Round 10 JP: Dr. Saveron & The Borg Queen

[Alexander Matthews]

((Treatment Room 2, Sickbay, USS Mercury))

::He had greeted the Marines as he passed them and checked the integrity of the quarantine fields at the door. Everything was excluded; not a virus nor a signal could get out, certainly not a nanite. Not even air particles, the environmental system was on closed-circuit recycle with reclamation and replication of air molecules. The internal monitoring system showed that the majority of the raw materials that Engineering had delivered had been used, and the Borg Queen appeared whole, and was using the power module placed at the back of the room.::

::Saveron keyed an exclusion forcefield half-way across the room, effectively cutting it in two, before he accessed the force-field airlock that was now in place in the entryway. The forcefields were transparent, he could see the Queen the instant the door slid back, and over their faint hum he could hear the whine of the powerpack.::

::Stepping patiently through the fields as they cycled to let him in without letting anything else out, the Vulcan doctor at last stood with nothing but a forcefield between himself and the Borg Queen. He looked her over with a neutral expression, but a more compassionate eye than most would use. She was here because of him, he didn't doubt that most of the crew would have gladly destroyed her. Yet the doctor could only wonder how she must feel, bereft of her connection to the Collective that had created her. Could she even function independently? He would find out.::

Saveron: Sochya. ::He greeted her traditionally, for want of a better idea. He had insisted that she be treated as any other prisoner would; it was logical to be polite.::

:: The Queen raised her eyes to her visitor: an important motion, since it was one of the simplest left to her. She was pleased with her ability to execute it, since so much of what she had been -- so much of what had been given to her -- had so recently been taken back.::

Borg Queen: You are Vulcan. (beat) Perhaps it is logical to tell you that resistance is futile; but I do not doubt that you will disagree.

Saveron: You are correct. ::He confirmed.:: oO So she does have independant reasoning. Oo

Borg Queen: Then tell me why you are here. Have you come to observe me? The creature who was once Borg -- who, without the song in its mind, is now fit only for your menagerie?

Saveron: Affirmative. ::The doctor assured her evenly.:: I also wished to converse with you.

Borg Queen: You would be happier if you allowed me to assimilate you. A collective of two -- a collective beginning with two. Our voices, in each other's heads. (beat) Are you not intrigued? Are you not curious?

::She had him there; yes he was curious.::

Saveron: Not in the manner which you presume. ::He replied.:: Being Vulcan, I am already aware of what it is to have my mind bound to another, but unlike the Borg my bond-mate and I retained our individuality. ::Although in the depths of an intimate meld even that could be difficult.:: That is not something I wish to lose.

Borg Queen: By sacrificing your individuality, you will expand and grow in ways you cannot imagine. It is illogical to assume that you would not benefit.

Saveron: When the Collective assimilates an individual they become a drone and lose their individuality. It fascinates me that you have not come to understand how this weakens you. Or perhaps you have? The Nimitz Borg are different to those with which the Federation is acquainted.

Borg Queen: It is true that we are -- and that I am -- different from those Borg encountered by your Federation before. We are connected, and yet each drone retains a sense of self. I've given them this gift myself.

Saveron: So you begin to gain an appreciation of the benefits of a different point of view. Many thought that the Collective assimilated everything, and learned nothing.

Borg Queen: Oh, yes. We have grown and learned much as we've evolved towards perfection.

Saveron: The Collective assimilates, it incorporates, but it does not create; it cannot. To be creative requires subjectivity, and that is something that you lack. An individual point of view is subjective. And it is that point of view, that difference in perception and understanding, that leads to creativity, invention and improvement. Without it a species stagnates. You steal ideas because you cannot make your own, this makes you as a parasite dependent on your host species; that is a weakness.

Borg Queen: Perhaps. You cannot hear the thoughts of those around you; that is a weakness. Whose is worse?

:: She did not wait for a response before continuing. ::

Borg Queen: I would take my own life and allow my children to grow another Queen if I believed I would never return to them. But their strength is such, and your weakness is likewise, that I trust that I -- that we -- shall overcome.

:: She turned away from the Vulcan man. She had no more to say to him. ::

Borg Queen: Leave us.

:: Only the quiet swish of the door told her that she was, again, alone. ::

TBC!

Dr. Saveron

CMO

USS Mercury

&

The Borg Queen

(sans collective)

by Cmdr. Kells

[T'Mihn]

Wow.