A/N: This was meant to be a one-shot drabble piece that got out of hand. There will be one chapter for each of the nine regulars. If anyone has suggestions for things to include for future chapters, I will consider them (but no promises).

Several characters and ideas in this chapter are borrowed from Scifiromance, with her permission. More on that in the closing note.

The first two chapters have also received edits.

I do not own "Star Trek."

She was now switching between Seven of Nine and Annika with unsettling ease. In her last visit to Unimatrix Zero, she'd feared she wouldn't remember how to operate Astrometrics when she returned to Voyager; but as soon as her eyes opened and she saw her cargo bay, Annika was gone, and Seven had no doubts about any of her normal capabilities. The sensation was identical to that of waking from a regular dream—of which she'd had plenty, despite what she'd hastily told the Doctor a few days earlier. Or more accurately, hadn't told. Seven technically hadn't lied to the hologram; she simply hadn't corrected his blunder.

"Another milestone!" the hologram had declared cheerily. "You've had your first dream."

As soon as he'd said it, Seven had been taken back to her real first dream on Voyager, which she recalled with perfect clarity. As images of the cawing raven literally flew through her mind, she quickly changed the subject. "I felt awake."

The Doctor would have known about the Raven incident, but apparently a holographic database was just as capable of overlooking information as the human brain. The one other instance of Seven dreaming that the Doctor definitely would know about, the hologram had either also forgotten, or simply attributed to the alien involvement in that incident. Seven played along for the rest of the conversation, not wishing to delve into the subject. But the Doctor's determination to dissect Seven's "dream" became increasingly frustrating.

"...The mysterious stranger, for example. Is he a father figure, or does he represent a repressed desire for male companionship?"

She didn't answer right away.

Seven had been dreaming about both subjects for some time now. Her parents and childhood assimilation had entered her dreams as early as her first regeneration period aboard Voyager. Dreams of "male companionship" weren't new to her either, though she hadn't done much more in her sleep than in reality. After the infamous "take off your clothes" incident with Harry Kim, she'd dreamed about them copulating, and woken up feeling more puzzled than anything else. While preparing for her date with Lt. William Chapman, she'd dreamed about a successful date ending in a kiss, and later had a rather uncomfortable dream that involved kissing the Doctor of all people. But that had been well over a year ago.

Seven had thought she was done with those kinds of dreams until two weeks ago, when Commander Chakotay had elected to invade her subconscious (and increasingly, her consciousness as well). She'd dreamed once about them romantically involved as the night singer and American soldier in the WWII holo-program. She'd had several dreams about being stranded with him during one of the many away missions unfortunate enough to involve the Commander at the helm of a shuttle, and somehow ending up in intimate positions with him in the remains of said shuttle. Since dreams could provide no more detail than they could gather from real experiences, she had no way of knowing if Chakotay was any better at sex than at piloting, and she had no intention of ever finding out.

This new man she'd seen in the forest the previous night was an unwelcome change from Chakotay. Seven knew the man's face, the clearly Cardassian features watered down by some other ancestry. His identity and significance were on the edge of her mind, and it was maddening not to be able to reach that information. The Doctor's suggestion that the man was a lover was the last thing she wanted to consider, now of all times.

"I don't wish to dream again," she'd finally said with perfect honesty.

Now, days later, Seven was gazing over a PADD, reviewing her notes for the meeting she had in two hours' time, where she was to brief Captain Janeway, Commander Tuvok, and Lt. Torres on how to behave like drones and what to expect during the assimilation process.

Reliving her own assimilation was nothing new to Seven. She had been doing it ever since Chakotay severed her from the Collective. But now another part of that process was coming back to her; her arrival at Unimatrix Zero.

She didn't remember most of her assimilation in linear detail. She remembered crying as her parents were dragged off by drones, while she hid in a cupboard. She remembered the door opening, and a white-faced drone with strangely textured skin (a former Hirogen, she now knew) staring her down with one back eye and one rectangular green light, reaching out and piercing her neck with two tubules. Everything after that was hazy and discombobulated, like trying to remember an eighteen-year-long dream. And now she was doing it all over again, with eighteen years of changing relationships and adventures in Unimatrix Zero.

Annika never knew how many times she'd come to Unimatrix Zero as a six-year-old before she became fully aware of what had happened. For the first few visits, she'd regarded it much as a child would a regular dream, blissfully forgetful of what had happened to her back in reality. But at some point, Annika remembered that her birthday had been interrupted by Borg drones who'd taken her parents away, and stung her in the neck with sharp tubes. She had strange memories of a dark, metallic place with green lighting, and a feeling of vastness and power that she couldn't begin to understand. She didn't know how she'd ended up in this forest, but she wanted to find her parents. Or at least her stuffed mouse Fritz, or her yellow blanket. And she didn't want help from any of the scary people who roamed these woods. When they tried to talk to her, she ran and hid from them.

Annika was crouching in the bushes, hiding from a lumpy-faced monster wearing a strange wire-thing around its face, when she happened to look up and see a lady flying overhead, just like Peter Pan. From this distance the woman looked normal, except her hair was a pale, pearly purple. That immediately put Annika at ease, because one of the Little Mermaid's sisters (from the holo-series of fairy tale retellings she watched at home on the Raven) had hair just like that. The flying lady made eye contact with Annika, and then dived downward, as if swimming. The woman stopped just a little way above the ground, holding on to tree branches to steady herself as she hoovered before Annika. Up close the woman looked much stranger. Not only was her hair purple, but her forehead had a large lumpy shape that looked like a giant letter V, and she had no eyebrows. But her eyes reminded Annika of the hero Hwa Mulan (from one of the other fairy tale holos), and the woman had a reassuring smile.

"Are you a fairy?" Annika timidly asked the woman.

"I'm Elaysian," the woman replied softly. "My name is Sonza. What's yours?"

"Annika." She broke down into tears. "I want my mom."

Sonza came to a full landing and hugged Annika while she cried for who-knew how long. Finally, Sonza told her, "I'm looking for my family too. Why don't we look together?"

Sniffling Annika nodded.

While they walked through the forest, Sonza told Annika all about her home planet Gemworld, a world with a crystal surface, where the gravity was so low that people could swim through the air like in water.

"Do all Elsans have purple hair?" Annika asked.

"No. My brother Orath had hair the same color as yours."

Sonza tried to teach Annika how to fly, but Annika could never stay in the air too long; it was like trying to keep afloat in water, minus the fear of drowning. So after that Sonza showed Annika all the things one could do in the magic forest, with their imagination. They made flowers change color, just by concentrating, and even managed to make some fireflies appear in the bushes.

"Sonza?" a man's voice called.

"Over here," the Elaysian answered.

