Redemptions of the Heart

By Oprelia

Rating: PG-13

Code: P, J/P

Category: VOYAGER

Genre: Action/Adventure/Romance

Beta: H. Louise

Spoilers: Unity, Collective, Unimatrix Zero

Disclaimer: STAR TREK: VOYAGER and all its characters contained within this story are owned exclusively by Paramount Pictures Corporation. No copyright infringements are intended.

Author's Note: I would like to express my gratitude towards my beta 'H. Louise'. You have helped me a lot with your vast knowledge of the Voyager universe, both canon and fan-fic.

*****

"Deploy the armour, Mr Rollins!" ordered the Captain as soon as she strode out of the turbolift with her senior officers.

"They are hailing us Captain," reported Harry as he relieved the ops operator.

"On screen," ordered Kathryn in full Captain mode. The view of the streaking stars changed to an ugly scaly humanoid with a sneer on his face. He did not look too friendly.

"Are you the Voyagers that the escapee spoke of?" The aliens arrogantly demanded without preamble. Willing herself to be civil and bringing forth her best glare, she levelled her gaze at the offensive alien.

"That is correct. I am Kathryn Janeway, Captain of the Federation Starship Voyager. Why have you beaten and tortured my helmsman?" demanded Kathryn, anger at the treatment of her fiancé clearly showing in her tone.

"He has trespassed into Luzwai space. As have you Captain Janeway of the Federation Starship Voyager. You will drop out of warp, lower your shields and prepare to be boarded. Your unauthorised entry into our space will not go unpunished. Your vessel will be impounded and studied. All relevant technologies will be removed and analysed. Your crew will all be sent to a correction facility for violations of our sovereignty. You will live out the rest of your lives incarcerated in our prison. No one trespasses in our space," the alien said malevolently.

The Captain disliked his manner and her icy tone reflected her displeasure.

"As my helmsman has previously stated, we did not knowingly trespass into your territory. We are simply passing though on our long journey towards our home in the Alpha Quadrant. However I cannot accept the fact that you have tortured my helmsman and infected him with a deadly pathogen. I demand that you give me a cure and then we will be on our way. You may have been able to overcome our shuttle but Voyager is better equipped," Janeway replied.

She hoped that there was a cure. Seeing Tom in so much pain made her heart ache to comfort him. The fact that she could not get past the quarantine field compounded her feeling of helplessness.

The alien just laughed at her demand.

"You do not understand the dynamics here. You are in no position to make demands. You are an inferior race. I suggest that you surrender your ship before your lenient sentence is revoked. No, there is no cure for the pathogen. Even if there were a cure, we would not give it to you. If you do not surrender your ship immediately, we will fire on you. Your helmsman can attest to the effectiveness of our weapons on your vessels. You are no match for us Captain Janeway," the sneer came back, "and any provocation will determine the level of discipline you will receive during your sentence," stated the ugly alien.

* * * * *

"I have stared down the Borg before and I will not bow before you. You have intentionally inflicted harm on one of my crewmembers but you won't get the chance to harm any or my other people. Mr Kim, end transmission!" she ordered and the screen returned to the view of the three alien vessels travelling at warp. Her Voyager family had undergone enough hurts lately that she would not allow this hostile alien race from further inflicting pain towards her loved ones.

"RED ALERT! All hands to battlestations. Bring the weapons array online and charge the torpedo systems!" ordered the Captain as she sat down on her chair. The room was bathed in red flashing lights as Harry reported that the Luzwai were charging weapons. The ship shuddered slightly as enemy fire struck the ship's armour. "Return fire Mr Tuvok, Mr Baytart, attack pattern beta nine."

"Aye Captain," replied Pablo as he manoeuvred the vessel through its attack sequence.

The armour opened up to reveal the Type X phaser arrays and the two arrays charged up. The energised particles built up in the first phaser banks within the phaser arrays until they were fully charged. The particles were then passed onwards towards its neighbouring bank in the linear arrays and the entire process recommenced. Finally enough energised particles had been gathered and the arrays discharged the high frequency nadion particles in a beam towards the enemy vessels. The entire process took only a few seconds. The twin phaser beams shot through space and came into contact with the shields of the lead vessel so that the barrier lit up with a sizzle of discharged energy.

