven straightened, turned to face the former Captain who was still slumped against the wall. She scrutinised her steadily.

"You are tired Captain, you should rest." she observed.

Kathryn shook her head.

"Come here and talk to me Seven. We have had no opportunity to speak alone. I want to know what happened on Voyager after I left and how you came to look for me on your own."

The Borg reported the plain facts of her escape from Voyager. And by the end Kathryn did not know whether to be wildly flattered by Seven and B'Elanna Torres' loyalty or incredibly angry with both of them for behaving quite outrageously and breaking every Starfleet rule. It did not take much imagination to flesh out Seven's bald account and to sympathise with Chakotay having to handle a mutinous crew.

"Seven..." Janeway took a deep breath and placed her hands on Seven's forearms as the Borg looked at her expectantly. "Seven you should not have done this. Chakotay was following my express orders. He did not deserve to be treated this way."

Seven did not argue the point; the ex-drone's blue eyes blurred with unshed tears as she explained her disobedience with heart-breaking honesty.

"You are my connection to humanity Captain. Without you there was nothing to hold me on Voyager, nothing to bind me to that human collective." Her voice became softer and Kathryn could barely hear the next words.

"I did not believe that I would ever experience loneliness as great as being severed from the Borg Collective, but that was insignificant compared to the pain when I knew that Chakotay had abandoned you. I could not abandon you."

Kathryn gulped air and blushed.

This is your chance Kathryn Janeway. She has all but said she loves you, now tell her how you feel. But looking into Seven's troubled face the words would not form and the indomitable Captain felt her knees were going to buckle first. Mentally Kathryn kicked herself. What the hell am I thinking, standing here like a hyperventilating guppy? I may never get another chance.

She was spared trying to reply by Kashyk's return. Janeway dropped her hands from Seven's arms and stepped back quickly but not quickly enough. His shrewd dark eyes took in the scene and an unpleasant smile formed on his face. He opened his mouth to sneer "What a pretty pic...."

The smirk on his face enraged Janeway.

"Be quiet" she growled with such implacable fury that Kashyk stopped mid-sentence and gaped at her. The poker playing soldiers fell silent and stood up looking expectantly at their leader, waiting for his retribution against the insolent gaharay. He said nothing.

Kathryn ignored them and him. The anger had fuelled her determination to seize the moment and she had the irrational conviction that it was now or never. Taking Seven's hand, who did not protest but raised her eyebrow in question, Kathryn stood and thought for a moment.

What can you say to a woman who has returned to the heart of darkness because she could not bear your loss? The Starfleet captain in Kathryn might deplore the means but the romantic could hardly argue with the gesture. And then she knew what to say and it was so obvious that she grinned in relief and said simply, without thinking about consequences, responsibilities or even the practical impossibility.

"I know that this is sudden and my timing is off and this may be the last thing you ever expected or wanted me to say but I think that we may never have another chance, so I am going to say it anyway. Seven of Nine, I love you. I have loved you from the beginning. I hope and believe that you feel the same way about me. Will you marry me?"

The second she uttered the words, an avalanche of consequences, responsibilities and practical difficulties slid into her consciousness, but skating topmost was the fear that Seven might not want her. Maybe she had completely misunderstood Seven's feelings. The stunned expression on the ex-drone's face didn't help. Janeway started to back-pedal.

"I mean at least think about it, you know, you don't have to answer now, perhaps when this...", she gestured vaguely about, "is all over..."

Seven looked wide-eyed at her Captain. "You intend that you should form a legally recognised domestic partnership... with me..."

"I suppose that's one way of putting it."

"Today?" asked the drone.

"No! Of course not! I meant after we have left this prison and the conflict with the Borg is over."

"It is highly unlikely we will survive the war Captain or leave this place. If this plan is to be accomplished, an earlier resolution will be required," Seven remarked calmly.

Wanting to curse Seven's precision a frustrated Kathryn half-yelled "Seven! Will you stop analysing the timetable and tell me if you want to marry me!" The soldiers sniggered. Janeway glared at them with a look that had quelled many junior ensigns and the three young Devore fell silent. Kashyk was also silent, his anger overshadowed for the moment by fascination at the scene in front of him.

"I am sorry Captain, I did not understand that I had a choice." Seven was quite straight faced but something about her expression made Kathryn suspicious. The Borg went on "You have made many life changing decisions on my behalf, I assumed this would be the case now."

Kathryn was astonished. Was Seven of Nine teasing her? Now of all times the Borg was choosing to develop a sense of humour!

"Seven please answer the question. Will you marry me?" Kathryn pleaded quietly. The ex-drone canted her head slightly on one side and her ice blue eyes considered Kathryn Janeway carefully. Feeling helpless and incredibly vulnerable Janeway returned the gaze.

"Acceptable" said Seven of Nine without preamble and wrapped her arms around the former Captain of the Starship Voyager, kissing her thoroughly if not very expertly. The Universe shrank to include nothing but the two of them.

Finally needing to breathe, Seven lifted her head.

"I hope my actions are correct Captain, this behaviour is customary after such a declaration is it not?" she queried breathlessly.

"Quite correct Seven," mumbled Kathryn into Seven of Nine's shoulder where she was now resting her head. Relieved to know that her behaviour was acceptable, Seven tightened her hold and kissed the top of Kathryn Janeway's head. Kathryn raised her face and they would've kissed again except they were brought back to the moment by Professor Derrish exclaiming loudly.

"What! What is this? The professor had been shaken from his habitual detachment.

Kathryn turned within the gentle circle of her Borg's arms to face the scandalised scientist and leant her weight against Seven, feeling absurdly happy and safe. "We are disturbing you Professor?"

Kashyk intervened smoothly before the purple-faced scientist could formulate any coherent words.

"I offer my congratulations Captain Janeway. This was a touching interlude but if there is to be a happy ending I suggest we return to matters of more immediate importance." Menace entered his voice. "Other considerations must wait."

Kathryn Janeway could feel Seven of Nine warm against her back and for a few seconds Janeway just wished the Devore, the Borg, Starfleet, everyone would just go away and leave them alone. Her hatred of Kashyk and all he represented began to bubble to the surface. Feeling Kathryn's body stiffen suddenly, Seven released her from her arms causing Janeway look up at Seven. The ex-Captain reminded herself of what she had to lose and that this was no time to lose her control. She could see the uncertainty on the younger woman's face, so she took her hand and said quietly "There will be a time for us Seven. I promise." Then the Janeway nodded to Kashyk in acknowledgement.

"You are right Inspector, there are pressing concerns. As the senior command staff present perhaps you and I should consider the tactical data together," she suggested with a note of challenge in her deep voice. "Perhaps we have been approaching this problem in the wrong way."

TBC