Two people emerged from the thicket. One was a normal looking man with dark skin and a black mustache. The other was the scary looking man Annika had been hiding from earlier. He had a lumpy, scaly face like a monster. His clothes were baggy and gray, decorated with colorful squares that reminded her of one of her toys back home, and he wore a rectangular wire contraption around his eyes.

"It's okay Annika." Sonza said. "These are my friends. This is Tov," she gestured to the normal looking man, "and Turanoth."

Timidly, Annika allowed herself to be drawn into a conversation with the two new adults.

Tov looked Human, but was really El-Aurian. His people lived hundreds of years, but had lost their homeworld to the Borg. Turanoth was a B'Omar, and the B'Omar were not monsters at all; just very evolved turtles. But the B'Omar's shells were more flexible than Earth turtles,' more like an armadillo's, and they liked to enhance their shells with technology. The wire-thing around his head was to help him hear and smell and sense electromagnetic fields, since these were senses other species already had that his own otherwise lacked.

The group was in the middle of talking when Sonza suddenly vanished, right out of the air.

Tov quickly assured Annika, "She'll be back."

"Where'd she go?" Annika asked with just a hint of an edge in her voice.

"She is asleep." Turanoth said. "When people sleep in this forest they become invisible. Like animals curling into shells."

Annika searched the grass around them, for any evidence of Sonza's invisible sleeping body.

"She's not down here anymore," Tov explained. "People here sleep in the sky, in clouds."

Annika craned her neck up, and wondered which cloud Sonza was wrapped in, and what it would look like when she woke up and came back. Annika didn't find the Elaysian, but she did see a black bird soar across the sky. It was pretty. It reminded her of a painting that hung in her parents' bedroom.

The adults told the "sleeping in the clouds" story to every child who arrived in the forest. Annika tried as hard as she could to stay awake while transporting to her cloud, but never succeeded. But she always awoke up standing up, in the middle of the forest, with memories of the same strange dream that she could never fully remember, mostly because she couldn't even fully understand what she'd experienced once she was back in the woods. All she could say at that age was that the dream involved lots of numbers and green light, and that she'd felt very big.

As she became more secure with her situation, Annika began to arrive in the forest with her favorite yellow blanket in hand, and Fritz even turned up in the bushes one day, his red velvet body unharmed by the elements of the forest. As time went on, she would often arrive with the stuffed, Nutcracker-dressed mouse in her arm when she began regenerating, until she gradually grew out of Fritz. On several occasions, she would see a black raven soaring through the air or perched in a tree. It had some kind of significance to her, but she'd never been able to get close enough to touch it.

She was seven or eight when she finally understood that the forest was the dream. She now knew the Borg assimilated people all over the galaxy, and she along with everyone else was part of the Hive Mind, except when regenerating. No one knew how this forest had come into exitance. She heard people refer to the place by all kinds of names, including "the Forest," "the Green Place" or "Neuro-Space;" but the one she and her friends preferred was "Unimatrix Zero."

"Where am I?"

Annika, nine or ten years old, watched from where she bobbed in the water, as the newly arrived alien whirled around frantically. He'd appeared right in the opening of a riverside cave, behind a thin waterfall. He had no hair, and his skin was textured like a brown crocodile's. He wore a blue shinny armor, and was armed with an odd curved blade. Annika's Talaxian friend Vaxo, who was just a little bit older than her, treaded water next to her, both children unsure how to respond to the new arrival. Sonza, who'd taken the kids swimming, rose out of the water and hoovered over to the alien, her wet purple hair dripping over her large forehead.

"You're in Unimatrix Zero," Sonza explained to the alien. "A virtual reality. You've been assimilated."

The alien's black eyes moved downward as he thought it over. "We were on a hunt. We were searching for a prey no one had ever attempted before. Everyone told us to stay away from the Borg. I wanted to listen, secretly, but none of us wanted to be the one to say it." He glanced at the children, then back at Sonza. "Do all assimilated Borg come here?"

Sonza's small dark eyes flicked to the children, then back to the alien. "Not much is known about this place. We don't have many answers. I'm Sonza. This is Annika, and Vaxo. What's your name?"

"Nezmin," the alien said. "I'm Hirogen."

Sonza and Nezmin went to go talk quietly in the cave, about something they clearly didn't want the kids to overhear. Either Hirogen and Elaysian children were more obedient than Human and Talaxian ones, or Nezmin and Sonza just didn't know very much about kids. Naturally, Annika and Vaxo snuck into the cave to eavesdrop. They peaked around from behind a large wet rock, watching Sonza speak quietly to the Hirogen, who listened while staring down at his blade.

"A lot of people think it started as a mutation when some drone got assimilated, some species with some mental abilities that allowed them to create this world. Others think it's a fluke in the Borg's technology. It could also be the result of a pathogen someone tried to use against the Collective."

"And you don't know what determines who ends up in Unimatrix Zero?" Nezmin asked.

"Correct. We have theories, but nothing conclusive."

"How many drones have this mutation?"

"From what we've been able to gather, only about one in a million."

That was when Annika realized she would never see her parents again.

"What happens if someone arrives in the middle of the water?" Rebi asked.

Seven was tired of answering the children's' endless questions about Unimatrix Zero, and getting them to into their regeneration alcoves tonight seemed next to impossible. Rebi stared at Seven from where he sat on a crate, with an expression most would read as nonexistent; but as far as Seven was concerned, he might as well have been bouncing like Naomi Wildman. Naomi, thankfully, was in her quarters, though probably not asleep. Rebi's twin Azan looked up from the Talaxian novel Neelix had loaned him, also anticipating Seven's answer.

Seven replied flatly, "They either drown and their regeneration cycle ends, or they realize they are in a virtual reality and teach themselves to breathe underwater."

From where he sat on the edge of his alcove, Icheb pointed out, "That would not be the case if they were Brunali."

"Or Norcadian," Mezoti added smugly, circling around the cargo bay on her favorite scooter.

She and Icheb were referring to the gills that opened up on each side of their nose crests when underwater, largely invisible when dry. (The Brunali and Norcadians were in fact subspecies of the same amphibian race.) It had taken Seven quite some time to accept this when she took the children swimming on the holodeck, coming near panic whenever Icheb and Mezoti were underwater for too long.

"It's not fair," Azan lamented. "You two can breathe underwater and Seven can go to Unimatrix Zero."

"And you two can read each other's minds to cheat at Kadis-kot," Mezoti countered, before steering her scooter over to Seven. "Did it ever happen to you Seven, arriving at Unimatrix Zero in the middle of a river or lake?"

"No." Seven lied. "Your regeneration cycles cannot be postponed any further."

"Why can't we stay onboard for the battle?" Rebi asked, in a tone few would recognize as Borg wining.

Seven could only stare at the boy. In addition to a lifetime of trauma courtesy her parents' selfishness in bringing her along on their mission, she also now remembered countless other children she'd helped nurture in Unimatrix Zero who'd been aboard ships that didn't take precautions with their civilian populations.