"Phasers have minimal effect Captain," reported Tuvok. Their supply of transphasic torpedoes had run out several months ago and they could not spare the resources to manufacture new ones.

"Continue firing phasers," she ordered as the enemy ships returned fire. The ship rocked slightly again from the torpedoes and phasers that were being fired from the three vessels. "Fire the photon torpedoes and target the lead ship's weapons array."

The shields of the lead ship sparked and flared again as the photon torpedoes hit the protective energy barrier of the Luzwai vessel. There was no noticeable decrease in the enemy ship's shield strength either from the torpedo impacts and Tuvok reported the information to the Captain.

"Mr Baytart, increase speed to warp nine. Let's see if we can put some distance between us and the Luzwai," she commanded.

Pablo acknowledged her order and increased the velocity of the Intrepid-class vessel. The three pursuers however also increased their speed to match the Starfleet vessel.

"They have matched our speed, Captain," Baytart reported as the Luzwai recommenced their attack on the lone Starfleet vessel.

"What is the status of the armour?" asked Chakotay. As long as the armour held up, they would be fine. They needed a way to shake of their pursuers though.

"Armour integrity is holding at ninety-eight percent," replied Seven to her boyfriend's query.

"Keep firing the torpedoes, Tuvok. Concentrate our attack on the lead vessel. Seven, is there anything you can remember on the Luzwai from your knowledge of the Collective?" asked Janeway as she turned to the ex-drone stationed at the secondary tactical console behind her chair.

"Species 6874 were a very hostile species before the Collective assimilated them. They had a very xenophobic paranoia coupled with a sophisticated weapons platform and shield matrix. The Collective assimilated them for those reasons. There was a flaw in their systems but I can not remember what they are. The sensors in Astrometrics can give you more detailed information on our adversaries. What I do know is that they are classified as Attack Cruisers," she replied.

"Understood. Bridge to Astrometrics," she called out.

::: Astrometrics here. :::

Icheb was the person who answered. He had been in Astrometrics since Tom had been detected on the Orion. When Seven had quietly informed him of Tom's condition he had wanted to go to sickbay the pilot but Seven then told him of the lockdown. He was then ordered to report to Deck 8 to operate the Astrometrics Lab in her absence. Seven told him that she would be in sickbay trying to find a cure for the pathogen and that he should be alert for any ships that might be searching for Tom.

"Icheb, we are being attacked by the Luzwai, the race that kidnapped Tom. Scan the vessels and see what you can tell me. Seven said that their Borg designation was 6874 and that there was a flaw in their systems, but she can't remember what they were. See what you can discover with your scans," she ordered as the ship was continually hit with enemy fire. So far the armour was protecting them from major damage.

::: Understood. Initiating a multiphasic scan of the lead vessel ::: Icheb reported.

The bridge crew waited for a few seconds as Icheb scanned the vessels.

::: The scans have revealed a flaw in their ship's defence grid. The Luzwai vessels have multiple shield generators that are all interlinked. The system looks superior because the six generators act independently and should one section of the shield collapse, the rest should still be active. They should also be able to divert energy back towards the generator and the grid can be reactivated without too much trouble ::: said Icheb.

"How is that going to help us, Icheb? You said that it was flawed, but you are also saying they are superior," questioned Chakotay. While he was fascinated with the design of the defence systems or the cruisers, they were currently up against said systems.

::: As I have stated, the generators are interlinked. The flaw is in the link design. Should you disable a single generator the surge through the shield grid would affect the entire system and the generators would overload and shut down ::: Icheb informed them.

"But we can't get through their shields," Seven politely informed her former student.

::: They have a weaker aft shield. Targeting all your weapons on the aft shields should collapse that section. Do not fire at the overlapping sections. Shield strength is highest there. I'm sending the co-ordinates of the aft shield generator and the scans of their shield grid to the tactical station now. All three Attack Cruisers have the same inherent flaw in their systems :::

"I have received the coordinates and scans, Captain," Tuvok informed the bridge crew.

