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arakim5
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Old Post. New Audience. Enjoy.
Andrea Petros woke to the sounds of battle.
The Intrepid-Class ship Diego, so fresh off the docks you could still hear the dock workers cursing at her, was being shaken down by an experienced command crew and over one hundred newly-minted Starfleet personnel, the joke being the ships life support was still venting baby-powder out of the mid-shipmen’s births. They hadn’t even left the Sol system.
Andrea had to pry open her door. The youngest of the command staff, also fresh off the Academy grounds, Andrea was being groomed for the big chair, and a patrol along the Romulan Border. Her training simulations had shown an almost psychic understanding of the battlefield, and a cool head under fire.
The door forced open, Andrea found crew on the floor everywhere. Smoke hung in the air and the primary lights were flickering. A jolt and muffled thunder shook the ship, and the new crew sat on the floor of the hallway, horrified.
“Get to your stations! Get moving, or I’ll shoot you myself!” It was a little thick, but she knew fear of battle could spread throughout the ship, and that would be the end of all things Diego.
The sound of the weapon hitting the shield told her volumes. Too low of a rumble for Romulan disruptors, too concentrated in duration for Klingon beams. Only one race threw a disruptor like that, capable of being felt through the shields: It had to be the Borg.
Allen Skagg was at the turbolift as she ran up. Allen was a wizard at the sensor board, and one of the best analysts at the academy. He could do things with computers that many instructors still debated. It was Allen that stopped her before she ran into the lift doors. “Don’t bother.”
“We can take the ladder in section 3…”
“I mean, don’t bother heading to the Bridge.” Allen activated the wall monitor and brought up a damage display of the ship. The Bridge section only showed a black outline, and everything under it flashed red.
“Oh my God, the Bridge…”
“It was Shift Change.” Allen’s calm statement burned into her stomach. First and Second Watch, all destroyed. “They knew when and where to hit us.”
Andrea was in charge. She quickly verified with the ship’s computer as she ran for the auxiliary control room. “Watch 3 to Aux-Con.” The computer reported there was one officer on-board with higher command rating. “Bridge to Engineering, Lieutenant Grayson, please report.”
“Power still functional, command codes transferred to the Aux-Con.” , The senior engineer stated calmly.
“Lieutenant Grayson, Sir…” Petros began.
“No. I’m needed right here. Take charge, Petros.”
“Aye, Sir.”
“No shirking for you.” Allen activated his console and the controls moved across the display until they matched his personal configuration.
A young Andorian male was already clearing debris off the navigation console, and an Orion Female was punching data into the weapons console. Officers Aquella and Vernes, although that’s not what Andrea called them during Simulation.
“Blue, 180 mark 0. Green, weapons check. Allen, tactical.”
“On screen, said Allen as Vernes added, “All weapons on-line.”
The front view screen illuminated and Andrea saw her opponent looming. Borg Cubes get a lot of press, but a Borg Sphere can ruin most ships in the Federation.
Allen brought up a display on her personal view-screen. “Looks like the shields were down when the initial attack took the Bridge. They must have come out of Trans-Warp right on top of us.” Allen Stated.
“Where’s Sparks?” Sparks was the nickname for Knust, the Comm officer. “Allen, send code 9, Blue… 0 by 345, best speed.” Andrea settled into the command chair uneasily.
The Diego angled up fifteen degrees and headed past Mars at near-light speed, the Sphere in close pursuit.
“Aft Torpedoes, Fire!” At Andrea's command two angry red balls of fire arced into the sphere, covering it with fire.
“No noticeable affect.” Allen continued to stare into his monitors as another disruptor bolt smashed hard into the rear shield.
“They are trying to match our shield frequency!” Green Shouted.
“Rotate shield harmonics. Allen, something I can use.” Andrea was searching for an opening from the data flowing through her command chair's personal display. Something had to be there...
“They aren’t trying to tractor us, and they should be faster than we are, although they aren’t gaining.” Allen continued to work his console while relaying information to his Captain.
“Did… could we have somehow pulled them out of a Trans-Warp Conduit?” She saw signs, elevated tachyon levels, signs of a subspace rupture...
“We might have been going to Warp right in their path. It could have disrupted their field and pulled them into normal space.” Andrea heard Allen punching figures into his console. “I’m reading some kind of noise from their reactor at 216.21 gigahertz.”
“Green, configure Phaser frequency to 216.21 gigahertz.”
“Ready.”
“Fire.”
The beam lanced out from the underside of the Diego and impacted against the sphere. At first, nothing appeared to happen, but a long heartbeat later green plasma began venting from the rear starboard of the dark green Sphere.
“One of their injectors is off-line.” Allen translated.
“Aft Torpedoes, Fire!” Again twin red orbs arced into the Sphere at Andrea's command, but this time some of the fire seemed to stick.
“Moderate Hull damage, no forward disruptor fire evident.” Allen concluded.
Andrea was about to give the order to turn and fight when an explosion launched her into the air and over the navigation console. She landed under the primary display screen.
“Engineering to Bridge, they’ve hit us with some kind of graviton pulse. Warp drive is off-line, and the dilithium injector is fused!” Engineer Greysons words were filling with static, as much inside Andrea's head as it was from the speakers.
Everything was beginning to go black, a dark tunnel was quickly closing around her.
“Into… asteroid.” Then everything went black.
Andrea Petros woke to the sounds of battle.
The Intrepid-Class ship Diego, so fresh off the docks you could still hear the dock workers cursing at her, was being shaken down by an experienced command crew and over one hundred newly-minted Starfleet personnel, the joke being the ships life support was still venting baby-powder out of the mid-shipmen’s births. They hadn’t even left the Sol system.
Andrea had to pry open her door. The youngest of the command staff, also fresh off the Academy grounds, Andrea was being groomed for the big chair, and a patrol along the Romulan Border. Her training simulations had shown an almost psychic understanding of the battlefield, and a cool head under fire.
The door forced open, Andrea found crew on the floor everywhere. Smoke hung in the air and the primary lights were flickering. A jolt and muffled thunder shook the ship, and the new crew sat on the floor of the hallway, horrified.
“Get to your stations! Get moving, or I’ll shoot you myself!” It was a little thick, but she knew fear of battle could spread throughout the ship, and that would be the end of all things Diego.
The sound of the weapon hitting the shield told her volumes. Too low of a rumble for Romulan disruptors, too concentrated in duration for Klingon beams. Only one race threw a disruptor like that, capable of being felt through the shields: It had to be the Borg.
Allen Skagg was at the turbolift as she ran up. Allen was a wizard at the sensor board, and one of the best analysts at the academy. He could do things with computers that many instructors still debated. It was Allen that stopped her before she ran into the lift doors. “Don’t bother.”
“We can take the ladder in section 3…”
“I mean, don’t bother heading to the Bridge.” Allen activated the wall monitor and brought up a damage display of the ship. The Bridge section only showed a black outline, and everything under it flashed red.
“Oh my God, the Bridge…”
“It was Shift Change.” Allen’s calm statement burned into her stomach. First and Second Watch, all destroyed. “They knew when and where to hit us.”
Andrea was in charge. She quickly verified with the ship’s computer as she ran for the auxiliary control room. “Watch 3 to Aux-Con.” The computer reported there was one officer on-board with higher command rating. “Bridge to Engineering, Lieutenant Grayson, please report.”
“Power still functional, command codes transferred to the Aux-Con.” , The senior engineer stated calmly.
“Lieutenant Grayson, Sir…” Petros began.
“No. I’m needed right here. Take charge, Petros.”
“Aye, Sir.”
“No shirking for you.” Allen activated his console and the controls moved across the display until they matched his personal configuration.
A young Andorian male was already clearing debris off the navigation console, and an Orion Female was punching data into the weapons console. Officers Aquella and Vernes, although that’s not what Andrea called them during Simulation.
“Blue, 180 mark 0. Green, weapons check. Allen, tactical.”
“On screen, said Allen as Vernes added, “All weapons on-line.”
The front view screen illuminated and Andrea saw her opponent looming. Borg Cubes get a lot of press, but a Borg Sphere can ruin most ships in the Federation.
Allen brought up a display on her personal view-screen. “Looks like the shields were down when the initial attack took the Bridge. They must have come out of Trans-Warp right on top of us.” Allen Stated.
“Where’s Sparks?” Sparks was the nickname for Knust, the Comm officer. “Allen, send code 9, Blue… 0 by 345, best speed.” Andrea settled into the command chair uneasily.
The Diego angled up fifteen degrees and headed past Mars at near-light speed, the Sphere in close pursuit.
“Aft Torpedoes, Fire!” At Andrea's command two angry red balls of fire arced into the sphere, covering it with fire.
“No noticeable affect.” Allen continued to stare into his monitors as another disruptor bolt smashed hard into the rear shield.
“They are trying to match our shield frequency!” Green Shouted.
“Rotate shield harmonics. Allen, something I can use.” Andrea was searching for an opening from the data flowing through her command chair's personal display. Something had to be there...
“They aren’t trying to tractor us, and they should be faster than we are, although they aren’t gaining.” Allen continued to work his console while relaying information to his Captain.
“Did… could we have somehow pulled them out of a Trans-Warp Conduit?” She saw signs, elevated tachyon levels, signs of a subspace rupture...
