VOY - String Theory 2 - Fusion (c)

by Star Trek

  Chakotay didn’t honestly know whether the captain was alive or dead. But he was certain that if she was, whatever “deal” she had struck with Phoebe did not include the arbitrary sacrifice of innocent lives.

  “Do we understand each other?” Phoebe asked again.

  “Perfectly,” he replied.

  Lowering his phaser rifle, he aimed it directly at Phoebe and fired.

  Chapter 15

  “You lie!” Assylia shouted, closing the small distance between herself and Tuvok.

  B’Elanna and the captain instinctively reached for their phasers, sensing the hostility buried for so many years within Assylia and now given leash. But Janeway also immediately realized that their phasers would have no effect on the hologram. Janeway’s eyes locked with B’Elanna’s and a subtle nod communicated her wishes. B’Elanna moved silently to the holomatrix control station located near the entrance to sickbay and waited for the situation to develop. With the flick of a finger, she could deactivate Assylia’s matrix from here and eliminate any threat she might pose.

  “No, I do not,” Tuvok replied.

  “I watched them die, hundreds at a time. Our surgeons confirmed their deaths, and my helplessness,” Assylia choked.

  “What you witnessed was the first stage of their transformation. During that time, their bodies died. But their consciousnesses, all that they are apart from their bodies, were merged with the beings that had entered them. I have heard their thoughts and their memories. In our new existence, there are no barriers between us. Once the completeness of their new existence was clear to them, they…like me…welcomed this process.

  “We enter the final stage of transformation in complete willingness. It cannot be achieved otherwise. Your people exist now as pure consciousness in a form which allows them to experience the universe in ways you cannot imagine. Once they have returned home, they will never again know or fear death.

  “They share only two regrets. The first is that you have suffered needlessly these fifty years. Had you not separated your mind from your body just before your body was found by the spore, you would be one with them now. They would have you know that they can feel your concern, but it, like your pain on their behalf, is unnecessary.”

  Assylia listened, apparently unmoved. It was as if she could not…or would not…accept his words. “You contradict all I have been taught of life, death, and the will of the Blessed All-Knowing Light. If what you say is true, then the faith which has sustained my people for thousands of years is false,” she said haughtily.

  “Your faith was imprecise. It was based on an understanding of space and time which your people have now transcended. Their belief in your Blessed All-Knowing Light has never wavered. They understand now, as I do, that his existence is as real as theirs. He is not, as you could not help but believe, a god. He is merely a more evolved state of consciousness and energy with whom they will now be able to enter into dialogue. They await his return to this city he created, and desire nothing more than to follow him home when the Time of Knowing is complete.”

  Janeway followed Tuvok’s words with a mixed sense of regret and relief. She understood now that the god of the Monorhans, their Blessed All-Knowing Light, was in fact the Nacene who had tried to lead his people against the Others, and that he had been trapped in this dimension against his will, the same entity Phoebe had referred to more simply as the Light. Despite the slight panic rising within her, she also began to understand the allure of the transformation that Tuvok had described. She had often wondered at the life he and all Vulcans were resigned to live. She understood the delicate line they were forced to walk. Their experience of emotions was an overwhelming and all-consuming one. They had been able to evolve into the rich and advanced society they were only by imposing total control on those emotions. Their cult of logic had undoubtedly served them well. And she knew that despite their inability to express themselves as emotional beings, they did possess feelings, and that when they permitted themselves to feel them under strict controls, it was a satisfying experience.

  But if she was hearing Tuvok correctly, the existence he was about to accept would be far superior to the constant battleground that had been, up to this point, every moment of his life. Pure logic was a state every Vulcan would aspire to but understood was impossible to attain in any practical form. Tuvok’s new existence would be, by definition, an experience of this purity, and much as she hated to admit it, she could not deny that to hold him back from this opportunity would be both selfish and cruel.