"Did the scans reveal any other information?" asked Chakotay.

::: Yes, Commander. I have detected a weapon of unknown design that they have not yet deployed. I am unsure of its use and why it has not yet been utilised ::: warned Icheb.

"We understand, Icheb. We'll keep an eye on it. Bridge out," said Chakotay as he grinned at the Captain. Finally they had something to work with.

"Tuvok, concentrate all your fire on the vessel to our right. Target the aft shields," ordered the Captain. She too felt like grinning.

"Understood. Firing phasers and photon torpedoes," replied Tuvok and the crew watched the view-screen as they saw the shields of the enemy vessel light up under the onslaught of Voyager's phasers.

"Their aft shields are down," reported Harry after his and Tuvok's console chirped simultaneously. They had been firing on the aft shields continuously with phasers and torpedoes for nearly a minute.

"Target their aft shield generator," ordered Janeway and the crew saw the entire shield grid collapse on the Luzwai cruiser.

"The vessel has broken off its attack, Captain" reported Tuvok. The grins on the faces of the crew were premature after Janeway ordered a similar attack on the second vessel. They had just begun their assault on the second enemy ship when the lead vessel suddenly fired a red weapon at Voyager that caused the whole ship to shudder.

"Report!" demanded the Captain. Those shakes did not sound too good.

"That was some sort of advanced weapon. It has disrupted the cohesion of the armour plating. Armour integrity has fallen to fifty percent. One more hit from that weapon and the armour will fail," reported Harry.

::: Engineering to the Bridge ::: came Lieutenant Vorik's voice over the comm. system.

"Go ahead," replied the Captain.

::: That hit has destabilised the cohesion of the dilithium matrix and the magnetic constrictors have fused. We must drop out of warp now or the core will breach ::: came Vorik's calm reply that belied his concerned state. Engineering was a hub of activity as alarms went off everywhere.

"Damn, Mr Baytart, drop us out of  warp. Vorik, I don't know what you do but you must restabilise the warp core," she ordered.

::: Understood, Vorik out! :::

"Captain, I'm detecting a damaged Borg sphere regenerating less than five million kilometres off our port," interrupted Harry with a shout as they dropped out of warp.

"Mr Baytart, keep us away from the Borg," ordered Janeway.

"Yes Captain," he replied as his fingers manipulated the controls.

"Captain, the two Luzwai vessels have dropped out of warp and are on an intercept course. They will be within firing range in fifteen seconds," reported Tuvok.

"This day is getting better and better isn't it?" asked Kathryn to Chakotay.

"Well it certainly can't get any worse," was Chakotay's wry reply. The joke was to relieve tension, something that Tom would usually do in a situation like this. He certainly missed Tom's presence on the bridge.

"Prepare to target the lead vessel's aft shield..." ordered Kathryn. Her tactical officer however interrupted her order.

"Captain, they are firing their weapon again," reported Tuvok. Evidently the special weapon had a longer range than the standard weapons.

"Mr Baytart, evasive manoeuvres!" ordered the Captain but it was too late. The ship shuddered as it was hit.  Sparks flew all around the bridge.

"Armour has failed!. Trying to reroute power to the shields!" reported Harry as his fingers flew across the LCARS panel of his Ops console.

"That last hit disabled our impulse reactors Captain!" reported Baytart. 'This day was getting worse,' he thought. First they found out that Tom was infected by a lethal pathogen. Secondly they were attacked by the malevolent species that infected his superior and now this. They were dead in space with no shields and no engines. Weapons had an affect to a certain degree but they had no defences against any further attacks by the hostile species that claimed this area of space.

"The sphere has powered its engines Captain! They are on an intercept course!" yelled a frantic Harry as he was trying to get the shield systems back online.

Faced with these reports, Janeway stood up and was about to contact the Luzwai. She was going to surrender her ship after they destroyed the Borg sphere. She would rather spend her time in prison where there was a chance of breaking out than being assimilated. The memories of her prior assimilation still gave her shudders when she thought about all the technology that was inserted into her body.