“We might have been going to Warp right in their path. It could have disrupted their field and pulled them into normal space.” Andrea heard Allen punching figures into his console. “I’m reading some kind of noise from their reactor at 216.21 gigahertz.”
“Green, configure Phaser frequency to 216.21 gigahertz.”
“Ready.”
“Fire.”
The beam lanced out from the underside of the Diego and impacted against the sphere. At first, nothing appeared to happen, but a long heartbeat later green plasma began venting from the rear starboard of the dark green Sphere.
“One of their injectors is off-line.” Allen translated.
“Aft Torpedoes, Fire!” Again twin red orbs arced into the Sphere at Andrea's command, but this time some of the fire seemed to stick.
“Moderate Hull damage, no forward disruptor fire evident.” Allen concluded.
Andrea was about to give the order to turn and fight when an explosion launched her into the air and over the navigation console. She landed under the primary display screen.
“Engineering to Bridge, they’ve hit us with some kind of graviton pulse. Warp drive is off-line, and the dilithium injector is fused!” Engineer Greysons words were filling with static, as much inside Andrea's head as it was from the speakers.
Everything was beginning to go black, a dark tunnel was quickly closing around her.
“Into… asteroid.” Then everything went black.
Post edited by arakim5 on
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“I’m not sure that’s regulation.” Andrea muttered.
“Nonsense. I’m merely taking your vitals.” The hand holding hers quietly slipped to her wrist.
A new voice chimed in. “I have told Lieutenant Skagg several times my monitoring systems are fully functional.”
“Status, Mister Skagg.” She said with a bit more composure.
“We managed to make it into the asteroid field, near observation post L9. Was that your intention?”
“We need a stronger signal to break their jamming.” She quietly tested herself to see if anything was broken.
“How did you know we were being… never mind.”
Andrea’s vision finally cleared. Allen was there on her right, supposedly taking vitals, and a small, bald man was standing at the foot of her bed, smiling just a little.
“Are you the EMH?”
“Please state the nature of the medical emergency,” the man said with a smile.
“Is Doctor Teinstien…” Andrea started.
“He’s fine,” the EMH said with more than a little comfort in his voice. “There were 38 wounded, and the Doctor needed my assistance.”
“I always heard you EMH’s were… um.” There was no way to continue that sentence so she let it drop.
“EMH matrix 2.4, at your sevice. We were all upgraded significantly when Voyager returned from the Delta Quadrant.”
“Well, thank you, Doctor, but I must be getting back…”
“Right. This is where you try to shut me off and resume your duties before I have stabilized your concussion. Command protocols were also upgraded, too bad for you. I have you for another 10.4 hours, whether you agree or not. I will allow you a PDA if you don’t cause trouble.”
Andrea started to argue, but immediately thought better of it. “Thank you Doctor. As for you, Mister Skagg, I think there are duties that require…”
“My attention. Don’t worry, I have my own little control panel right here.” He touched his communicator. “Command staff report to Sick Bay.”
The refitted Intrepid design housed one of the most complex holographic systems in Starfleet. While Andrea and Allen were in the Sick bay, all the other staff members appeared as projections from wherever they were working at the moment.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, please excuse my appearance. Mr. Grayson, report.”
“We lost the entire dilithum injector. The good news is we were scheduled to do a field repair on the system as part of our training class, so we’ll be back to main power in about an hour. Rear shields are a mess, but I can replicate a replacement once I get main power back online. 2 hours for install and 6 for calibration.”
“Mister Skagg.”
“They are still searching for us. Without a power signature from the engines they seem to be having issues locating us due to the Cobalt content of the asteroids. We are 700 clicks from listening post L9. The fact that Starfleet hasn’t launched a rescue operation suggests they do not know that the Borg ship is here.”
“Meaning possible long-range stealth technology. Mister Aquella.”
“Manuverablitly is limited, and deflector output is at a minimum to avoid detection. We are using very-low hull-close shielding to protect from impact, and trying to roll with the impacts to maintain our secrecy.”
“Mister Vernes.” Andrea always felt strange calling the Orion woman, “Mister,” but that was how Vernes wanted it.
“Minus 4 class 1 Torpedoes. All emitters still on-line, just missing power. Once power comes back we’ll need to energize the capacitors.”
Andrea thought for a second. “No, we’ll be deep in it when power comes back online. Mister Grayson, cut life support to all cargo bays you are not working in, and begin to feed power to the phaser capacitors. We’ll need full weapons when the Borg find us. Mister Vernes will assist. Once the injector is repaired leave it offline until we are ready to fight.”
“That rear shield assembly won’t take another hit.” Engineer Greyson chimed in.
“Use the starboard-rear assembly. We’ll keep our port and rear to them next time.”
“Expect 2 hours for the swap.” Engineer Greyson's image faded from the group.
Andrea paused until everyone was looking at her. “You may have noticed I did not ask Mr. Skagg to detail the enemy ship. The truth is she is more than likely fully recovered from any damage we gave her. We do have some knowledge of her power system, and we will work to exploit that. Honestly we are in for the fight of our lives, and we can’t let this thing get away with what we know.”
“Wait, what do we know?” Mister Aquella querried.
“Well, what I have guessed, and Mr. Skaggs has probably formulated. It’s all I can say, except we must make port. Progress reports in five hours, dismissed.”
“What do I know?” Allen took out his PDA and began tapping in the log of the fight.
“Computer, command authorization Beta-seven-one-Alpha. Secure this bay with a type 2 force field and disable all recording devices.” Andrea commanded.
A field flashed into place around Andrea and Allen. “Bay Secured.”, Stated the computer.
“Allen, we pulled a Borg ship out of Transwarp.”
“You think we pulled a Borg ship out of Transwarp.”
“I need to know for sure. Go to aux sensor control and pull everything. Make a copy, and delete the records off the main computer. Prep a class 7 probe, and download our logs and the info. Set the probe with a 10 hour delay.”
“You don’t think we are going to make it, do you?”
“What I think is that they are going to remember us, long after we are dust in the stars.”
The Diego leapt from the debris and angled directly towards the Sphere, launching red and blue tiny suns. The red spheres were Photon Torpedoes with a standard configuration for damage. The Blue spheres were set to a frequency that was out of phase by 180 degrees. The red spheres caused no damage, but the blue sphere, although not as strong due to the modifications, caused the sphere to give pause briefly.
The Phasers from the Diego fired while the Sphere pondered briefly, set to attack the Sphere’s previous weakness, to no affect. A second beam fired anew from the underside of the Diego, its orange-yellow glow turned an almost blood red, and scoring could be seen on the hull of the green monster.
The sphere fired its beam at the Diego, immediately sending it spinning end over end. A green orb shot into the shields of the Diego, and the warp activation sequence on the Diego was interrupted.
A wide beam locked onto the Diego, sapping its shield strength and holding her in place.
The phasers rang out again, and the Sphere shrugged off the flickering beams, then the Diego went dark, her shields began to fail, her weapons power began to fail.
“We are the Borg. Lower your shields…”
A blinding white light out of the Diego erupted and pulsed through the Sphere. The monster suddenly seemed disoriented as it listed, spinning lazily until old damage could be seen again.
The Diego slowly turned back into the asteroid field, launching several torpedoes from the rear. The first 2 did no serious damage, but the last two exploded angrily across the hemisphere, scouring away hull and showing exposed green conduits underneath.
A last ray lashed out from the Diego into the damaged Sphere as green plasma exploded outward, sending it in a lopsided spin north of the solar plane.
Smoke filled the bridge. Allen pulled what remained of Blue off his console and stopped their forward advance into the now deadly asteroid field.
“Engineering!” Andrea shouted over the background noise.
Static filled the bridge speakers. “Warp Engines… faster than .9 and we’ll… All forward shield emitters… Aft starboard launcher…”
“Activate EMH!”
A wobbly cloud appeared in front of her. “Please shtaaaate the nurrrrr….” And faded away.
“Allen, are we stable in the field?”
“From what I can tell.” Allen's bloody hands danced over his console.
“Get on sensors and tell me what just happened.” Andrea strapped herself into the command chair, not wishing a repeat meeting with the view screen.
“The alternating frequency ideas on the torpedo and phasers did their part, and the subspace static pulse did seem to disorient them in the end. Our shields were no match for their weapons at full power.”
“Bridge to Sick Bay.” Andrea querried.
There was no response.
“Looks like we lost internal communication. It looks like our last salvo cost them thruster control. I see them floating up at 180 by 90.” Allen was running between command consoles, trying to replace everyone that was unconscious or dead.
“What the hell is Starfleet doing? There is no way they can’t see that, stealth or no." Andrea calculated the gravitic charges alone should have set off every sensor net in the system.
“I just checked the package I set in the field as you requested. It’s gone.” Said Allen.
“Gone as in we lost sensors?” She confirmed on her own display. Her legacy, the payoff for all this. Gone.
“Gone, as in the sensors may be the only thing working right now.”
“How… I…” Andrea stabilized herself. “Make for outpost L9 at best safe speed.”
