Equinox - Diane Carey [60]
The Doctor appeared, but he looked perplexed and out of place, almost dizzy. Burke knew instantly what had happened.
"Seven?" The Doctor began.
"We are captives," the Borg girl explained immediately.
"I was attacked by their EMH."
Burke scanned the controls. "Looks like he downloaded you into our database. Good. Go treat your friend." He handed The Doctor a tricorder and gestured toward Seven.
When the hologram hesitated, Burke encouraged, "Are you refusing to treat one of your own shipmates?"
Eying him bitterly, The Doctor relented. "No. I will treat any of you, assuming you live long enough to come down to sickbay. Captain Janeway will be firing on you soon, and you won't have a chance."
"She won't kill us," Burke said. "Rudy's right. She's not to that point yet. Arresting us is one thing. Executing us without trial is something else."
"Ransom to Burke. We're ready to try the warp drive. Let's have Red Alert, Max."
"Acknowledged. I'm on my way. Or, shall I say, 'we're' on our way. See you later, Doc. Unless you decide to misbehave, that is. Seven, come with me or I'll stun you. Doctor, you're authorized to use the research lab, aren't you?"
"Well... yes."
"Meet us there and you can keep treating her. If you don't, I'll shut you down and she can get infected or whatever happens. Right now we don't much care about you. Seven, this way."
"Maria to Ransom."
Ransom glanced up as Burke appeared at the door of the research lab, with Seven of Nine behind him. As soon as they appeared, The Doctor frazzled into solidity nearby. No-this couldn't be their doctor. This one looked angry, even put off. Maybe his program had been compromised somehow.
"I thought you were on the bridge," Burke told him as he came to Ransom's side.
"Lessing's manning it. I wanted to be here for the power shift, in case you need an extra hand."
"Thanks."
"Maria, go ahead," Ransom said into the comm.
"We're ready."
"Acknowledged. Infuse the enhanced warp drive with twenty isograms of the compound."
"Aye, sir."
"Ransom to bridge. Lessing ... engage."
They held their breaths-certainly he held his. Beside him, Burke was poised, silent.
The ship hummed, gathered strength, began to tremble and whine in a mechanical way. That sounded right, most of it... there was still damage, yet the ship struggled valiantly to reach warp. Almost there... almost...
KRRRRCHUNKCHHHH-
"What happened!" he gasped. Loss of power!
From the engine room, Gilmore called, "The power relays are off-line! They've been encoded!"
Both Ransom and Burke turned to Seven of Nine. Ransom warned, "Give us the codes."
"No."
Coldly Burke shook his head. "I scanned her before. There's Borg technology throughout her cranium. If she won't give us the codes, maybe we could extract them ourselves."
The Doctor said, "Seven's cranial infrastructure is highly complex. You'd need months just to figure out what she had for breakfast."
Well, that was unexpected-defiance? Ransom
watched Burke, who seemed to know what was going on.
"That's why you're going to help us," the first officer told the hologram.
The Doctor came to something like attention. "I refuse."
Since Burke seemed to know what was happening, Ransom stood by and let him handle it.
"Do it," Burke said, "or I'll erase your program."
"Be my guest."
"Doctor," Seven protested.
"Don't worry," The Doctor said. "They need me. They'll be cutting off their holographic nose to spite their face. Now, I suggest you-"
Without waiting, Ransom reached over to the sickbay auxiliary connection and hit a final control, setting into motion a series of bleeps. The Doctor's demeanor suddenly changed. He was no longer defiant, but rather cold and remote.
"Get to work," Ransom ordered him. "You know what we're looking for."
"Very well." The Doctor turned to Seven. "Have a seat."
"Doctor?"
"I deleted his ethical subroutines," Ransom explained. She might as well know she had no more