Some Juicy Bait for an Obvious Trap

Echo and I did not talk for the rest of the day, and the silence between us would have spanned further if the next episode had not started, but at least Janeway was ready for it. Echo simply told me to handle it however I wanted, but all I managed to do was limit the damage done to Voyager as Kes began her transformation. There was simply nothing that I could do as her body was so saturated with mana that it was mutating at the cellular level, just like what I had undergone when I gained my Dragon physique.

Sadly, it all happened so fast that there was little that I could understand from the process before she had to take one of the shuttlecrafts and leave the ship. Whatever she was transforming into was related to Space and Time, which fit with the show and what she was about to do. When her mana reached its peak, there was a powerful ripple that Echo and I could feel despite the distance between us and Kes. Her new power condensed, and an aura on scale with my own in my Dragon form, oozed out of her, but in the next instant, all of her excess energy was directed at the Voyager. Just like in the show, she catapulted the ship out of Borg space and ten years closer to the Alpha Quadrant.

Seven of Nine had also attempted to contact the Borg during the period despite Janeway knowing that it would happen. While I was not sure if she allowed Seven to make the mistake, the Captain did have me start babysitting her to make sure that she stayed out of trouble once my week off was done. Janeway said that she hoped that my own Borg implants would help us connect, but I was more of a faux-Borg so there was not much common ground between us. Still, with her confined to Cargo Bay Two and me as her only visitor, I was her only source of conversation.

"Good morning, Seven. How was your evening?" I asked as I walked into the cargo bay.

"Adequate. My regeneration cycle lasted eight hours and I spent the rest of my time contemplating my existence," she said, giving me her usual reply.

"Sounds like a wild and crazy night," I chuckled. "Have you thought anymore about my suggestion? It would give you the chance to interact with more people than just me for a change."

"I have, and contacted Commander Chakotay to request a duty assignment. He said that he would meet with me at nine hundred hours," she replied.

"Good; well, wake me if he decides to give you something right away, but I'd guess that tomorrow would be the earliest that he would assign you to anything," I said as I made my way towards my alcove.

"As you wish," she agreed.

I nodded my head absently and entered the alcove. The regeneration process was similar to using the Mind Linker, and my consciousness was pulled away from my body. When I opened my eyes, I found myself in the jungle that dominated most of Unimatrix Zero.

"Susanna," I called softly.

The 'woman' in question manifested not too far away from me and smiled. "Welcome back, Rebecca. How can I assist you?"

"Is Raven here or due soon?" I asked.

"Unfortunately, no. Her last regeneration cycle ended ten hours ago, so I expect her between six and thirty hours from now."

"Damn," I sighed. "You would think that the Borg would be more regular with their regeneration cycles."

"Typically, they are, but Raven is a unique case among the Collective," Susanna replied.

"Yeah, I'm sure... Do you know what the Queen is doing to her?" 

"No, everyone's mind who enters this Domain, aside from you, is split from what is connected to the Borg. It gives them the chance to live free from their control while also helping to conceal this place from the Queen. I have no way of knowing what is happening to Raven outside of my Domain."

I sighed since I felt useless. There was no way that I could help Raven and eight hours of my week were consumed with regenerating, which could not be broken up without spending much more time doing it. It felt like I was wasting my time here since seeing her was hit-or-miss, but I was not willing to cut off my connection to her.

"While I don't have any training for you, Rebecca, there are still things that you can do here. Your powers will not work as they do in the Physical Realm, but your Chaotic nature grants you the ability to manipulate this Domain, despite my ownership. I can't direct you, but I know that this place can be changed by your power, which can be another method for you to understand the Chaos within you," she said.

"It's good to know that you have the same mind-reading abilities as Fae," I remarked with a hint of annoyance.

"It's your mind that links to my Domain. It is impossible for me to not read your thoughts."