Icheb and Mezoti were also staring at Rebi. Rebi wasn't looking at any of them, but his face and posture suddenly changed. Azan was staring at his book, but Seven detected a smugness beneath his Borg composure, and suspected he'd just told his twin off through their neural link.

"Seven," Mezoti said, "If the twins have linked minds already, then that's one less person Tuvok would have to mind-meld with to take us to Unimatrix Zero. He can meld you and Icheb, and Vorik can meld me to Azan or Rebi and one of the other Vulcans can meld two of us together."

"Unlikely. Commander Tuvok is the only Vulcan on board capable of the procedure."

"Then we can go one at a time," Icheb suggested.

Arguing with the children seemed pointless. "We will continue this discussion in the morning. Report to your alcoves." Thinking on the spot, Seven added, "Perhaps with the damage the Collective is suffering, a malfunction will occur and one of you will find your way to Unimatrix Zero tonight."

This worked on all but Icheb.

"You're only saying that to get us into our alcoves," the Brunali teenager accused.

"That doesn't discredit the statement," Seven replied.

"Is it true," Icheb asked quietly, "that the Borg Queen threatened Harry Kim?"

Almost out of patience, Seven snapped, "You can ask Ensign Kim yourself, in the morning. Like most aboard this ship he has already retired for the night."

The Brunali finally took the hint, and turned to head back to his alcove.

"The last time I saw the Queen," Seven confessed, causing Icheb to stop with one foot on his alcove, "My father was with her. Assimilated." She swallowed, as Icheb stared at her, at a loss for words. "Now she has threatened my new family." Family was one thing Icheb and Seven had in common; both had been raised by seemingly caring parents who, in the end, put their Borg-related agendas before the wellbeing of their children. Of all people on board, Icheb and Seven best understood what being a part of Voyager's "family" actually meant to each other. "She will fail," Seven assured him. "But in order to defeat her I need you in the shuttle, watching over the younger children."

Icheb nodded. For a moment, he seemed to flounder for a way to assure her he would do so, but eventually just settled for, "Goodnight Seven."

"Goodnight Icheb."

Annika was twelve or thirteen when species from the Alpha and Beta Quadrants began popping up regularly in Unimatrix Zero. For a while, she was one of the only ones who recognized these new races. She couldn't provide much information, having been less than six the last time she'd seen or heard of any of them. But she helped all she could. By now, Annika had grown into the role of advisor and mentor. She was one of the first to greet new children, and take on the task of warming them up to their new life.

Annika's own closest mentor, in teaching her how to be a mentor, was a man named Axum. She would never recall how and when she'd first met Axum; he'd just always been there—an acquaintance of Sonza and Annika's other guardians. Axum was three-fourths El Aurian, and thus centuries old despite his youthful appearance. His distinctive forehead came from a Cardassian grandfather, who'd died centuries before Axum was born (one of a group of refugees fleeing the then newly formed Cardassian Union). Axum was an invaluable mentor to Annika, having lived in Unimatrix Zero for almost an entire century.

Axum had been with Annika and Turanoth when she'd met her first Vulcan. The B'Omar had sensed a new heartbeat through his head-wire, and the trio soon found a petite, mahogany-skinned Vulcan sitting on her knees in the middle of the woods, as if meditating, but with tears falling freely from her face.

Annika whispered to Axum and Turanoth, "That's a Vulcan. They usually have to suppress their emotions..."

She wondered what the consequences for a Vulcan letting out her emotions in this place would be. Would this woman's assimilated body suffer, be declared "defective," and get dismantled?

The woman opened slanted green eyes, still wet with fresh tears. "Dr. T'Nara," she said, in a shaking voice. Somewhere in the distance, a raven cawed. "Now Two of Five, Secondary Adjunct of Unimatrix Zero Four. Formerly physician aboard the Vulcan Command ship Varath'nor, wife and mother of three."

Carefully, Annika said, "I thought it was dangerous for Vulcans to...let out their emotions."

T'Nara continued to weep. "It is. But as the worst now that could possibly happen is dismantlement, I see no point in suppressing my emotions in this dream-state, when there will be no consequences for me in this place. If I vanish never to return, it will be a pleasant fate compared to those suffered by my comrades."

Yet despite this first encounter, T'Nara would remain one of the most logical and cool-headed of Unimatrix Zero's members, acting like a typical Vulcan much of the time.

A far less peaceful arrival was General Korok. Annika had only ever seen Klingons in pictures and holo-shows as a child. But suddenly, while she was playing hide-and-seek with some of the younger kids, a large Klingon with large wild eyes appeared in the middle of the woods, swinging a bat'leth madly, demanding to know where he was.

While Annika blocked the younger children (who were nowhere near as frightened as they would have been in the waking world), Axum leapt out of the bushes and stopped before the frantic Klingon, his hands held out diplomatically.

"We're not enemies," Axum said sternly.

The Klingon growled. "Where am I? I was in the middle of a battle! Am I dead?"

"Not quite," Axum said. "All of us here have been assimilated."

The Klingon's eyes flared. "Klingons die in battle, or they prevail. We are never assimilated!"

"Apparently you are," Axum said simply.

"You lie," the Klingon whispered, then roared, "You're one of the Kos'karii!"

Axum began, "I don—"

The Klingon's blade whooshed through the air, and Axum's body collapsed to the ground, his head tumbling off. Axum's noggin was still rolling when it vanished away, along with his decapitated body, as if through a transporter beam. The Klingon's manic glare turned to Annika, who stared at him with hard blue eyes. Behind her, the three kids she was guarding expressed a range of reactions from a scream to "Cool!"

"He'll be back," Annika told the Klingon. "All you've done is interrupt his regeneration cycle."

She herself had "died" more times than she could count, while exploring and testing the limits of the virtual forest. It was a wonder Seven of Nine—as she'd recently been dubbed by the Borg, having finally emerged from her maturation chamber—hadn't been declared defective and shut down.

The Klingon growled softly at her. "You are indeed powerful. Even here in Gre'thor, even knowing you're false, I can't kill children."

"We're not 'false.' We're regenerating, and so are you."

The Klingon let out a huffing roar. It took a moment for Annika to realize that this was his way of telling the children to get lost. Glancing back at the young Vidiian boy, and Brunali and Pendari girls, Annika made a "shoo" motion with her hands, and followed the children tearing through the forest.

Wolf 359 had been less than a year later.

Annika was now in her mid-teens. General Korok had long-since accepted his situation, and made peace with Axum. Sonza was still flying around Unimatrix Zero, mostly sticking with the younger children. Tov, the dark El Arian, had become increasingly reclusive, and Turanoth, the B'Omar, had recently vanished. (The B'Omar's cube had been battling Dominion forces in the Gamma Quadrant, and suffered heavy casualties.) Meanwhile, the Borg were carving a path of destruction through the Alpha and Beta Quadrants, having destroyed a wave of Federation and Romulan colonies, and now had wiped out a Federation fleet.

