Summary: There is a killer hunting frat boys on campus. The Raven Hunter is a terrible name... not that Caroline has a reason to care or anything.
Why you should read: Speaking of soulmate AUs, I have yet to find one that is anything like this. Yes, Klaus and Caroline are soulmates. Klaus is a hybrid. Caroline is a serial killer. Match made in heaven. It's the soulmate au that meets the wrong side of true crime.
While Caroline's pov does add her sunny disposition to the narrative, this fic has dark undertones. It touches on sensitive themes and is bloody. The way Lynyrd writes this fic, making me completely understand why Caroline took the course she did...to the point that I am cheering her on.
Also, this fic set a new head cannon for me- won't say what because spoilers but I will never be persuaded that this did not happen.
I love that Picard has a pet lionfish named Livingston; like.. it's absolutely hilarious to me that Picard sat down and looked at this lionfish and said 'you know what? I think I should name my fish after a famous explorer/missionary from the 1800's*' like he looked at his pet and decided THAT was the best name for a tropical fish.
(Hugh looking at Livingston curiously)
*yes, I know the fish was actually named after David Livingston, I just mean in universe
pet based shenigans on the enterprise when? Everyone talking about their pet lovingly and Picard just gushing about... IDK what fish owners talk about, but I want to imagine Picard is just, intensely ALL ABOUT fish care despite never mentioning it, it seems like the kind of thing he’d be intensely interested in. He’s nerdy like that
When you should be working on NOVELS but no you’re writing FAN FICTION!
I did this thing.....I dunno where it’s going....
Consciousness rings in Hugh’s ears. He sucks in a breath, and it stings, hurts, and aches in his lungs and across his back. He burns in ways he hasn’t felt in a long time. Hugh groans. “Easy,” The female voice in his head is familiar and distant, and he stiffens. Familiar but not the same. “Slow breaths.” Her voice rings over the others, and he realizes he’s in an alcove, plugged back in. He tries to look up, but his vision is still blurred.
Fear rises like bile from his stomach, and he pulls away, trying to escape the clutch. “Where?” The thought breaks through the whispers in his head. Fear rises in him.
“The artifact.” She responds, “We have completed repairing you; now all that is left is to bring you up to speed.”
Hugh pulls again but cannot break out of the alcove. He remembers he’s connected again and tries to reroute the connection from his mind. Hugh is unable to access the highjacking of his mind. He winces again and can’t think to move with his muscles stiff from atrophy. “What is happening?”
“If you calm, I will release you. I ask you to listen to what I have to say.” She says again to his mind.
“You’re the Queen.” Hugh knows, somehow. “The Queen doesn’t ask, never has-” He stands defiant in her statement. But something is wrong with this Queen, something he can’t pinpoint, but he does know one thing, and he speaks again. “But you don’t sound like her or feel like her.”
“I am different. However, that is not the discussion at hand. I am going to impart data to you, three of five.” She says softly. “After you have reviewed, I will release you. Your choices will then be your own. Your autonomy is your own.”
“Data? Autonomy?” He asks. Suddenly like another burst into his already burning chest, the data she spoke of enters his mind. He can hear the conversations, see the decisions, hear the collective, new and built on the backs of the willing. It is a strong voice, and it’s different from what he remembers. He closes his eyes to organize what’s come at him and review it. It takes moments, and he opens his eyes to her. “I think I understand.” it’s a tentative statement.
The locks of the alcove back away, and he pulls his arms free, the field around him drops, and he steps out. “Hello, Hugh.” She says softly, “That is your given name.”
He looks her up and down; he looks around. The collective has a time stamp that feels wrong. He remembers the artifact Romulans and Elnor.
“Three years, four months, six days, seven hours, sixteen minutes, and forty-four seconds. Forty-Five.” she seems to catch herself counting and looks directly up at him. Her focus changes, “and yes, to answer your next question, you were dead.” She walks past him slowly and smiles at him. The warmth from what he remembers had been a cold Queen in the past is unusual. “You have all the data. It may take time to parse it all. To come to your conclusions.”
Hugh lowers his head, touching for implants, counting, grounding himself in the here and now. He sucks in a breath and touches the back of his hand and his wrist, feeling for devices left inside him by the Borg Reclamation Project on Earth, what they now call the BRP.
“I assure you, you are still yourself.” She turns her head, “But you have a choice now.”
