FF: NKA Chapter eleven/?

["Christeen Demons" <Shyfox30@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

I know, I know i've been away for a while. Working overtime and trying to 
move will do that to you...which I'm moving next month, so...still not over 
the whole thing yet...but I did have time to do a little writing today, 
so...I thought I'd get this out. BTW, I've been reading everybody's 
fiction, haven't had a whole lot of time to respond, but everything has been 
really good. Anne-lise, you rock, Angel, you come up with some awesome 
stuff.:) Pat, you know I love your stories, Jim, my partner in crime, you 
just keep getting more incredible. I'm loving the new X-files/Buffy 
crossover.:-) If I missed anybody, I'm sorry. I'll be getting back to the 
feedback thing for real, real soon.:-)

Full disclaimer posted previously.

When last we saw Willow, she had just been assimilated by the Tara/drone. 
Buffy, Seven, and Janeway being too late to prevent it from happening, but 
they managed to get her away from the Tara drone and beamed onto Voyager. 
Now...On with the story.

Chapter Eleven.

"Please state the nature of the medical emergency." The Doctor said 
automatically, appearing in a flash of light and photons, giving the party a 
dubious look, before noticing the crumpled redhead laying still on a biobed. 
"Never mind." He frowned, moving forward almost immediately to examine the 
girl. "You would think they'd be more careful about being assimilated." 
The Doctor said, under his breath, his attention focused now completely on 
his patient. He'd lost count of the number of times he'd had to pull one of 
the crew back from the clutches of the Borg. "If this keeps up, we'll have 
enough leftover parts in cargo bay two to build our own."

Buffy was barely able to register her surroundings when the man appeared 
from out of nowhere, startling her into a defensive stance, even as she 
fought back the almost incompacitating feelings of disorientation and 
virtego that swept through her, as the man approached her lover's side and 
started to examine her with some sort of contraption. "Hey! What do you 
think you're doing?!"

The Doctor spared her only a cursory glance, annoyance appearing briefly on 
his features, only to be replaced by a bland, focused one. "I am tending to 
my patient. Maybe you should wait...somewhere else." His look towards the 
Captain told her that he was annoyed with having
so many people cluttering up his Sickbay and urged her into motion.

Buffy shook her head stubbornly, opening her mouth to protest further, when 
the Captain stepped forward, speaking to her in a low, yet commanding voice. 
"The Doctor is right. You can't help your friend, but we can." 
Katherine could see the blue eyes widening, could see the defiance shining 
forth. There was an obstinate side to this girl that she could relate to. 
"I know there's a lot that you don't understand, you're probably feeling 
very vulnerable and disoriented, but for right
now, why don't we let him do his job. Come with me, and I'll explain what I 
can." She conjoled, urging the girl away from her friend, so that the 
Doctor could get around her.

Buffy was caught between her urge to stay by Willow's side, no matter what, 
and her need for more information. She wasn't sure that she was ready to 
trust these strange people that had thrust themselves into their lives so 
quickly, their attitude and garb reminded her too much of the Initiative. 
But her Slayer sense had yet to kick up a fuss, and...major plus...they just 
might have information about 'Tara', and she wanted that now more than 
anything else. Taking a deep breath,
she gave her lover one more look, then turned her attention to the Captain. 
"Lead the way, 'teacher'."

****

Buffy tried, really hard, not to show how awestruck she was as she followed 
the short quick strides of the Captain in front of her, but she couldn't 
help catching her mouth gaping open as she took in the technology that 
surrounded her. This was beyond anything that she had ever seen in her 
life, beyond anything that the initiative could come up with, and what with 
what had happened to Willow, she was starting to realize that they had 
stumbled into something that was a lot bigger
than she might be ready for.

The Captain stopped in front of her, standing before two doors that opened 
with a hiss of air, reminding Buffy slightly of the doors that opened 
automatically at the Supermarket, although these doors opened a lot faster, 
and took her into a room that contained large windows. Buffy
stared mesmerized by the view that was displayed before her. "Oh my god." 
Buffy said in a small voice, staring out at the beauty and wonder of the 
blue, white and gold colors of the Earth.

"Where are we?" Buffy asked, finally, after having stared at the blue orb 
for what seemed like hours.

Katherine Janeway approached the windows, staring out at the planet she too 
called home, albeit quite a long time in the future. As she stared at the 
globe they were circling, her mind pondered over what exactly she should 
tell the girl who was now looking toward her for answers. Well, it would be 
pretty accurate to say that both the Prime and Temporal directives had been 
all shot to Hell by the Borg's actions. Whatever she told the girl couldn't 
possibly be any worse than what she had already seen. Breathing in deeply, 
she prepared to answer the questions in the girl's eyes. "My name is 
Captain Katheryn Janeway, and you are on the Starship Voyager."

*****

Buffy felt her reality being stripped away by the words the Captain spoke in 
her calm, measured voice. Talk of a United Federation of Planets was hard 
for Buffy to absorb. It was hard enough for her to imagine the people of 
her world had stopped fighting long enough to even make it to space, much 
less being able to form unions with other planets. A world where one 
country wasn't picking on, or demolishing another was hard for her to 
fathom. She would imagine that if the
people of her world ever made it to space, at least at this particular time, 
they would try to conquer it, turn it into a new Russia, or a new 
China...heck, even a new United States. So, the fact that the Captain could 
talk about this united Earth so matter of factly, as if that was the way the 
Earth had always been, made her head reel.

