"The two great movers of the human mind are the desire of good, and the fear of evil" - Amit Abraham

Kathryn stood in the silence for a moment, no one moved around her, no birds sang, and no wind moved the grass beneath her feet. This truly was a desolate place, no matter how many people seemed to be occupying it. The people here were nothing more than the mindless automatons that inhabited the real Borg ships. This seemingly real vision of freedom, was nothing more than a cage without bars. A prison designed solely for the mind. Kathryn had a suspicion that it had been created for one mind in particular, her own.

"Do you believe in God Admiral Janeway." The woman said after a few moments, it took Kathryn a second to register any one had spoken at all, but when she did, she was unsure how to answer such a question.

"I guess I never really thought about it." She replied in honesty as the woman, who Kathryn was now sure was in fact the Borg queen took another step in her direction.

"My family do, they all believe in a higher power, one that controls everything in their lives, gives them purpose, meaning. They do not need to ask the big questions, because they all ready have the answers." The queen said walking as she did so, until she stood mere inches from Kathryn. For a brief moment she wondered if she could simply reach out and kill the queen right here. Something told her this was not going to be that simple.

"If they have all the answers, then why continue to keep going?" Kathryn asked as the queen looked around at her doting family.

"Because the search for perfection is endless, with every species we come a step closer, but the quest will never truly end until everyone has been assimilated." Kathryn was shocked with the single mindedness of this being, it both worried and inspired her as she continued to talk with the only person she ultimately could.

"But if the pursuit is endless, why bother trying at all. And if you ever do achieve your goal of total assimilation, what then? What awaits the Borg after that?" Kathryn couldn't help the small smile that crossed her lips, as for a while the queen was silent. The logic, one almost as harsh and unforgiving as a Vulcan's, stumbled over the questions posed by Kathryn.

"In finding perfection, we will find piece, what greater motivation could there be." The queen finally responded as several people nodded their heads around her. Kathryn was stuck by the eeriness of it all. Like a flock of sheep around their Shepard. Her word was law, without question or debate, and yet she offered no real answers.

"What about love, real unquestioning love, the one where someone would do anything for you, give their life for you, sacrifice everything for you, even if it means questioning their own beliefs. One given freely, not imposed on them because of some potion or implants." Kathryn said, knowing that this was something she had not truly understood until quite recently. Kathryn found herself thinking once again about Tom, and how much he had given her, and even how much they had given each other.

"Love is of no concern to us, it is imperfect by its very nature, the chance of failure high, the rewards not beneficial. It is a weakness we intend to eradicate." The queen smiled now, it was a slow smile one that chilled Kathryn to her very core. It was not long before she found out the reason for the queens change in mood.

"You will find out very shortly, why love is dangerous, that even the strongest will can be broken, when the weakness of love is involved." In that moment everyone around Kathryn vanished, she was left alone in the empty field. Spinning around and gasping for breath as her chest heaved in and out, Kathryn didn't know what to do. There was no one to save her now, she was alone. Powerless to prevent what was happening outside of this illusion. Clicking her heals and calling for home had proven useless, she was trapped, and Kathryn was sure the queens speech had something to do with Tom. There were few things left in Kathryn's life now that she truly cared about. Voyager had been taken away from her, her crew scattered to the four winds and getting on with their lives. Her home, the Doctor and Tom were all she had left now. The question was, could love conquer all, or would she have to conquer love to save the rest?

When Tom finally discovered the problem in the power cells in the engine core he almost threw down his tools in anger.

"The corrosion has all but eaten its way through these power cables, we are going to have to replace them if we want to operate at full strength." He said crawling back out of the Jeffreys tube and standing up beside the Doctor.

"How long will that take?" He asked, a look of concern crossing his face.

"Well I can replicate the parts, but it will take several hours, then to fit and test them, the better part of a day." Tom replied running his palms across his face and fighting the wiriness that had settled in. he had not been to sleep in almost three days, even though his body had been technically asleep his mind had been over active. Now his brain was crying out for rest.

"Ok well I can replicate the things we need, you have to get some sleep, you will be of no use to me , or the Admiral if you are running on fumes. First I think we should find a safe place to hide the flyer, without our cloak we are vulnerable." The Doctor said completely aware of Toms' fatigue. The responding nod was all the Doctor needed as he escorted Tom to his bunk and made him lay down.

