Rhaan Velik had almost decided that the young Starfleet Officer wasn’t worth his time when he had noted the metallic brace on her upper right arm. Of course, the artificial graft itself didn’t hold any actual value to him, but he knew that for most people, they were an insecurity – or at the very least a reminder of something awful that had happened to them.

His voice was almost kind as he spoke. “I see – not only has your Starfleet dedication brought you here, to me. It has also turned you half Borg.”

The words stung, like an ice cold knife through her heart. All of the hurt, the hateful looks, the half whispered insults all came rushing back up to the surface in an instant. Tanna closed her eyes and tried to force back the tears. “I hate that word,” she said slowly, her voice breaking a little, “I’m not one of those mindless drones.”

“What else would you call being part machine, girl?”, he said, and smirked in amusement.

Tanna didn’t know how to answer. If she wasn’t a Borg, what as she? Was she still a person? She balled up her right hand into a fist. Is that me, or is that the implant, she thought, How can I be sure? She looked up at the Reman, smiling smugly down at her, and she hated him. “I…….I don’t know.” she said, slumping back into the chair, defeated. She wouldn’t cry, if only to avoid giving him the satisfaction

“Then I will give you a day or two to think about it”, said Rhaan, and left.

Tanna was laying on the floor of her cell, with her arm over her eyes. Her stomach gnawed at her, it must have been at least a day since she had eaten last. The lights never dimmed or turned off, so she had no idea how long she had actually been captured. She felt like she was in a daze, half conscious, and half asleep.

“What are you doing?” came a familiar voice through the air. “Are you really going to let them treat you that way? Talk to you that way?” Tanna sat bolt upright, and turned her head. Sitting on the bed, legs crossed was Abigail, looking just like she had the morning of the attack. Her long, wavy red hair framed her porcelain skinned face, her fierce green eyes shone like emeralds. She smiled in that particular way that always made Tanna head light.

“What?” Tanna cried in disbelief, “H-How?”

“I always did leave you speechless” Abigail said with a laugh. “But I didn’t know you to be a pushover. What’s going through your head, girl?”

“I can’t do it. ” Tanna said, turning herself to face the bed. “I can’t do this without you, Abbie, and I’m tired of trying. ” she slumped forwards, head in her hands.

“Bullshit.” Abigail replied “I’m right here. I’ve been right here since the day we met.”

“But….” Tanna started, letting her voice break, and her eyes well up, “You can’t be here. I watched it happen, Abbie. I……I held you in my arms. You told me you loved me.”

“And……” said Abigail, “I told you to be strong, so what is up with this? The way you’ve been treating yourself is bad for you, and for me. You’ve got to live for both of us, my love, because as long as you’re alive, I’m alive within you.”

Tanna took a deep breath, and looked up. “What do I do?” she asked.

“I don’t know, but you’ve got to figure it out.” returned Abigail, tossing her hair over her shoulder. ” You can start with knocking off that stuff about being half Borg or whatever. You know what you are? A survivor. You stayed alive, and you kept others alive. That’s the Tanna that you need now. If you can’t find your own strength, use mine.  I let you have that too. I love you, Tanna Irovin. I always did.”

At that moment, the small window was opened in the door. “FOOD!” yelled a gruff voice, and tossed a small foil packet and a metal bottle through the window onto the floor, and then slammed the small window shut again.

Tanna sat up and turned quickly to the bed, which sat empty. Tanna let out a long deep sigh. “Too good to be true” she said out loud to the empty room. She retrieved the foil bag and the bottle, which thankfully, turned out to be full of water. Inside the foil bag was one small emergency ration bar, which was a tough, bland brick of vitamins, minerals, and protein. She ate it quickly, and drained the water bottle. She stood up and faced the empty bed. She took another deep breath. This time, there were no tears. “I’ll be strong for both of us.” she said, holding her head high. She closed her eyes and said a silent thank you and goodbye to Abigail, then laid down on the bed, and fell into a deep sleep.

“Now, who is Abigail?”, asked Rhaan Velik, who had been standing in the cell for a while by now, almost politely waiting for Tanna to wake up.

