A/n: For those waiting for chapter 5 of "The River of Time" don't worry, I'll write that after I've started this, once again an idea struck me and I just had to write it down. I've changed quite a few things for this fic, including Chakotay's age, for the purposes of this fic there's only about two years between him and Seven, rather than nineteen. Anyway, hopefully you'll understand as you read, please review! :D

Dorvan V. Early spring, 2364.

"Dear Mr Kotay, we at Starfleet Academy are pleased to be able to offer you a place as a freshman cadet for the academic year 2364/65. Please send us your final exam results and graduation certificate before Stardate3064.9, (August 24 2364 Terran calendar) and we'll…" The letter's recipient, the aforementioned Mr Kotay, more commonly known as Chakotay, stopped reading at that point, a wide smile spreading across his face. He'd gotten in! He'd beaten all those centrally educated city boys, all he had to do was be sure to pass his last exams and he'd finally be able to leave this backwater… "Chakotay?" A young, uncertain, female voice interrupted his thoughts, "What are you doing?"

He turned around to see his sixteen year old sister Sekaya peering at him curiously from where she was standing at the threshold of his bedroom door. For once he wasn't even angry that his baby sister hadn't knocked, with a sheepish smile he lifted the PADD with the beloved letter on it up to her eye level, "Reading this." He replied cryptically.

Sekaya shot him and confused and irritated look, but as she did so her eyes caught the Starfleet insignia on the back of the PADD. "You got in?" she squealed excitedly, throwing herself into his arms for a hug as he joyfully laughed and nodded in answer. "What a great belated eighteenth birthday present to get, it's not fair!" she exclaimed as she stepped back out of the tight hug, hitting him teasingly on the arm.

"In a couple of years you'll be going to whatever college you want Sekaya." He told her confidently with a warm smile.

Sekaya snorted, "Over Dad's dead body…" She began, stopping as realisation hit her of her brother's problem, "Wait, how are you going to tell Dad you're going away? You know he won't take it well…"

Chakotay winced; he had been hoping to have some time to think that…delicate task over but… "I know…" He sighed heavily, "That's probably why I never told him I'd applied…"

Sekaya gaped at him for a moment before her face hardened, "You idiot! You'll give him a heart attack…"

Chakotay bristled, "That's maybe exaggerating it a bit Sekaya…"

"Oh?" she echoed sarcastically, "Then go and tell him right now then!"

A dry chuckle rippled through the room, "Obviously your mother's efforts to teach you two not to argue haven't stuck."

Chakotay felt himself fall into mental paralysis for a moment as he saw his father's weather-beaten face in front of him and stammered, "D…Dad?"

Kolopak's eyes, dark and rich as his farm's soil, twinkled in amusement. "Yes Chakotay, I'm here in my own home. Now what is it you wanted to tell me?"

"Um…" Chakotay swallowed hard, his eyes skimming everything around him in search of an idea. Finally, they fell on the view from his window and he muttered, "I was just saying to Sekaya that I think it's about time the crops were sown, that's all."

Sekaya shot him a disparaging look and silently mouthed "Chicken" at him from behind her father's back as he smiled with pleased approval, "Great minds think alike son. I was just about to suggest that we start the preparations, why don't you get your new medicine bag and come with me?"

Chakotay choked back an exasperated sigh, more praying! Instead he just nodded submissively and snatched up his medicine bag, a coming of age present for his birthday the week before, and followed his father outside.

Kolopak silently sprinkled red ochre onto the freshly ploughed ground as the melodic ancient chants of his people hummed from his throat, "Take this sacred earth as a gift from this family and if you see it fit to bless us with gentle rain and soft sun from your skies then we may…" He paused mid prayer as his son's suppressed sighs and tut of disapproval hit his ears and turned abruptly to face him, "Is there something wrong Chakotay?"

"No…" Chakotay started to mutter then let himself frown at his father, "Why are you bothering to do this? There is no god of rain, or anything else for that matter. Why do you refuse the weather simulators that have been around for over a century and yet still continue to do this?"

"I do it because it is the way of our people, to let nature take its course and still live happily with it. Control breeds discontent Chakotay."

Chakotay didn't bother to bite back his snort, "Why are you so scared of technology? We'd still be who we are; we'd just catch up with everyone else!"

Kolopak frowned sadly at him, "And who's to say we'd like where they're headed, compared to what we have now?"

His dismissive tone of everything he admired riled Chakotay, "Well, I don't know about you, but I want to find out!" he snapped angrily, withdrawing the PADD hidden in his bag and tossing it at his father, "I'm going to Starfleet in the fall, whether you want me to or not!"

Kolopak flinched at his abrasive tone and said, with cold, hurt anger reflecting in his eyes, "You are an adult now, I can't stop you, but as your father I can warn you…" He shovelled up a handful of soil in his hands, "This, this land, the land your people have cultivated with their own hands for generations, will always be more yours than any sanitised ship Starfleet could offer you! If you take this path you may find that one day your roots are gone…"

"What do you know about Starfleet?" Chakotay shot back, "You wouldn't know a ship if it fell on your head…" An all encompassing roar drowned out the rest of his words, the very ground beneath his feet shuddering in trepidation as he looked up to see a huge object curving a low flaming arc in the sky. "What's that?" he asked his father in disbelief, "A meteor?"