"You will find the schematics for replicating the new cables in the engineering section of the replicators data banks. You will need to input length and amount yourself, but I am sure you can handle that." Tom said with a slight smile as the Doctor nodded. With a slight pat to the now asleep Tom Paris's shoulder the Doctor went to the helm and looked for somewhere in the area they could use for cover. An L class planet would, for now have to be sufficient, the high ionisation in the planets atmosphere would at least protect them from long range sensors. If anyone got a little closer however he would have to rethink his plan. Course and speed set, the Doctor went to the replicator and input the information it needed. The computer told him it would take three hours to complete the work. Sighing again, he moved off and back down into the aft compartment. Going immediately to Janeway, he checked her vitals and fed her body with water and nutrients. He did notice an increased heart rate, but not knowing what was going on inside the mental link, he did not worry too much about the slight increase. Walking back through the ship he was greeted with silence once more. Taking a quick look at Tom and reassuring himself that everything was ok he set himself at the helm and waited.

Kathryn had been concentrating hard on taking herself away from this place. Trying to focus her thoughts on specific events in her life. Even on individual people. Nothing had worked, she still remained in this place alone. Not even the queen had returned to talk to her some more. Kathryn briefly wondered if this what going mad truly felt like. Shaking her head and standing up she walked around for a while. There was nothing here but grass, no trees no flowers, no nothing, but endless seas of green. It reminded her of her parents farm back in Indiana. Some of the fields seemed to stretch on for miles. She used to sit in them when she was a child, looking up at the stars and long to be there. The memory sparked something, a flicker on the horizon, for a moment Kathryn swore she had seen her family home. Walking towards the image that was no longer there, Kathryn again remembered doing this as a child. Coming home for dinner after long lazy days in the summer holidays. Again the scene flickered, the house stood off into the distance, her mothers voice floated on the wind. Her name being called she was sure of it. As the memory grew stronger so did the images. The grass now blew as the wind picked up strength. Kathryn bushed a stand of hair from her face as she walked, her stride now becoming more purposeful as she moved through the long swaying blades of green.

As she placed one foot on the porch, Kathryn almost expected it to vanish underneath her. Pushing that thought away quickly she continued to envelop herself in this experience. For some reason this vision seemed more powerful than the others. More real, right down the the smell of freshly baked apple pie coming from the kitchen window. Pushing open the door Kathryn entered the slightly darkened hallway. The floor board creaked under her weight and she smiled. Her father had offered to get that replaced so many times, and her mother had insisted that she liked it. Claimed that it made the house seem more real, less modern, less replicated. Kathryn moved on towards the gentle humming coming from the kitchen. The slight ping and clank of the pots as her mother washed them by hand. Finally coming to the door way she lent against the frame for a moment. Simply watching her mother as she cleaned. The tune she was humming was familiar, but Kathryn couldn't place it.

"Well are you going to come in, or continue eye balling me like a Tarcalian hawk." Gretchen Janeway said, turning to he daughter with a rye smile.

"I was going to settle for watching, but as you offered so kindly." Kathryn said with a rye smile in return. She walked forward into the kitchen and took a seat. Her mother inclined her head and went over to the counter. Lifting the pie she brought it to the table.

"Here have some pie, I baked it special." She said setting it on the table and backing up slightly. Kathryn looked down at the pie, and although it smelt like apples, it did not look like one of her mothers famous pies. The pie was in fact a globe, Earth, it sat there unmoving, its bright blue and green almost hypnotizing, until Kathryn saw her mother coming towards it with a large knife.

"Shall I cut you a slice." She asked her voice as normal and inviting as ever. Yet a sudden urge made Kathryn jump up and clutch her mothers wrist.

"No!" she shouted as Gretchen clutched hold of the knife hard, her face turned dark with anger, and her free hand shot up and grabbed hold of Kathryn's shoulder.

"If you do not save it, then it will be taken, piece by piece until there is nothing left. They will make sure of that. Heed my warning Kathryn, you, and you alone can save us." Gretchen suddenly released her, the knife dropped and clattered to the floor. She turned and went back to the sink, washing pots again, like nothing had ever happened. She didn't even seem to realise that Kathryn was still in the room. Kathryn had to get out of there, something was driving her to run from this house. Trusting her instincts she did just that. Running until her feet met grass once more, she turned then and the house was gone. She did not know what to make of this latest image. Was it something she had created, or something the queen had orchestrated to drive her just that little bit more crazy. Shaking her head she wished not for the first time that Tom was here with her.

When the wires were done replicating the Doctor had no choice but to wake Tom, he went to his bunk and shook him but he got no response. Worried the Doctor ran to his med kit and got a stimulant. Placing it at Tom's neck he hesitated. There was something not right here, this was not simple fatigue keeping him asleep. If it were there should have been some response to the Doctors shouting and prodding, but there had been nothing. Just then he noticed Tom's lips moving, a single word fell from his mouth.

"Kathryn?"