The crew around her was also thinking about the Borg and the assimilation process. Harry's mind flooded with the view of assimilation tubules everywhere and the images of this failed assimilation while Chakotay thought about the time when he had a neural transceiver attached to the base of his skull. He thought of the time he spent with Riley Frazier and the co-operative. He also thought about the time that he had spent with Seven these past few years, how she struggled to regain her individuality piece by piece. He was wondering whether he would have the chance to regain his humanity, just like Seven was given the opportunity.

Seven thought of her life spent with Chakotay, all the time they had were precious to her and the Borg were going to retake her individuality and her happiness. Although Tuvok was in more control over his emotions and therefore was able to suppress his despair, he was unable to dispel the thoughts of his wife T'Pel. He missed his wife and due to the Borg, he would never have the chance to reunite with her, to spend the rest of his life in quiet solitude with his wife and family. All that was going to be taken away by the ruthless race known as the Borg.

Kathryn was about to order Harry to open a channel with the Luzwai when the external communications system activated.

# WE ARE THE BORG #

# SPECIES 6874 HAS BEEN IDENTIFIED WITH HOSTILE INTENTIONS #

# CEASE ALL ATTACKS ON FEDERATION VESSEL USS VOYAGER AND LEAVE AREA IMMEDIATELY #

# FAILURE TO COMPLY WILL RESULT IN YOUR DESTRUCTION #

# RESISTANCE IS FUTILE #

The crew stared in disbelief as they understood the meaning of the communiqué. The Borg were trying to protect them! The sphere moved in front of the crippled Starfleet vessel to block any further attacks by the two Luzwai cruisers.

The Luzwai vessels however did not heed the warning.

"The Borg vessel is moving to attack the Luzwai vessels, Captain!" reported Tuvok. On the view-screen the bridge crew watched as the Luzwai began firing on the Borg sphere and the sphere began returning fire on the two remaining enemy vessels. The first Luzwai vessel suddenly exploded in a large explosion. The sphere had found the flaw in the Luzwai vessel's shield grid and attacked the weakness. The sphere was not unharmed though. Small explosions rocked the sphere as the Luzwai cruisers attacked the damaged Borg vessel.

"Captain, I don't know how long the sphere is going to last. It was severely damaged before it engaged the Luzwai" Harry reported. "Captain, scans show that there are approximately fifty drones on board that sphere" he said as he looked again at the viewscreen.

Suddenly the sphere shot out a blue light towards Voyager and a blue energy field encompassed the Starfleet vessel.

"Report!" ordered the Captain. She wanted to know what the energy field was.

"Captain, the energy field has reactivated and remodulated our shields" reported Tuvok. This was followed by another explosion that flashed across the view-screen. Large chunks of the sphere was now missing, testament to the damage the Luzwai vessels had inflicted on the Borg vessel. Weapons fire continuously traded as the Borg vessel tried to neutralise the lead vessel. Subsequent uses of the advanced green weapon failed though, to which the crew of Voyager were secretly relieved. The Borg had apparently adapted to the weapon.

The lead Luzwai vessel was finally destroyed after a brief barrage from the sphere. Relief was felt all over the bridge now that the Luzwai threat was over, however the Borg were still there.

"Seven, what is the status of the Borg sphere?" asked the Captain. The Borg always had ulterior motives whenever they aided them.

"Severe damage has occurred throughout the entire ship, Captain. I am reading severe fluctuations in the power grid. I believe that the vessel is about to explode".

Everyone turned to the view-screen to look at the damaged sphere. Suddenly Tuvok's console beeped.

"Captain, I have detected the transport of thirty-five drones to Cargo Bay Two" reported Tuvok before a beep from Harry's terminal alerted them to a new problem.

"Captain, they are attempting to link themselves with the main computer! I'm trying to lock them out!" said a desperate Harry, His fingers flying across his controls. Five seconds later another beep came from Harry's console and he looked up to the Captain with troubled eyes. "I'm locked out Captain. They have encrypted the access codes. They now have full access to our computer database".

