Nikita Voronina

Little is known about Nikita prior to the war, through biological markers it has been established she was born in March 2292 to unknown El-Aurian parents. As she was assimilated as an infant, until 2391 the Collective was all she knew. None of the El-Aurian refugees are a genetic match for Nikita as such it is believed that all her relatives died in the Borg genocide of their homeworld.

Nikita, then Eight of Ten, was involved in the attack on Deep Space 9 following the closure of the wormhole. In the attack her Sphere was left a wreckage and she was the only drone to survive. Rather than letting her stay there to die, a Starfleet vessel transported her on board. As it would turn out later, on orders of Starfleet Intelligence who wanted a more recent information source on the Borg. Intelligence handed the drone over to dr, Vladimir Voronin, an expert on Borg assimilation and perhaps more importantly, de-assimilation. After removing as many of the Borg implants as could be safely and targeted therapies to restore the ability of her own immune system to repair any tissue damage with the aid of some of her nanoprobes, now reprogrammed to serve a more benign purpose. The process of both restoring her physically as well as more importantly, mentally, took close to two years but was mostly successful. With Nikita having been assimilated at such a young age, a full recovery was never expected. With her real name unknown and no real links to her species, Eight of Ten chose to assume the name of dr. Voronin’s long-since deceased daughter. During her treatment, Nikita had already provided Starfleet Intelligence with important information but now she could finally take a more proactive role. While Starfleet remained distrustful, she was nevertheless commissioned into the fleet at the rank of Lieutenant Commander and assigned the position of Special Consultant concerning the Borg within Starfleet Intelligence. In this role she kept providing Starfleet with data on Borg systems as well as the grand strategy behind the attacks.

In 2396, having earned the trust of Starfleet, she was additionally assigned to the Starfleet Intelligence Special Purposes Unit. This unit was specifically created to do the unthinkable to bring about Starfleet success in the war, most of her operations in this context remain classified but what is known is that she and her team were often deployed deep behind enemy lines to sabotage Borg efforts.

For the services rendered, she was promoted to Commander in 2399. The final years of the war saw her balance her role as consultant with the one as an operator. At this stage, with severe moral blows, the responsibilities also turned inwards to maintaining discipline and fighting morale within the Federation to guarantee the ultimate defeat of the Borg.

Following the end of the war, with no longer any doubt about her loyalties and the contribution she provided to winning the war, or at least not being annihilated, she was on the short list for one of the new commands. This however most definitely wasn’t one of the three publicly advertised ships but rather one Starfleet Intelligence had built in some secrecy. The Hawking Class had been designed before the war but now it became more needed than ever. Upon construction Nikita was promoted to Captain and assigned command of the USS Athena as well as the Special Projects Unit that resided on it.