Tom had felt her pull as soon as he had fallen asleep, but he could not find her. He had been walking through endless fields of grass, and yet had found nothing. Now as he reached the crest of the hill he looked down upon more fields. Shielding his eyes against the sun he finally saw her, staring off into the distance. He didn't shout her name, he simply ran full tilt down the hill until he was standing breathless in front of her.

"Kathryn." He whispered as she threw her arms around him. She stepped back after a moment and looked at him suspiciously.

"Is it really you Tom?" She questioned as he patted himself and looked down.

"Yeah its really me. I fell asleep and could feel your need for me." He said with a slight blush as she smiled up at him.

"I am so glad you are here, the Queen has trapped me in some kind of constructed reality, I cant break the link." She said before her face turned serious.

"They are coming Tom, and they are close, she warned me that you were in danger." Kathryn said taking hold of his hand and squeezing hard.

"Well we are getting the flyer ready as we speak, well the Doc is anyway. We had a little trouble, but it will all be fixed soon." Tom said trying not to worry her, but knowing the damage was done.

"Trouble, what kind of trouble?" She asked, her I'm in charge and I demand an answer tone returning.

"Umm well I don't want to say here, you know in case someone is listening, but don't worry we are on top of it. Now how can I help you get out of this?" Tom asked knowing that fixing the flyer and destroying the Borg would mean very little if he lost Kathryn along with them.

"I'm not sure, but I think I can fight the link, I just had some kind of vision, it was powerful, and I think I broke through whatever hold the queen has over me. For a short while anyway." Kathryn said not really wanting to go into details. She didn't want to tell Tom she may have to do this alone, if her vision was correct.

"Maybe I just needed to know you were still ok." She said finally reaching for both his hands now and taking them gently into her own.

"Don't give up Kathryn, you are the strongest person I know. If you want something badly enough I know you will do anything to achieve it." There was something behind his words, something so final. Kathryn didn't want to go to that place right now, she didn't have the strength, but she knew Tom would at least understand. On some level she had always known that.

"I won't, and promise me, you won't either." Kathryn finally said before Tom looked up and felt something else pulling at him.

"I think I have to go." He said dropping her hands and taking a single step back. Kathryn watched him vanish. The pull to join him was strong, but she fought it. Right now what she had to do here was more important. Going back into her own memories she thought about her father.

Tom sat upright with a gasp of breath and clutched hold of his bed sheets. He was looking straight at the Doctor who held a hypo-spray in his hand.

"I was with Kathryn, she is trapped, but working on a way out, but she says we are in danger, the Borg know where we are and are coming." Tom said getting up and quickly shaking off the sleep he had been consumed by.

"Then I guess we had better get to work." The Doctor said following Tom to the damaged power cables and secretly wondering if they could actually win this fight.

Realising that the more powerful the memory the more Kathryn could effect where she was. Thinking of her father had been a test, something to try before going for her real goal. Fear she knew was a great motivator, something that drove people to survive, improve and inspire. Or run hide and die. Kathryn did not want to be one of the latter. More than anything she wanted to save her way for life, preserve what is, so piece and happiness could prevail in a universe which seemed intent on destroying it. Now her mind turned to man kinds greatest enemy. A enemy with a single goal to eradicate them. Her anger built within her as she thought about all the Borg stood for. The suppression of individuality. The lack of emotions, of love, joy and happiness. A world with nothing, no meaning, no reason for being. Without opening her eyes she knew where she was. She could feel the harsh light all around her. Here the humm and click of machinery. Then the voice.

"I knew you would find away out, I had underestimated you in the past Admiral, but not this time." Janeway cracked one eye open and saw that she was indeed inside a metal cage. Her hands found the steal bars and she finally opened both eyes and faced the woman who now looked back at her. Cold and hard, dark and solid, much like all the metal, and machinery that surrounded her. Kathryn raised her head slowly, not wavering in her gaze until she took a slow and deliberate blink.

"You forget, I'm not really here." Kathryn spoke slowly and deliberately as she simply stepped through the barrier and joined the queen on the deck planting of a ship.

"You can't do that!" She shouted not knowing how to deal with this new development. The drones around them stopped and turned to the two women now facing each other.

"Yes I can, you see I have learnt that to be in control of ones mind, you first have to believe that you are not in fact in control at all. That everything happens for a reason. Then and only then can you decide how you want things to change." Kathryn said now noticing that she had an audience. By taking away the queens control, she had shifted that control to herself, now the question was what was she going to do with it.

"Being an individual lets me do this, you expect me to react like the drones under your control, but free will has a way of coming and biting you in the ass sometimes. You see true loyalty is when someone grants you that feely with no strings attached. Otherwise minds can be changed." Kathryn continued as she noticed the flyer on the screens behind the queen. A moment of panic swept though Kathryn before she took a deep breath.