Neither General Korok nor his Hirogen friend Nezmin were all too pleased with the knowledge that they were committing such cowardly acts for the will of their oppressors in the waking world, and were taking their anger out as they often did, with a duel to the "death." Korok swung his bat'leth, while the lanky Hirogen dodged and slashed with his knife. A group of spectators watched, some regulars, others new faces. Annika had long-since grown bored, having seen both Korok and Nezmin die a dozen times, and was wandering around the circle of spectators daydreaming, when she happened upon a dark-haired woman crying against a tree. At first Annika took her for another El Aurian, but then she noticed the woman's black and yellow uniform, the same design that Captain Picard had worn before his transformation into Locutus. (That much, Annika remembered from her waking life as a member of the Collective.)

"Are you Human?" Annika asked, figuring this was as good a way as any to interrupt the woman's tears.

The woman wiped her eyes, nodding. "Ensign Laura Kovacs, U.S.S. Firebrand." Laura squinted hard, and took a deep breath. "I've looked all over this forest and," she swallowed, "dug through my own mind. I can't find my friends or my captain or my boyfriend anywhere, but I know that Captain Jean Luc Picard liked Earl Gray tea and had feelings for Beverly." Exasperated, Laura banged her fist against the tree. "Who is Beverly? I've never even met Captain Picard!" She turned to face Annika, and her hazel eyes widened. "Oh my god, you're a kid!"

Laura couldn't have been that much older than Annika. The ensign seemed to be somewhere in her early to mid-twenties. She was the first other Human that Annika had met in this place. But she probably wouldn't be the last.

Laura had been in Unimatrix Zero for only a few days, but having learned upon arrival how rare the Unimatrix Zero mutation was, was already coming to grips with the fact that none of her comrades from the Firebrand were likely to turn up in this place. Axum and Annika both consoled the former Starfleet engineer to their best of abilities.

"At least your family's safe," Axum reminded Laura. "My first wife, and two of our five children, were assimilated, and none of them ever made it to Unimatrix Zero."

"Neither did my parents." Annika added.

"They're dead already," Korok, of all people, had joined the circle. Standing over the group sitting in the grass, he folded his arms and addressed Laura. "When our comrades make it to the afterlife they'll remember nothing in-between, as if no time has passed."

"And we're in Purgatory," Laura sniffled. "How do you live here? Knowing...everything?"

"Because of what we know," Axum said. "Because I know how long my people, the El Aurians, have survived after the Borg destroyed our homeworld, and how they continue to thrive and prevail despite the obstacles. After the attacks on those colonies and at Wolf 359, I felt all those people's horror, and was sure I wanted to die. But then I realized that Captain Picard's ship has an El Aurian onboard, as a bartender. And somehow that... that turned it around for me."

Korok growled at Laura, "Your species may not be warriors like mine, but surely they've survived worse than a very dull, never-ending dream."

Annika sized up the woman before her. "You're an artist Laura, aren't you."

Laura stared at the girl with confused hazel eyes. Annika's eyes moved down to the blades of grass in Laura's had, that the woman hadn't realized she was braiding.

Annika shifted in the grass. "My room on my parents' ship was covered in drawings. You can do all kinds of things in Unimatrix Zero. Look," she plucked a green leaf and concentrated on it, until its pigment turned red with yellow stripes, like a beetle's.

Laura stared in mild fascination, then wiped her eyes. "I make holo-paintings for my shipmates sometimes. Made holo-paintings."

Laura, Axum and Annika spent the next few hours making designs out of the plants, while Korok returned to fighting Nezmin. Then Annika tried teaching Laura how to fly.

"Is this sort of like lucid dreaming?" Laura asked, as she and Annika both struggled to stay afloat in the air.

"A bit," Annika said. "But it takes a lot of concentration and effort..."

Breaking concentration, Annika tumbled to the ground. Laura followed. While they brushed leaves and dirt off their clothes, Laura took off her gold uniform jacket, revealing a black a tank-top underneath.

"What's that?" Annika pointed to a tattoo on Laura's forearm.

Laura stared at the row of tiny, blue numbers running down her inner forearm: 6117153.

"Six of Eleven, Septenary Adjunct of Unimatrix 153," Laura recited quietly.

The trees rustled, but it was only a black bird taking flight from its perch.

Then Laura spent some time telling Annika about how the group of humans she belonged to, the Romani, had once been imprisoned in concentration camps, alongside Jews, the disabled, homosexuals, prisoners of war, and countless other "undesirables." Some of Laura's direct ancestors had lived in such camps. Annika had never imagined her own species, who so resembled the peaceful El Aurians, had a history as cutthroat as Klingons or Hirogen, and sometimes operated with intents dark enough to match the Borg.

Both Annika and Laura would soon realize how lucky they were to have such solid identities.

One of the other new members was a joined Trill named Xin. His first named changed, along with his gender, personality, and age, almost every time he entered Unimatrix Zero. Once, Annika was flirting with a handsome Trill adolescent close to her age, dark-skinned with pale spots and piercing gold eyes, only to realize this was an older version of Lysor Xin, whom she'd been babysitting a toddler version of only a few regeneration cycles ago. It was months before Xin, with the help of his friends, figured out that the host who'd been assimilated was a 38-year-old male scientist named Shardan. After that, the various hosts gradually became aware of each other.

Another new member was an Orion man named Wachow, who would confess to Annika and Laura years later that he was in fact a "she" in the waking world, but had never felt right in a female body. Being transgendered was difficult enough for a person of any species, but for an Orion it was particularly troublesome, due to the species' biology. Wachow felt guilt for enjoying Unimatrix Zero, knowing at what cost it came, and feared his Cardassian lover N'Lor wouldn't be able to stay with him should they ever escape the Collective, despite N'Lor's insistence that she absolutely would.

And then there was Evthukl. Evthukl was Kobali—a bad, purple-skinned race that reproduced by resurrecting the dead of other species and reconstructing their bodies and brains. The process normally involved massive memory loss, which made the transition easier. Evthukl's Kobali "birth" had gone smoothly, leaving him with virtually no memory of or interest in his former life...until he was assimilated and arrived in Unimatrix Zero. Half the time, Annika and her friends were met with Evthukl: a carefree, purple-skinned musician, who taught Annika Kobali dance moves and eagerly played matchmaker for her and Axum. The other half of the time, Three of Ten came to Unimatrix Zero as Geminon: a white-skinned, violet-eyed Vorta, frantic to escape this virtual prison so he could continue his "mission," and wondering what the "Founders" had meant by destining him to this place. No one knew who the "Founders" were, but they were apparently gods in Geminon's purple eyes.