"Quickly Tuvok, vent out Cargo Bay Two!" ordered Chakotay. Tuvok tapped some buttons on his terminal before facing the Captain.

"I am unable to Captain, they now have full control of the main computer including the commands to vent the Cargo Bays" Tuvok stated. Seven was also tapping in commands in her console but to no avail. She finally looked up towards the Captain and silently shook her head.

"Can we beam them into space?" asked Janeway. Tuvok's reply was cut off by a message from Vorik.

::: Vorik to the Bridge :::

"Yes Vorik?" the Captain answered. She didn't like the interruption. They had the Borg on the ship and they needed to get them off before they assimilated the crew.

::: My engineering staff and I have been transported out of Engineering. We have made several attempts to re-enter Engineering but those attempts have been unsuccessful. They have placed force-fields in the corridors surrounding the doors to Main Engineering.. Attempts to regain control of the transporter system by Ensign Brooks in Transporter Room One and Ensign Ashmore in Transport Room Two have also failed :::

"Captain, force-fields have also been erected around the Computer Core. Scans do not show any life-signs in the core though" reported Harry from the information his console revealed.

"Understood. I guess that rules out the use of transporters. We will have to physically engage the Borg. Get a team ready to assist the Security Team. Tuvok, your security teams will need to storm both Cargo Bay Two and Main Engineering together. Once Main Engineering is liberated, I want Vorik and his engineers to start removing all the alterations the Borg have made. When the Borg have been dealt with, we should be able to decrypt the lockouts" she ordered.

::: Affirmative. Vorik out :::

"Understood" replied Tuvok.

"I was wrong" expressed Chakotay. His statement coming out of the blue.

"Excuse me?" asked Janeway as she turned around to look at her First Officer. She was clearly puzzled by his comment.

"I said that the day couldn't get any worse. Well I was wrong" replied Chakotay.

"Very funny Chakotay" was Janeway's only reply. "Tuvok, organise the security teams. I'll lead the team to the Cargo Bay, you will lead a team to retake Main Engineering".

"Yes Captain" Tuvok said has he handed over Tactical to Lieutenant Ayala and entered the turbolift.

"Good. In the mean time, Harry and Seven, continue your attempts to break the Borg encryption over the main computer."

"Yes Captain" replied Harry as he recommenced his attempts to regain access to the main computer systems. Seven of Nine then moved over to Harry's station to help.

An explosion on the screen drew their attention back towards the viewscreen as they watch the sphere explode into a fireball. Just before the debris came near the ship, the warp engines suddenly engaged and they left the system at warp two.

"I guess they have restabilised the warp core. The bridge is yours Commander. As Tom would say, 'Let's get this show on the road'" was all Kathryn could say in response to the task they were about to undertake.

* * * * *

Weapons Room

The mood was sombre as they realised the extent of the threat that was aboard the ship. Tuvok was briefing his security teams on the insurrection they were about to undertake. He had tried to train his team for such an occasion but real life was always different from training scenarios.

"I have modified the phasers to emit on a rotating frequency, Captain. The Borg however will quickly adapt to the new settings. My security officers have been trained in hand to hand combat but the risk of assimilation is too great. When the Borg have adapted, we must use the bladed weapons. I am reluctant to utilise projectile weapons in Main Engineering as any stray projectiles may hit the warp core. Even our particle weapons must be used with extreme caution. Should a phaser beam hit the warp core, the core will explode. There are ten drones in Main Engineering that we must subdue. We will have three teams enter Main Engineering. One team will enter though the main doors. The second team is to enter via the jefferies tubes near the door. The third team will enter from the second level. Once control of Engineering has been regained, the engineers will need to ascertain all modifications the Borg has created.

"Captain Janeway will lead the team into Cargo Bay Two. Two teams will enter the Cargo Bay and terminate the drones there. Projectile weapons have been issued to those team members. The main team will enter via the main doors. The second team will enter via the upper level and provide cover fire to the main team " arranged Tuvok as he briefed the security teams.

"Any questions?" he asked. No one had any. "Then we will synchronise our attack at eleven hundred hours." That was twenty minutes away. The teams started moving towards the weapons lockers to retrieve their weapons. They then exited the room to assemble at the staging posts.