The Intrepid Class Ship Diego, only one day earlier was so new you could still feel the heat from the umbilical cord, showed wear beyond its time. One warp nacelle stuck in the warp position, one stuck in the pre-warp stage, with flashes of blue every now and again as the engines fought to come online. The entire upper saucer of the ship was a blackened scrap yard, and small dots along the hull identified the shield emitters that had burned themselves out protecting the ship. The saucer array was the only deflector working, with the primary array burned out with the subspace pulse.
On one of the larger asteroids in the Earth system was post L9. Built during the height of the Klingon-Federation cold war, it had seen few upgrades since the first peace talks were signed. Minimal defenses and power signature meant it had survived invasions by whale-loving probes, a Dominion strike force, and two separate Borg incursions.
Old-style locking wheels spun open as Andrea made her way into the dank facility. Her thick pressure suit gloves fumbled around for the code to grant life to this old forgotten hut.
“A-Airlock sealed,” the voice stuttered. Andrea wondered often who was the original voice for Starfleet computers. Even this old rust-box used the same voice as her ship.
“Lights.” There was no response, and Andrea realized there must be a manual switch nearby. She was beginning to wonder if she was going to have to use smoke signals to get her message through.
The dated systems were a bit dusty, but she was relieved when the transmitter station came online. She turned the power output of the old reactor to max power and sent her data streams.
She knew there would be no reply, no amount of power from her end would boost reception through whatever static the Borg Sphere was still putting out.
They may have lost the initial data, but she had guaranteed Starfleet would know about the subspace pulse, and alternating weapon phase frequencies to turn the Borg’s obsession with perfectly tuned defenses against them.
She headed back to the airlock as the entire asteroid shuddered under her feet. “Allen, what’s happening?” Silence filled her suit as she saw the airlock wheel spinning open. She pressurized her suit just in time as the door opened, sucking all the air out of the facility.
Half of a pasty face looked at her, one eye yellow and seemingly unused, while the second eye-socket was covered in a black apparatus Andrea couldn’t identify. Its skull had long since lost hair, and the skin around the skull implant had puckered and scarred in a grotesque attempt to push the alien hardware away.
One hand deathly white, the other a sharp claw.
Even though there was no air in the room, she could hear its voice as a targeting laser on its arm drifted across her pressure suit.
“We are the Borg. Resistance is futile.”
Her next shot was into the ceiling, which thanks to artificial gravity, fell with several tons of force. Changing the setting on the phaser she melted the debris into one giant lump of obsidian.
The transmitter console was still online. She connected to the external sensors to see the Diego floating away with all the lights flickering. Focusing on the hull she could see Borg crawling across the Diego’s skin, seeking ports they could force open.
She set the transmitter to full power and sent out a general distress on all frequencies. Immediately the asteroid was violently buffeted as weapons from an unseen ship blasted the transmitter array off the surface of the rock.
Andrea looked at her phaser, trying to decide if she should shoot herself now, or try to blow up the Borg when they broke through her makeshift wall. Already dust was starting to fall from where the Borg were blasting through from the other side.
She moved all the furniture in front of the tunnel, then burned away the connections to the comm. Tower, and pushed it out in front of her as well. She set her weapon to overload strength and waited for the first Borg to come through.
A blackened fist punched through the wall, withdrew, then broke through again. Andrea waited until there was enough of the body visible, then fired into the hole. Her new setting blasted into the Borg, and she could feel the phaser melting in her hand.
She fired again and again until the weapon was vibrating in her gloves, then she threw it through the breach. Part of the ceiling caved in near her as a blinding blue flash engulfed the tunnel.
As her eyes strained against the absolute blackness of the remainder of the tunnel, she saw a tiny green light floating toward her. She saw the outline of a sensor mounted into the head of human skull, saw a targeting laser sweep across her.
Andrea Petros broke the seal on her own helmet, allowing the air to flow out. Instantly her lungs screamed and tried to escape her ribcage as her eyes began bulging out of her head. There was a final thump from her eardrums, then she heard nothing. Her heart was pounding like she was being slammed in her chest by a pile driver.
Something bit her cheek, and fire began to spread across her face. She felt arms holding her head, felt her eyes returning to her skull. A dry, cold mouth pressed over hers and blew air into her lungs.
A thousand voices whispered, “We will save you. You are one of us. We are going to save you.” She struggled against the voices in her head and the mouth on her face, but she had no strength left in her. “We will add your distinctiveness to our own, we will give you the strength to endure. We will survive and learn all of your secrets.”
She shook her head as she screamed at the voices. The voices replied to the silent scream, “Resistance is futile. You will adapt to service us.”
“No,” she thought, but she was already slipping into the crowd of a million minds. She was traveling across the galaxy, seeing planets devoid of colors except slime green and rust brown, sickly green light flickering to reveal white flesh trapped in the hoses and armor of the Borg.
Faster she traveled, into a hellish maelstrom of color, then through the hell-clouds and towards a complex so massive it defied all words, and yet it wasn’t finished. She could see the great artificial world sprawling out like a spider web, ever growing.
“We all love you. We are your family now. We will protect you, and you will die for us.” She flew into the terrible place, twisting through corridors and up lift shafts until at last she stood before a detached head, scores of hoses attached to where her shoulders should have been, skin stretched tight over an artificial skull. “Tell me all you know, little drone.”
“Enemy,” she thought to the creature.
“No, I am your mother. I am your father, and brothers, sisters and lovers. I am everything to you, for I am we. We will learn all you know, and teach you all you will ever learn.”
Andrea flew into the eye of the creature, and everything went black.
She threw a punch, and it connected. Immediately she tried to roll to her side, but she had been placed up, on a table or bed. She felt herself hit the ground as she forced herself to stand.
“Miss Petros, stand down.” She felt something grab her arm and she pushed it away. She noted, even in her panic, that whatever she pushed away was very light, or she was insanely strong.
“Where am I?” Andrea screamed as she felt a wall on her back. “Tell me!”
“You are in San Fransico, in the bay. We have separated you from the collective, and are removing the Borg technology.” The voice sounded weak, and from far away. She could hear several other people running toward her.
“Why can’t I see?” Several strong arms grabbed her and something electric shocked the back of her neck. “Why… can’t I see?”
“We are working as fast as possible. Please rest now. I promise you, you will see soon.”
“That voice. Are you an EMH?”
“No, Miss Petros. I am THE EMH.”
The Shock to her neck finally pulled her back into the black void.
“No!” Her hands shot out in front of her. Bandages of all shapes and sizes crossed her arms and hands. She felt her head, and the lack of hair on it. She was cold; she felt she should be able to see her breath. Her eyes hurt, like she had been reading technical manuals for a week. Even in the twilight of the room seemed too bright.
“Computer, increase temperature twenty degrees.” She said.
“Computer,” A voice said from the darkness. She twisted around to see a man of average height. His face was thin, almost gaunt, but even in the darkness she could make out muscles under his uniform. “Increase temperature ten degrees, and make me an ice tea, five degrees centigrade.”
“Where am I? What happened… how long…?”
“Slowly, Lieutenant. San Francisco, you were assimilated by the Borg, for about sixteen hours.”
“I don’t remember anything.”
“That is apparently common with short-term abductions. We have purged your body of all Borg technology, save some nano-probes in your lymphatic system.”
“Why did it take you so long to find us?” Tears ran down her cheek, and they burned a little. Shivering, she pulled the bed’s blanket as tight as she could around her.
“This is going to be hard for you to hear. Just know that you may have saved the Federation from invasion. You will hate me, but I did what I had to do.”
As the man put another blanket on her, he whispered softly into her ear, “We were always there.”
==
It's pretty much this hard to keep just one timeline intact. ♪
“Lieutenant, you must understand.”
“I understand my helmsman cooked into his console.” She got onto her feet, her legs felt weak, but there was a fire burning through her. “I understand you were willing to sacrifice one hundred and thirty people…”
“To save billions, maybe even trillions of lives.”
She made her way around the bed. “For the greater good.”
“Yes! Yes exactly!” As he spoke she shoved him back against the close wall at the head of the bed. His momentum bounced him off the wall, and she grabbed him by the arm, using his own inertia to force his body into a forward fall, which she leaned into and forced his fall into the adjacent wall.
He hit face first, tried to recover as he bounced off that wall, but not before she grabbed his other arm and threw him into and over the table next to her bed.
“All you Black Ops ever talk about is the greater good. Kill one that a thousand may live, kill a hundred and save the galaxy! The greater good is nothing but the lesser evil, and you killed my ship for it!”
“Please, Lieutenant Petros.”
“Shut up, save your speech. I’m not buying.”
A hologram formed in the center of the room. “Please state the… Oh my God! This is San Francisco, not the Klingon Homeworld! Get out of here, Mr. Smith, and stay out until I deem her ready for debriefing!”
“Doctor,” he smiled, “With all due respect…”
“Computer, enact EMH Protocol Three.”
“Doctor, please!” And then the man dematerialized.
“Miss Petros, please return to your bed.”
“I think I’m done being told what to do today.”
“I can see you're upset,” the Doctor said with concern in his voice and on his face, “But I’ve already established a force field around this room, and will flood it with anestisine…”
“Please,” she said, burning tears swelling out of her eyes, “Don’t make me sleep.”
“Alright, return to your bed, I won’t force sleep, but you must rest.”
He guided her back to her bed, Andrea having expended her rage on the evil little man in the Starfleet uniform began to feel the price she was going to pay.
