Protocols Unknown: A Decision of The Stars

Lines We Cross

Janeway's voice dropped like a threat wrapped in protocol. "So what happens next, Inspector? If you're right, if she's more than even we understand, what exactly do you intend to do with that knowledge?"

Janeway's arms locked tighter around Astrea. She took a single step back. "If I even suspect you're here to harm her—or anyone like her—I will end you. You understand me?"

Kashyk nodded once. No performance. Just gravity. He looked at Astrea again, then back at Janeway.

Kashyk didn't move. But something in his face opened, exposed but steady. "Protect her."

"I didn't know until right now what she is. How did you find her, after the Vaddwaur took her?"

Janeway's silence answered before her voice could. But Kashyk kept going.

"They don't just take hostages. The Vaadwaur didn't take her for leverage. They wanted something. And if she's not just telepathic, but something more, then they didn't just want to hurt you. They wanted to use her."

He exhaled, sharp and low. "I've hunted people for less. But I never saw a child walk out of a Borg cube untouched. I need to know what happened in there. Because if the Vidiians are involved now, this is bigger than retaliation. It's research."

His voice caught. Not fear. Something else.

"They want to unlock her. And you know it."

Janeway's brow furrowed. She paced a half-step, balancing Astrea's weight without thought. "The Vidiians don't take interest in anything without biological value. Unless..."

"Unless they think she's not just telepathic," Kashyk finished. "But biologically adapted."

"Modified," Janeway snapped. "Or born that way. Or something in between."

"She survived a Cube," he said. "Not many could."

"She did not walk out. I went for her. And she made contact," Janeway said, the words catching sharper than intended. "Naomi sent a signal through Astrea. They were half a quadrant away."

She looked up, not at him but through the space between them. "It reached Icheb."

Kashyk stilled.

"That shouldn't be possible," he said, more to the silence than to her.

"It wasn't just survival," Janeway murmured. "It was navigation."

Their voices rose, not in anger, but in velocity. The exchange hit rhythm, rapid and sharp. A scientific cadence between minds that once clashed too easily, now circling something impossible.

"The neural overlay the Doctor detected—"

"Wasn't decay. It was adaptation," Kashyk said.

"They weren't trying to break her." Janeway paused. "Naomi said they thought Astrea was a map."

"Which would explain why they needed the Vidiians. Their genetic interface tech—"

"Would be the only thing fast enough to handle Borg density in a child that young."

"And the last time the Doctor scanned her—"

Janeway stopped pacing. She was breathing faster now. Her grip on Astrea was steady, but her thoughts had raced ahead of her voice.

"The Doctor said the Borg tech is almost completely gone," she said. "What's left is trace, molecular, almost cellular-level remnants. But she's stable. Whole."

Kashyk slowed too, watching her. Not for effect. For reaction.

"Which moves up whatever timeline they had," he added quietly, the words falling like weight across the room.