"No…" His father replied, his eyes fixed unerringly on the violent light show above, "It's a ship…" Before the last word had left his lips the vessel disappeared over the horizon, the pressure wave of the explosion almost knocking them off their feet even before the ear splitting bang resounded off their ears.

"It's crashed…" Chakotay breathed in horror as the sickening smell of charred wood and boiling plasma filled his nostrils. Without thinking, he pulled out his rather dilapidated tricorder and scanned the surrounding area, forgetting for the moment that his father had banned him from using such technology outside of school. "I can't identify what kind of vessel it is, but there are a few lifesigns, faint though."

Kolopak nodded, "It isn't far away, I can hear the flames, maybe even within our boundary. Let's go see what we can do for them." Chakotay stared at him in surprise, but his father had already headed off through the bush.

Kolopak knew by the scale of the destruction, craters of mangled debris, centuries old trees buckled and burning, that he was a witness to a huge disaster but the size of the vessel still shocked him. It had been cube shaped at one point, but now lay embedded in the ground, a huge crippling gash in its side opening its contents to the world. Smouldering fuel spilled out onto the smoke blackened ground… He was struggling to take it in, the unrecognisable bodies that lay strewn everywhere, when Chakotay caught up with him, "Dad…" He began fearfully, gagging as he saw the bodies, "What…What happened to them?"

Kolopak bowed his head regretfully, "I don't know son." He peered askance at the tricorder, "Can you read any survivors on that thing?"

"There's one nearby, in the wreckage I think…" Chakotay responded shakily, fighting the urge to turn and run, there was just something about the unknown ship that reeked of death and filled him with an irrational fear. "Dad, I think we should wait for the sheriff…" He began to caution but he was too late, his father already disappearing into the pierced hull of the ship. "Hey, wait!" he shouted fearfully after him, only following him when he got no response. "Dad! Dad!" he called out as he crept inside, cautiously pushing aside damaged circuitry as he scanned the darkness for his father.

God, if I was going to design hell this would be pretty much it… He thought as he wandered mindlessly around, trying to follow his tricorder's readings as best he could in the crushed space, only dimly lit by some sort of sickly green lights. A shudder ran up his back as he heard a groan, "Dad!" he cried out again, running towards the sound but instead colliding with something drooping against a wall. He screamed as he saw what it was, a dead humanoid face overlaid with technology. "Borg!" He could barely force the cry from his throat such was his fear.

"I know Chakotay." Chakotay's head swivelled wildly around to see his father bent over something blocking the corridor just ahead. He gave his son a calmly reassuring glance over his shoulder then smiled wryly, "I don't think they're up to much assimilating at the moment."

"But…" Chakotay choked out, "There could be beacons on this ship! A whole fleet of them could be coming…"

"If the Borg wanted Dorvan V they'd have it by now Chakotay." Kolopak pointed out calmly. "Come here, I think I found your lifesign."

Chakotay stepped forward a few steps, freezing when he saw the limp, but still unmistakable, body of a drone in his father's lap. "Don't touch that!" He hissed in disgust, flinching when it groaned, "Just…Just put it out of its misery and let's get out of here!"

Kolopak glared at him with an anger that shocked Chakotay, "I've raised my children better than to let anyone suffer when they need help!" He tilted the stark white, blue veined face of the drone towards Chakotay, "Look, she's younger than your sister, and human too…at some point in her life."

"She?" Chakotay echoed in disbelief. How could even tell it was human, let alone if it was male or female? The twitching arm of gnarled metal, the bald scalp, the dimly glowing implant that had once been an eye… His observations were interrupted as the drone gave a violent jerk and he found himself staring into a pale blue human eye, cold with blind hatred. "We…are Borg…" She, even with that monotone voice Chakotay could tell that his father had been right, choked out determinedly, her hand weakly rising to grab Kolopak, her legs thrashing. "You will be assimilated!" She ground out, "Resistance is fu…" A broken, almost childish moan of pain left her colourless lips and she sank limply against Kolopak.

"Is it dead?" Chakotay breathed, trying and failing to keep the relief from his voice.

"No, but she'll probably wish she was when she wakes." Kolopak replied sadly, stroking the scarred face gently, "Poor little girl…"

"She's not a child Dad; she's a Borg drone who'd kill us without a thought…"

Kolopak sighed heavily, "If you're going to be a Starfleet officer Chakotay, you're going to have to learn to show compassion to those you fear or hate." Chakotay stiffened as the words sank in, regretful pity for the drones, who had all once been as individual as he, entering his soul for the first time, his shoulders slumping in defeat. Kolopak smiled at him proudly, "Good. Now, help me lift her up, she needs to get to the hospital if we're going to save her."

A/n: Oh I REALLY hope you like this! The idea was so random but I have to say that so far it's one of my favourites! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW! :D