The Captain watched her, feeling sympathetic toward the girl's plight. She 
herself had always hated time travel, so she imagined it was no picnic for 
her ancestor either. She watched as she took it all in, turning white for 
mere moments, before she blinked, her eyes becoming focused once more as a 
steely look of determination crested over her face and Janeway got a good 
look at the 'Slayer' for the first time.

"Okay..." Buffy started slowly, regaining her calm, icy composure. "I can 
accept that you're from the future...I mean, I haven't seen anything like 
this in my lifetime..." Buffy said, looking around at the interior of the 
ship's cabin one more time, though this could possibly be some
government project, she'd certainly had her fair share of that running 
around lately, but she somehow seriously doubted it. "What does all of this 
have to do with that thing in Tara's body?"

A russet eyebrow rose at the question as Janeway paused, debating over how 
to answer. She could tell by the look on the blonde's face that things 
could get pretty dicey here if she didn't answer carefully. "That 'thing' 
is and always was...a Borg drone."

"A...what?" Buffy wished that somebody would kick start her brain, because 
nothing was making sense to her at the moment.

And Janeway found herself having to explain what the Borg were, in the most 
simplistic terms that she could come up with. Somehow, to explain the Borg 
as a group of biomechanical lifeforms that populated and became more diverse 
by assimilating other lifeforms and their cultures in their ever-present 
search for perfection seemed too simplistic, but it served to whiten her 
ancestors face once more, so it seemed the picture had gotten across.

The insidious creatures made Adam look like an oversized toy...but if the 
Borg ever managed to get their hands on him...Buffy shuddered at the thought 
of what a Borg named Adam would be capable of doing.

"Is that what Ta...that Borg..." She said the words with a certain amount 
of venom, letting Janeway know distinctly what Buffy thought of the race, 
and what she most likely would do if she ever met up with them. "...tried 
to do to Willow." Buffy shuddered at the thought, suddenly getting a 
picture in her head of her friend, and the greatest love of her life, 
looking as she did before, but awake and coming at her...telling her that 
resistance was futile.

"That is what they do." Katheryn Janeway answered sympathetically. She had 
her own issues with the Borg on that particular issue.

"I'll kill them for that." The girl's tone sending shivers up Janeway's 
back. The Captain had no doubt that the girl meant every word that she 
said.

"Captain." They were interrupted by the sound of the door swishing open, 
and the form of the tall, curvaceous blonde in the form-fitting uniform 
walked in, then stopped before the Captain, her head tilted as she waited 
for permission to speak.

Janeway was about to acknowledge her presence, but before she could make a 
sound, Buffy, who had just gotten sight for the first time of the metallic 
starburst-like inplant on the woman's cheek, not to mention the one 
outlining her eyebrow, burst out in startled outrage. "You...you're a 
Borg!"

Seven stared at her, feeling somewhat awkward. Although this certainly 
wouldn't be the first time she had faced such a reaction, the last time 
being when Voyager had finally returned to Earth and she had been forced to 
face some very nasty reactions by people who had come to loathe and fear the 
Borg as a race. Certainly a vast difference from the respect and admiration 
she had slowly, if not a little grudgingly, become used to recieving from 
the crew. "I was Borg." Seven acknowledged slowly. "But I was severed 
from the collective a long time ago, by Captain Janeway."

"So...what does that make you now...Janeway's Robot?" Buffy asked, her 
anger over Tara's actions, and her worry over Willow completely overriding 
her good sense.

"My wife." Janeway growled, letting her protectiveness where Seven was 
concerned surface. "And a member of my crew, so I'd advise you not to 
disrespect her again."

For a moment, firey blue was met by firey blue and Seven began to wonder if 
she would have to seperate the two physically, as it seemed the two were 
gearing themselves up for a confrontation. But then, suddenly, the younger 
of the two's resistance faded, and the Slayer slumped back against her seat, 
bringing a sudden ease of tension into the room. "I'm sorry." Buffy said, 
softly, not looking at the two women, shame and confusion weighing on her 
heavily. "I shouldn't have said
that...I'm just..." Just what? Being a big poop head. She was glad Willow 
hadn't been here to see her shining moment of stupidity.

"Just worried sick over your friend." Katheryn said, reining in her temper. 
One of these days, Katie, that temper of yours is going to get you into 
some mighty big trouble. Her inner voice said to her, ruefully, remembering 
all the times that it had gotten her into trouble and then some. She had no 
doubt that if her ancestor had possessed the plan of picking her up and 
throwing her across the room, she could have done that quite easily. She 
had to remember who she was dealing with,
this was no ordinary girl after all. "I wish that I could reassure you that 
she is going to be just fine...but I..." She was interrupted by the 
Doctor's voice coming over the com system.

"Go ahead Doctor."

"I thought you would like to know that the patient has come through quite 
swimmingly and is demanding to see your guest. Non stop I might add." 
Janeway could hear the Doctor's frown in his voice, not to mention some 
rather endearing babbling being picked up by the ship's com as well.

All Buffy could focus on however, was the sweet sound of her lover's voice. 
"Tell her I'm on my way." Buffy said, excitedly, before she ran for the 
door, not stopping to wait to see if the Captain or Seven were following 
behind her.

And now for those ominous words...to be continued.:-) Heh.

Shyfox



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