“I did extensive surgery on you today. Hold still while I scan you.”
“Doctor, have you treated anyone else today?”
“A great many, from bumps and bruises to a heart and lung replacement.”
“Allen Skagg?”
“Oh yes. No! No, not the major surgery,” he added quickly as she became alarmed, “Mister Skagg had some contusions, nothing more. You were my big operation for the day, truth be told.”
“Why you, Doctor?”
“I see you have forgotten our conversation after you threw me across the room. I’m quite well, thank you.” He looked sternly at her before smiling dryly and continuing. “I was the only Doctor on Voyager for seven years, and have had more experience with the Borg than any doctor, Flesh or Light, in the entire Alpha Quadrant.” He finished with his tricorder and sat down beside her bed. “You will be fine, provided you don’t kill anyone before morning.”
“No promises.”
“You Cyborgs are all alike.” He said with a dry smile. “Now, what shall we do while your hair grows back, hmm? I hear the Vulcan Championship team is playing the Andorians on Risa.”
“Wow, I forgot all about that. You think they’ll let us watch?” She nodded to the ceiling.
“I certainly hope so. I have money on this game. Computer, show us the Sector Futball Championship on Risa.”
There was a brief pause before the center of the room produced a floating screen. A huge arena housed millions of screaming fans of all races as the announcers, Andorian, Vulcan, and Human, were discussing the strengths and weaknesses of the teams in question.
She looked at him, trying to get the look of a child on Christmas Eve. “Seats?”
“I said you needed to rest. Seats wouldn’t be that restful.”
She continued to look at him.
“I am a computer projection. I am beyond such human emotional prodding.”
Andrea and the Doctor watched the game from virtual box seats, eating popcorn and drinking a Risan beverage called Coolie.
After the game was over the Doctor sat by her bed and talked with her, things which those watching her would have found inconsequential. Then when she was tired of talking, he sang, he seemed to know every song ever written. He sang with a softer and softer voice, until she finally drifted off, and continued singing for the remainder of the evening.
She dreamt of smoke and fire, asteroids and hellish green beams of death, flying across damned worlds and into the mouth of hell itself. She watched it all with detachment, hearing the Doctor’s voice with her in the dreamworld.
When she woke the Doctor was gone. The evil little man had returned, armed with a hand phaser.
She laughed at him even though her eyes showed just how much rage she still had to give.
“You were right.” He said. “Your ship pulled a Borg Sphere out of a Transwarp conduit.”
“Too bad I can’t prove it.”
“But you did. I took the probe you launched into the field near L9. I have all the data your ship collected from that moment until you launched the probe. I have the data you sent to Starfleet regarding your phased attack.”
“What I don’t have, Miss Petros, is the destination of the second stream of data you sent to Earth.”
“It must be hard, for a man like you, not to know something.”
“Honestly, it’s usually harder on the person that knows. You broke protocol.”
“I was being jammed, I sent a second stream to guarantee my report would reach someone on Earth.” Andrea could hardly look at him.
“But who would… Ah. Miss Hansen, of course. No wonder I couldn’t find a data transcript.”
“The Daystrom institute has Top Secret Clearance when dealing with Borg information.”
“I hope, for your sake, you continue to have the right answers Lieutenant. We are a long way from getting out of this mess."
He turned and walked out the door. “Get cleaned up. We have a great deal to talk about.”
“Shall we take a brief tour, Lieutenant?” He smiled insincerely.
“It’s your latinum. I figure you will just erase my memory when we are done here.” The thought of someone else being in her head so soon after escaping the Borg... but she did her best not to let it show.
“When you were fighting the Borg, what was the one ship you wish you had at your side?”
“The Sovereign-Class Enterprise, although just about any ship in the second encounter would have saved lives.” Andrea could feel the heat coming to her cheeks again, but she had made that point last night. There was a not-so-fine line between expression and being undisciplined. Besides, the site of him armed after their encounter last night was enough to bring a smile to her face.
“Did you ever look at the Defiant specs?” The man inquired.
“I spent a good two days on them, but I like a more traditional ship. The Defiant has her place, but I would like a more general-use ship than one useful only for combat.”
“Had you been on the Defiant instead of an Intrepid…?” He began, but she cut him off.
“I wouldn’t have had access to the subspace pulse, nor would my sensor officer have found the power variance during the initial encounter. You out-think the Borg, you can’t out-muscle them.”
“True, but what if we could level the field some?” Mr. Smith opened a viewport in the wall, revealing the San Francisco bay, or more accurately underwater in San Francisco bay. In the water outside the window, in a partially concealed hangar, was the most bizarre ship Andrea had ever seen.
The Ship was about the size of the Defiant, maybe a little larger. Three warp nacelles blended into the back of the ship, angled in such a fashion they looked like they might connect in back. The warp engines looked the standard Federation blue and red, but a stripe on the outside of each coil ran down the length and was a glowing yellow.
The nose of the ship was reminiscent of the defiant, and three emitters lined the nose above the navigational deflector that reminded her of the Defiant pulse phasers, but the emitters didn’t look like phasers or disruptors. There was also the twin quantum torpedo launchers recessed into the port and starboard, looking like they side launched, or used a pop-up turret launch system.
The whole ship seemed to be covered in scales.
“That… is one ugly son of a *****.” Andrea commented flatly.
“She gets the job done like no other.” Mr. Smith waited for the questions he knew would come.
“Alright, I’ll bite. Why does it have scales?”
“Cascading Shield System. The shields are designed to shunt power to a new grid nano-seconds before the emitters are damaged. It also allows for a multi-modular shield harmonic when in full defense.”
“I’ve never heard of a system like that.”
“You still haven’t.” He smiled, a bit more sincerely.
“Right. The dorsal yellow-plasma conduits?”
“We’ll get back to that. A breakthrough in warp mechanics uses a tri-warp envelope, allowing for greater stability in the warp field.”
“I wasn’t aware of any issues with warp stability. The Intrepid’s have no issue with warp 9.9.”
The silence of Mr. Smith began to shout volumes. Andrea imagined the ship at warp, as the auxiliary amber coils activated and created a long streak of green…
“Transwarp?”
“It’s probably a freighter engine compared to what the Borg have, but yes. I don’t have a warp equivalent for you, but we have a guess of thirty-five light years… a day.” He was like the proud parent of a Frankenstein monster.
“Son of a *****.”
Again Mr. Smith remained quiet until Andrea asked what would most likely be her final design question.
“Those aren’t phaser emitters, are they?”
Mr. Smith walked down the hallway and into a conference room. Andrea followed and found a Vulcan seated at the far end of the table. She looked up and smiled at Andrea, the smile of a predatory animal who had just eaten his fill.
“Jo’Lan Tru.” She said. The smile disappeared from the Romulan’s face.
“There is still no cloaking technology that comes close to a good, Romulan cloaking device.” Mr. Smith said as he sat down.
“And yet another opportunity for them to collect data without risking their own lives.” Andrea remained standing. The Romulan’s smile returned.
“That doesn’t explain those forward weapons.” She thought about the curved design of the ship and her engines, the almost insect-like look. “Show yourself.”
The room remained silent.
“For whatever reason I’m being shown this, I’ll be expected to trust all those involved. Please, show yourself.”
“Very sure of herself, isn’t she?” One of the chairs slowly melted, and a man of medium build, and no distinguishing features rose in its place. “Seems a bit young, considering she isn’t being programmed for the task.”
“Founder.” Andrea nodded. While not exactly an ally, the Dominion was at least not actively engaged in hostilities with the Federation, or any member of the Alpha Quadrant. The Romulan was more dubious a sign.
Romulans supplying cloaking technology, which they have never done for Alpha Quadrant missions. The Founders sharing ship designs, and apparently working with Federation engineers to design a version of the phased polaron weapon that worked like a pulse phaser.
“You are obviously Tal’Shiar, and The Founder is his own.” She looked at Mr. Smith as he looked back at her with a very non-descript look on his face. “You’re not Starfleet Intelligence, are you?”
Mr. Smith said nothing.
“Tell me I’m going after the Borg.” He had her, she knew it.
“You are going after the Borg, Captain.”
Andrea looked around the room one last time. “Tell me what you want me to do.”
“As you may have surmised by now, we find ourselves in a unique situation. Less than two days ago the USS Diego pulled a Borg ship out of a Transwarp Conduit. Despite being out-gunned, we managed to fight that ship to a standstill.” Andrea scanned her crew as she spoke. Everywhere she saw damage, she saw resolve, pain highlighted determination. They weren't children anymore.
“Now there is a possibility that we can ensure the safety of the entire Alpha Quadrant, perhaps even more. We have an experimental ship, we have an unusual alliance with former enemies, and we will be doing something no one else has tried before, save one.” Janeway. One of the original Intrepid captains, and Andrea's personal hero.
“This is a volunteer assignment…” At that, the crew of the Diego, as one, stepped forward and resumed standing at attention.
“We may be young, we may be inexperienced, but no crew is… crazier than the Diego crew.” At this the former crew of the Diego burst out in cheer.
“The only thing I can promise you is that I will uphold the standards of the Federation that we all swore to protect. That, and this will be the most interesting time of our lives.”
