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Reader's Note: This is a re-posting.

Star Trek Voyager

&

Trigun

Reminiscence

Chapter 1: The Red Coat

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Seven was dreaming in the semi-quietness of her alcove in cargo bay 2. The only sounds were the humming of the alcove itself as she was regenerating but in this regenerating she was dreaming. It wasn't an ordinary dream, this was a nightmare, she was surrounded by Borg drones in this dream. She looked left, she looked right and back to her left, drones, drones everywhere. There was no escape from them, and it was then she heard that same monotonic voice.

"Seven of nine." The collective stated, "Tertiary Adjunct of Unimatrix Zero One. You will be assimilated, resistance is futile."

The drones started to move in, they clustered around Seven like hunters around their prey. Why were they so determined to come after her, why her? Of all individuals, why was she the one that they wanted so desperately?

She could feel her heart racing within her chest she was experiencing fear. Why? She never experienced fear, especially around the Borg, but why was she afraid. She could feel her heart like it was about to jump right out of her throat, hell it felt like it was going to pop out of her chest. Her muscles tensed, she felt hot, sweating as the drones closed in around her. She couldn't help it she screamed.

"Help me!" She screamed.

She looked up and all she saw there was darkness and from the darkness a ray of like pieced through it like a bullet. Seven covered her eyes as she felt her pupils try to adjust to the new light. She looked back at the drones and saw that the drones were retreating back as they saw the light come down on Seven. Seven looked back up at the source of light and she saw the shape of a person come down from the light like a biblical angel. She saw the figure start to sprout angelic wings from it's back. As the image came closer Seven no longer felt the fear or anxiety. She felt her heart start to relax and beat softly as the figure came closer to her.

The figure became slowly visible to Seven's eyes; she saw the figure had a red coat that was draping like a cape or a clock. She looked at the face and all she could see of the face was blonde hair that was standing up on end as if the being had used some kind of strong hair gel or was being shocked. This angelic figure reached out its hand towards Seven, inviting her to take it.

She heard a voice call out from the figure, "Anika." It called, the voice was a man's voice, yet it was soft and gentle, "Anika."

It was then when she heard that voice that Seven of Nine woke up in her alcove. She reached up to her forehead to feel sweat. She felt weak in her knees and shoulders; she could barely stand in her place. She had to hold onto the handrail of the alcove in order to stand.

She reached for her communicator to call the doctor, "Seven of Nine to the Doctor."

"Doctor here." The doctor called

"I need to come to sick bay." She stated

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The doctor ran his scans over Seven as she sat on the examination bed. She could still feel the after effects of the dream she had, though she was not inclined to tell the doctor that at first. She wanted to keep this to herself, at least at first she wanted to, because she felt something extremely familiar about that figure. The red coat is what she remembered the most, but why did she remember that the most out of all the rest?

The doctor completed his scans with his tricorder.

"According to my scans." The doctor stated in his doctor almighty tone, "It seems you've suffered from a severe nightmare."

"I have not." Seven refuted

The doctor sneered, "The scans don't lie Seven. You had a nightmare, would you like to tell anything about it?"
Seven felt cornered, conflicted. Should she tell the doctor about the dream or should she keep this to herself. At last she decided to tell the dream.

"I dreamt," she stared, "That I was surrounded by Borg drones, I was afraid. I cannot figure out why I was afraid, but something else happened while I was surrounded. I looked up and saw a figure come out of the sky. The most dominant feature that I remember about this figure was a red coat."

"A red coat?" The doctor asked

"Yes, and blonde hair. I don't know why but I feel as though I remember that person."

"It was just a dream Seven." The doctor reassured, "It's nothing to be afraid of. Other than this slight nightmare, you're perfectly alright."

Seven got up off of the table and walked out of sickbay not feeling the slightest bit assured by the doctor. She still felt that there was something more to that man in that coat, but what was it? Why after all this time of being on this ship and crew for nearly two years does this hit her? Could it be a premonition? Or could it be that the doctor is right that it's just a dream and nothing else?

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The Bridge:

"Captain." Harry called, "Something's showing up on sensors."

"What is it, Harry?" Janeway asked

"I can't tell from this distance, but I think it's a small craft."

Janeway knew what to do in cases like this, "Where is it?"

Harry tried to get a fix on the object, "It's about 5 light years from here. Course 002, Mark 3."

"Tom." Janeway called, "Set a course for the object, Warp 2."

"Aye." Tom complied, "Setting course."

As the Starship Voyager headed towards the object at it's velocity, the sensors began to detect much more from the object.

"Captain." Harry called, "I'm getting more on the object, it's definitely a craft, but…"

Janeway got up from her Captain's chair to look over at the concerned Mr. Kim, "But what?"