  Assylia paused, then spoke again, saying, “How is it possible that you could have sensed my people and their need while I, who was bound to every single one of them from the moment I became their rih-hara-tan, have known nothing of this?”

  Tuvok cocked his head to one side, his gaze curious. “You have heard them, just as I did. But your pain and anger blinded you to their truth. You were incapable of understanding.”

  “I heard nothing,” she said flatly. “I sensed…from time to time…”

  “Your connection to your people was broken in the transformation. But nonetheless you were aware of their presence…and of their need.”

  Though Janeway did not truly understand the finer points of the argument that was happening in front of her, she could sense Assylia’s inability to deny Tuvok’s words try as she might, as well as her unwillingness to accept the entirety of what he was saying.

  “What need?” Janeway interjected.

  “Their existence within this dimension is…incomplete. They are meant to pass beyond this place, through the conduit of light described by Dagan. They need to go home.”

  Janeway’s mind spun at the thought. This was something Phoebe had obviously failed to mention on their little educational sabbatical. Clearly the spores that infected the Monorhans were meant for the Nacene. Now that the two species had unintentionally joined, the transformed Monorhans also believed that Exosia was their true home. The question was, if the Nacene needed the spores in order to undergo a similar transformation before they could traverse the conduit, were there enough left on the array to facilitate this for Phoebe and the others who had been exiled?

  Throughout this entire exchange, a small corner of Janeway’s thoughts had been fretting over the fact that Phoebe had not yet returned with Chakotay. That worry began to blossom into fear.

  Tuvok continued to address Assylia, unperturbed. “I, too, misunderstood at first. Our fragile minds cannot hold but a fragment of their truth. Nonetheless, I felt their need and answered it. They honored this by saving my life and offering me a place among them.”

  Finally Assylia said, “I require proof. What you are asking me to believe is impossible.”

  “What proof could I offer you?” Tuvok asked.

  “The beings that I have sensed are capable of exerting their will upon the controls of this station. I have a request to make of my shi-harat.”

  “What is it that you wish Naviim to do?” Tuvok asked, noting that Assylia was shocked that he would know her servant’s name.

  “There is a dataport on the Betasis which has been compromised by the creatures you speak of. It tethers my ship to this station. Have them remove it so that I may send the Betasis back to Monorha. Those we left behind have a right to know of our fate.”

  Tuvok closed his eyes, and for a silent moment, all stood by, breathless, awaiting his response.

  Finally he opened them and said, “It is done, my rih.”

  Horror cascaded across Assylia’s stern face.

  “Naviim,” she whispered.

  “Be at peace,” Tuvok said, then clicked his tongue in a manner Janeway recognized was meant to communicate a deeper, more personal thought meant for Assylia alone.

  For Assylia, this moment was a living nightmare. She had never forgotten Naviim’s face as he stood beside her, willing to face death to protect her rather than seek out the safety of one of the preservation pods. As her final words to Naviim before the transfer that had
trapped her within her ship were echoed back to her through this alien’s lips, she saw, sensed, and knew that in this moment, she was speaking to her beloved shi-harat.

  “Naviim…” Assylia said again, and for the first time it was clear to Janeway that Assylia had seen the truth in Tuvok’s words.

  “NOOOOOO!” A frantic wail erupted from Assylia’s throat, and she fell to her knees, clutching her face in her hands.

  Janeway moved immediately to Assylia’s side, unsure how best to console her, or why this moment was so devastating to her.

  “Assylia…” she said softly.

  “Rollins to Torres,” a sharp voice interrupted over the comm.

  “What is it?” B’Elanna asked.

  “We’re reading a massive energy buildup within the docking bay where the Monorhan ship is berthed. It looks as if an autodestruct system of some kind has been activated.”

  Janeway knelt beside Assylia and grasped her by her forearms, forcing her to look directly into her eyes.

  “What have you done?” she demanded firmly.

  “I didn’t know,” Assylia stammered through her sobs, “I didn’t…what he said isn’t possible.”