"Tuvok, are your people ready?" asked Janeway. She was very apprehensive about the coming task. She wanted to liberate the drones from the control of the Collective but with so many on board, she knew that there would be no opportunity for liberation.

"They are as ready as possible, Captain. Mr Paris had previously created a security-training program of a Borg incursion on our vessel for my security team. The scenario is remarkably similar to our situation. The scenario however did not have such a high number of drones though" informed Tuvok.

"How did the team fare?" asked Janeway, genuinely intrigued by this new information. If the team had trained for a Borg incursion, then she felt that the mission would have a higher probability of success.

"Not very well. Mr Paris programmed the scenario with an extremely high difficulty setting. His explanation for the level of difficulty was that the Borg adapts very quickly. He did not want anyone else to be hurt by the Borg so his program is very realistic but also very difficult. Even I have not successfully completed the program yet" he confessed.

"Is it that hard? When did he create the program?" she asked.

"Two years ago Captain" Tuvok replied.

"Two years and you still haven't mastered the program?" she asked incredulously

"That is correct. The drones kept overpowering us. Even with the help of a full team, we have not been successful" Tuvok stated. If he was human, he would be highly embarrassed but since he was Vulcan, embarrassment was an emotion so he stated it like a mission report.

"Tom never told me about the program. At least your team has had some experience in fighting the Borg. We will need all the help we can get" Janeway stated as she moved towards the locker. "Hopefully real life does not reflect Tom's scenario and we beat the Borg."

"Yes Captain" was Tuvok's reply as he also went to the locker to retrieve his weapons.

* * * * *

The ten members of the security team that was assigned to Janeway were assembled near the doorway of Cargo Bay Two. Everyone was nervous with anticipation of the coming battle. As Ensign McKenzie prepared to open the Cargo Bay doors, everyone rechecked their weapons.

"On a count of three" whispers Janeway to McKenzie and he nods to her.

"One... two... three" and the door's manual release trigger is activate. The doors open and they all storm in... to collide with a force-field erected behind the door. As everyone collected himself or herself, they all saw first hand that Cargo Bay Two had nearly finished being assimilated. The whole room was filled with Borg machinery. The number of regeneration alcoves had increased to thirty-six and a series of complex components obscured the rear of the room. A second level had been created on walls of the room to house the extra alcoves while leaving the centre free. Steps had been fabricated on both sides of the room to facilitate the movement of the drones to the upper walkway that wrapped around the walls of the room. The walkway was just wide enough for a drone to walk past the alcoves without touching.

Janeway placed her hand on the force-field and it lit up before her, showing the entire team that the entrance was surrounded by the barrier and that there was no way in. Ordering a quiet retreat, they slowly moved away from the doorway into the corridor before they could draw the attention of the drones. With their mission a failure, they slowly made the journey back to the rendezvous point. On the way there, her communicator chirped.

::: Molina to Janeway :::

"Janeway here"

::: Captain, our incursion into the Cargo Bay through the upper level was unsuccessful. There was a force-field erected over the entrance. We are heading back to the rendezvous point now :::

"Understood. We were also unsuccessful. Janeway out".

When they arrived in the weapons room, they encountered Tuvok's team.

"We were also unsuccessful Captain. There was a force-field erected over every entrance into Main Engineering. The only option left is to create a doorway of our own. We must cut through the wall" Tuvok reported.

Just as Janeway was about to reply, her communicator chirped.

::: EMH to Captain Janeway!!!! Please respond!!! :::

Everyone was wondering why the doctor sounded so anxious.

"What is it Doctor? We are a bit occupied at the moment trying to find a way into the Borg controlled areas".

::: Captain, the Borg have just transported Tom from sickbay. I was just checking on him when he dematerialised :::

"The Borg have him? This day is getting worse and worse..." Kathryn muttered but the doctor then abruptly cut off her speech.

::: CAPTAIN!!! THEY HAVE ALSO TAKEN MY EMITTER!!!!!!!!!!! :::

*****

    Next: Chapter Seven