“Our Allies for this mission will be the Jem’Hadar and Vorta of the Dominion.” As Andrea said this, A Vorta walked into the room, followed by a score of Jem’Hadar. “Together, along with the Romulans, we have a new ship to test against the monsters in the dark.”
“You are all my crew now. No matter what flag we serve under, we serve those we honor on this ship. The Federation crew for the Federation, and the Dominion soldiers for the will of the Founders.”
“The will of the Founders!” the Jem’Hadar shouted as one.
“Sal’Ar Rei will be first officer.” The male Vorta bowed to the Federation crew assembled.
“Until today, this ship had no name. I look upon her emerald scales and see a dragon. Today I christen this ship the Granameir. Look upon her, enemies of civilization, and tremble.”
There was a pause, as there was no ship present to look upon.
“Crew of the Granameir, board your ship.” The entire bay shook as a sound not found in nature pitched high into the ears of those assembled, then lowered in frequency as it increased in volume, until the Granameir appeared, taking up almost all of the bay.
“A bit dramatic, Captain.” Sal’Ar came up beside Andrea as the crew was being beamed aboard.
“We are taking a prototype with a hybrid crew into the most dangerous action I can think of. I would have read Klingon poetry and burned incense if I had any.”
“The Granameir is actually about fifteen Earth-months old. My crew has been, ‘Shaking her down,’ for quite some time.” Sal'ar stated as both command officers looked on to see the last of the crew beamed aboard.
“We aren’t going to have an issue with who is Captain, are we?” she quietly querried.
“The Founders are to us what gods are to you. The Founder told me you were in charge.” And that, for the Vorta, settled that.
The bridge was cramped compared to Federation standards. Chairs at all consoles were bolted into the floor, but were also designed to swivel out of the way when the Jem’Hadar took command.
“Your second wasn’t angry about your command structure?” The Vorta continued talking as they were beamed aboard.
“He’ll get his chance someday. I needed your experience with this ship in my ear, and that is the job of a first officer.” To be honest, she needed some distance from Allen. The stress of combat had revealed a bit too much of his affection for her.
“Seeing me higher up on the command structure should also help you with the Jem’Hadar.” The Vorta commented.
“I was hoping so.”
“They don’t give loyalty easily, Captain. They fear me because of my ability to control The White they receive. Few Vorta ever earn the respect of the Jem’Hadar, merely their obedience.”
“And you, Sal’Ar Rei?” She turned to regard his response.
“I’ve done my best. Being chosen by a Founder directly helps some, but they are bred for war, Captain. This mission has been long in coming, and they are ready for a fight.”
A Jem’Hadar was standing at the helm, and Vernes was manning the weapons console. Although Allen Skagg would take command of Third watch he stood by at sensors for the initial launch.
“Take us out, Commander.”
“Captain. Helm, maneuvering thrusters, take us out light.” The Vorta spoke, the warrior complied; Andrea noticed they didn’t confirm the order. When the order was given, they performed it, and that was that.
The scaled beast moved through the transparent force field and into the water, the green of the hull blending with the sea water in the bay.
“Centurion, cloak us.” The young Romulan female next to Allen, named Selan, adjusted her console. “We are cloaked, Commander.”
Silently the Granameir swam through the Pacific until San Fancisco was a memory on the horizon, then she quietly slipped out of the water and into space.
“Commander Sal’Ar Rei, your watch has the Con. I’ll be in my quarters, studying.” Andrea bounced off the bridge to explore the ship.
Quietly the Granameir flew into the black.
The ring was simple, and had a post at opposite ends. When a warrior fell he touched the top of the post, and combat was not allowed to continue until both posts were lit. A dark post was admission of defeat.
Andrea had read all of these reports from the declassified DS9 logs detailing Jem’Hadar culture, but it couldn’t measure up to seeing it in person. They fought on, one warrior with a cut on his head bringing a final blow down on his opponent, who did not get up, and was dragged out of the ring.
“Who faces me? Who faces their destiny of defeat?” The warrior cried out as the other Jem’Hadar cheered his new victory and prodded each other into the ring.
Andrea casually stepped into the ring.
“Captain, as you are unaware of our customs, I will allow you the opportunity to leave the ring with honor.” The warrior looked a little perturbed at having to explain one of the oldest of his traditions to his commanding officer.
“I am aware that all are equal in the ring. I’ll accept my bruises.” She said as she stretched out her arms.
He nodded, but she could see that he was not attacking her as he had the previous combatant, but was moving slower, and striking softer.
Andrea’s chosen martial form was Shinta, taught to her by Vernes, the Orion weapons officer, and her roommate for most of The Academy. Orion women rarely had to fight, in fact the natural ability they have to affect the mating instincts of most humanoids is so strong they have to take suppressants to be allowed in Starfleet. When they do have to fight, it is often against much larger opponents, and almost always to the death. Shinta uses the momentum of the opponent against him, and its goal is to land the opponent into a wall, or hard into the ground, or other solid object.
The ring was bare, and it was considered poor form to knock over the light posts, as they were outside the ring.
Andrea did have some boxing experience from college, so she chose a traditional boxers stance, and when her opponent gave her too much of an opening, she put a quick left jab into his nose followed by a right uppercut to his chin.
Her right hand smarted, and she realized it was a bad idea to use tiny knucklebones on Jem’Hadar chins.
The warrior at that moment realized what he had been doing, and hooked a punch into her cheek, and knocked her down.
Andrea rolled back up and touched the light post. Going toe-to-toe fisticuffs would not work for her, she would try a mixed approach.
When she stepped back into the circle her opponent came at her immediately. She sidestepped him and let him fly out of the ring.
He rolled to his feet, smiled a hungry smile, and slowly stepped back into the circle. She let him advance, taking jabs at his nose, but no hard punches to that strong chin-bone. The warrior punched straight in, and Andrea slipped to the side, grabbed the arm while stepping on his foot , then used his momentum to bring him to the ground with his elbow locked by her other arm.
When he got back up, he tested his elbow, and then tapped his post.
“Do you always evade?” He said as he came back in.
“I choose my strikes carefully.” She replied.
“Well, there is a problem with that.” He struck out straight again, and she grabbed his arm as before, but this time, he did not move. Instead his elbow came out before she could lock it down and smashed into her face. The brief moment she was stunned was long enough for him to grab her shirt, and the last thing she saw was his forehead moving towards her head.
She woke on the floor, the Jem’hadar smiling widely above her. “I think the Vorta is smarter than you are.” He put his arm down to help her stand back up. “But I understand you better.”
Andrea spent the next three hours in sickbay, or what passed for sickbay on this ship. The new Starfleet design called for full holographic access to the entire ship, and the Granameir expanded that concept, so far as to have Emergency Commando Holograms ready to grab weapons and fight no matter where the incursion occurred. There was a full holographic command staff, and of course…
“You won’t be going back into that ring, will you?” asked the Holographic Doctor.
“Of course I will. I need to have the respect of my crew, and that respect for the Jem’hadar is only found in combat. Trust me, the ring is the safest place for such contests.”
“True, but they are over six feet tall, and out weigh you by double, at least.”
“If it was easy, Doctor, it wouldn’t be worth respect.”
“What I am saying is there is more than one form of combat. Don’t limit the Jem’Hadar to physical aggression. The Vorta often does this.”
“Well, aren’t you the upgraded matrix.” She said with a smile.
“On a ship this small, the doctor is also often the counselor.” He replied dryly.
Later that day Andrea appeared in the Holodeck, the warrior was instructing other Jem’Hadar on their fighting techniques.
“A rematch, so soon?” The large Alpha asked.
“Not in your ring, perhaps you’d like to try mine?” A table appeared with a chessboard setup and ready to play.
“I am unfamiliar with this game.”
“Then allow me to teach you chess. Perhaps later, you can teach me to better defend myself in the ring.”
“I would enjoy learning a new game, but you do not need my instruction to defend yourself.”
“No?” She asked surprised.
“You defend very well. In a real fight you would be hard to catch, like a terran mouse. If I need to teach you anything, it’s how to attack.”
“This sounds like an arrangement.” The rest of her day was spent playing chess with the Jem’Hadar Warlord, Genis 59. They played long into the watch, as the other warriors and Starfleet personnel alike gathered round.
“Helm, Evasive Beta.” Andrea commanded as the Helmsman placed the ship hard to port, then hard to starboard, keeping the nose on the asteroid they had marked as a target. That was the theory, anyway.
“Narse, how could you fail such a simple maneuver five times out of five?” Genis looked like he was going to punch the Helmsman in the back of the head, but Andrea had learned that most violence against their own was performed in the ring. Of course the losers at chess of late were being punched in the head, but that was being kept in the holodeck. For now.
“Warlord… Captain… I don’t know!” Failure was death to the Jem’Hadar, and Narse 21 wasn’t taking his multiple deaths well. He looked like he was about to punch the helm controls, but restrained himself from damaging the equipment. To Andrea, this was one of the largest differences between Klingons and Jem’Hadar; less collateral ship damage.
At Narse’s outburst Genis did move to strike him, but Andrea interposed herself and moved down to the station. “Let’s see how you have your controls configured.” Andrea studied the controls. “Who uses this control pattern?”
“This is the pattern given to us by the Vorta, Captain.”
“Ah. Well, he is a fine Vorta, but I think for helm control we can move this… here, and place this… there. See what I am doing?” She remained calm and focused as much to show the helmsan and the Warlord who was in charge here.
