Celina could not believe her ears. The men of her ship had taken the formulas and techno babble and made sense of it. They were actually going to build a transporter using components they already had! The parts were being altered to be used even as they spoke.

  She could NOT believe it. Once she had the capability of transporting things ... she quit speaking over her communicator wary of the ever present ship.

  "Computer. Did you hear my communication?" She asked.

  "All subspace frequencies are being monitored."

  "I was wondering if I might get you to delete my transmission, it was private you see?"

  "Access denied."

  "Is anyone going to punish me for my transmission?" She asked. If they were coming for her, it would be the end. The computer was unemotional, but assuring.

  "Transmissions are only monitored for hostile intent. No one is monitoring scanning at this time." The voice brought relief to the fanged woman. She now only had to bide for time and make sure that no secret transmissions were made by her people. As long as they were open with these Federation people they were safe. She was beginning to wonder if she shouldn't just TELL them that she was going to kidnap their men. It didn't get any more open than that! The sarcasm was delicious in her mind.

-     -     -

  Seven's feet became tired. She tried to override her body's discomfort, but as she pressed further and further she realized that the task at hand was going to take more than just a quick fix. She had to study her own nanoprobes. The things were in her blood and brain and she didn't understand their full potential. She HAD to. She decided to study them further by doing something she rarely did. She took a small Borg device from her alcove and waved it over her arm.

  Her hand began to shake.

  She'd activated the nanoprobes.

She was still in control however. She was experimenting and scanning, but she was not stupid. She set the computer to make sure that the probes would only be live for a short period of time. During that time she was running diagnostics on them.

  She suddenly blacked out and fell to the floor.

-     -     -

(commercial break with the trumpets and external view of Voyager)

(input beer commercial here and here)

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   Seven awoke in a Borg sphere. She was in a dream state. But not dreaming. She'd been kidnapped by the Borg before. It was terrifying to her. She wasn't reassimilated before. The Queen had said she was using her to expand the Borg collective with her emotions.

  Seven shivered as a screech of metal announced the arrival of the Queen. Her body was quickly assembled, and her head and spine dropped into her body. Seven had seen it before, knew how alien it was. She tried to remain calm. "You are not real!" She insisted.

  "On the contrary. You pretending to be a lesser species is the delusion here. Do not deny you are so much more." The queen had a way with words. She was extremely old, and seemingly unstoppable. Even if her current body was destroyed, the collective had the means to put together another collective Queen.

  "I am not trapped here. The probes will be deactivated soon." Seven said trying not to shake. Inside she was terrified. The Borg had been known to have technologies that were unthought of. What if they'd assimilated a race that could teleport someone over a vast distance. The place looked extremely real. The Queen herself was approaching extremely slowly.

  "No matter how long you run, you always rely on US! Here you are seeking out guidance again." She hissed her last word as she spoke extremely slowly. She touched Seven's face. She wasn't sure she was still aboard Voyager.

  "I am trying to fix a problem CAUSED by you. Why have you brought me here!" Seven's fear was taking over. The queen's steel eyes were delighted in Seven's confusion.

  "I'm disappointed in your progress. But you have shown me much." She looked at the floor, and when Seven looked at the floor she was horrified. Everyone aboard Voyager, including the Captain was a tiny toy sized being glued to the plating before the Queen's feet. They screamed Seven's name and begged for mercy.

  "STOP!" Seven said seeing that the Queen had an unlimited capacity for evil. It was just like the dream. Everyone she'd come to know and trust was at the feet of the Borg Queen.

  "I have the power. The collective shall prevail." She lifted her foot and set it down on several of Voyager's crew and they instantly crushed beneath her glossy black steel foot. Seven looked away feeling powerless. Resistance was futile. "You have the power too." The queen reminded. Seven was still horrified, but the Queen forced her to take a step forward. Seven watched her own foot move forward over several men and women. Then her foot came down and blood oozed out from beneath her sole as the bones crunched and ten Starfleet officers were crushed like bugs.

  "Yessss." The Queen hissed and took another step. This time she aimed her toe only at Janeway. The tiny red haired Captain was yelling up defiantly that the Borg would never conquer the human race. And then Janeway herself was crushed. Seven's heart thundered in her chest. The Queen was becoming more powerful every day. The Borg were superior in many ways. Seeing Captain Janeway reduced to a bloody smear on the floor broke the walls down she'd built up inside. Her pain turned to tears.

  "Stop." Seven begged again.

  "I KNOW you've derived pleasure from this. I have seen you! You can hide nothing from me." The Queen then began to shrink Seven with her eyes. The tall blonde was shrinking smaller and smaller before the Borg Queen and was helpless to try to escape. Within seconds the crew of Voyager looked normal to her and they were all looking up at the immense Borg Queen who seemed to still be growing. Her feet were becoming larger and larger. The hard cold steel foot raised, it was so shiny Seven could see her own reflection as it came down to pulverize her. She began to scream.

-     -     -

  She looked up and saw the ceiling meld into the astrometrics lab. It HAD been a dream. But it was also real. Seven looked at her shoes and saw there was still blood on them. She backed herself into a corner. If she hadn't had the computer deactivate the nanoprobes on a timer, no telling what may have happened. She looked at the blood, and it too disappeared. Seven had never left. She'd simply passed out on the floor. Was it a hallucination? Like when she began seeing the Raven that symbolized her parent's shuttle before she was assimilated?

  She stood and found that the whole exercise had not been fruitless. The computer had recorded the whole event, and there were new readings that only occurred when the nanoprobes were "live."

  Seven found the vision most disturbing, but it ALSO made her work more diligently. If the human race were ever to overcome the Borg threat, they would have to keep moving forward. Keep advancing. The Borg certainly were.

-     -     -

  Neelix could not sleep. He was trying to think of the quickest easiest death that would cause the least amount of trouble for the others. He wondered if the others were suicidal yet. Maybe if he talked to them he'd feel better. Maybe he'd feel worse. He could hear Naomi Wildman talking to her mother. It was a pain thinking of leaving Voyager once and for all. But he couldn't help it. The suffering was getting to him.

  He wouldn't want to live as a pet. What was the Captain to do? Let them wander the ship to get trampled the first time the crew went to red alert? He was a burden now. An invalid. He vowed never to impose on people he cared about in this way. He'd just assume pass on.

  He was about to ask the computer to beam him into the center of a star when the house shook again.

  He didn't have time for games.

  It was Naomi trying to get him out to play again. Neelix was serious. He didn't have time for this. He was going to protest. Soon he was dumped out of the shelter again, when he looked up into the sky he was horrified. It was Susan Gaines. She'd STOLEN him somehow. "What is the meaning of this... What?!" He was fighting with her fingers. The thin sarcastic woman lifted Neelix to her face and licked him again.

  "Ooh, I was right. You ARE as sweet as you think you are." She licked him again despite his protests and fighting. The tiny Telaxian punched her right in the tongue, but it did NOTHING to the enormous woman. She glanced form side to side. She was in the corridor outside the Wildman's quarters. She tore off his shirt along with his comm badge and tossed it to the floor to stomp on it. Neelix tried to scream for help. Susan hushed him by crumpling him in her hand. He didn't have enough room to breathe let alone scream. He tried to fight more, but it was useless. He was officially kidnapped.

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