The shuttle didn't set down at a star port, or even an air port. They sat down on top of a city building with their sensors set to scramble simple things like radar. The shuttle was the same size as an air handling unit on top of the building and about the same color. So it was camouflaged for now.

  Janeway told her pilot to baby sit the shuttle while she and the Forlocci got out to accomplish their mission. Cara's first move was to give Janeway her robe to cover her human features and especially her red hair. Janeway kept her phaser at the ready under the large cuffs.

  They went down a stair well of sorts that looked more like a ladder and the corridor was so dimly lit Janeway had to keep her hand on the young Forlocci's shoulder.

  There was talking in the individual living spaces.

  This was some sort of condominium, either that or the Forlocci had some pretty big families. They made their way down half of the floors hoping no one was there to stop them. When they reached a door that Cara could open with code punch.

  The door slid open on silent hinges and the two prowlers went in. Janeway could see a bit more once inside, but not much. It looked like a brown out everywhere she turned.

  Cara gasped as she looked in the next room.

  Janeway looked over her shoulder and gasped as well.

  A young nude Forlocci had Chakotay dangling over her mouth about to drop him. The nude white creature saw the intruders and hissed at them, then tossed Commander Chakotay into her mouth.

  "NO! You must not! You will be destroyed!" Cara said indicating Janeway. Suddenly the other girl noticed that Janeway was NOT one of them. But a huge version of what she'd been wanting to eat. Her wild eyes focused for a second and she opened her mouth to let Chakotay slide to safety on the floor. Cara quickly pulled her friend away and drug her to the next room. Janeway fell to her knees and cupped Chakotay in her palms.

  "How are you Commander?" She asked feeling herself melt at the sight of him. He wasn't doing so well. Evidently the monstrous had been playing with her food. Chakotay wasn't feeling near as bad being in her hands.

  "Ready to run a marathon." He said. His leg was torn open in two different places. Janeway was about to suggest some R&R in her own witty way, when she got the call.

  "Captain. Voyager is under attack. A Borg cube and two Borg spheres." A voice announced. The transmission was already breaking up. All of the hope she'd just received went out the window. Three Borg ships against Voyager, and more than half of the crew was the size of her finger. Her guts turned to steel as she stood.

  "I've got to get going." She announced to Cara.

  "I'm staying with my friend." Cara announced bravely.

  "Thank you." Was all Janeway could say. "I'll contact you." And then she was up the ladder with new speed she didn't know she had. Both of her passengers were on a new roller coaster with new bouncing waves they'd never dreamed of as a kid.

-     -     -

  "We MUST stop them." B'elana urged as she fought with the weapons array. They'd been hit right in the photon torpedo bay and several of the phaser banks were running on backup. When one of the engine nacelles was blown to bits, and she ship skewed back to impulse speed, she screamed. All the work they'd done for so long to the engines in the Delta quadrant. Gone.

  With new fury she directed fire at the pursuing cube. For some reason the spheres had left them alone. It gave them enough time to reconfigure their shields again and come around so a new portion of the ship was facing the cube. The forward torpedoes were working and shot out at the menacing ship.

  It did some damage.

  Any advantage they could get would be worth while right now.

  "Shields down to 40%!" The woman flying the ship was frantic. She'd never flown so much as a shuttle, let alone the whole ship, and now she was flying in combat with the Borg.

  "At this rate, our fighting will not be sufficient." Seven announced from the science console.

  The Borg Queen stood behind them.

  "Will the ship be destroyed?" She asked anyone who would listen. Suddenly they were hailed. The communication most heard, and most feared from the evil dark beings all over the universe.

  "We are Borg. Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated..."

  The Queen watched for a few more moments and began to scan the computer as well. It was too late for anyone to watch after her with their own jobs becoming critical. The ship would probably be destroyed before they let themselves be taken and turned into drones.

  "Shields down to 20%!" Was announced.

  Seven saw the Queen assimilate a console. The bio tines slinked into the panel and accessed the computer on a basic level. The humanized Borg was horrified that it happened, but had no time for the Queen at the moment. Suddenly, the Queen disappeared, the Borg had beamed her off of the ship.

  "Aahh!!" B'elana was blown off of her console when a back lash of electricity came thought the computer from the saucer section being hit. The Borg cube was doing some real damage with the shields down to such a critical level. Smoke filled the bridge and the remaining women fought with their controls to the bitter end. The red flashing strobes lit the darkened bridge like a sinister cave. The computer began to give warnings about the warp core becoming critical where control systems were off line.

  There just weren't enough people to do everything as she ship was pecked apart towards it's imminent destruction.

  "Surrender Voyager." The Queen's voice filled the ship on every level and every deck. It resonated off of the hull where the Borg cube announced their arrival to all. Terror struck them as the situation went from bad to worse. The Queen herself was announcing their impending doom.

  The cube was virtually unharmed as it loomed over the battered Voyager. Drones began to beam aboard Voyager on several decks. The Queen and several drones came onto the bridge of Voyager. Seven fired and killed one. Her next shot had no effect on the second drone. She was going to fight hand to hand.

  "Stop." The Queen commanded her.

  B'elana was hurting on the floor but conscious, the other two women were at the end of their rope looking at the horrifying picture before them. The stench of burned flesh from the dead drone filled the bridge quickly as the secondary systems like life support began to fail. They stood over the carnage as victors.

  A whole army of Borg. Not even singed by the battle.

  The Queen stepped forward. "Stop." She said again. "You are humans. You are spared." She announced. The drones came forward and connected into the computer. Several other drones were around the ship in various places. The Queen had given them the schematics of Voyager. They were repairing the Federation ship.

-     -     -

  No one was more stunned than Janeway when she came out of warp right next to where Voyager had fled to. She gazed at the scene of a Borg cube hovering over Voyager with several drones crawling all over the outer hull of her ship. And the friendly face of Seven of Nine with the Queen of the Borg standing beside her welcoming her back.

  It was the oddest thing Janeway had ever experienced.

  Ever.

  Period.

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