  “Why are your ship’s systems suddenly overloading?” Janeway pushed.

  “The dataport connecting my ship to the array regulated the flow of information between the two systems,” she began.

  “We are maintaining a similar connection now, Captain,” B’Elanna offered.

  Shuddering, Assylia continued, “Thanks to that connection I have been able to monitor the array’s systems and interact with them from time to time.”

  For example, when you disabled the array’s guidance system and almost destroyed my ship, Janeway thought, but thought best to keep to herself. Nodding sternly, she willed Assylia to continue.

  “My ship and I were one. It knew my thoughts and wishes. The only thing which kept it from acting on those wishes all this time was the cable that connected us to the array. The dataport regulates all commands between the Betasis and the array and will automatically override commands that could damage its systems. It would never allow my ship to execute my final order.”

  Janeway didn’t have to ask what that order had been.

  B’Elanna had moved to another computer interface and re-rerouted the sensor data.

  “Captain, Rollins is right. The Betasis is going to explode.”

  “How much time do we have?”

  “Ten minutes, no more,” B’Elanna replied.

  Janeway wanted to shake Assylia but forced herself to remain calm.

  “Can you stop it?” she asked. “Is there an emergency override?”

  Assylia shook her head weakly. “It was my last wish…to die here…as they did.”

  “But they’re not dead,” Janeway said, then turning to B’Elanna asked, “Will the explosion be contained within the docking bay?”

  “No, Captain,” B’Elanna replied. “It will destabilize the ring’s structural integrity. Once the explosion hits the singularity’s event horizon it will set off a chain reaction….”

  “Can we return Assylia’s consciousness to her ship? Could she counteract the command from within the system?”

  “The bioneural systems of the Betasis were infected with Borg nanoprobes. It was the only way we could force her consciousness into the holobuffer. I don’t think she could survive within…”

  Janeway raised her hand. She didn’t need to hear any more. She had less than ten minutes to get Voyager a safe distance from the array.

  Seven watched in alarm as Chakotay fired on the entity known as “Phoebe.” Had she been in command of this mission, it would certainly not have been her first choice. Though she would not have hesitated to defend herself, or the team, she sensed vulnerabilities in Phoebe that Chakotay seemed oblivious of. Why had she not simply killed them and taken the Key if that was her goal? To Seven it seemed obvious that the captain was, most likely, just as Phoebe had said, alive, and that up until the moment Chakotay fired, might still have the upper hand in her dealings with the Nacene.

  Nonetheless, Chakotay’s aim was true. The blast from his phaser rifle stuck Phoebe’s chest, and she was thrown to the deck, where she remained motionless for a full five seconds.

  “Good shot, Commander,” Neelix offered too soon.

  The Monorhans were agitated, fluttering about the room but keeping a safe distance from Phoebe’s inert body and Chakotay’s team.

  “Commander?” Seven said.

  “Take Neelix and get back to Voyager,” he ordered, kneeling to remove the Key from his pack.

  “You may yet require our assistance,” Seven replied.

  “That’s an order, Seven,” he snapped.

  But even as she turned to comply, courses of bright blue energy began to stream visibly through Phoebe’s body. At first it appeared as if she was undergoing some sort of primitive electroshock treatment. But when her eyes opened and she started to sit up, Seven’s curious fascination was instantly replaced by a solid and sharp sense of self-preservation. The problem now was that Chakotay held the only weapon that had any chance of damaging Phoebe at all.

  As Chakotay moved to fire again, a burst of invisible energy shot from Phoebe’s hand and impacted his chest, sucking the wind from his lungs and knocking him several feet from his prior location.

  Seven tried to aim her weapon at Phoebe, who was rising from the floor, but the Monorhans, attempting to aid the away team, were rushing to surround Phoebe and denying Seven a clear shot. Seven did not truly believe her weapon would damage the Nacene, but she was certain it would kill the Monorhans and hesitated to injure or anger her only allies.

