Excerpt: Relative To Time v 2.0

Janeway stared at the view screen at Icheb and was shocked.

"Can he see me?" She asked the Doctor.

"No, but maybe you can engage him in some small talk. He does not seem to recall me so it makes me think he never even boarded Voyager." He said grimly.

Janeway shuddered and recalled how they came across the lost cube with the children inside. They were alone and attempting to have their own collective but were unsuccessful. It had been Seven's empathy that assisted in getting the children to come back to Voyager and rediscover who they really were.

"View screen on, Mr Willick" The Doctor said as he sat in the captain's chair, looking nervous.

"You have 4 minutes to put your shields down." Icheb said in a deep voice that sounded eloquent but harsh.

"I am Captain Kathryn Janeway of the USS Voyager. I believe we have met." Janeway said calmly to the tall Borg male.

He seemed to falter slightly and looked confused. "Captain Kathryn Janeway, of the Starship Voyager ; an inferior vessel." He said loudly. Time passed as they all stood in silence.

Finally, the silence was broken by Icheb who seemed to be conversing with his collective. "You are from the past; we scanned you and have found that
(23935 )
you have DNA from a far substandard species of humanoid. Assimilation would be considered futile by the Borg. You shall be probed and all pertinent information will be processed for the good of the collective and the rest of your crew will be assimilated to perfect the collective. All of your time travel technology will be used to perfect our cube.” Icheb clasped his hands behind his back and stood tall. It reminded Janeway of how Seven looked when she was confident.

Janeway would destroy his confidence. “Right on that count, Icheb. I am from the past and I am here to send you back to the right timeline, a timeline that gave you hope and direction. A common cause in which you joined Starfleet and followed in my footsteps. You are here only because of human error in another timeline. Once we are able to restore the timeline, you will be back to where you belong.” Janeway watched Icheb for some sign of resolve or panic, but he stood stoic and unemotional. Yet she knew this young man and what he could be, even without the intervention of Seven and the Voyager crew.

“We will rule the timelines. I shall assimilate the Relativity and all who deal with the time travel technology.” He seemed to smile slightly and Janeway found her ‘in’. He had used the pronoun “I” in his banter.

“That is interesting, Mr Icheb....you will assimilate the time travel technology and not the collective. Interesting slip of words and yet so meaningful. I don’t believe for a minute that you are fully assimilated with this cube or that the Borg personel are as one. This is a Borg Cube full of Starfleet technology and databanks; I am sure, full of Starfleet information. There may be more Borg in this timeline but you are different and a danger to the lives of millions of Borg collectives. You plan to use the Relativity for your own gain. You have no desire to share this with any other Borg crew members.” When she finished, she watched Icheb to gauge his demeanour. He was visibly rattled and look similar to the boy she know many centuries ago. He looked behind to watch his Borg crew watch him with mild curiosity. Although not terribly affected by the news their leaded may be inperfect, they seemed to be in stand-by to dismantle him and take over the cube, which would become even a bigger problem for the time ship as they did not have the advance technology to fight the over sized and over weaponed cube. Now it seemed that she had to save Icheb as well as the Relativity until she got word that Seven was successful in her 2nd jump to stop the future Seven on her 1st jump. The time paradox was over whelming. Her internal monologue was stopped short by Icheb’s icy response. “We are losing our patience with your rhetoric as a distraction. Our mission is to destroy your vessel after assimilating your technology and assimilating your more informative crew members. We have the crew manifest and know who we want. T’Pok, Lt Commander, Willick, Lt, McKerlie, Lt, Zimmerman, Commander, Ducane, Captain , Janeway, Captain, Seven of Nine of Unimatrix Zero.” Janeway blinked and looked around the bridge in desperation and realized the Doctor has disappeared from his perch in the Captains chair. She would deal with that later, “Unacceptable, Mr Icheb. Stand down your weapons and surrender or I shall destroy the Relativity and all her crew and technology with it. This is not an idle threat.” Janeway pushed away from the helm and ran over to Lt Willick as she muttered loudly, “Close communiqué with the Cube!” Once they were sure no one else could listen to their conversation, Janeway, Willick and McKerlie huddled by the science station. “The photonic rebel is on board that cube, I just know it. Ty?” Lt Willick perked up at the use of is first name and beamed at Janeway, “Yes Captain?” Janeway smiled back, “Scan that vessel for any sign of photonic residue, holographic signatures, or anything else related to the creation of holograms. Something tells me Icheb is not alone in his search and we need to work a different angle!” Ty Willick grinned and raced to the operations station and began a level 7 scan of the cube. Meanwhile, Lt McKerlie was scouring the databanks for information on anything about photonic rebellions and could only find the 2373 rebellion that occurred in the Delta Quadrant and a mild incursion during the 2374 Holo-Wars on an old mining planet after the release of Commander Zimmerman’s famous holo-novel. Some information had been omitted by the Temporal Paradox Committee in 2378, so another dead end but Janeway was thrilled that she had some pertinent information to work on. She transferred the data onto her PADD and was ready to discuss options with Icheb. “Open commications with the cube, Jess” Janeway said with a smile.

