Seven of Nine did something she almost always regretted. She had to have the Borg's help. This time, she left the information about the Nano probes in the ship's computer and wrote a program for the holodeck that would be like none other the galaxy had ever seen. She was going to recreate the Borg collective in a program. It would require the Captain's approval, in order for it to "WORK" the safety protocols had to be disengaged for them to be able to change someone's size again.

  She also had to have a test subject. She found Janeway leading a young monstrous down the corridor. The wicked looking girl had Forlocci features, but looked much more civilized and intelligent. Her eyes were sharp and exotically slanted upward at the corners. The wrong coloring didn't bother Seven. Eye color was irrelevant.

  "Captain. I need a moment."

  "First I need one of your moments. Come with us." She ordered. Seven complied and the three of them went to find Celina in her quarters.

  "Cara. What is this?" Celina demanded quickly.

  "Mother. I am here to talk to you..."

  "Nonsense. You get back to the ship immediately. You are NOT to disturb our trade. I will have you executed if you do not leave at once!" She was very angry with the youth. Cara backed down immediately. Janeway and Seven were NOT pleased.

  "It seems she's come all the way over here. At least you could hear what she has to say."

  "She is but a first year on board our ship. She has no right to interfere." Celina was sounding more like she looked every second. Janeway and Seven nodded to each other and left with Cara. "Let's go have a little meeting of our own."

  "No. I must tell you now." Cara urged as soon as the door closed. "She has a transporter ready. She's going to try to steal all of your men. My boyfriend is one of the servants on the ship and he found out and told me." She informed them.

  "That would be impossible." Seven began. But the idea of having even one of the crew stolen before they could be regrown set her hair on end. She drew her phaser and was about to reenter the elder Forlocci room.

  Janeway had a better idea. "The trade agreement may still need to go through. Do you know how she plans to steal them?"

  "I'm not sure. But I know she has a locater on her and that our fastest ship is on it's way here for her to escape in. She's going to try and steal ANY of them that she can find, I KNOW she'll do it again..." Cara stopped herself with an inrush of air. She hadn't meant to say it that way.

  "Again?" Seven and Janeway asked in unison.

  The young Forlocci looked at her booted feet. Her claws were not as jagged and used as her mothers, and her arms were smooth and athletic. Still a monster, but alot more compassionate appearing. Her face twisted into regret already. She was worried. "We traded with the Ru'add people for a while, until mother decided they were small enough to use for food. Now their race is being hunted to extinction by my people. She will SURELY want to eat your men like she does the Ru'add."

  Seven and Janeway looked at each other and gulped. They were only alive because they were too big to fit in Celina's mouth. They knew that she was trying to win trust with the first man she'd conned into going with her earlier. The picture fit now. They were going to have to be ready.

-     -     -

  "We've prepared a dinner for you to celebrate our trade agreement." Janeway informed the elder Forlocci.

  "A dinner?" Celina was wracking her brain trying to think of a plan. And now it had seemingly fallen right into her lap.

  "Your daughter has brought some food you would like, and I'd like for you to meet my whole crew. Will you attend?" Janeway asked formally.

  "The crew?! Yes. Certainly." Celina's mouth involuntarily watered. Did she REALLY mean the whole crew?! Soon a security woman came to escort her up a few levels to a large dining area. Celina sat at the head of the table, and a big area in the center of the table was set up for the men! Celina could barely take her eyes off of them. They had tables and chairs and plates replicated to their own scale. And they were smaller than the Ru'addians! Celina's animal instincts took over. She was assaulted with new smells.

  "Attention." Janeway raised her glass. "To our new friends, and new business." she toasted. Celina took a glass and mimicked the others and saw her daughter also toasting. They all sat and soon she was presented with a delicious Ru'addian. It was still alive and held down by bands around his arms and legs.

  The others around the table were eating their food of preference as well. No one even watched as Celina took the Ru'addian by the midriff and shoved him into her mouth. He kicked and screamed as she devoured the little hand full and soon she was quite satisfied with her meal kicking in her stomach.

  Then they toasted AGAIN to having good fortune and trade agreements, and Celina was brought ANOTHER live Ru'add. Celina was in hog heaven. She must REALLY have scared her daughter, because ordinarily her daughter would never have let her mother eat the small conquered species in front of their friends let alone this alien Federation people. But all was well. And the men of Voyager were now within her grasp. Soon they stood and went to a bar on the wall to get their drinks. The men on the table were doing the same on a much smaller scale. They all raised their drinks again and then refilled. Celina was the only one at the table as the humans and her daughter stood at the bar getting drink after drink, making toast after toast. Silly human customs.

