Chapter 11

  Neelix was in hell. Ensign Gaines was using him as a personal massager, and a manicurist. He had to WORK to keep her happy, but he was very unhappy himself. He was usually reserved and cheerful, but as he held the fingernail polish brush like a broom, he wanted to cry.

  "Why must I..." He outburst again throwing the brush down.

  "Ah, uh, uh. Keep going." She handed the brush back to the tiny Telaxian waving her finger scolding. He KNEW that she could "squash" him if he didn't comply. She'd pinched him within an inch of his life. He was a slave. He began painting the fingernails again with a sorrowful sigh.

  When he was finished Susan capped the bottle and admired her nails. Neelix wasn't ABOUT to feel any happiness about the "good job" he'd done. This began to irritate Susan.

  "Look! You're the cook! You should be HAPPY to help me!" She burst with her pretty blonde eyebrows knitting sternly.

  Neelix looked at the table top he was standing on. It was like a huge floor to him. He paced a bit. "What do you care?" He always worried with nervous gestures. She watched him pace for a minute.

  "Okay. Okay. I get it. Happy is fine as long as YOU'RE happy. But when it comes to making someone else happy... you'd rather die than help me. Right?!" She accused. He thought she was about to throw him through the bulk head. He cringed in disbelief.

  "I've never been nothing other than PERFECTLY respectful to you. Until this!" He indicated the torn fragments of his uniform left. He was barely clothed. She sulked back in her chair like a kid.

  "Fine." She droned and got up to hide in her room for a while. When she came out she was SURPRISED to see him still on the table. He was watching a video on the computer screen. She sat down behind him with her eyes made of grainy red and white stone. She'd been crying? Neelix looked up at her face and waved over the computer keys to deactivate the show.

  "You can beam out whenever you want. The ship recognizes you." She reminded him as if he were the dumbest person in the universe.

  "I'm not done here." He said solemnly. His clothes were repaired so he HAD been talking with the computer.

  "Oh?" Her brow rose a bit. She'd already bit off one of her fingernails.

  "I believe you were going to have me do your feet next." Neelix tried a bit of cheer as usual tone. She was perplexed.

  "My feet?" She looked at her feet.

  "Computer. Beam me to the floor." He asked. Soon he was transported to the floor with the polish bottle. He began painting her toe nails. Susan Gaines had never been so confused. Neelix was bowing to her whim. She was flattered to pieces and embarrassed at the same time. She said nothing as he worked, but the tingling in her tummy was back stronger than ever before. The relief that he WASN'T going to report her to the Captain for her impulsive actions, AND he was going to give her what she wanted was overwhelming. Certain parts of her body that were seldom used on board Voyager were working overtime as she began to sweat.

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  The Borg were crawling the decks all around Seven of Nine and B'elana Torres. Both Voyager crew ladies were scared, but the completion of the collective was becoming complete. The Queen selected her body and assembled right before their eyes. Seven was busy at her console, but the disturbing sight of the Queen beginning to walk around kept interrupting her thoughts. It was time to test the integrity of the program.

  "State your purpose." Seven prompted.

  The Queen thought about it for a moment. "To assimilate all worlds into us."

  Seven began the program protocols that she'd written.

  "State your purpose." She asked again.

  "To assimilate all species, and help humans." She said as if she were being forced to say it. The computer program was otherwise intact. Seven went further since B'elana was monitoring the functions of the grid and making sure that the collective didn't become an overwhelming collective too quickly.

  "You will help us grow our men to normal size?" Seven asked pointedly.

  "I am Borg. I am Queen of the collective of..." She stopped. The program must have had errors in it due to the complexity. The other drones began to realize they were doing useless tasks. There was actually nothing for them to do.

  They were there to support the collective as a whole, but their bodily functions were of no value. They returned to their also useless alcoves to deactivate. Seven watched as they ceased to function like robots. Like she herself still did.

  The Queen seemed to be doing a number on herself as the computer wrestled with the personality matrix. "I know all. I am the collective." She finally said with some resolve.

  "We ask for your help. Will you comply?" Seven wasn't going to ask again. The Queen looked at her for a long moment.

  "I will help." She finally backed up and her legs detached and went into the floor. Her torso came off and her spine attached to the computer. If her ego was any indication, the holodeck was earning it's weight in human lives. "Bring them to me." she ordered.

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  "That's great news. I'll rally the crew." Janeway winked at her new boyfriend. It was strange having Chakotay turn his back on her at a time like this, but it wasn't completely unexpected. She'd let him have whatever decency he thought he had left. Perhaps it would have been TOO degrading to have her carry him around like a trophy.

  It still hurt that she lost out to a hologram instead. She activated the shipwide and spoke her authoritive tone.

  "Attention crew. A cure may have been found for the men. Proceed to the ready room next to holodeck one with all the men. Janeway out!" She took her own man in her fingers and gently walked to the holodeck with a little less swing than usual.

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  It was a shame. Tania heard the command over the loud speakers just as she was getting to TRUELY enjoy her men. They were trying their best to entertain her. Tuvok was showing Harry Kim how to use a Klingon bolo blade. Tania's eyes turned to sadness immediately. They would go now, and she'd never have to worry about being entertained by senior officers again.

  "You heard the Captain..." She prompted them all to get back in the shuttle Seven had replicated for them. They hopped aboard. Tania had taken them to her quarters and was REALLY getting to know them for the first time. Now they had to go. It just wasn't FAIR! She growled to herself under her breath.

  She went down the corridor and met up with all of the other women carrying men in various hiding places. Some of them didn't know that the Forlocci was gone. She was the the woman with the MOST men. She had a bit of pride walking into the ready room with a shuttle full. The next most popular woman was a young ensign with perfect blonde hair and big blue eyes, and she only had four men. Tania sat at the head of the conference table and let her "stable" of men come out to mingle with the other guys that women were finally letting further than hand's reach.

  It was a few moment's after Janeway arrived that the bomb hit.

  "Computer. Are all men accounted for?"

  "Commander Chakotay is not aboard Voyager." The computer voice reported.

  "What? Not this again!" Janeway insisted. That was what it had said when she FIRST went to look for Chakotay. "Computer. What was Commander Chakotay's last position?"

  "Commander Chakotay was beamed aboard a Forlocci vessel and taken away at hyperspace velocity." The computer reported. Janeway's feet got cold as her spine began to tingle.

  "Computer. That was a holographic Chakotay..." She began.

  "Commander Chakotay beamed aboard the holodeck just before leaving Voyager." The computer informed to a stunned to silence crew. Janeway immediately blamed herself. Her idea was insightful, but dangerous. And she had NOT anticipated someone else beaming aboard the holodeck. She stormed to her quarters to come up with a plan. There would be hell to pay for that miserable Forlocci if anything happened to Chakotay.

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