The plot sickens . . . . er . . . thickens!

The Never Ending Quest - Episode 17723

"Come on, Scott, you know we're always trying to come up with better ways of getting home!" human Torres laughs. "What, do you have a few ideas?"

"Well, I did dream of an interesting dream while . . . . I was under that one time," Scott winces, wishing that he hadn't let that one slip. "Well........I don't know......"

"Hey, if you have an idea, spit it out." furry Torres says, putting down her tricorder, suddenly all business. "If you have an idea, spit it out!"

"First, stand still." Scott sighs as he scans the confused Torresses. No sign of Silver Blood in either of them! Well, that was one worry that he didn't have to worry about. "Well, that's a relief!! I was so afraid of what'd I'd find that . . . . I hadn't really searched for it until NOW."

"What?!" the Torresses say together in confusion. Scott explains what happened in the dream, and both shudder when it dawns on them what Scott had been checking for in them!

"Oh boy." human Torres says. "Now I can get a better understanding as to WHY you don't tell everything in those 'TV' shows you saw in your universe!"

"Yeah, too much potential of revealing personal and......REALLY disturbing information," agrees furry Torres "So THAT'S why you kept glancing down nervously at the floor where the deck where the rice landed after the wedding!"

"Well, I knew that the effect wouldn't . . . . shouldn't happen . . . . . considering that the warp core hadn't been modified," Scott laughed a laugh with litter humor in it. "Just all the same......."

"Too bad that what caused the . . . . 'others' to end up that way could be caused by hundreds of modifications!" human Torres grouses. "Though . . . ."

The Torreses look at each other, and then . . . .in a rapid fire chatter that Scott can't follow, they start to discuss the possibility of just going through the CENTER of the galaxy as a shortcut home!

"Possible?" human Torres finally finishes.

"Ayee, yes." furry Torres replies, shaking her head. Scott coughs, and the two blink in embarassment.

"Uh, sorry Scott." human Torres laughs nervously. "You know, when we get nervous or excited......"

"You guys slip into a shorthand that only your analog can follow," Scott finishes. "EVERYONE seems to have done that aboard the Voyager . . . . from time to time within the last few months. Identical twins have been known to do that back from where I'm from . . . . figures that the same thing can happen after a while between closely mentally matched analogs! It even happened with Chakotay and the Captains."

"Yeah, but . . . It's rude." furry Torres says. "I mean, it drives me up the wall when the Toms do it in front of me! It drives them crazy when I and my analog do it in front of them. But, we slip!"

"Hey, I'm not going to have a hissy fit about that!" Scott says. "I WOULD like to know what exactly you two came up with, however."

"While we can't match the velocity that other Voyager achieved with it's modified warpcore, we can take a page out of their game plan," furry Torres smiles.

"We can go through the center of the galaxy," chuckles human Torres. "It will take about twenty years to do, opposed to the two years that it would have taken for that other Voyager . . . . if they'd live . . . ."

"Well, at least from the clues that Scott saw, we can effect modifications to the shields so the Voyager can get through the Inner Great Barrier," smiles horse Chakotay, catching the tail end of the conversation. "I do think that the Captains will love to hear about this one!"<p.

*****************************************

The Borg Queen is remembering old times. She had just supervised the assimilation of a rather promising planet, and she was in high spirits. She hadn't felt this well since . . . . the beginning! She remembered it like yesterday. Not since she had she been in the body of the race that had given birth to her, has she felt something like this! She chuckles at how, in the end, she had been able to track down and assimilate the last of that faction that wanted to "seed" the galaxy! Heck, if she hadn't assimilated them when she had, those damn Planet Killers might have been implemented. Shame that the files on their construction had been lost before she assimilated that computer system..........

The Borg Queen (whose psyche happens to reside in something like a giant preying mantis decked out in cybernetics) pauses as she detects . . . . something unexpected. disturbs her Collective! It had been a stupid idea. Better to bring perfection to the universe than to waste resources in such a pursuit. The last time, it was due to that dear boy, Scott, had his brave experiment go totally wrong . . . and in the process of vanishing from the face of the universe . . . . sent out shock waves that had caused a large portion of her drones to go haywire. Now, something is again causing a cube with the drones to act . . . . strangely. She reaches out mentally to see what is causing the disturbance.

The Par Wraith feels . . . . . bloated . . . . for want of better words. Not only had taking control of this conveyance proven to be MUCH harder than anticipated, there were indications that the ship was somehow mentally connected to others . . . . . Billions of others! Maybe if . . . .

(Who are you?) a female voice asks from somewhere. . . . with billions of voices copying the query.

(I have no need of a name,) the Par Wraith says with a smidgen of smugness. (My kind have no need of names.)

(I see.) the voice says, with a trace of a chuckle. (Well, no matter. You will be assimilated. Resistance is futile!)

Something like a hammer seems to hit the Par Wraith. Angered beyond words, the Par Wraith strikes back. What happens in the end is what can be termed as a draw. Contact with the Borg Collective is broken with the Borg cube that the Par Wraith is broken. The Par Wraith has control of the Cube, but can't reach out and possess more of the Collective. Two things both sides got from each other before loss of contact. was that each wishes that they had access to this "stable wormhole" techology (it took a concerted effort of ALL wormhole aliens to get one set up), because imagine what could be accomplished with it . . . . The other is that the Borg will be ready next time for the Par Wraith . . . . the mental struggle brought up the information about what happened to the Wraith with the Voyager.......

So, now.......

  1. We return to the Ready Room of the Voyager..... Scott explains why he didn't broach this idea with the others before (I mean, seeing the way home through a dream! Ridiculous!)

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E. Nigma

11/15/2001 10:05:45 AM

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