DISCLAIMER: It's Paramount's galaxy.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: C/7. AU where Chakotay and Seven are thrust into another plane of existence by the mysterious spontaneous creation of a single Omega molecule during the episode "The Omega Directive"

I've decided to try something different for me and write the five AUs from "Possibilities" simultaneously. I'll post the first chapter "teaser" for each over the next few days and then go from there (expanded from what was in the original). Reviews are always welcome.

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DIMENSIONS

Stardate 51793.6

The work on the chamber was finished. Seven turned to face Commander Chakotay. "We don't need to destroy the molecules. I believe I've found a way to stabilize them. The alien in Sickbay calibrated his containment field using Omega's own resonance, an approach unknown to the Borg. I have modified this chamber."

"Those weren't your orders. The Captain wants Omega eliminated."

"That is still an option, if she insists on yielding to her fear."

Chakotay was unconvinced, but intrigued. Millions of Omega molecules were somehow contained on the moon's surface in the alien's chamber, might Seven had really found a safe way to use the same technology and stabilize them? "Show me what you've done."

Seven called up a file on the chamber's control screen. The spherical Omega molecules coalesced to form a larger and complex spherical structure. "This simulation shows the molecules in their free state, highly unstable. I've modified the chamber to emit a harmonic waveform that will dampen the molecules."

"Looks great, in theory, but this is only a simulation. How are you going to test it?"

"On Omega."

Chakotay frowned. "Bad idea. One mistake, and no one will be around for a second try."

"It will work," Seven responded. She seemed determined.

"Someday, maybe. Hang on to your research. For now, we stick to the plan. Stand by to transport the molecules into this chamber and neutralize them as ordered."

Seven paused and took a step closer to Chakotay. "I have been a member of this crew for nine months. In all of that time, I have never made a personal request. I am making one now. Allow me to proceed. Please."

This wasn't like Seven. She seemed both agitated and expectant. A crack in her haughty exterior, perhaps? "Why is this so important to you?" Chakotay finally asked.

"Particle zero one zero," Seven replied, almost with reverence. "The Borg designation for what you call Omega. Every Drone is aware of its existence. We were instructed to assimilate it at all costs. It is perfection. The molecules exist in a flawless state. Infinite parts functioning as one."

"Like the Borg," Chakotay observed, although to say there were infinite parts to Omega was a bit of a non sequitur. Poetic license, Chakotay mused. He could forgive her that, but perfection? Nothing in creation is perfect.

"Precisely. I am no longer Borg, but I still need to understand that perfection. Without it, my existence will never be complete. Commander, you are a spiritual man."

"That's right."

"If you had the chance to see your God, your Great Spirit, what would you do?"

"I'd pursue it, with all my heart," Chakotay replied honestly. The comparison, however, was flawed. Omega was a part of creation while God existed before creation. A simple molecule, no matter how complex and powerful with its apparent access to subspace energy, doesn't even come close to compare.

"Then you understand."

Not quite. Chakotay hesitated, for he could see Seven's determination. Her faith. "I think I do," he responded diplomatically. "I'll inform the captain of your discovery. For now, her orders stand."

"Thank you." Seven appeared satisfied.

Suddenly a faint blue light emitted from the chamber behind them and an alarm sounded from the chamber's console. Seven and Chakotay both turned with a start. "What's going on?" Chakotay asked.

Seven didn't answer at first but entered in several commands and examined the readouts carefully. "An Omega is assembling spontaneously in the chamber. I'm unable to stop the process."

"Cut the power," Chakotay said.

"I have," Seven responded. "It's drawing power directly from subspace." Her eyes widened as the Omega neared completion. Chakotay was also transfixed. The power of Omega was not multiplicative. Millions of molecules trapped in the alien containment on the moon below, or the single Omega now forming in the chamber. The potential was the same. The nascent Omega almost appeared alive, adjusting and flexing as if a sentient creature. Seven opened her mouth to say something else, but the words never came.

Chakotay, Seven, the chamber, the cargo bay, the entire space and subspace became immersed in the intense blue-white light, although the radiation extended far beyond the visible in both shorter and longer wavelengths. The light was blinding and didn't diminish after Chakotay closed and covered his eyes. The light pervaded all. A universe of white. Chakotay could see nothing, not even his hands and arms which he held out in front of him. He opened his mouth to speak, to shout, to scream, but could not utter a word. There was no sound he could perceive, only the white.

And then, for a moment, nothing. The light was gone. There wasn't darkness, or an absence of light. There was simply nothing. Emptiness.

When his senses returned, he was standing on a beach. It was either just before sunrise or just after sunset. A strange moon hovered on the horizon. He was not on the moon Voyager orbited, nor on any planet he was familiar with. The experience of the nothingness still haunted his senses and his thoughts, but he didn't have time to dwell on these feelings. Before him silhouetted against the twilight sky two hooded figures stood. He glanced beside him and noticed Seven standing there. The two of them were in the same position as they were before the Omega chamber controls in Voyager's cargo bay. It was evident that she was also rattled by their recent experience.

One of the hooded figures took a step forward. He held a staff that could possibly be a weapon. His face remained in shadow. "And so," the man said in a voice both alien and familiar, "it begins."

The other alien now also stepped forward and spoke. A woman. Again Chakotay felt as if he had heard her voice before. "You are Chakotay," she said. Her brown cloak covered her completely, and even her hands weren't visible, buried deep within.

It was a statement rather than a question. Nevertheless, Chakotay felt compelled to respond. More to make sure he could still speak than anything else. "I am."

The man chuckled, but didn't share what had amused him.

"You are Annika," the woman said, turning to Seven. As with the man, Chakotay couldn't see her face because it was in shadow within the cloak, but the hood moved to face Seven.

Seven glanced briefly at Chakotay and turned back to stare at the woman. Her initial shock now over, she glared at the two aliens with a withering gaze. "I am Seven of Nine, Tertiary Adjunct of Unimatrix Zero One. Why have you abducted us and brought us here?"

This appeared to give the aliens pause. They turned to one another for a moment but didn't speak. Were they communicating telepathically? The man turned away from them all and waved the staff in his hand in an arch off to the side. The space there distorted and what looked like a hole folded away and onto itself. A hole in space-time. The edges of the gap shimmered and although Chakotay could still see the sea behind the opening, it was twisted and bent around onto itself. Chakotay couldn't quite make out what the two aliens were looking at inside due to his perspective. The man waved his staff again and the hole disappeared suddenly and the scene returned to what it was before.

"How is that possible? We misinterpreted the confluence and acted prematurely," the woman commented. She sounded annoyed.

"There are many parallel streams," the man replied. "Perhaps we should probe the continuum once again."

"We must return them at once and delete this construct."

"Tempus fugit," the man said thoughtfully. "Voyager will be, is being, and already has been destroyed."

"Time is irrelevant," the woman countered. "How can they help our faction achieve the end results we desire?"

The man turned to face Chakotay and Seven. Seven stepped slightly closer to Chakotay, possibly preparing for some sort of attack. To Chakotay that seemed unlikely, and yet the man hesitated. His staff held in front of him now, apparently in mid motion, but he didn't move it further. He seemed to be weighing something in his mind.

"We will try again," the woman said.

The man, however, remained still and silent. "No," he finally said. "We will teach them. They will learn what is required."

In one swift motion, he turned towards the sea and waved his staff again, and then they were somewhere else.