On the other end of the scale was Siral, one of the first friends Seven of Nine would later recognize when Axum brought her back to Unimatrix Zero.

"I remember him," she'd said, as the humanoid appeared and began socializing with Laura.

When Annika had first met the balding humanoid, she'd been surprised to learn he too was from the Alpha Quadrant.

"I don't remember your species," she said, her eyes running up and down his strange nose, forehead and spots.

"We Sovrat don't get out much. Being a subject species of another race's empire doesn't allow for much traveling."

Korok cut in, "The Klingon Empire permits free mobility between its subject species, and has even allowed them seats on the High Council."

"Even so, your rule leaves a bit to be desired." Siral turned back to Annika. "Some of my people attempted to flee the Empire. And we ran into the Borg instead. It seems I'm not meant to be free."

"But you're free here," Annika said.

"There's no need to comfort me with mental gymnastics. We're prisoners here. But it's a nice prison and I'm resigned to enjoy myself in it. I'm used to living under someone else's rule after all."

"The Klingon Empire is nothing like the Borg!" Korok huffed. "We don't take other species' individuality away, or their honor! We give everyone we conquer a fair fight."

"Well this subject is sick of fighting. I'm going to have a look around this place. Green vegetation is a new one for me."

Siral, Korok, Axum, Laura, Sonza, all of Annika's older friends, they all had real identities in the real world. Annika had nothing but this dream-life. She'd died at age six, having spent the last two years of her life on a starship. She'd never gotten to live and never would.

Pressure was increasing exponentially for Seven, as she not only re-lived her feelings for Axum, but felt the weight of dozens of old friends who had been as close to her as family, now relying on her to save them. She had already failed three former drones, just a few months ago. Telling herself that her comrades would at least die as individuals rather than live as drones was something Seven could only do once.

"What's wrong Seven?"

Seven glanced up to see Mezoti watching her from behind a crate, her arms resting on the metal cover. Seven glanced back at the regeneration alcoves, where the boys were still "asleep." Seven had spent the last few hours organizing the Cargo Bay and postponing sleep, so wrapped in memories and anxiety that she hadn't noticed Mezoti leave her alcove.

"How long have you been awake Mezoti?" Seven asked.

"Just a few minutes. I had a bad dream." Mezoti was holding her hairbrush, the one previously owned by the late Ensign Lindsay Ballard. "I went to Unimatrix Zero, but it didn't match your descriptions. Instead it was a flower-swamp, from my homeworld. My family was there. At first." The girl didn't need to tell Seven how the dream had ended.

Seven searched for some words of comfort. What would Annika Hanson have said, to a friend in Unimatrix Zero?

"When your family..." Seven began, then rephrased. "My parents feel nothing. Their bodies are drones. But their suffering has ended."

After a moment, Mezoti said, "That Axum person you've been talking about the last few days, he was your mate, wasn't he."

Seven stared at the girl, who kept her eyes on the brush in her hands. "You're a perceptive individual, Mezoti."

"Not really. Naomi figured it out too. Your speech becomes delayed and your face flushes when Axum comes up in conversation, just as Naomi and myself do around Icheb."

Naomi Wildman would have run from the room rather than own up to her crush on the teenage Brunali. Mezoti on the other hand viewed her own "first crush" like a mild medical condition.

"I apologize if I've overstepped my bounds." Mezoti added.

"There is no need to apologize." Seven assured her. "It's true. Axum and I were...friends, for many years. He was already in Unimatrix Zero when I arrived. He was a mentor at first. He was—is—largely of El Aurian descent, and has a far longer lifespan than most Humanoids. He was very reluctant to change the nature of our relationship when I grew older, but a mutual friend encouraged us."

Seven could remember the giddiness with which Evthukl's violet face had lit up, when he'd first realized what a smart match Annika and Axum would make. And how the Kobali had laughed at their initial reactions of gross-out. Later, when Annika and Axum were a couple, Geminon the Vorta would often express his disdain for such a bizarre pairing, and openly wonder who had ever come up with such an idea as to match them up. Naturally, he believed no one when they told him the answer.

Seven had not seen Geminon or Evthukl in her new visits to Unimatrix Zero. She couldn't remember seeing Xin either, but given how often he changed identities in Unimatrix Zero, that meant practically nothing. Sonza of course had not been there; the Elaysian had disappeared a few years before Seven herself had been freed from the Collective.

Mezoti added, far too casually, "You appear to have similar reactions to Commander Chakotay."

It took a second to for Seven to remember where their conversation had last been.

"That is overstepping your bounds," Seven warned in a hard voice.

"I'm sorry." Mezoti glanced around the cargo bay. "When we leave Voyager for the battle, is there anything you'd like me to bring for safe keeping?"

In a few hours' time, when Voyager went against the Borg, the ship's children would be in a shuttle-craft with a few adult guardians, concealed in a nebula some distance away. Seven had to think over the girl's question. Seven did not possess many material objects that she would admit to having a sentimental attachment to. She hadn't thought to retrieve her blanket or Fritz from the Raven before she and Tuvok evacuated the collapsing ship three years prior.

But the ship's database did contain her parents' journals.

"I will assemble some items for you to safeguard for me," Seven told Mezoti. Hesitantly, she added, "Thank you."

"You're welcome." Mezoti glanced at Icheb and the twins. "We should probably get back to regenerating."

Returning to Unimatrix Zero was the last thing Seven wanted, but it was inevitable.

"Agreed."

The transition from Seven to Annika didn't go as smoothly this time. When Annika briefed the Resistance on the pathogen that would awaken them all in reality, she spoke half with Seven of Nine's voice.

"You need to prepare the others," she warned. "When they leave their alcoves they may be startled, disoriented. But they have to behave like drones or we could all be exposed."

"Our ships are scattered across the galaxy!" Laura exclaimed. "Most of us will be the only drone on board who knows about this place."

Laura looked a far cry from the young ensign who'd appeared twelve years earlier. Now Captain Janeway's age, the former engineer seemed world-weary and cynical.

"She's right." Korok growled. "What can we hope to achieve?"

"We should each gather as much tactical data as we can." Axum said. "What kind of ship we're on, its armaments, location. Then we'll coordinate our efforts from here."

The group dispersed, Laura following Korok. The two had had some kind of a relationship, but Annika couldn't remember whether it was a platonic or romantic one. They didn't seem to regard each other as lovers. Their interactions reminded her more of Azan and Rebi, or Lt. Torres and Ensign Kim.

Axum clearly had more than a platonic relationship on his mind, now. And Seven knew it was largely her own fault. Axum had initially kept their past romance a secret from her, more than willing to let go of the past, until she'd remembered, and kissed him. She knew the appropriate thing to do would be to apologize for her impulsive action, but her frustration with his newfound desire for romance was getting the better of her.

"If all goes well," he said quietly, "we'll be working very closely together."