“Yes Captain, moving like controls into groups.”
“Correct, with coordinate and manual controls in the center, and larger. Alright, let’s try this again.”
The controls were adjusted several more times until Narse was smoothly working through the maneuvers.
“Well, victory at last.” Genis said. “I do believe you owe the Captain for your life. I do have an idea for that, as well.” He looked over at Andrea with a subdued smile. She had started to see it shortly after their third chess match, when they started using timers.
“Well, those are the standard maneuvers. I’ll leave you and Narse to begin working on our firing patterns. We serve the Founders, Genis.” She stated.
“Victory is life, Captain.” He replied.
Andrea made her way to her quarters, where Allen waited for her, along with Sal’Ar Rei.
“Gentlemen.” She said with a smile.
“How goes the war?” Allen was sipping something with mint leaves in it, and Sal’Ar was drinking something remarkably dark.
“I have learned that Genis is excellent at attack strategies, and that Vorta Sal’Ar Rei has never flown a ship in combat.” The two humans chuckled a bit.
“Now why is that funny?” The Vorta asked while drinking innocently.
“Your navigation controls almost blew up a helmsman. Let your watch know that Narse is testing a new configuration from me, and they are to offer input.” Andrea sat down at the head of the table with a PADD.
“You realize that Dominion command structure goes from top to bottom?”
“I do. Starfleet command structure rewards those with good ideas, regardless of the rank. They do the flying, they should have a say.” She said.
“As you wish.”
“Warlord Genis is working on optimal attack patterns and weapon spreads. I’ll know more by morning.” She said to no one in particular as she scanned her logs for the day.
“My Watch has been finding the sensor resolution for our young dragon.” Allen sipped a bit more on his drink. “Federation sensors, but there is a lot of noise we haven’t worked out yet coming from the ship. Now for cloaked operations we are golden, Selan has configured everything to a T once we are cloaked.”
“At which point we can only use passive sensors anyway.” Andrea agreed with the finished thought. “Alright, it’s my rack time, gentlemen. Same time tomorrow.”
Sleep came easily. They were cruising Mars’ solar orbit, preparing the crew for the fight of their lives. After being knocked unconscious by Genis, time in the regenerator, playing chess, training helmsman while memorizing specs on new weapons and reading engineering report on fuel consumption…
A sound brought her back from the edge of sleep. A quiet whining sound, a background noise if there had been any other noise in the room. An insect sound that was mechanical. A small machine working, a servo.
A Borg manipulator.
She was on her feet instantly, standing in a vast room covered with cable and hose. Hot, damp air that smelled like methane made her want to gag. The room was titanic in size, and around the room on hundreds of levels, swarmed the Borg.
She spun around to come face to hideous face with the Borg Queen. The Queen was suspended from the ceiling with scores of cables and hoses, much like the room, and the Borg who served her.
“Welcome back, my little drone.”
“I no longer serve. I’d tell you to go to hell, but we’re here already.”
“This is a heavenly place. The Borg exist as one massive family that holds no secrets, no resentments…” The Queen's voice was just one person, the glaring hypocrisy of the Borg Collective.
“No freedom, no creativity, no life.” Andrea was starting to get her bearings, something was... off.
“Life is what I make of it.” The Queen’s left arm was too large to have naturally grown, and her right arm ended in long, sharp talons she kept clicking together. “I could take your life if I wanted to.”
“If that were true, you would have.”
“Why have you come here?!” The angered Queen willed herself to be nose to nose with Andrea.
“I thought you summoned me, but now I understand. I understand!”
Andrea woke in the dark, so soaked in sweat that her clothes clung to her like she had slept in the shower. “I understand. I can hear you.”
Sal’Ar Rei was on the Bridge already, since this was still his scheduled watch. Genis was there as well, working with Narse on the weapon patterns that might be needed.
Andrea arrived first, having called the alert, wearing her uniform and wet hair in a ponytail. Vernes, Selan, and Allen arrived shortly thereafter.
“Captain…?”
“No time to explain. Engineering, prepare a static transwarp bubble on my mark. Selan, assist Mr. Skagg on sensors, the cloak will not work where we are going. Narse, stay at the helm. Vernes, take weapons and stand by.” Everyone rushed to their task as Andrea pulled up a display screen out of mid-air and instructed the computer to lock her right index finger’s location on the image to the weapon console’s targeting system.
“Green, I’ll be handling targeting locations, you just be sure to put as much firepower as I ask into each location.”
“Yes Ma’am, if I may ask?”
“Soon. Did you and Sal’Ar finish those stress-point analyses from the Voyager mission?”
“Yes Ma’am. Locked as pattern Omega.”
The Captain then addressed the entire ship. “I have new information. First, our window of opportunity is fast closing; the enemy knows we are here, just not exactly where. Second, I know where and how to penetrate the transwarp conduit, and possibly how to disable our adversary. Training is over. Whether you serve the Founders or Starfleet, know that now is our hour.”
“We are dead.” Said Genis as he began the pre-combat ritual.
Andrea looked into the night, the calm that hid what was about to come. When Genis finished his ritual, Andrea spoke to the crew:
“In blackness silent,
We set our hearts,
To actions violent,
As is our part.
When dawn arrives,
Our fates are set,
Strike silent knives,
All monsters met.”
“Mr. Narse, take us in.” The Granameir seemed to hit an invisible wall and pass through into the quantum tunnel that was a Transwarp conduit. Dark green clouds formed all around the tunnel, and a support ring for the conduit could be seen far in the distance.
“Captain, support structure in sight. No enemy ships yet sighted.” Allen rattled off the information as Selan worked at constantly recalibrating the sensors in the strange subspace tunnel.
“Green, lock structure and Fire pattern Omega as we pass. Helm, full ahead.” The Granameir shot down the tunnel as three turrets popped out, two from the centerline engine, and one from under the belly. As the Granameir was passing the gigantic support structure the turrets spun wildly, and each turret produced four quantum torpedoes. The twelve white spheres smashed into the structure at joints both seen and deduced, and the structure began to fold on itself as the tunnel behind them collapsed.
The Granameir flew quickly down the corridor, a wash of subspace in their wake. A second support was targeted and destroyed, the other-dimensional violence behind them increasing with each new destruction.
Andrea was hearing far more than anyone else. There were whispers at every structure telling her she was alone, that she would not succeed, and where the weak spots were in each structure. As they approached the third support, Dark cubes could be seen coming at them from the other direction, while behind the Granameir a subspace tidal wave pursued, just nipping at the rear shields enough to remind the dragon what was behind her.
She heard other whispers. “Helm, at the next structure head 125 by 30.”
“Captain,” Sal’Ar Rei whispered, “Into the vortex wall?”
“Trust the decision of the Founders, Sal’Ar. Green…” Andrea adjusted her own viewscreen and targeted the location of the lead cube. “Pulse Cannons, fire!” Even as the blue blasts of power tore into the lead cube Andrea was already helping Vernes to target the up-coming support.
The blasts of phased Polaron energy struck in the upper leading corner of the lead Cube. While it did not seem to do much structural damage, the Cube slowed considerably, green flashes playing across the hull of the monolithic ship.
As the Granameir reached the pylon, the veiwscreen showed that the conduit forked at exactly the angle Andrea had commanded the ship to go. Even the inertial dampeners at full strength could not negate the force of the turn as everyone struggled to remain at their stations as the ship made the tight turn.
As the ship passed by the turrets popped out once again and launched a dozen torpedoes behind, sending the structure into collapse. As the lead Cube reached the Junction it was slammed by the subspace wake the Granameir was leading, and disappeared in the maelstrom.
The Conduit was now splitting back and forth in near impossible directions as Narse strained to keep up with Andrea’s orders and dozen after dozen tiny white suns slammed into support structures and sent everything behind them into a multi-colored explosion that followed them down the corridor with ever-increasing speed.
“All torpedoes expended.” Vernes reported.
“Narse,” Andrea moved up so she was over his shoulder, “no more coordinates, these next turns will be too fast. Earn your life.”
As the turns came faster Andrea barely had time to shout simple commands. “Left! Right! Down! Down…Up!” The ship took the upper conduit just as a Cube passed below them going in the opposite direction, and slamming full force into the sub-space storm that followed the Granameir.
The Dragon turned and arched this way and that as she barely kept in front of the unnatural storm that was beginning to again lick at her tail.
“Faster. Faster…” Sal’Ar was saying in a low voice as the blood rushed from his face.
“This is as, ‘Faster,’ as we go.” Narse mumbled as the rear of the ship was overtaken.
“Shields are… lost first layer, second layer.” Allen was counting down too quickly as Andrea strained to hear a way out.
“Narse, Transwarp in 3.. 2..” Andrea forced herself not to rush the countdown as rainbow fire began to burn her ship.
The ship lurched as it was taken fully by the sub-space storm surge and rocketed forward.
“Now!”
In the utter blackness between major star clusters an explosion of impossible color violently raged. Through the kaleidoscope explosion shot a small ship, badly burned and scarred.
Sal’Ar Rei sat in the second’s chair, bone-white hands gripped tightly on the arms. All the color had drained from everywhere visible. “I… need to smoke something.”
Over the din of the celebration Andrea motioned to Allen and mouthed, “Where are we?”