"This can't be right." Harry refused, "There must be something wrong with the sensors. According to what I'm receiving, the object has a federation warp signature."

"This is illogical." Tuvok added, "There are no other Federation vessels out here."

"I know that." Harry stated as he was frantically trying to run a local diagnostic on the sensors. He waited for an answer from the computer hoping that the computer would say that there is something wrong with the sensors. His hopes were dropped as the computer reported that there was nothing wrong with the sensors.

"There's nothing wrong with the sensors." Harry reported, "So it's true, whatever's out there is a federation vessel."

"But you said that it was small." Chakotay restated, "So it could be a shuttle craft."

"That's the other part that didn't make sense to me that there's a federation shuttle craft out there."

"We'll know what it is in a few minutes." Janeway added to the issue, "So we'll find out."

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In the lower decks a different kind of scan was going on, it was in the astrometrics lab that Seven was frantically scanning everything within a 4 light-year radius from Voyager. She only found the usual astrological phenomena, asteroids, pulsars, quasars, red giants, white dwarfs, red dwarfs and comets. What was she looking for? She thought that she was trying to find something that was connecting to the dream. She looked for Borg ships, nothing, she tried to find planets that might have a single life form on it, but there wasn't anything out there.

"Why?" she thought, "Why am I searching for something that appeared in something as irrational as a dream?"

Then she found something, she extended the radius to 5 light years and she found something there. She found a ship, she looked up at the enormous screen that was like a view screen for the astrometrics lab. She saw a ship that looked like an old issue federation runabout shuttlecraft, was this it? Would this craft be a clue to what was in her dream?

She dashed out of the astrometrics lab and headed for the nearest turbolift, she wanted to get to the bridge. She wanted to talk to the captain about the federation shuttlecraft that she found.

"I'm being irrational." She thought, "But I feel somehow drawn to whatever is in that ship."

She dashed into the turbolift as if she was being chased by a demon of her past.

"Bridge." She stated to the turbolift, she felt it lift upwards towards the bridge. She wanted to yell 'faster' at it but she had to stay under control. What if she is acting irrational and that the shuttlecraft is just empty? Or what if the reading is a malfunction within the sensors? For some unknown reason she had to find out, all that was going through her mind was the shuttlecraft and the red coat.

She came to the bridge and stepped out, "Has a craft been detected?" She asked waiting for someone to answer.

Janeway feeling odd about this stood up to look at Seven and said, "This is a little irregular or you, but we have detected a small craft. When will we arrive?" She asked Harry

"We're there." Harry reported,

"All stop." Janeway commanded

"Aye," Tom said, "All stop."

"I have the craft in visual range." Harry reported

"On screen." Janeway commanded

On the main screen the senior staff of Voyager saw probably the most unusual thing of all. It was just a runabout shuttlecraft in the middle of space, just drifting along in space. It was like watching a fish in a glass bowl.

Janeway and Seven stepped forward closer to the screen to look at the craft. Why was this federation craft out here in the Delta Quadrant, thousands of light years from home?

"A federation runabout?" Janeway thought, "Out here?"

"What are you reading Harry?" She asked

"It's definitely a Federation ship, a Runabout Class Shuttle, designation Angel Arm. All systems are down, except life support." Harry read the scans from his station, "Engines, thrusters, transporter, navigation, weapons, all down. There's no sign of a battle so they must have run out of fuel. Hold on…" Harry read the scans further, "I'm detecting life signs."

"How many?" Seven asked

"Two." Harry looked at his screen deeper but what he read both frightened and confused him, "One's human and the other's…" He paused, "Borg."

"Borg?" Chakotay asked, "If there was a Borg drone there shouldn't it have assimilated whoever is on that ship?"
"Perhaps," Tuvok speculated, "Whoever is on that ship is keeping the Borg alive."

"Maybe their dead." Tom added,

"If they were dead." Harry refuted, "Then their scans wouldn't show up."

Janeway turned to the senior staff, "Harry." She called, "You said life support is still working right?"
"Yes, ma'am." Harry stated blankly, "Everything else is inoperative."

She turned to Tuvok, "Take an away team there see what you can find. But I want to keep a constant transporter lock on you just in case that Borg is intent on assimilating you."

"Aye, Captain." Tuvok complied as he left the bridge.

"Captain." Seven called, "I wish to go on the away mission."

Janeway looked at Seven with concern and skepticism, "Why is that Seven?" She asked, "You've been acting peculiar in the past few minutes."

"I know that, but I have to see for myself what is on that craft."

"If it's because of the Borg there, we'll let you know what's there."

Seven grew a face of annoyance, "It's not the Borg on that ship that I'm interested in, it's whatever human is on that ship."