In Seven of Nine's voice, Annika replied, "As colleagues, nothing more. Our previous friendship..."

"Yes?"

She floundered for a way to word her previous mistake, and explain that she wasn't ready to explore another romantic relationship at the time. But she ultimately blurted out, "It's irrelevant."

"Irrelevant," Axum said flatly. "Well, now that I'll be able to retain my memory, I'll keep that in mind."

A high wheezing sound cut through the air. Axum and Annika turned to see the lumpy, spotted face of Siral, his camel-like nose expanding and contracting like a balloon. This was what his species did to express irony, irritation or impatience.

"Are you two going to help spread the news to the other drones, or stand around flirting all day?"

"Leave them be Siral," Laura said, jogging back to the alien. "Come on, Korok needs help training people to use bat'leths."

"We weren't flirting and we're not a couple." Annika told Siral harshly.

Siral looked unconvinced. But Laura's hand came up diplomatically.

"Hey, I've been there."

Annika's brow furrowed. "Not with Axum," she glanced at her former mate.

"No. With Korok. You don't remember?"

"No, I—" Suddenly, a memory flew back to her: Annika, as a teenager, exploring some caves with friends, and stumbling upon Laura and Korok doing the nasty. "Yes, I think I remember. You two didn't last long."

Laura nodded. "Korok's a lot of fun, but not my—"

"What's that?" Annika pointed to Laura's forearm.

Axum followed Annika's gaze. "That wasn't there before."

Laura lifted her forearm to glance at the Borg designation tattooed across her arm, and made a dismissive face. Then she felt for something under her black vest, which she apparently found. She opened the vest to reveal an outdated Starfleet combadge on the red fabric beneath. It was of an older design, the combadge Laura had worn back at Wolf 359.

"Seems my fighting spirt is back full throttle." Laura smiled to herself. "Let's get moving, before more drones show up. They got Vaxo, not too long ago."

Annika stopped and stared at Laura. Vaxo, Annika's Talaxian childhood friend. He'd been one of those re-assimilated in the last few days. And she hadn't even known who he was at the time.

Axum added ruefully, "Xin too."

"Correction," a chipper female voice came from behind them. "They got Ali Xin."

A red-haired Trill whose dark spots contrasted against her pale skin joined the group. Axum, Laura, Siral and Annika stared at her with stunned relief.

"Xin!" Annika gasped, as the Trill crushed her in a hug.

Xin glanced mischievously at the four of them. "I was right there five minutes ago, at the meeting. None of you noticed me."

"Your face would be easier to remember if it didn't change so often," Annika countered. "But I remember, after Sonza vanished, you taught me how to play some Trill game, to get my mind off it."

"Wild Sticks." Xin said. "Actually, it was Dassner Xin who taught you that."

"Dassner started it," Annika corrected. "Then when you returned as Kazel Xin, you still remembered that 'Dassner' had begun teaching me, and carried on."

"Xin," Axum stared at the Trill, "You're the first person who's returned after being assimilated!"

"They think they've 'cured' me." Xin bobbed her eyebrows. "But a joined Trill knows a thing or two about burying memories. We have all kinds of rituals for keeping them suppressed and calling them back up."

As the five of them made their way down a large hill towards the river, Annika asked about other comrades, and received a lot of crushing news. Tov, the dark El Aurian who'd helped raise Annika, was dead, killed during the war with Species 8472. Wachow and N'Lor had gone traveling together some years ago, with the intent of seeing how far Unimatrix Zero extended, and none of Annika's current friends had seen either of them in the last year. Assuming the Orion and Cardassian were still alive, they might not even know there was a Resistance. Evthukl /Geminon, the Kobali/Vorta man, had experienced some kind of emotional breakdown a few years after Seven had been liberated from the Collective, and gone questing off into the forest, never to be seen again. But Unimatrix Zero was enormous, perhaps infinite. "One in a million" drones were still a good million or so. Who knew how many old friends she didn't remember were somewhere out there, with no idea that Unimatrix Zero was even in danger.

"Shlenka and Sh'Mi are alright," Laura said, her arms swinging beside her. "Deshmil's been missing for a while. Though knowing him, there's a good chance he's hibernating at the bottom of the...lake..." Laura's eyes were fixed on something down near the river, and she rushed down the hill. Axum, Annika, Siral and Xin followed.

Korok stood in the shallow water, battling a Borg drone with his bat'leth. The Klingon was backing the drone towards a thick waterfall, no doubt hoping the force of the water would knock it down long enough for a killing strike. But the torrents of water had no effect on the drone, who knocked the bat'leth clean out of the Klingon's hands, sending it spinning through the air. Annika pulled Axum to the ground just in time to save him from being decapitated by that bat'leth a second time. The giant blade wound up lodged in a tree, inches from Siral's face. Siral made a sound like a dying targ, then took hold of the bat'leth and began trying to yank it out of the tree.

Back in the water, Korok stopped the drone's assimilation hand, the tubules just inches from his face. While they struggled, a shape came soaring down the waterfall, which had to be at least four stories high. Both Korok and the drone were knocked into the water, the drone's assimilation arm just missing Korok. A Brunali woman shot up from the water, dark hair swinging around her face, and raised a knife that seemed to be carved from some massive animal's tooth. As soon as the drone sat up in the water, she roared through her teeth and brought the knife into its pale head, the gills on each side of her nose-crest flaring.

As the drone vanished, Korok locked eyes with the hawk-faced woman. "You are a skilled warrior."

"No," she replied in a quiet, almost timid sounding voice, as she sheathed her knife in her belt. "Just a survivor. Remala."

A way up the hill, Siral was still attempting to free Korok's bat'leth from the tree it was lodged in, now with Xin and Laura's help.

Korok eyed up the Brunali. "It appears I owe you my life, Remala."

Annika had once said something similar to Axum.

It had been right after returning to the Collective, after that incident when she, and three other drones from her unimatrix, had been temporarily severed from the Hive Mind. Once in Unimatrix Zero again, Annika—barely eighteen—had realized fully what she'd done to those three people, who had been millimeters away from freedom.

Annika gazed over the edge of the cliff. Miles below, the forest looked like the backdrop of one of Aunt Irene's train sets.

Marika, P'Chan, and whatsit would never have the luxury of the individuality Annika was now basking in, and didn't deserve. She couldn't even remember the third man's name, she thought shamefully, and now neither could he.

"Annika!" a voice behind her called.

That was the push she needed. Annika leapt over the edge.

For a while it was like skydiving. Then the ground came rushing towards her, the sensation of falling to her death unsettlingly real, wind screaming in her ears. The pain lasted less than a second—

And then she was back in the forest.

Seven of Nine's regeneration cycle had been interrupted by what the Borg interpreted as a malfunction. The drone had then moved on to another alcove, and resumed regenerating.

How many more times would a drone have to fail to regenerate before it was declared defective and dismantled?

