She ran for a great distance. She needed to put as much space as possible between herself and the Y'rian holding cell. She knew that it wouldn't be long before they realized that she had escaped. And when they did find her cell empty, Seven knew that Voyager would be the first to hear from them.

And for the briefest of moments, Seven of Nine let herself entertain a wonderful fantasy. It was funny. The drone had never really had occasion to daydream before. When the doctor had described such a human compunction to her, she had assumed that one fantasized during times happiness, joy, and just plain self-exploration. That was certainly how it seemed that the Doctor dabbled in this particular habit.

But now Seven found that she had a real reason to escape the confines of her reality. She wanted to believe that if she touched her comm badge, Captain Janeway would whisk her away. She wanted to believe that if she only contacted Voyager that her friends and crewmates would come rushing to her aid. She even wanted to believe that the Captain might congratulate her on her rather inventive escape.

And yet, Seven knew that such a scenario was not only unlikely it was ridiculous. The Captain didn't back down, not once she had made a decision. And Seven knew that in this case Janeway firmly believed that she was doing the right thing in the somewhat distant eyes of Starfleet.

So, the drone did the only thing she could. She ripped the comm badge from her biosuit. And threw it hurdling into the ravine at her side.

Recently, it had come to mean so much to her. She had truly begun to adapt to life on Voyager. She firmly believed that the Captain was proud of the efforts she had made to rejoin and recapture her own humanity.

But if this pain was what humanity was all about, the drone didn't want any part of it. She had never known betrayal or deceit. These were gifts from her human side. And of all people to teach her such a cruel lesson, it was her only real friend.

Yet, Seven knew she couldn't think of such things now. She still had to escape Voyager's sensors and that wasn't going to be an easy task. The drone was grateful that the holding cell had been located in a remote part of the city. The building was surrounded by forest on all sides. It had been prudent to slip away under the dense shrubbery.

Yet, the drone knew that Voyager could easily pick up her unique life signs. But Seven also knew the geography of this region better then perhaps the Captain realized. When she had been working on her ideas for their planetary shield, she had taken long-range topographic readings of the planet's surface. She knew that that there were caves nearby, dense in a rock substance known to the Y'rians as cendrior. It would mask her signature from Voyager's sensors. So, with a frantic step and a frightened mind, the drone headed off in search of safety.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Captain was tired of discussing the arrangements for the ceremony. It was all that they had done for the last hour and she was growing apprehensive of the final hour. She knew that it was the only decision that she could have made. But still, she was broken hearted about having to hurt Seven. And she wanted a focal point for her anger. She needed someone to unleash her doubts, fears, and deep self-loathing onto. And T'knar was quickly turning into just that person.

"I tell you Captain, the ceremony is simply a thing of beauty." He said trying desperately to convince her that his people were not cruel or unusually callous.

But he suspected that his cries were falling on deaf ears. The Captain had done nothing but stare at him through a near blinding rage for the better part of the hour. And there didn't seem to be a single thing that he could do to change that.

"You are certain of this decision?" He asked wondering if the woman was beginning to second guess herself.

When she had first told him that she had decided to go through the ceremony with the drone he thought it for the best. The Captain clearly had deep feelings for the blonde woman they called Seven. But to T'knar it seemed like the Captain was truly unsure of the situation. To him it seemed like on several different occasions she wanted to berate herself for not doing more to protect the drone.

"No, I haven't been certain of anything since we came here. But I don't feel like I have much of a choice." The Captain said feeling more awful by the moment.

The longer she heard T'knar ramble about the upcoming ceremony, the worse she felt. Truly the ceremony would prove to be humiliating for both Seven and the Captain. And Janeway couldn't stand to think of it any longer.

And yet, it wasn't even the ceremony itself that was truly bothering her. It was all that would happen afterwards. Kathryn couldn't begin to even imagine how Seven would react once she was brought back aboard Voyager. The Captain could only hope that somehow she could manage to repair the trust between them. Kathryn could only hope that the bond between them was somehow strong enough to survive.

A loud chime coming from her door stopped the words threatening to spill out of T'knar's mouth. She looked at him, expecting him to finish his thought anyway. But he only shrugged clearly at a loss to resolve the tension between them.

"Come." She snarled unable to keep the icy tones from lacing her voice.

Her chief security officer walked in apparently apprehensive by T'knar's presence. A less astute person would never have noticed the change in Tuvok's demeanor. But Kathryn did. They had been friends far too long for her not to know when something was amiss.

"Captain, Counselor T'knar…" Tuvok said bowing before the Y'rian representative as their customs demanded.

The Vulcan stopped his motions looking to the Captain for some kind of guidance. Kathryn didn't know why, but she suspected that Tuvok's impromptu visit had everything to do with Seven of Nine. The notion was ridiculous. There could be any number of other reasons for the Vulcan's visit.

But somehow the Captain just knew it had to do with her drone. Maybe it was the man's slight bristle whenever he looked at T'knar. Or maybe it was the strong bonds of love that held her firmly to the drone. Whatever the reason, Captain Janeway sensed that something dreadful had happened to the drone.

"What is it Tuvok?" The Captain asked clearly giving him permission to speak in front of the Y'rian native.

"We have just received a communiqué from the planet's surface. It appears that Seven has managed to adapt her Borg implants to the frequency of the force field that was holding her. She has escaped the holding facility. They have begun searching for her but so far their efforts have proved fruitless. They have asked for our assistance." He said wondering what the Captain would do.

This was the perfect opportunity to let Seven escape the fate the Y'rians had planned for her. And the Vulcan found himself pondering the possibility that the Captain may use this chance to beam the drone safely away from Sodic forever.