Allen looked at the display, confusion showing on his face, then Selan. Then the two called over Sal’Ar who studied the same display. The cheers began to die down as the three talked quietly while adjusting the controls.
“Mister Skagg, where are we?” Andrea asked again.
“Captain, we determine our location above the galactic plane, approximately two thousand light years above the Gamma Quadrant.”
“Do we still have transwarp?”
“All engines show green through transwarp drive.” Allen replied.
“Well, it could be worse. Let’s do a second check on all systems, then prepare for transwarp. We’ll enter Dominion territory and make our way to the wormhole. Command staff, meeting room please.” It could be worse, she told herself.
Once they were assembled in the meeting room, Andrea ordered coffee from the replicator. “This is a good news, bad news story, is it not?”
“We should be able to penetrate the Great Barrier. If an old constitution class could survive it, we should be ok.” Allen was working on a PDA as he spoke.
“Our scientists believe that the amount of resistance received from the Barrier is proportionate to the energy output of the ship. I do agree with Mr. Skagg, the shields on this vessel should survive the encounter.” The Vorta was sipping his traditional black liquid.
“Anything else before we proceed?” Andrea was looking forward to a shower and some much-needed rest.
“One thing, Captain.” Selan stood up and worked the main display. “A cloaking device renders a ship invisible to the naked eye, but that is really the least of its functions. In reality, it blends the ship into the background radiation, making it very difficult to detect.”
“Yes, and here, outside the galaxy?” Andrea knew where this was going.
“There is very little background radiation. The cloak will still make it hard for someone to target us, but our general location will certainly be detected.”
“This is odd.” Allen keyed into his PDA and the main display activated. I have readings of… something… at 129 by 45. I’m not even sure why I can detect it so easily, it’s over three hundred light years away.”
“Selan, return to the Bridge and cloak us. Ladies and gentlemen, I want the second check of our systems ASAP, and then I’ll decide whether to check out our mystery, ‘Something.’”
All systems did check as good, except for the torpedo launchers, which were simply out of ammunition. Andrea slept twelve hours before waking up to get ready for her watch.
“I relieve you.” She said.
“I stand relieved.” Said Allen.
“Any new information on our, ‘Something?’”
“We are still nine days away at transwarp, but when we come out of transwarp to PM the engines… It’s not natural.” Allen looked back at the screen, as if he was expecting the thing to be watching him.
“Why, is it talking to you?” She joked.
“I mean definite power generation, radiation emissions comparable to a scanner. It’s huge, solar system huge.”
“Could it be a planet from a rouge star system?”
“Emmisions are ten to the fifty-second.” He stated bluntly.
“What?”
“Sustained.” He said with finality.
“That can’t be right. That’s half of Starfleet at warp.”
“I had Selan and Sal’Ar verify my readings. There isn’t much more we can get passive, and I really don’t want to make this thing angry.”
“When we get to within standard subspace communication range, we’ll hail it.”
“I know we always go for the weird, boldly going, and so on, but maybe we should leave this thing alone.”
“Allen, we will never, ever, be here again. That thing, it’s bigger than the V’Ger probe of the twenty-third century, and it putting out a power signature larger than fifty star-bases.” Her inner child was positively screaming at her to poke it with a stick.
“And it’s dormant.”
“Dormant?”
“No variations in output, scanner pulses at regular intervals. The thing’s on automatic.” Allen put his power reading up on the main screen for her to see.
“Would you be able to tell at this range?” The numbers were impossible to envision. not even a gamma burst from a super nova put out this much power.
“It’s not burning antimatter, it looks like it taps subspace and a second dimension, say, hyperspace, and gathers energy from the different energy potentials. I can see it clearly because it’s burning subspace. If it wasn’t for the Great Barrier, we’d see it in the Alpha Quadrant.”
“The Great Barrier. It can’t get through.” Was the barrier the galaxy's evolutionary defense against things like this?
“If Sal’Ar is correct, no amount of shielding could protect it through the barrier.” Allen seemed relieved at the thought.
“We can’t assume it’s hostile.”
“Andrea, we can’t afford it to be hostile. It can’t get through the Barrier, but we can.”
“We are Starfleet, Allen. We investigate, we report. I can’t let this thing go uninvestigated, I just can’t.”
“I know. I may not officially be your XO, but I still feel I should be around to bounce this around with you.”
“Make a plan, Mr. Skagg. We’ll scuttle the ship before we allow it to fall into enemy hands. We have scientists in the crew, and you know they’ll be chomping at the bit for investigation, so arrange time for as many as possible.”
Andrea sat down in the command chair. “As for me, I need to find a way to tell Sal’Ar Rei that we just went from the frying pan to the fire.”
When the ship would come out of transwarp (so the engineers could monitor the engine wear and replace components, also called Planned Maintenance) the ship’s sensor suite would be bombarded by two dozen crewman, scientists all, who wanted a crack at what precious little information the passive scanners were picking up.
Andrea spent most of her down time with the Jem’Hadar. Genis would not allow her back into the primary circle, instead he revealed how Narse would redeem his life after his initial fiasco at helm.
“Train her to fight, Narse. She wants to be in battle like us, make sure she survives it.” Narse, of course, thought his life was over. Looking at the small terran female, not as a man would do, but as a Jem’Hadar.
“You are… delicate.” Narse said, delicately.
Andrea wanted to laugh at the comment, which he apparently thought might be an insult to her.
“Narse, I know I’m small. Genis wants me to work on my attack skills, and we’ll have to find a way around my size.”
“It is not always about brain-power. At some point, mass is mass. Punch my fist.”
Andrea put all she had into the shot, which seemed to thud quietly into his hand.
“That settles that.” He said, disappointed.
“Hey…” She complained.
“How high can you kick? I notice Starfleet likes to dress in, ‘Comfortable,’ clothing.”
Andrea snapped a round kick at his head, which he caught in his hand. “Better. At least four times better. We can’t use mass which is not there, but it is only part of the equation. If we can’t use mass, we’ll develop your acceleration.”
For the next week Narse and Andrea trained every day. The Jem’Hadar would smile when she retired for the day, the concept she needed to sleep after training was to them a sign of weakness. Genis quickly put such thoughts into perspective.
“The Founders also rest. Tread lightly, warriors. The Vorta lead and never see the inside of a training circle, she has spent all her free time here since we boarded this ship.”
“Warlord, surely,” began one warrior, “she couldn’t break wind with her punches.” Many Jem’Hadar laughed.
“Then surely, when she arrives later today, you won’t mind showing me that.”
“She is our commanding officer. How can I win such a contest? You would kill me, and rightfully so, if I hurt her.”
“Treat her as you would any who step into the circle. If she cannot fight, then she needs to learn it while she is young and can recover.” Genis smiled in a way that did not calm his young follower. “She might just surprise you.”
That night when Andrea came to practice she found a new partner ready to spar. The light posts had been set. “I have been told to… gauge your improvement.”
He came at her straight, as he had seen his warlord do in the beginning. She surprised him by leaping into his attack as if she meant to fly through him. Her forehead caught his chin, and he stopped dead in the ring. Andrea used the moment of disorientation to snap a kick into his neck, then stepped back and jumped into his chest, knees first.
They both fell to the ground, with her on top of his chest. She rolled off and waited.
He stood, holding his neck, and walked over to the light post.
He came at her slowly next time. She kept him thinking with quick palm strikes to the head, and quick kicks to the knee and ankles. When he tired of waiting and charged in, she would side-step, and kick hard into the back of his knee.
He was Jem’Hadar, and eventually his stamina and training wore down the young terran, until he was finally able to choke her unconscious.
“Well?” Genis said with a smile, “Should we continue to train her, or tell her to stay in her quarters?”
“Warlord, we may want her to rest before she fights me again. Every small part of me has an imprint of her foot or knee!”
So Andrea woke to the sound of Jem’Hadar laughing. The warrior she fought was allowed to escort her to sick bay, where a holographic doctor shook his head and pointed to a bed, “With her name on it.”
Genis walked up behind Narse after the fight. “I think you have earned your life, Navigator.”
“I think he choked her out so she would stop hitting him.” Both warriors laughed for a long time at that.
Then at last came the time they would be close enough to use a subspace transmission to the object without seeing a delay in response time.
“I take it the science team is ready.” Andrea said as she sat in her chair on the Bridge. The primary action crew was assembled, just in case. So Andrea and Sal'Ar sat waiting while Narse was at helm, Vernes at tactical, Allen and Selan at the sensor station (with eight people talking at once over the comm. at both of them) and Genis standing by.
“Take us out of cloak. Begin active scan, and hail the object.”
“Object is composed of Neutronium and an unidentified alloy. Power output remaining stable, no sign of response. Power generation does seem to be a subspace engine of extreme capability.” Allen rattled off significant statistics while Selan coordinated with the scientists in other parts of the ship also getting the data. The Granameir was a warship, so the lab section was non-existent. The scientists had literally been replicating components that they were adding to the crew quarters to get even a taste of a Starfleet analysis on the object.
They spent the next four hours at full alert while they hailed the object and continued to amass as much data as possible from thirty light years away.
Regular watches soon resumed, with key personnel being allowed to adjust their schedule to collect data when they came out of transwarp (to PM the experimental engines).