"Annika!" Axum rushed out of the forest.

Annika met his brown eyes, then turned and ran towards the edge of the cliff. Axum barreled into her, knocking her into the grass.

"Get off me!"

"Annika, do you realize what will happen, if you kill yourself that many times in a row? You'll kill yourself for real!"

"I'm counting on it."

"No! Annika,"

"I have to! I can't—I have no right—"

Tearfully, she told her mentor and friend what she'd done.

"Annika," Axum gripped her shoulders, locking eyes with her. "I assimilated my own son. Jathor. Only a child, crying for his Papa. Now I'm here, and he's not."

She heaved, staring at him through wet eyes. Somehow, in a very twisted way, that took a massive weight off of Annika's chest.

"And before that, we fled El-Auria, leaving so many family and friends behind to die or be assimilated. My Cardassian grandfather, Skallad, he escaped the Union with his friends as an adolescent. His entire family was killed by the Union not long after."

Annika knew about the survivor's guilt Axum had about fleeing El-Auria, and about his grandfather's family being killed off by the Cardassian Union. But he'd never told her what he'd just said about his son.

Axum walked her back into the woods with his arm around her comfortingly, while Annika's tears slowed to sniffles.

"You two make a brilliant couple!"

They both looked up to see a smiling purple face in the trees. Their friend Evthukl came sprinting over to them. "Yes, I can't believe I didn't see it before!"

Axum and Annika both laughed nervously.

"There might be a slight age difference," Annika said.

Axum added, "I'm old enough to be her great-great-great-great...great...well I'm a very old man."

Evthukl gave a twitching Kobali shrug. "Too old is better than too young."

"We're not dating." Axum said firmly.

But it would end up being Annika who'd initiated the relationship. She and everyone else had to jump through hoops to convince Axum to give it a chance. And they were together for six years. She lost her virginity to him, in Unimatrix Zero.

"I owe you my life, Axum," she said that night. "In so many ways."

Maybe four years into the relationship, Annika and Axum had adopted a Wysanti infant that turned up in the bushes. They named him Magnus, after Annika's father. Magnus had just begun to learn how to talk when he suddenly vanished and didn't return. It was eventually discovered that the baby's vessel had been obliterated by some powerful alien force it had tried to assimilate. It had taken months for Annika just to be functional again after that loss. Axum was able to mostly keep it together only because he'd lost so many children before. Of course, the couple never fully recovered, and their paranoia for the other children they took under their wing increased exponentially.

The last time Annika and Axum had seen each other before she left the Collective was when they were welcoming another young new arrival.

"It's alright," Annika told the small Romulan girl. "You're safe here. What's your name?"

Timidly, the girl replied, "T'Rifka."

Annika and Axum exchanged a relieved glance. It seemed this kid was going to be alright, emotionally at least.

Gazing up at Annika the girl asked, "What's your name?"

Annika smiled warmly. "An—"

The forest faded away, and Seven of Nine Tertiary Adjunct of Unimatrix Zero-One completed her regeneration cycle. The Collective's new orders were with her as soon as her eyes opened. Seven of Nine made her way across the metal floor to the doorway, through which she could perceive the two figures awaiting her approach. Both Starfleet officers: one a captain, Human, female; the other Vulcan, male, lieutenant. Seven of Nine stopped in the doorway, her eyepiece fixed on the Human captain.

"I speak for the Borg."

"Chakotay to Seven of Nine."

Her regeneration cycle complete, Seven tapped her combadge. "Seven of Nine here."

"I hope I'm not rushing you. The Doctor told me what time your regeneration cycle would end, and I need you in Astrometrics. The away team's about to leave."

"On my way."

The Commander's soft yet powerful voice still had an effect on her. Axum's had too, once. Seven had memories of feelings for Axum, and current ones for Chakotay. But she'd known Axum for eighteen years, had been romantically involved with him for six, and had adopted and lost a baby with him. Why weren't the feelings coming back now? Would she fall irrevocably in love with Axum once her memories of Unimatrix Zero fully returned? At the moment she both missed Axum, and felt wrong with him. The duality was confusing and unpleasant to say the least.

Also unpleasant was the thought of what Captain Janeway, Commander Tuvok and Lt. Torres were about to undergo. Of all people onboard, Seven felt she had particularly been a burden on those three. And now they were undergoing the process of assimilation for her.

Neelix entered Astrometrics at 1200 hours, with a hot meal concealed in a container. Naturally she attempted to dissuade him from bringing her lunch, but gave in when he revealed that it was the "Delta Quadrant soufflé" he knew she'd taken a liking to. What the Talaxian had managed to do with the eggs, berries, and plants of half a dozen Delta Quadrant worlds tasted like a surreal version of something Aunt Irene might have made.

"Sam and Marla have left with the children in the shuttlecraft," Neelix said. "I'm sure they'll be fine. Lt. Carrey is worried about Samantha though."

It was such an irony for Neelix to bring up the engineer and xenobiologist, she almost wondered if the Talaxian knew something about her at the moment. It was scuttlebutt around the ship that Ensign Wildman and Lt. Carrey had been having an on-and-off affair for years, despite both having spouses back home. Did Neelix know that Seven, too, had feelings for two people?

"I'm sure he's simply protective," Seven said, "having a family back home."

Seven chewed her Delta Quadrant Soufflé, deep in thought. At her insistence, Neelix joined her in consuming the dish.

"I remember helping Kes plant those berries," Neelix said offhandedly.

"Neelix," Seven asked quietly, "when you parted with Kes, were you...cross with her, for misleading you?"

Neelix seemed honestly confused. "She never misled me. We had a relationship. Relationships sometimes—usually—don't work out. At least among most species. It's normal to date several people before you find the one. Though, not at the same time, usually."

"In Unimatrix Zero, there is a man...we were involved, romantically...now I...I have no idea how I feel."

"You'll never know until you give it a try," Neelix said. "If you decide he's not for you anymore, he'll understand...even if not right away."

She turned Neelix's advice over in her mind for the next several hours, long after the Talaxian had left. She'd just managed to put the entire situation from her mind when Commander Chakotay entered Astrometrics, and decided it was time for her to regenerate again.

"I want you inside Unimatrix Zero. When the virus is released, your friends there will be the first to know." When she didn't reply, he added, "Problem?"

"No. But I wouldn't call them my friends."

"Acquaintances then. If you're having issues with these people I suggest you set them aside."

Seven was suddenly struck by how similar Chakotay and Axum were. Both were passionate fighters for justice, with the remarkable ability to set their emotions aside during times of crisis. Seven had ruined that for Axum when she'd impulsively kissed him.

But none of this was relevant now, in the mission to save Unimatrix Zero and the away team.

Locking eyes with Chakotay, she replied, "Understood."

