A Gift of One (part 3) written by Steve Cellor

Bewildered by her so called "friends" attitudes towards her, and noticing that every other table which had a diner or two a minute ago was now completely filled when no one else had even come in, she had little choice but to sit. Looking around the rather small but adequate dining hall, where many people would come and socialise, Seven decided that this was her favourite place to be. Scanning around, she noticed that many of the other diners were sharing the same displeasure in having to dine on such material. The thought almost caused her to laugh, but then a strange comment suddenly formed in her mind followed by a series of images. In her mind, she saw a little human child, a girl of no more than perhaps 5 or 6 summers old, who sat happily playing in afield of lush green freshly cut grass, with the relaxing touch of the summer sun looking down upon this unassuming innocent child.

"Come in Ann ika"

"Can 't I play a bit longer Mommy ?" cried the little child in reply.

Annika, who was that, it sounded so familiar. Now Annika, cried the distant voice once more.

"Ohh" ok then" came the sweet and grumpy reply.

The little girl entered what seemed to be a large pair of glass doors, which were part of a larger wooden building, a country manor house, Seven remembered. Inside there lay a large wooden table with three seats, 2 which the little girl attempted to climb onto but always failed to do so as it was more than twice her height. And the one that she would always have to sit on, was a slightly raised but a small red cushioned chair etched with the name of this child. As Seven watched on the little clild gave up on climbing the larger seats and settled for the smaller piece. Unbeknownst to her, a watery substance had begun to form around her eyes. But the images continued...

Now, on the table lay a basket of bread, some warm melted cheese in a delicate glass bowl. She could see the little girl lick her lips. Then a tall lady brought out another dish of long whitened strands of... Pasta she remembered. And beside it were a bowl of reddish, meaty sauce just like the one she had declined earlier.

"Uh..." cried the little girl at the sight of the dish.

"Now.. now... Anni, if you want some of the melted cheese you have to have some of this lovely Spaghetti Bolognese... first".

Seven smiled at the little girls misehieviousness, in attempting to fill herself with what she liked first to the point where she was so full, that she could eat no more. As the spoon and fork fulls of the pasta were loaded onto her circular porcelain plate, she found the girl say something quite remarkable.

"I'd, rather have nuts and bolts than this stuff".

Seven smiled at that comment for not only did it remind her that she wasn't alone, but more to the point, that she had people around her that truly cared for her for it's own sake and with no selfish motive behind them. The thought of Captain Janeway peeked its way into her mind.

Though her timing was not at all desirable, for the chef of this establishment had just come to observe her progress when she whispered the comment aloud.

"Oh, if that's how you feel about it then I don't even know why you bothered to come here in the first place." growled the obviously irritated Talaxian at her apparently ungrateflil remark.

"No, I didn't mean you Neelix..." but it was too late the Talaxian had already stomped off and would certainly not talk to her again for the next few days at least.

The two figures who had been sitting around in the corner of the Mess hall all this time had been keenly observing Seven's rather less than successful interaction with other members of the crew decided that it was time they should remind her of her status...

As Seven sat there prowling in her less than appetising meal, in the comer of her eye she noticed 2 shadowy figures approach her table not that they were wrapped in dark hooded robes or anything similar which had drawn this feeling, but rather that it was their dark expressions these two had brought with them and their gazes were unerringly focused upon her. She felt the tension in her arms grow as the pair sat down beside her without asking and without a sound like a snake sneaking up upon its desired victim... Seven wondered how humans greeted people who presented themselves before you, after staring wide eyed accompanied with a blank expression, she simply nodded a hello. Hoping that the two before her could reply and hence show her the appropriate methods of etiquette, they did not reply in any remotely courteous manner as she'd expected however. Instead, the taller of the pair Lt Lomas, (Seven noticed his uniform's security marker through her semi cybernetic eye) began hurling a series of vile comments.

"So, murderous cybernetic worm, alone with no one to accompany you ? I Thought you didn't like solitude?" A disdainful grin upon his face.

"Yeah, managed to alienate everyone already" added the stockier of the two, Ensign Cooper Seven identified him as.

"I had no other alternative, everyone else had been paired up". Spoke Seven gracefully, ignorant of their obnoxious comments

This however had the undesirable effect of causing a even more hateful response from Lomas.

"Maybe it's because of that cool dress and the cold attitude you have towards others"

"Cold Attitude"? inquired Seven confused.

"But maybe we can help you warm it up" gestured Lomas towards his stockier friend.

Before Seven could even ascertain their intentions, Lomas grabbed a cup of steaming freshly brewed liquor and hurled it in Sevens face. Instinctively she bought her hand up to shield herself yet without her Borg armour the boiling beverage scaled her hand and arm mercilessly. As she irresistibly let out a scream of pain and surprise, her hair drenched and dripping.

"Well how did that feel the pair whispered cruelly, maybe a rotten mechanical by-product like you would know better than to be around someone as respectable as us" as they burst out into hate filled laughter.

"No," cried Seven as a image of seeing a image of the little girl earlier in her visions being nearly torn apart as two of two hideous half mechanical creatures hammered all-sorts of sharp metallic fibres into her. With this cry of anguish, which had long rested within her, a superhuman surge of strength surged within her, as she single-handed grasped the shameful StarFleet Lomas by the neck and cast him across the other side of the mess hall. Surprisingly she wondered why nobody but Neelix was interfering, Neelix attempted to come forward and end this scuffle but Lomas's companion uncharactcristically elbowed him carelessly as he shoved Seven to the ground before reaching for a hidden Phaser under the table which they originally came from. But with reactions of those who had assimilated her, with lightning speed she reached up and attempted to wrench the weapon from its grasp. Though the stocky human was strong he proved little match against Sevens cybernetic strength, so he simply clasped down upon the trigger in the hope that it would hit her too. Unfortunately, Seven had deciphered his intent and reacted by sweeping him. It was in this moment the Phaser fell into her grasp while pointed at Cooper who gave a mad struggle for it and ended up setting the weapon off, striking him at point Blank range.

Gasping for breath Seven stood up, her mind recovering from the burning pain in her arms and the exhaustive encounter with the two StarFleet, she did not here Lomas tell Tuvok an alternate version of what had occurred and also Tuvok's warning for her to lower the weapon. By the time she turned, phaser still in hand a high pitched shriek trailed a orange beam of light as it struck her and knocking her also to the ground.

"Take her to the Brig, while I inform the Captain of her misplaced trust", was all that she heard before she lapsed into the welcoming darkness which claimed her of her consciousness.