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Kathryn was walking through the corridors of Voyager with Chakotay at her side. She had told him on the Holodeck that they should be getting back to the Bridge.
What she had really meant to say was that they should be getting back to normal. His disobedience and their fight, their war as she had called it at one point, it had left deeper scars than she had realized.
Over the past few days, she had felt incredibly alone. As alone as only a Captain of a starship could feel. He had told her that they would be making the decisions about fighting the Borg together but in the end, their differences had caused a rift to come between them. He hadn’t trusted her judgement and he had disobeyed her orders.
They had come together again in the end and together they had defeated Seven of Nine, had severed her link with the Collective. But it would take time to get things back to normal. As she walked with him through the corridors now, Kathryn couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable. An unease had settled between them that only time could heal and in that moment, she still felt utterly alone.
“Chakotay…” She started out and then stopped walking. He turned towards her and she could feel the anxiety and guilt radiating from him. His look told her that he was scared for what she was going to tell him next. “Maybe I’ll join you a little later. There is something I need to do before I go back to the Bridge.”
He waited a few seconds. Maybe hoping that she would tell him what it was that she wanted to do? Maybe wondering if he could just ask her what it was? But somehow he sensed that that was no longer his place. “Very well, Captain.”
She then watched him walk away, shoulders slightly hunched and his head angled towards the floor. A flare of guilt went through Kathryn this time but she also felt relief. She needed some distance from him, some time to figure out where she stood in their friendship.
She felt a little bit as if her link with her own Collective had been severed, or at least had been damaged. She couldn’t imagine what the real thing felt like…
As if on their own accord, her feet started to move again. She had started walking towards Sick Bay, towards Seven of Nine.
The Sick Bay doors whooshed open and Kathryn’s eyes immediately landed on the figure lying on the biobed across the room. Her mind screamed at her that it was a Borg drone lying there, an enemy that should not be underestimated, an enemy that had tried to betray her…
But somehow her heart told her something else entirely.
As she walked slowly towards Seven of Nine, she couldn’t help but think about what Chakotay had told her. About the little human girl who had had a family. Who had played, running and laughing in the sun. Who had had hopes and dreams.
Annika.
As if in a dream, Kathryn saw her own hand reach out and then her fingers softly touched the skin on Seven of Nine’s face. It was gray and strangely cold. Borg… but also human.
“Captain?”
The Doctor’s voice made Kathryn jump back. She almost crashed into a cart with medical supplies but quickly straightened up, pretending that the Doctor’s sudden appearance hadn’t scared her. “Doctor.”
He looked at her with a slightly strange expression on his face. “What can I help you with? Are you alright?”
“Yes, I am fine.” She quickly told him and then looked back down at his patient. “How is she?”
“Not much has changed since my last report.” The Doctor said with a smile. “I am keeping her unconscious for now and her human tissue really does seem to be regenerating. But I can’t be sure what the severing of the link with the Collective will do to her. She was young when she was assimilated. I don’t know if she can go back.”
“But it has been done before.” Kathryn said in a soft wishful voice as her eyes moved over Seven of Nine’s face. Now that she was sleeping, she somehow looked more human than before. “Humans have been brought back from the Collective. The assimilation can be reversed.”
“You are thinking of Captain Picard.” The Doctor nodded. “It has been done before. But those people had not been assimilated at such a young age. Seven of Nine has been Borg for eighteen years. She will never be able to completely go back.”
“Are you saying it can’t be done?” Kathryn asked him as she turned back around to look at him. “Are you saying there is no hope for her?”
“Are you saying that that is our goal?” He asked her instead of answering her, only with a little surprise and a rather hopeful expression. “Is that what you want me to do? Bring her back to humanity?”
“Yes.” Kathryn said without a doubt. Her eyes turning back to the biobed. “Yes, we have to bring her back. I want you to try everything you can think of.”
“She might not like it.” He pointed out. “She might not want to be brought back to humanity. Should we not respect her wishes?”
Somehow the question brought Kathryn back to all the times over the past few days when she had had to make impossible decisions for everyone. When she had been alone and the power and duty of the Captain’s role weighed down her shoulders.
She still felt lonely. She didn’t want to feel alone anymore.
“Sometimes… hard decisions have to be made.” She told the Doctor without looking at him. “She will realize that bringing her back to humanity is the right thing to do. She will see that in the end. For now… let’s give her a new start. A new beginning.”
She turned around to look at the Doctor and she could tell that he thought her answer might mean more than just creating a new beginning for this former Borg drone. But he did not ask her any more questions, instead he simply nodded and then moved back to the station in the middle of the room.
Kathryn turned back to look at the sleeping Seven of Nine. She almost wished that she could reach out to her with her mind like Kes and tell her that everything was going to be alright. That they would make it work. But she couldn’t and if she had been able to, she might not have been very convincing.
With a sigh, Kathryn walked away from the biobed and, after a short nod at the Doctor, she left Sick Bay.
The truth was that she did not know what was going to happen next. But somehow she felt like things had changed. Between her and Chakotay… Maybe between her and all the rest of the crew.
Maybe because Seven of Nine was now a part of that crew…
Kathryn also felt like this change might be scary at first but that it could be something good and powerful. There was a strange sense of hope blooming up inside of her now. A beautiful warm and comforting feeling.
A hope for this new beginning.