She had ended up doing the exact opposite of what the Commander advised. The next time Annika had gone to Unimatrix Zero after talking with Chakotay, she opened up to Axum, reminiscing about their time together, and finally sharing in a very familiar kiss. But Axum, it turned out, was on a cube in the Beta Quadrant, exploring the edge of Fluidic Space.

And in a few moments, they wouldn't even have Unimatrix Zero anymore.

As soon as everyone understood the covert order Captain Janeway had given the crew, Seven rushed back to her cargo bay, to see Axum one last time.

Unimatrix Zero was flickering, with gaping glowing holes revealing the halls of a Borg vessel, as if Unimatrix Zero had been a holo-simulation. The visuals made little sense, but it probably had something to do with the unconscious memories of millions of drones left behind in the now collapsing virtual world. Glancing around, she thought she saw her raven, flickering in the sky, but it was impossible to tell for sure.

Her eyes turned to a clearing in the trees, and she realized she was standing just a few feet from the cliff where Axum had once talked her out of suicide. He was there now, standing at the edge, staring at the collapsing scenery below. She hurried over to him.

"You shouldn't be here," Axum said.

"Neither should you."

They hugged.

"I've wasted our time together," Annika began, her voice cracking.

"No, you didn't. It gave us a chance to fall in love again."

But have we? She wasn't ready to even begin speculating on whether Axum was "the one." And now she'd never find out.

"We've lost our only way to be together."

"No," Axum assured her. "I'll find you."

"Axum,"

"I'll find you," he repeated, before vanishing.

Seven awoke feeling like she'd just returned from a very turbulent shuttlecraft ride.

Neither she nor Axum had said the words "I love you." And she didn't know if the emotion filling her now was relief or regret.

While the away team recovered in Sickbay, Chakotay, Seven, and Lt. Ayala gathered in Astrometrics for some final words with General Korok. An assimilated Klingon was quite a site. The lack of hair and presence of a Borg eye piece did little to diminish the immediately recognizable face and presence of a Klingon.

"I'm sorry Commander," the general replied. "But it appears that full transwarp capabilities require a connection to the Hive mind. Now that my sphere has been disconnected, I cannot help you or myself return home."

"But you're welcome to join us in our journey back," Chakotay invited. "I'm sure Captain Janeway wouldn't mind a crewmember with tactical experience against the Borg."

The Klingon grinned toothily. "Perhaps not. But my friends from Unimatrix Zero need me. They're scattered across the galaxy. We'll need to rendezvous in some way to continue delivering damage to the Collective. In any case, it would appear you have a reasonably capable Klingon in your crew already."

"I'll be sure to tell B'Elanna you said so," Chakotay said. "I think she'll appreciate it."

The Klingon's wide fierce eye and metallic disk moved to Seven. "Annika, I'm sorry to report that our friend Siral was aboard one of the vessels the Queen destroyed."

Seven froze, just for a second. She'd last seen Siral laughing with her other friends, trying to pull that bat'leth from the tree. The former drone and subject of the Klingon Empire had been right; he'd never achieved freedom.

"He died fighting the Borg," Korok assured her. "If there was ever a place in Sto-vo-Kor for a non-Klingon, it's for Siral. Though I doubt he would accept the honor."

"His people did not believe in an afterlife," Seven recalled. "But he made certain to enjoy the one he had."

The Klingon continued, "I have been contacted by a vessel in control of two of our comrades. One is our old friend Wachow. The other is a Jem'Hadar I've never met. They'll rendezvous with me in a few days."

Wachow, the transgendered Orion man Annika had known in Unimatrix Zero, was now awake and back in his old, female body. How he would fare, and whether he and N'Lor still stood a chance as a couple, was something Seven couldn't begin to guess. She felt both guilt and relief for not being able to help any of her old friends through this time. And then more guilt, for being relieved.

"When you see Wachow," Seven said, "tell him Annika said hello."

"Is there anything you'd like me to tell Axum, should I ever find myself in contact with him?"

Seven just stopped herself from glancing at Chakotay. What could she tell Axum? "I love him" would likely have been a lie. She had no idea what her feelings for anyone were anymore.

Floundering for something both sincere and safe, she replied, "Tell him...tell him I won't forget him."

"I will." The Klingon replied.

The away team had almost completely recovered, physically at least. Their implants were gone, skin pigmentation returned, and even sporting hair again. Seven noted that B'Elanna's hairstyle had changed, now looking almost identical to the captain's.

"Hello Seven," B'Elanna shook out her hair. "What do you think of the new look?"

Seven lifted an eyebrow that would've pleased Tuvok, had he been awake. "It is strikingly familiar."

The women snickered, while the Doctor began recording his medical log. (Apparently Tuvok's recovery would take more time than the captain and Lt. Torres.')

The Captain groaned. "The Doctor removed my spinal clamps but it'll be a while before I'm playing hoverball again. If I ever imply it's been easy on you these last few years, remind me about today."

"Noted." Seven replied.

"Well," the Captain said, "Unimatrix Zero may be gone but it looks like the resistance is alive and kicking. With any luck, the Collective may never be the same."

"Korok said he would try to maintain contact, keep us informed."

"Have you heard from your friend?"

"No. But I don't expect to. Axum's vessel is in a remote sector of the Beta Quadrant."

The thought of Axum alone on a Borg vessel near or in Fluidic Space was unsettling. But he'd escaped the Borg countless times before his assimilation, and had over three centuries of experience and adventures to fall back on. If anyone could evade the Borg again it was Axum. And if anyone had the power to move on after realizing he wasn't going to be with Annika forever, it was Axum. And if there was a former mate she could continue a friendship with, should they meet in person someday, it was undoubtedly Axum.

Earlier that day, Harry Kim had briefly consoled Seven, reminding her that he too had recently been reunited with an old lover, only to lose her again. Harry had repeated Lindsay Ballard's advice to enjoy life, and Seven decided she would do her best to oblige.

Her relationship with Axum, though not likely to ever continue, had been far from a waste. Seven had become more human in the last few days than she'd been in the last few years combined.

"If I ever imply that he was nothing more than a friend," she told Captain Janeway with complete sincerity, "remind me about today."

A/N: Crediting Scifiromance for her ideas is a bit complicated. See, a while back I wrote a fic called "Sleepwalking," for which I invented several background characters to populate Unimatrix Zero. Most of them were little more than their names and species. These include T'Nara, Sh'Mi, and Nezmin. Scifiromance then used them in her amazingly written story "In Thy Name," where she fleshed them out as three-dimensional characters, while adding a few of her own. Then she gave me permission to use her take on those characters for my other stories. So basically, T'Nara, Nezmin, etc. are the result of fan-fic incest. Yuck.

Korok's Brunali love interest Remala is Scifiromance's character.

I highly recommend Scifiromance to anyone who wants an emotional story that's a bit more serious than the silliness I normally.