  With the ultra quick reflexes of her species, Celina sprung over the men and activated her tracer to beam her off of Voyager. The transporter was so crude it transported Celina, all of the men and about half of the table to the Forlocci ship. Janeway tossed down her glass. "Raise shields. Chase that ship!" She called out to the women at the helm of Voyager. But just as they began to pursue the small Forlocci ship, it warped out of range and was gone.

  Janeway, Cara, and Seven were the only ones left when the program deactivated the holo deck. Cara wasn't even let in on the plot and she gulped as the other women and furniture disappeared as if nothing ever existed. All that was left was a clean room of black tiles.

  "What happened?!" Cara gulped looking around afraid.

  "I'm afraid you were right. If those holograms had been our men, they'd be gone now. This is the holo deck. Everything you just saw was a hologram." Janeway explained. "Thank you for warning us." She said soberly. So, their Forlocci COULD be as monstrous as they appeared. And yet, some of them were like Cara.

-     -     -

  Chakotay and Vereche were running on the holodeck each time people activated other programs. He'd watched several people run their programs and the Captain herself had to use the holodeck for something important. Chakotay beamed into his quarters while Vereche's program was down. As he waited he began to wonder what the Captain was doing. He beamed into the program and saw that everyone was there. Practically the entire crew was there. He saw the other guys on a table and decided he wanted to speak with them and find out how they were doing.

  He beamed right next to Harry Kim and asked him how he'd been. They were in a great mood and toasting to the new trade agreements. He joined in. He only became suspicious when he looked over and saw himself also drinking. "What the?" The people he recognized were holograms. He wondered who was real now, perhaps the women were here to "test" something with reproductions of the men. Before he could ask Janeway what was going on, the closest woman. A fanged sallow skinned diplomat jumped over the table and wrapped her arms around all of them. Chakotay screamed and felt the beam take place.

  Within a second he was in a dark ship with the monstrous. Everyone else was gone. He fell and hit the floor now that the table had disappeared. The huge woman looked even more confused than him. He was looking up at her realizing they'd beamed to an alien vessel. That MUST mean that either he was on the holodeck still, or there was REAL trouble for him. The first thing the huge woman did was go into a rage and beat a man at the transporter console.

  "YOU SET IT WRONG!!! I ONLY GOT ONE!!!" She raged and knocked him out cold beating his head on the steel wall. Chakotay was more afraid than he'd ever been before. He looked up into her face as she looked down at him. Saliva was running down the sides of her mouth where she'd just eaten creatures bigger than him whole. Every nerve ending of his body was screaming as clawed hand came down to grab him.

-     -     -

  B'elana was called to assist Seven when Janeway gave the go ahead for the new plan. The holodeck was clear until Seven initiated a data string she'd programed earlier. B'elana's skin crawled. It was a collective all right. A complete reproduction of the inside of a Borg cube, complete with the Queen herself on a podium. Only her head and spine were showing as the Queen looked around as if she were lost.

  "Looks like you did it." B'elana gulped. Several drones began to walk around and carry out Borg designated functions.

  "Not yet. This is just the beginning. Until they become articulated, they are nothing." Seven was working at a Borg console as well. "Computer. Generate a class four force field around this chamber. Captain's security clearance only." She initiated the program. B'elana tensed up.

  "What?!"

  "We are taking all precautions. If all goes well, we shall be repairing the problem with the men. If it goes wrong, we may die. You may leave now if you wish." Seven was serious. She was ALWAYS serious.

  "We could be assimilated on the holodeck?" The half breed was very afraid of that.

  "All safety protocols have to be removed. We must ask for their help." She pointed at the Queen's head. Her eyes were still looking around menacingly. B'elana would have run in a heart beat, but Tom was at stake. She wasn't going to let go of a chance to help him this easily. He would have done the same for her. She gulped and nodded for Seven to continue.

  The computer could do an excellent job at replicating things on the holodeck. But some things were always thrown into the mix that could have strange results. One of the things Seven tried to write into the program was that the Queen should, in all possible ways BE the Queen, but instead of taking over the universe as the prime directive, the directive was replaced with "help humans".

  The result promised to be bizarre.

-     -     -

  "I have to monitor the holodeck closely. I wish you were big enough to give me a back rub." Janeway KNEW how much her new "personal assistant" loved trying to help her. She would have thought it was blatant brown nosing.

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