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Free. He is never free from the collective even when he's cut off from it. Jean-Luc Picard wanted to be. He wished he didn't close his eyes and hear the Borg Queen voice, he cannot tell anymore if her voice was real or imaginary. But it's always there. Sinisterly
whispering away.
He can't tell anyone. They would take the Enterprise away from him, lock him away somewhere. He would be treated like a madman or a threat. Maybe he was both or neither, Picard wasn't sure anymore, but what he did know was he couldn't lose his ship or crew.