Tanna sat up suddenly, whipping her head around to face her captor, her eyes burning with anger at him. “How do you know that name?” she asked sharply.

“You were screaming her name. A friend you lost?”

The man’s eyes remained cold as he regarded Tanna, and he reminded her of a snake that had found its prey. The weakest link of the chain, the one with the most baggage.

“That’s none of your business, Reman.” She spat. “You keep her name out of your mouth. It doesn’t deserve to be spoken aloud by scum like you.” She was standing now, her fists balled up in a show of defiance, but it felt less like an act this time. In truth, it felt like Abigail was there beside her, standing up against this villain.

“Now now.”, said the Reman. “I do not judge. Instead, I suppose I can relate. I used to be a soldier and I, too, have lost friends amongst the way, or at the orders of others.” He paused. “Is that what happened?”, he asked as he jutted his chin towards the brace on her arm.

Tanna took a deep breath, and relaxed her hands. What am I going to do, she asked herself, punch the bars down? She sat back down on the bed. “If you must know, this,” she pointed at her shoulder, “came at the hands of Remans like you when they ambushed my away team.”

“That is unfortunate.”, he commented. “Then again, the intrigue of this medical device is what is keeping you alive right now. How does it work?”

“It connects the nerves from my arm to the rest of my body.” Tanna said, running her hand over it. “That’s it. It’s nothing special. The damage to my arm was so bad, they couldn’t properly reconnect them. So, I wound up with this instead.” She raised her right arm, and touched each of her fingers to her thumb, then turned her hand over in the air a few times.

“Is it fitted to you specifically? Can it be removed?”, he asked, and somehow his voice had lost much of his menacing character. Instead, he appeared genuinely interested, and as if he was considering something.

“As far as I know it’s fitted just for me.” she replied, “And no, it can’t be removed. Not easily, anyway. It’s been pinned into place. See?” She lifted her arm again, showing him the underside of her arm. She pointed out the where the unit attached to her arm through the mass of scar tissue. “There is a bunch of tiny wires that run from the nerves here in my shoulder, up through the graft, and back down past the damaged bit to the nerves in my arm.”

“Intriguing.”, the man muttered.

Tanna felt a strange urge to continue. He was an eager listener, and it was nice to have anyone ask about how it worked, rather than just dismiss it as some disfigurement. He was still her captor, so she held back some details, but she soon found herself recounting the story of the attack on the camp, and the subsequent 48 hours of trying to survive.

The Reman opted to take a few steps closer, and then he knelt down to be on eye-level with Tanna. He extended his hand carefully, fingers brushing over the cold metal.

“Where does one acquire such a thing?”, he asked eventually. “And are you a valuable enough asset to Starfleet to be exchanged for one?”

Every inch of Tanna wanted to recoil at his touch. She had hated Remans for what they did to her, who they took from her, but she resisted. This Reman seemed far less menacing now than when she had first met him. “I wish I could tell you.” She said after a minute, “I was unconscious for the whole procedure. If I had to guess I would say it was replicated. That’s probably how they managed to fit it for me. I don’t know if you could trade me for one, though.”

Tanna looked at him for a moment, taking in the features of his face. She couldn’t be sure if this was some clever game he was playing, honed by years of being an outlaw, but in that moment she thought she saw some sorrow in his eyes. She decided to be bold, and she asked him “Do you know somebody that needs one? Perhaps someone you care about?”

Velik remained silent. There was someone – of course there was – but he had no interest in sharing that fact with the woman.

Tanna placed her hand over his. “Maybe we could make a deal. If you let my friends go, I’ll agree to let you scan and study it. Maybe we can reverse engineer how it works.” This was risky, and she knew it. She wasn’t sure this was real and not some sick game, she wasn’t even sure if she had what it took to build the thing, but she wanted so badly to take a chance on hope. If she could get her fellow officers to safety, she stood a better chance of being rescued. “What do you say?” She asked him, “Do we have a deal?”

For a moment, it seemed that he would agree. But only for a moment.
Then, he slapped her across the face – not hard by any means, but in a way that clearly told Tanna that she had overstepped.

And without a further word, Velik left.