“This is unacceptable, Captain Janeway. We have scanned your vessel and we are aware of your...” Janeway stopped Icheb and nodded, “Yes yes...aware you may be but if you scanned your own vessel like we have you would know that there is a drone on board with a photonic signature. Basically, Mr Icheb, you have been had.”

Icheb looked bewildered. He began to shout orders at the other drones and lost interest in Janeway. Communiqué with the cube halted and they three lone crew members on the Relativity waited. Ty Willick and Jess McKerlie looked apprehensive but Janeway remained stoic in demeanour and hopeful. She asked the computer for the correct time and knew Seven should be back within the next few minutes. She stared at the black screen before her and wondered what was happening on board the cube. Would the rebel be caught or was he so involved in Icheb’s being that they were unable to detach from the artificial life forms grasp. Suddenly the screen blared green neon lighting and the ‘bridge’ of the cube appeared with Icheb looking angry and dishevelled. “USS Relativity, please respond.” Icheb’s voice pleaded. “Janeway here. Have you been able to solve the mystery?” She said quietly. Icheb looked down at his feet and seemed...was it uncertain? “The drone has disappeared from our sensors but you were correct. We...I have let the collective down.” His voice trailed and no longer echoed with the sounds of other voices in union. “You were fooled as we all have. The timeline was altered but soon we will find everything in order, or at least sort of in order. Seven of Nine is working on it as I speak. Icheb, your past and future will be successful and with purpose. I promise.” Icheb looked up and sighed, “We are grateful, Captain Kathryn Janeway, for you assistance. We will not assimilate your vessel and will stand down arms until...the time line is altered. We...I hope that you find safe passage in this quadrant, and if I may ask...” But his words were cut off by the harsh whirl of siren. Seven had returned and the sip began to shake slightly. The Borg Cube faded into space as it demoleculized in front of her eyes. Lt’s McKerlie and Willick seemed unphased as Seven entered the bridge area in her usual mauve bio suit, tricorder in hand. “Was I successful, Captain?” Seven asked as she stared at the sparse number of crew members on the bridge. Willick and McKerlie were no longer alone, 3 more officers now appeared out of thin air in front of Janeway’s eyes and the Doctor reappeared in the Captain’s chair looking mildly annoyed. “I think so. Lt McKerlie, access Starfleet databanks and search for a ‘Icheb”; a academy graduate.” Moments later, the computer droned out: Icheb Yifay Leucon Hansen, born 2359, former Borg drone from the Delta quadrant, a Brunali humanoid, graduated top of his class from the Starfleet Academy, attended Officer’s Academy and was given rank of Lt upon graduation. Became Captain of the USS Mackenzie, married a Catherine Chandler, fathered 2 children, Annika Kathryn Yifay Hansen, and a Markus Leucon Thomas Hansen ....” Janeway stopped the computer, “Thank you that is sufficient. Seems as if you were successful, Seven. Welcome back Doctor, any idea as to where you went during our little kerfuffle?” The Doctor looked embarrassed as both Seven and Janeway stared at him with bemused smiles. “I seemed to have gone offline. Maybe you could fill me in since I am acting Captain of this vessel...” But before he could continue, Captain James Ducane walked through the bridge doors, followed by Commander T’Pok. Both looked much better than they did minutes before the time paradox occurred. “Thank you Commander Zimmerman, I can take it from here.” James said with a nod to the Doctor. The Doctor stood up and vacated the Captain’s chair with vigour. T’Pok rushed to his operations station and began a manual scan of the ship’s sensors. “Status, Mr Willick?” Ducane said as he eyed both Seven and Janeway. “Time line is back to .00001negative incursions.” T’Pok now seemed pleased and nodded, “Sensor’s are not picking up any photonic trails. Seven of Nine was successful as was Captain Janeway.” James Ducane smiled, “Well done. Now we can attempt another jump with the knowledge that the rebel has his hands into our data base. He seems to know what we are up to, either by jumping into our future or using lost members of the crew as targets. It is time we go to full red alert and whittle down the crew to the bare minimum. Lt McKerlie, send all non essential staff back to the Star base. Begin transporting immediately. We are basically abandoning ship.”