Janeway thought about Seven's request to join the away mission. Was it because of the Borg that was on that ship? She already asked her about it and found out that it wasn't that, what could be so interesting about a single human on a ship that Seven hasn't seen before in her life? Even the name sounds suspicious, Angel Arm, she's never heard of a shuttle named that. Normally shuttles carry the name of their "mother ship", this one didn't it was a ship of it's own. Janeway couldn't resist it, she wanted to know too, she gave the order.

"Go ahead Seven." She smiled, "But we'll keep a transporter lock on all of you, if there's the slightest sign of trouble, I'm beaming both of you out and destroying that ship."
"Understood." Seven said as she joined Tuvok down to the transporter room.

While in the turbo lift she and Tuvok broke the silence about what happened on the bridge.

"You're acting rather erratic." He stated, "It's not like you to behave this way. What brought this on?"

Seven only told the dream to the doctor so in order for Tuvok to understand she had to tell him, "I had a dream." She started, "In the dream I remember being saved by a man in a red coat from Borg drones. All I remember is his red coat and blonde hair and all this time I couldn't get it out of my head, I kept having this feeling that the man I saw in my dream is close by."

"Fascinating." Tuvok raised his Vulcan eyebrows, "A premonition maybe. Vulcans have said that they could see the future but it's a skill hundreds of years from perfecting. Yet, you feel as though you've had one."

"I do not know what it is. But all I know is that the answers may be on that craft."

"Perhaps, but do not let your feelings interfere with what we may find there."

"Understood."

As the two of them walked, Seven couldn't help but feel anticipation. She wanted to know what was there desperately. Now she knew what it was like to teeter that thin line between sanity and madness. The red coat, why does she remember red? Why does she like the color red? Was that figure someone she knew? Impossible, she was assimilated as a child, she had no contact with anyone else and it was too long ago to remember. If that's the case then why does she still feel the anticipation?

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The away team transported over to the Runabout known as "The Angel Arm", the first thing that greeted the away teams eyes was red. There were only emergency lights on; the color red seeped through the rooms of this craft like a flood. Yet when they looked around they expected to see Borg alcove everywhere, some even expected to see Borg Drones coming at them left and right with no way out. It never happened, they saw the ship untouched, unspoiled; it was as if the Borg life sign that they detected could have been a mirage.

The answers were ahead; Tuvok took out his tricorder to look for the life signs.

"The Borg and the Human are this way." The pointed the tricorder down the hall.

Down the red light soaked hallway the team went, with each step Seven grew more and more anxious. She couldn't stand feeling like this, she wanted to dash to down the hall to find whatever was there.

Her wishes were fulfilled, the team reached a door, Tuvok recognized it as the door to the bridge yet when he stepped to it the door wouldn't open. He placed his tricorder in its pouch and reached for the door controls, they wouldn't work. So he reached for the door itself and pried it open with his bare hands, still wishing to see what was behind this door Seven reached for door and tugged with all her might to get it open.

The door was open and the two walked in, Tuvok with his phaser out and ready to fire. There wasn't any threat behind that door, just two chairs at the consoles, yet they saw something odd from one of the chairs. They saw an arm that was a Borg arm, just then they saw the arm move and up came the body of a Borg drone. The drone was walking, yet it was just one drone. Where are the others?

The drone turned around to look at the two members of the away team. In the red saturation of the emergency lights the drone smiled. His joy was demonstrated in his one good eye, the other eye was covered by a Borg implant.

"I am glad to see you." It said, "My friend here would not have survived for very long."

"Who are you?" Tuvok said, "If you're Borg where are the other drones?"

"There are no others with me, I have traveled alone with my friend who is lying unconscious in this chair."

The drone pointed to the chair next to him.

"You said I," Tuvok stated, "Does that mean you are separated from the collective."

"Yes." The drone stated, "I have."

"What is your designation?" Seven asked

"I am Hugh."

"Incorrect." Seven refuted, "This is not a Borg designation."
"My Borg designation is 3rd of 5. Please help my friend, he doesn't have much longer."

Tuvok reached for his communicator, "Tuvok to Voyager. Beam the Borg and the Human directly to…"

"Wait." Seven stopped, "I'll go with them."

"Are you sure about that?" Tuvok asked

"I am sure."

"Very well." Tuvok said and restated his order, "Voyager, three to beam out. Beam out the Borg, the human and Seven."

"Got it." Harry's voice complied

Before Harry could beam the three to sickbay, Seven got around to the second chair and looked at it. What she saw confirmed both her joys and her fears, she saw a man sitting in the chair. His hair was blonde and sticking straight up, his coat was long and red.

"It's him." Seven whispered just as the transporter got them both and they were beamed out to Sickbay.