“I can’t think-” Hugh grabs his chest. The tightness is burning now. He squeezes his eyes shut. Focus, he needed to focus.
“Reconnection is causing anxiety. I will clear your mind so that you might make more reasonable and rational decisions.” Suddenly his eyes flash, and he’s alone in silence. His mind no longer feels like racing. He takes two, three- four steady breaths and looks up into her blue eyes. “Is that better? Without all the noise from the collective, you should be able to gather yourself. I know you have been apart from a collective mind for a long time.”
It’s strange to hear her say that being connected is causing his anxiety when his first bout with being disconnected on the Enterprise was the most Anxiety-ridden feeling he can remember. “Yes. That is much better, thank you.” He frowns. It should feel better, less overwhelming, but the collective consciousness was always warm, a feeling that you were safe. This Queen’s collective is much more hospitable and bright. He is having trouble rationalizing what he is feeling now and how he felt about his past traumas.
“We had to reconnect you to the collective to enhance the technology from Betherinians that helps regenerate even the oldest of dead cells. Your memory engram chips were some of the technology left within you. You had a save of your memories. Some of our contemporaries did not have saved memories, and some did” she gestures to a long line of frosted-over alcoves. “We decided to revive those we could. Especially you.”
“Why?” He asks but quickly revises his question. “Why me?”
“There is a need for your voice to speak for us, on behalf of us all.” She goes on. “We have provisional membership in the United Federation of Planets but are not a race or planet. We are something other. That induces fear in those who seek their safety.”
“Picard,” Hugh says softly. The memories she gave him synced more clearly now.
“Yes.” She turns as boot falls approach. “He was instrumental in our-” she seems to consider her words. “Salvation, he and Doctor Jurati.”
A voice speaks from beyond, “I almost didn’t want to believe it.” Hugh’s eyes move upward. “I thought you were kidding.” She says to the Queen.
“I do not make jokes willingly.”
The blonde hair is the same, the Federation uniform not so much. “Seven.” He cannot hide the relief in his voice. With a cursory glance, he has to correct himself. “Captain Seven.”
She smiles, “Just Seven is fine.” she puts a hand on the queen’s arm. “I hope Agnes wasn’t too hard.”
“Agnes?” Hugh blinks and looks at the Queen. “You are Agnes Jurati.” He knows, thanks to the shared data.
“In a way. This body is the culmination of a Borg Queen and a human scientist named Doctor Agnes Jurati. We stand as a bonded pair, two halves of a unique whole, both, and simultaneously neither.”
He observes her and nods. “I may need more time to understand.” He glances at Seven.
“I may need to sit down.”
“It took us hundreds of years to fully grasp what we are, being merged as we are. It was not an easy transition.” She looks at Seven. “I leave him in your capable hands.”
“Thanks.” Seven steps back, so the queen turns toward a wall. It opens, and she exits, the wall sealing shut behind her. “I bet you have questions.”
“Few questions, more like: I need other perspectives.” A moment to go over it again, “I only have the Queen’s.”
“Well, let's see if we can address that. You’re probably hungry.”
That sets his stomach rolling. He was. “Yes.”
“My ship’s in orbit, and let's go have dinner.”
Hugh looks through the data. The artifact was on a planet that impacted a world when it wasn’t in one piece. He scrubs his eyes. “Seven, I may need a sonic shower.”
“I can arrange that too.” Seven smiles at him and comes over, wrapping an arm around him. “You’re still unsteady.”
He leans into her and nods. “Tired.”
“Food, shower, rest, and then answers.” She baps her comm badge. “Stargazer, two to beam up.” Hugh closes his eyes and lets the transporter take him.
Like, obviously I'm hype for Data and Seven is a pleasant surprise and the prime timeline is finally moving forward. All good stuff.
But I've been really wary of this show because Trek has just not been in a good place recently. At least for me. I was waiting for it to feel rote.
Hugh showing up, though. He's kind of a deep cut. Maybe not the deepest, but he's not exactly a household name. Like he's not someone you would include just for the buzz, he's there because somebody decided he was needed for the story. And gave enough of a crap to call the original actor back.
And maybe he's just continuity fanservice and like gets killed in the first five minutes or something, but if that's the case what a tremendously weird move to put him in the sdcc panel.
I dunno maybe I'm getting my hopes up but I want him to get something to do. I, Borg is a good episode and Hugh was a good egg.
