<<Captain's Ready Room>>

"Thanks," Eve replied. She wasn't sure what to make of him now. It was difficult to make out anything about a man who seemed to change every other minute. She certainly never expected thanks for doing what she'd done; especially from him. She shrugged mentally; maybe he wasn't so bad. Maybe his lighter side had dominance. But then she was never the best judge of character anyway. "I have my own copy of my records; I can download it to your terminal if you'd like."

"Yes, I would," Epic replied.

"Fine." Eve hesitated. "Now, I'm sure you've heard about the.." She searched for a word. "..Specimen. I have made my own security suggestions for it's containment; one of those

was to beam it directly to the Science Lab put aside for it. It should be ready to transport tomorrow. At some point I'd better meet with the Security Chief for a briefing; I'm assuming you and the Captain will want to be present for that, so I'll

leave the timing of that meeting up to you. R'Laurent will probably find out by herself, so I'll let her know too."

Epic nodded.

"I think that covers everything," Eve said. "Unless you had some other questions?"

<<Epic's response>>

<Eve Mallory's Personal Quarters>

Eve stepped inside, and looked around. Nice. Far nicer than the quarters she'd been assigned while she'd been under 'observation' by Starfleet Science or the interminable

interrogation by Starfleet Intelligence. Her bags had already been delivered, which was nice. Not that she had much to bring. No ties, and certainly no excess baggage; just a couple of spare uniforms and some casual clothes.

She sat down at her desk, and activated her terminal. "Computer, transfer all personal files to this terminal, authorization Mallory Alpha seven five Jericho two four."

[Files transferred]

"Copy file 'Mallory 234f/13k' to Commander Terrakian's terminal."

[File copied]

"Begin Personal log."

The computer gave its usual trill. Eve leaned forward.

"Personal Log, Stardate... date is July 14, 2373.

They say history repeats itself. I never subscribed to that theory until today, when I realized the date.

One hundred years ago, on July 16th 2273, The USS Alonzo left on it's journey to make contact with the Machine Race. Following the flight path of the original Voyager satellite and it's return as V'Jur. On board was a civilian cybernetics specialist, Doctor Eve Susan Mallory. Me. We followed the path exactly, even fell through the same wormhole. And met with the Machine Race."

Eve paused.

"I think so, anyway. I don't remember. But I was remade, the same why they did to Voyager, and V'jur did to Ilia. And then they sent me back. No memories, no knowledge of why I was chosen, and no reason why they remade me. I guess the official term is Cybernetic Replicant.

And now, it's July 14th 2373. And in two days, we leave for the Delta Quadrant, on a mission to find a missing Starfleet vessel, the USS Voyager." Eve shook her head. "I seem to make a habit of going on long missions involving constructs called Voyager, and races having something to do with cybernetics. Last time, it was the Machine Race, this time it's the Borg.

All I can do now, is hope the other similarities between the Alonzo and the Grail don't happen. The Machine Race are seemingly benevolent. The Borg don't even know the meaning

of the word.

End Log."

Eve sat back. She'd better check out the lab that had been put aside for the Specimen. It was easier for her to call it that for some reason than to call it 'Borg'. Maybe she was personalizing it for some reason; why she couldn't imagine. She was saved from further introspection by the sound of the commlink activating.

[R’Laurent to Mallory.]

"Mallory here. Go ahead."

[Lieutenant, please report to my office at your earliest convenience.]

*She knows.* "On my way."

<R'Laurent's Office>

Eve paused outside the door. She hoped this wasn't going to be hard. Considering what had happened on the Nova with the last specimen, she couldn't blame R'Laurent for being nervous or upset about it.

The door hissed open at her approach.