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In Sickbay, the man in the red coat was on one of the bio beds near the door, but the Borg was set on the bio bed in the circular niche on the far end of Sick Bay. A force field was set around the area of the bio bed, it was explained to Hugh that it was necessary for the safety of the crew.

"I understand." Hugh replied at the time

Now, the main concern of the Doctor was the man in the red coat, he took out his medical tricorder and ran his scans over the helpless man. He ran the scanning tool from his feet up to his brow. The tricorder picked up several odd things about this man, his physiology was perfect, but he was suffering from slight hunger.

"This is an odd person." The doctor idolized

"How is that?" Seven asked leaning over the man

"I've detected that he's alive but suffering slight hunger, but I've also detected pieces of metal in his body, but they don't seem to be affecting him in anyway. Help me get his clothes off."

Seven looking at the doctor in bewilderment, "Why?"

"To see if the pieces of metal are removable."

Seven couldn't argue, she aided the doctor in removing the coat, which resembled what Seven saw in her dream. It was long down to the man's ankles, it was almost like a cloak or a cape on a certain level. Down the center there was a panel that was like that of a chef's uniform with buttons on either side that ran in a procession to the bottom. Seven and the doctor removed the panel and pulled off the coat. Under the coat they found him to be wearing a brown skintight jumpsuit. On the mans right leg they found a gun holster and a gun's handle in it.

The doctor reached down to pick up the gun, he could feel it's weight, it wasn't like a phaser that was lightweight, this was heavy, he pulled it up to look at it. He looked at the long barrel, the odd shaped cylinder, he read the markings on the side out loud.

"45 Colt Long Eagle." He said, "Odd weapon."

"Similar to a Colt 45 hand weapon used in the Western period on Earth."

"Yes." The doctor said with his eyebrows raised, "But what would a man like this be doing with it?"

He set the weapon down on the bio bed next to the man and began to undo the man's jumpsuit. Seven took hold of a zipper and pulled it down towards the waist, but it was what was under the jumpsuit that caught both the eye of the doctor. The two pulled back the jumpsuit and found a horrible sight for both of their eyes.

They found that this body was scarred, scarred from the waist up, except his face. They didn't know of the scars below his waist since they only took off part of the suit. They saw scars that stretched from one part of his body to another. The thing that caught the Doctors attention were the metal pieces on this man's body.

"My God." He whispered, "What has this man been through?"

"A hell of a lot, as Lieutenant Paris would say." Seven answered

The doctor ran his scans over the man's body but found something else.

"Odd." He mumbled, "His left arm is prosthetic. Yet to me it looks like the real thing."

"Perhaps he had access to a good doctor."

"Maybe, but if that's the case then why did they use such medieval techniques on his body?"

He continued the scan of the man's left arm and found something else.

"Strange." He said, "It also appears that this man's left arm is not only prosthetic but it conceals a hidden gun."

"That was also typical of Earth in their early periods." Seven stated flatly, "People with lost limbs would hide guns in their prosthetic parts."

"True, but in this case it's different, it seems that this arm has been fit just for this man. A custom made arm and weapon."

They looked at the metal pieces and found a metal mesh across the man's left breast as well as metallic bolts that were lodged in his shoulders. Still there were scars everywhere, there was one that looked as if a shark had taken a bite out of this poor man. It was enough to make the Doctor vomit, that is if he wasn't a hologram.

"I haven't seen anything like this." The doctor stated, "He's in bad shape, from the looks of him. Seven I'm going to have to operate on him to get these metal fragments out of him."

"Should we not wake him first?" Seven asked

"Oh, yes." The doctor nodded, "Of course."

He reached for one of the hypo sprays that contained a stimulant, which would wake patients up after surgery. He reached down to the man's neck and injected the hypo spray into him.

Suddenly the man sat straight up as if he had just been shocked, "I'm alive!" he screamed as he reached for his chest. Suddenly he felt his own bare skin, "Where's my shirt?"
The doctor was inclined to explain, "We took your shirt off to examine you."

"What is your name?" Seven asked

The man looked down at the bio bed, "My name is Vash." He said, "Vash the Stampede."

"Vash the Stampede?" Seven asked, "As in Vash the killer of the Borg?"

To be continued…

Author's Notes: I've been a fan of Anime as well as Star Trek. Then I had a thought as I was watching the last episode of Star Trek Voyager. What if Vash the Stampede had known one of the crewmembers. Then I went further on that thought that if he did know someone, who would it be? Then I picked Seven of Nine, purely for one reason, the color red. Vash has affection for the color red where as Seven's favorite color is red. So I figured that this would turn out to be an interesting mix.

I hope you've enjoyed the story and that you'll return to hear more stories of mine.