"Yeah, but that doesn't make me anymore comfortable with it," I huffed, crossing my arms. "So, what did you mean? The Chaos within me is like corruption, ever-changing and consuming, so tinkering around with it here could have a lot of consequences in the future due to its connection to the Borg. If you can read my mind, then you already know that this place will eventually be destroyed, either by Voyager or the Collective, should the Queen figure out how to reach this place early, and the more that I meddle, the bigger the chance of that happening."

"Yes, I was informed that my Domain would be destroyed within six years of my creation when I was formed, as well as of the dangers that your powers bring. You're right; corrupting even a small piece of this Domain could increase the chances of the Queen isolating the proper frequency of Unimatrix Zero ahead of the proper time, but I do have a reason why it could be worth the risk... Raven's training is mostly to fortify her mind against the Collective's Will, but a second training is available, if you are willing. Just like the Borg, her nature does align more with Order, so she has the potential to learn how to reverse your Chaos corruption and this would be the safest place for her to train that ability as I can act like a buffer between the corruption and her," Susanna explained.

While I was tempted to agree right away, the memory of a promise that I had made recently popped into my mind. I could only sigh then asked, "Have you told Raven of this 'second' training option?"

"No, I have not told her," she replied.

"I can't make this decision on my own. It's been less than a week since I made my promise to Echo, so I'm not going to be an idiot. Can you tell her about it and that I will be talking with Echo about it when I wake up, but she might decide to wait until Katye is awake before we make the decision? I would like her opinion on it as well before I agree," I said with a sigh.

"Of course," she agreed then added, "There is something else that I would recommend for you to bring up to Echo, and Katye, when she wakes. You have the ability to 'assimilate' both of them which would draw them into the 'collective' between you and Raven. They would be able to connect to this place, and undergo the same training as Raven, and the three of you would be able to 'hear' each other's thoughts through the connection, which could help with Echo's distrust of you hiding things from her. The danger is the same as what you are already facing; if Raven succumbs to the Will of the Collective, you all will be in for a Mental battle that will be difficult to overcome, even for Katye, whose mind is the strongest. But, just like you, they can separate themselves from the 'collective' by overwriting Raven's mana signature or having the technology removed from their bodies."

I frowned because I recognized the juicy bait that was luring our group into Tori's trap. All of us could be connected which would eliminate Echo's distrust because she would be linked to my mind, Katye, Raven, and Echo could learn how to resist my corruptive nature, and all we needed to do was erase Raven's connection, or remove the Borg technology, which she already told me that Katye could achieve within a year or two. The danger was obvious, but I could still see everyone agreeing, including myself. My biggest fear was corrupting the three of them with my Chaos as I had done in my Heart Demon trial, so despite the obvious danger, I could still hear the honey in her words, begging me to agree.

Rubbing the base of my horns with a bit of annoyance, I said, "Can you transfer me to the beach and make the rest of my cycle less than an hour from my point of view?"

She snapped her fingers and a white portal appeared in front of me. This was my third time here and not the first time that I requested the ride, so I walked into it without another word. The portal brought me to the island that could be seen from the overlook of the Domain, and there were a couple of beach chairs which I headed for, ignoring the fact that there were four placed together, since I had already recognized Tori's bait, as Susanna's offer had been nothing more than an attempt to draw us further into his trap.

"Damn," I sighed as I fell onto one of the chairs, "because things aren't messy enough."

There was little question in my mind whether Echo would agree, and even Katye, despite the obvious danger that came with the offer. There was the obvious threat of tying all of us together, and to the Borg, but the problems did not end there. There were a couple of episodes where Seven was affected by an outside force due to her Borg implants, so we could possibly be sensitive to them too, though trying to explain the decision to Janeway was what worried me most. Without explaining a few of our secrets, there was no way that she would understand why we would make such a choice, and even then, I was not sure since the danger was too great. After all, it was not like I could tell her that this entire universe was made just to train the four of us.

When my regeneration cycle ended, I opened my eyes and stepped out of the alcove. Seven, unsurprisingly, was still in the cargo bay and tapping away at the console. She looked up at me as she heard me awaken and gave me a slight nod before returning to what she was doing.

"How did things go with Chakotay?" I asked.

