Thirds and Sixths
Summary: After Shaw is downed by a phaser blast, Seven sends his body to Sickbay and a stasis bed. But not even that is going to pull him back. He needs Seven, her Borg implants, and a crazy plan.
Which is what he gets because she is not letting him die without a fight.
Characters: Seven of Nine, Liam Shaw, Dr. Ohk, Tuvok
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Angst, Hurt/Comfort, On Page Sex
Words: 6,352
Notes: Dedicated to the two idiots who inspired this; Todd "Raymond" Stashwich and Jeri Ryan (IYKYK)
Also heavily influenced by the Stargate Atlantis episode "Duet".
One
"No." His voice is soft. Faint. "It's-it's not my ship anymore. It's yours." Pain-filled eyes focus on her face. "You have the conn, Seven of Nine."
For over a year, she's wanted Liam Shaw to use that name. Now she'd take "Hansen" if it meant he wasn't on the floor with a phaser blast to the chest. If his skin wasn't going cold or his eyes turning glassy.
She holds his head with one hand and grips a hand with the other. Willing him to survive. "No," she says and the pained twist of his mouth pulls into a wry smile. "You are not relieved of duty, Shaw."
"One fucking order," he mutters as she hits her comm.
"Computer, lock onto Captain Shaw's signal and transport him to Sickbay."
He huffs a laugh. Then doesn't breathe in again.
"Now!" Seven screams. The transport beam engages. She pulls back and lets it take his body.
Raffi grips her shoulder. "It's done. We need to move."
Because the crew are coming, turned into Borg by the signal and genes altered in hundreds of transporter beams. Seven gets to her feet, determined to keep the ship in her hands. If for no other reason than she wants to give it back to Shaw when he wakes.
He will wake.
She doesn't have any idea what to do if he doesn't.
o O o
The Titan is hers. Seven drops onto the centre seat, exhausted. Comms are pouring in – news from other ships and Earth. From the mother-fucking Enterprise.
The Borg Queen is dead, the ancient threat dealt with once and for all.
Seven stares blankly at the screen, aware that Shaw was right about them. He'd been right about a lot of things. Guilt sits heavy in her chest. Saving him is a small part of the penance she has to pay now.
"Set a course for the nearest Starbase," she says. The Titan is too damaged to go much further. His beautiful ship a wreck because of her choices.
Her captain on the cusp of death by the same.
Her comm buzzes. "Ohk to Seven."
"Seven here."
"You need to come to Sickbay now."
The urgency in the doctor's voice makes Seven go cold. Raffi gives the turbolift a sharp nod. "Go."
She bolts for the doors. Seventeen seconds later, she's running into Sickbay, her heart in her throat. Every bed is full, the nurses busy with the injured, but her eyes are on the stasis bed that contains Liam Shaw. Ohk is at the head end, padd in hand as she battles to keep him alive. There's a monitor on the wall. His stats are dreadful.
"Doctor?" she says, voice tight with the effort to keep panic out of it.
"I can't stabilise him," the doctor reports. "His heart is too damaged."
"But stasis..."
"It'll keep him with us for a while, but there's serious risk of brain injury even if I do replace his heart. If he could even survive surgery. Not even the stasis bed can cope with everything."
"What can I do?"
Ohk shakes her head. "I'm not sure. If I could separate the risk to his brain and that to his heart, I think I could pull him back, but as it is..."
An idea sparks in Seven's mind. "Can-can the transporter separate his consciousness from his body?"
"Maybe. Why?"
Seven taps the implant on her eyebrow. "Ex-Borg," she says, casting a wry look at the man she refuses to let die. "I can the capability of storing uploaded information. Why not his consciousness?"
"You want Liam Shaw in your head?" Ohk laughs despite the dire situation. "Do I need to do a psyche eval?"
"'Want' is a strong word," Seven grins, then sobers. "But I don't want him dead. Wound it lessen the stress he's under?"
"I believe it will. But there's no form to cover this. No way to record your consent."
"That's easy enough to fix." She takes the padd from Ohk, sets it to record, and turns its camera on her face. "This is Seven of Nine, acting captain of the Titan-A, stating that I freely choose to carry the consciousness of Captain Liam Shaw in the hope that doing so will save his life."
She stops the recording and hands the padd back. "Does that satisfy you?"
"Yes. Get on the next bed. I've no idea how this is going to affect you, so I want to monitor your stats as well."
Seven lies down and stares at the ceiling. With the monitors in place, Ohk won't be able to help notice how nervous she is. She knows the idea is monumental and risky, but she can do this. She will save him. She's just not questioning why she feels such a driving need to do so.
One of the other patients – an engineer called Alonzo Mendoza – has solid knowledge of how the transporter works. He and Ohk consult over a padd for several minutes, while Seven watches Shaw’s stats anxiously. Finally, Mendoza nods and Ohk sighs.
"On your mark," she says, and he taps the padd.
Normally, Seven feels a pull when the transporter is engaged. This time it pushes and there's a sharp pain at her brow. She squeezes her eyes shut and grits her teeth as the pain increases, like a bright light somehow inside her head, then there's the hiss of a hypospray and the throb dissipates.
The last thing she hears before darkness engulfs her, is Ohk's soft "I think we did it."