"You took away their right to choose, but I want to give it to them back, not by force, but by showing them how much better life can be." Kathryn flicked through images in her mind of happy times. Some on Voyager, some before, and some of the present. The view screen was full of them, blocking out the sight of her ship and her friends aboard. Now she felt the drones shift, they were confused, disorientated. The queen had lost her hold on them long enough for old feelings to return.

"You wont win Admiral, they are still mine, I still control them!" The queen shouted finally coming to her senses and retaking control. The Borg suddenly sprang into action, moving as one to find and destroy the flyer. Kathryn moved forward, coming so close to the queen that she could smell the oil within her circuits.

"Don't bend the spoon, because the spoon isn't really there." Kathryn said with a small smile as she reached up and placed her hand straight through the queens torso. Moving through her like she was air. Again the drones stopped and waited, the queen stood motionless in her ship and simply looked at them.

"Kill her." Kathryn said as she stepped through the bulkhead and out into the space beyond.

The flyer was ready, and just in time from the looks of it. A Borg ship was bearing down on them, its weapons had not been activated yet however and no hail had come from the ship.

"Odd." the Doctor observed as the Borg ship held station only a few hundred kilometres from them.

"I have a feeling Kathryn has something to do with this." Tom said as the ship seemed to start powering up.

"Spoke to soon." Tom said quickly arming the flyers own weapons systems and getting ready for an all out war. Just as it seemed that they would need to start planning a battle strategy the Borg ship stopped once more.

"Ok what is going on!" The Doctor cried as Tom simply looked at him and shrugged his shoulders.

"I think I can help you with that." The voice that came from behind them almost made both men fall of their chairs. Tom was the first to his feet however as Kathryn gave him a slow smile.

"How?" The Doctor questioned as he looked from Kathryn, and back at the Borg ship.

"I'm not sure something about spoon bending was involved." Kathryn grinned as Tom immediately got the reference to the old movie. The Doctor still looked confused.

"That doesn't explain much." He finally said before folding his arms and staring at the pair as they looked back at him. More over his shoulder than at his face.

"I took control, for a moment at least, it was enough to get the Borg to think about what they had been, before they had been changed." Kathryn said and now the Doctor understood.

"Will they still be a threat?" He asked as the sensor alert went off as another Borg ship entered the area.

"Maybe, but at least we know how to destroy them now, hopefully without killing them." Kathryn said as she took hold of Tom's hand a clutched it tightly as the Borg ship came closer and stopped. Kathryn was not sure how far her idea's had spread, or if they would even be confined to the single ship she had inhabited. A few tense moments ticked passed, all inside the ship held their breath until the Borg cubes both turned and sped away. Not towards Earth, but back towards the Delta quadrant. The collective breath was let out all at once, for now the threat had been eliminated.

"What do you say we turn this tub around and go home." Kathryn said which earned her a glare from Tom who sat back at the helm.

"Tub, really that's the word you are going to use." He replied mock anger in his voice before setting a course for Earth.

"For now yeah, I mean you haven't exactly given her a name." Kathryn replied taking up residence in the navigation chair.

"Well I have been thinking on that. How about Voyager, I know she isn't the same, but the name does mean a lot to all of us." Tom suggested as he went to warp seven and sat back.

"I think that ship as truly sailed, if this experience has taught me anything, its that dwelling on the past gets you nowhere." Kathryn replied with a small shake of her head.

"Ok Doc what about you, what do you think would be a good name for her?" They both turned to their somewhat unusually silent companion as he placed his chin on his hand and thought.

"There can be only one name for this ship, the Alpha flyer, it saved our quadrant and it brought us back together. You can't ask any more of a ship than that." The Doctor said as silence fell inside the cabin.

"In ten years he still hasn't picked a name for himself, and in a single moment finds the perfect name for this ship." Kathryn said with a small laugh. Tom joined her quickly, after while the Doctor sat and allowed himself a secret smile.

"You know we are going to have to do a lot of explaining to Star fleet when we get back." Tom said now turning the conversation to more important matters. Kathryn to his surprise stood up and stretched. Taking Tom's hand she turned and looked at the Doctor.

"I guess we will cross that bridge when we come to it, for now Doctor you have the bridge. I have a promise to keep." With that she pulled Tom back to the sleeping quarters and left the Doctor alone. Standing up he went to the helm and sat down, not really looking at the console, he simply stared out into space.

"Humm I have always like the name Steve."

THE END

Well there we have it, epic chapter, I hope the conclusion wasn't too disappointing. Thank you for reading XxX