  She glanced aside to see Neelix searching the room for cover, a safer place from which to attack Phoebe or repel her next onslaught. Spotting a long, low bank of computer stations along the room’s edge, he rushed to Chakotay’s side and began to pull him to safety.

  Seven saw his actions and intuited his destination. Keeping her aim fixed on the last spot where she’d had an unobstructed view of Phoebe, she moved to cover Neelix as he pulled Chakotay to the relative concealment of the station panel.

  Dozens of the Monorhan creatures where thrown from Phoebe’s immediate vicinity. Poking her head above the computer station, Seven watched as Phoebe’s head and torso, still arcing with flashes of brilliant blue light, began to destabilize. Her face appeared first to flatten, then elongate. Her arms extended, losing their hands and fingers in favor of several longer cilia-like appendages. Several similar tentacles emerged from her chest until all that had been vaguely humanoid in Phoebe’s appearance dissolved in favor of the nightmarish creature Naomi had described to the captain when she awoke from her surgery. The Doctor had dutifully recorded Naomi’s description in his logs, and Seven had committed them to memory in preparation for this away mission.

  The toxin still flowed through Phoebe. The translucent tentacles now pulsed with an inky black sludge, and the flashes of light gradually intensified from a cool blue to an angry red hue.

  Phoebe, in her true Nacene form, was capable of inflicting substantially more damage upon her attackers. Monorhans were grasped by her powerful tentacles, and one after another, the life was drained from them. In each case, the small wormlike spores emerged in the final throes of death and began to collect in the center of the floor beneath Phoebe.

  At this point, the only advantage the away team had was numbers. But given the rate at which the Monorhans were succumbing, Seven could not predict how long that advantage would hold.

  Chakotay was stirring. Seven helped him to kneel, saying, “We are pinned down. The Monorhans are keeping Phoebe busy for the moment, but are taking heavy losses.”

  “We have to get the Key and get out of here,” he said firmly.

  “An interesting tactical choice, when you had that option only moments ago,” Seven replied.

  “Don’t tell me you trust her?” Chakotay asked.

  “I do not,” Seven said
simply. “I was merely pointing out to you…”

  “Later,” Chakotay cut her off. “I’m going back for the Key.”

  “I will make the attempt,” Seven replied.

  Chakotay next thought process was clear enough to read on his face. He was considering the fact that this had been his foolhardy idea, as well as Seven’s relative value to the crew and Voyager’s mission, and was obviously sorely tempted to contradict her.

  “You are barely able to sit up, Chakotay,” Seven chided him.

  “Go ahead,” he nodded. “But try and stay down.” Raising his rifle to his shoulder, he moved to Neelix’s side to cover Seven as she moved quietly away.

  The scene playing out before Chakotay’s eyes was chaos. One after another, the Monorhans made suicidal runs toward Phoebe, and each time she managed to capture and subdue most that crossed within reach of her tentacles. The collection of…what had Phoebe called them?…spores beneath her was growing. Between Phoebe’s words and Assylia’s, it seemed safe to assume now that the Nacene’s spores and the Monorhans’ parasites were one and the same. Assuming Chakotay and his team managed to somehow return to Voyager, if Phoebe’s intent was to allow the spores to attack their crew as the Monorhans had been attacked, Chakotay didn’t like the odds of their survival.

  “I guess it could be worse,” Neelix muttered.

  Suddenly there was a low cracking noise from behind them both. Once, years ago, Chakotay had agreed to go ice skating on a holographic lake with a fellow Academy cadet he’d found charming. Apart from confirming his bitter distaste for cold-weather activities, Chakotay had received a near-hypothermia-inducing lesson in the sound thin ice made when it was about to give way. The sound that was now meeting his ears from more than one location behind him indicated in no uncertain terms that something solid was slowly weakening and about to rupture.

  He didn’t have to turn his head to understand what was happening. He clearly remembered the stasis chambers that lined the room and the hundreds, probably thousands of beings which were held in those chambers.