"Fine. I was assigned to Engineering to assist with adapting Borg transwarp technology to the Voyager," she replied without looking up.

"That would be very beneficial for the ship," I said half-heartedly, since I knew that it would end up in a minor disaster. Thankfully, Seven's people skills were still too weak to realize that there was something off about what I said and did not question me. "Well, I know that you will be busy preparing for that for a bit, but maybe next week, I can schedule us some time on the holo-deck for a few games of Velocity. It's good exercise, and a way to train your hand-eye coordination."

"I already have excellent hand-eye coordination," she said dismissively.

"Then you should win every round, no?" I mocked with a chuckle since I knew that she had little chance of beating me if I got serious.

Seven actually stopped working momentarily and looked at me. She knew that I was a Vazukuru which was what the Borg had been hunting for, yet she did not know why. I was like a mythical creature to the Borg, so she was curious about me, and it was likely part of the reason why she talked with me as much as she did, since she could, and would, outright ignore people if she was uninterested in them.

"As you wish, I will play a round with you next week; Monday, I am off duty," Seven agreed.

"Alrighty, I'll secure us a time. I'll see you tomorrow," I replied with a smile then headed for the exit. 

I headed back to the Shuttle Bay and entered our little ship. Only Filigree was onboard, and awake, so I checked on Katye while I waited for Echo to return. She appeared to simply be sleeping, but her aura was incredibly weak from the Soul damage that she had taken to help heal me, though it was slowly regaining its strength.

"Yet another thing that I am guilty of causing," I sighed, crossing my arms.

::Echo has returned to the ship.::

"Thanks, Fae," I replied, before turning and leaving the room.

Echo was walking up the stairs with Nyka laying across her shoulders. She glanced at me and said nothing as she walked into the kitchen. Things were still rocky with us, and would be for some time, but I understood her point of view and even agreed with it.

"We need to talk. Susanna has given us a juicy bit of bait that you may want to consider despite the dangers that come with it. She told me that there is a way to help Raven train a second technique that would teach her how to reverse my Chaos corruption, which is the most dangerous part of my power. The danger is obvious; we could trigger the events of the Unimatrix Zero episode before it should happen by doing this, but there's more. She also suggested I could assimilate you and Katye, so that you both could also undergo the same training and the three of us would be connected like the Borg, so no secrets between us," I said bluntly, knowing that it was better to be direct with her.

While I spoke, Echo opened the fridge and pulled out a bottle of Spirit Wine. She grabbed our usual cups and poured us both a drink. I had already told her about my access to Unimatrix Zero and asked her to review the episodes that were involved with the dream world of the lucky Borg, so she knew what I was talking about.

Echo picked up her cup and took a sip before she replied, "The last bit is tempting enough on its own."

I smirked wryly and grabbed my own as I retorted, "I'm sure... If you wish for me to assimilate you, I will, but Katye gets to make the decision for herself. There is a greater danger for you than me or her since we're strong enough to remove Raven's mana signature on the nanoprobes while it will be difficult for you as this is Raven's specialty. Susanna believes that Katye can get to the point where she can remove the technology from our bodies safely, but it will take a year or two of focused work before she gets there. I'm not saying this to dissuade you, only to make sure you know the risks."

Echo clicked her tongue and Nyka hopped off her shoulders. She placed her cup down on the counter and shifted over to the replicator without a word. I knew her well enough to know that she was weighing my words and the consequences that her decision could cause, so I sipped on the wine and waited for her to speak.

"I want to be assimilated, but I also want to discuss it with Katye first and I would like to know Raven's opinion on the matter," Echo said as her dinner materialized which she grabbed then headed to the table.

"Alright. I've already asked Susanna to inform Raven about this, so I should have her opinion after my next regeneration cycle."

Echo nodded but said nothing else. It was clear that our conversation was done, so I finished my drink and headed downstairs. Like the past few nights, I recharged the core then spent the rest of the evening meditating on my Soul Realm, attempting to understand the core of my being better. No matter what the universe of Star Trek held for me in the future, I still knew that the greatest challenge ahead of me, was myself.