The last part of the way to the object Andrea decided to proceed at standard warp, so they could collect data on the object for a week before meeting it, “Nose to nose.”
The object lay, a massive ellipse of darkened metal against an ink-black sky. Signs of battle could be seen across every meter of its battered hull. At the core lay a sphere as large as the terran sun, radiating impossible colors as it converted the underlying elements of the universe into a fantastic amount of power, and yet no where close to its maximum potential.
At the edge of the ellipsoid facing the approaching starship, across kilometers of surface area, a dark green ember traced out a rune, a rune that began to glow, and burn.
“It’s small to somebody, somewhere.” Andrea looked as the thing filled up every inch of the monitor, even at negative magnification. “I wouldn’t want to meet them if they don’t like me.”
“There is a definite energy pattern on the surface that is following our movements” Allen had been glued to his monitor ever since the new energy pattern had become evidient. “It has resonance frequency at ten point two terahertz, five point one, and so on. I believe it to be a scanner of some kind.”
“Well, we have been actively scanning for three days now. No reason why they shouldn’t be curious about us. Helm, bring us in, to point two five light years and hold.”
Narse acknowledged as he always did, by performing the task requested of him. The ship accelerated to warp five before dropping back into normal space suddenly.
“What was that?” Andrea looked up as she saw Narse checking his own controls.
“It’s the power source, Captain.” Allen displayed the ellipse and showed a huge area radiating out like a magnetic field. At point three light years subspace is distorted from the object’s power source. Warp drive will not function past this point.”
“That means at best speed we are now four months from the object.”
“Yes Ma’am.”
“Helm, take us back to normal space, best speed.”
Narse complied and the ship turned back on her course, then stopped absolutely. At such speeds even the inertial dampeners have a slight issue, resulting in most of the crew on the bridge winding up under the viewscreen.
Andrea, who now strapped into her chair even during routine operations, was the first to recover. “Mister Skagg?”
“Tractor beam, I think.” He replied from under a pile of crewmen.
“Three-Tenth’s of a light year away?”
“Yes Ma’am, and power output on the object has increased three percent.”
“It seems,” Sal’Ar Rei commented as he recovered his favorite mug, “That our invitation is now mandatory.”
The beam soon accelerated the ship to near-light speed, and it had the power of a Starbase behind it, so all the little ship could do was move toward the inescapable object.
“Can we cloak out of it?” Sal’Ar sat at the conference table with his traditional dark concoction swirling around inside its container.
“Cloaks don’t work that way.” Selan said dejectedly from her place at the table. “If we could break the lock we might have a chance.”
“The scanner beam is more powerful that the combined power output of Earth.” Allen replied dryly.
“Could we rig an antimatter explosion? I’m guessing a few seconds is all we’d need for Selan to get us out of this.” Sal’Ar said as he looked at the Captain, who kept her expression neutral.
“An explosion large enough to disrupt the beam would destroy the ship.” Replied Allen.
“I am amazed, truly amazed, that the Federation ever survived its own curiosity.” And with that, Sal’Ar left the table.
“The Vorta has a point.” Genis stood at the Captain’s right. “If I may be so bold.”
“I welcome an open dialogue at these meetings. I’d rather hear it first hand than try to correct something three generations later.”
“This ship needs to survive and return to the Dominion shipyards.”
“Dominion?” Allen questioned. “This is a modified Defiant class destroyer.”
“Modified with Dominion weapons and engines, experimental technologies that must be reported on, especially seeing as they are successful.” Genus remained calm.
“Modified with Federation technology…” Allen started.
“Enough.” Andrea stood up to make sure the matter had paused. “We will do all we can to make sure everyone gets what they need out of this ship. We are over the Gamma Quadrant, so the Gamma Quadrant is our first stop, assuming we get free of this situation.” Andrea made sure she had both of their eyes before she continued “I need one crew. We didn’t survive a Borg strike to fall apart during a First Contact mission.” She paused to let the words sink in. “Remember who your friends are out here. Dismissed.”
“Captain.” Genis left the room.
“Was I out of line?” Allen querried.
“Yes.”
“My apologies then.” Allen left the room.
Selan sat, as always, quiet and listening, never looking anyone in the eye except when she spoke to them or they spoke to her directly. “What do the Romulans get out of this mission?”
Andrea studied Selan for a long moment before answering her own question. “The Romulans will get out everything they put in, and whatever information you decide to share with them.”
“I’ll share everything with them.” Selan replied.
“Of course.”
The two stared at each other for a long moment before Selan got up and moved to the door. “Good night, Captain.”
“Good Regeneration, Selan.”
Selan nodded and went to move out of the door when the words struck her. “What… an odd thing to say.”
“I’m young, Selan, not dense. I knew the first week.”
“Had we thought you dense, we wouldn’t have given you this command.” Selan came back to the table.
“Does Sal’Ar Rei know?” Andrea asked the Changeling.
“No. I don’t want to undermine him, or you.”
“I wish I could blend in as well as you do.” Andrea was wishing that much right now.
“It does allow for a particularly honest evaluation.” Replied the Founder with a smile.
“Any words of advice?”
“Let’s keep this mission to one First Contact, should we survive.”
“Yes Ma’am.” Andrea said with a smile.
“And should we get to talk with anyone, Sal’Ar is an excellent diplomat.”
“I thought so as well.” Andrea agreed.
Selan paused before she spoke her next words. “Should it look like we won’t be able to deliver the ship to both governments…”
“It won’t fall into the wrong hands, I promise.”
“You have remarkably good perception, Captain. May it serve you well.”
The Jem’Hadar performed their duties, then went to train, and release some aggression in the holodeck. When storeroom two went empty the holo-emmiters there were upgraded, and it became a firing range. There was far more crew interaction here, as both the Federation and the Dominion appreciated a good shot.
Andrea spent some time keeping her aim, but still spent most of her free time sparring with the Jem’Hadar.
Two months into The Drag (what the crew was calling their unwilling trip to the object) Genis changed the training program again. “Narse is to start instructing you in weapon combat, starting with the dagger.”
“I don’t carry a dagger.”
Genis held up a black velvet cloth, and it revealed a beautiful eight-inch silvery dagger. “The Jem’Hadar have forged you this from the very hull of the ship. It is small, but effective, and has the ability to be useful in any fight it is in, much like our Captain.”
She felt the blade in her hand, the simple handle, the straight edge of the blade as it formed a tip of deadly purpose.
“We, on occasion, give to a good leader something to remember his… or her command. The dagger reflects you best; small and deadly, and with many useful purposes.”
“I’m not sure what to say.”
“Say nothing.” Genis handed her a training dagger, which would show, in a holodeck, a brightly colored line wherever she sliced, and a star wherever she jabbed. For hours every day she and Narse trained in close-combat techniques.
The Inter-Galactic Chess Tournament was also a big draw, and into its second month Andrea was showing as top contender, with Selan being close to her in the rankings.
A ship with power and class II replicators can exist for quite some time without resupply. The only concern came from Sal’Ar Rei, who was unsure if he would be able to replicate the White, should the voyage last that long. Fortunately he found that the Founders had provided him with extra White, in their great wisdom. Andrea wondered if that explanation would work again.
So did the days go, and under Andrea’s command the crew did truly seem united. Everyone was free to pursue, within reason, that which interested them the most.
Four months from the initial tractor beam did the Granameir finally arrive at the object.
“Power generation up seven percent since our initial capture.” Allen pointed to the power curve on the display screen. “The scanner beam has been constant on us, although I still can’t tell what kind of information the beam is supposed to extract.”
“Anything currently useful your science club can share with us?” Sal’Ar mentioned what the crew had been calling the personnel that locked themselves into Torpedo Storage Bay One every day.
“We’ve been studying the Subspace Furnace almost exclusively. It’s impractical as a ship-based power source, as it disrupts subspace. In fact the Federation would most likely ban the technology even if we came into possession of it; long term use in a base would permanently damage subspace in the region. We do think that the engine was purposely built, ‘Dirty,’ it was made to disrupt subspace.”
“What purpose could that possibly serve?” Sal’Ar swirled the liquid in his mug, his tell that he was nervous.
“In a strategic sense,” Genis said, “it would keep reinforcements from reaching a besieged system. There would be no quick strikes if you had to travel four months at light speed just to attack.”
“That means something else. If the engine can’t be used to travel, then this thing must have a second form of power.” Andrea looked briefly at Selan before continuing. “What other power source could possibly sustain a ship this size?”
“We’ve been theorizing based on other power readings we’ve discovered in the last week. The problem is every time we lock in on the source, all our sensor equipment shuts off. I mean it shuts itself off. We think we’ve found a code in all the Federation equipment that shuts down all the Federation equipment when this energy signature is found, but we don’t know why.”
“Something Smith put in our computers?”
“I don’t see why. Plus, when I access the computer to ask what protocol this is, it pretends not to hear me.”
“Keep working on it. We stay at full alert until further notice. Allen, we’ll form the second tactical watch out of your shift. Get them ready for watch at 02:00.”
“Yes Ma’am.”
Everyone left the ready room, with the exception of Selan and Andrea.
“Why would Federation computers shut down after gathering information?” Selan asked.
“Seems just the opposite of what a Starfleet computer should do, doesn’t it?” Andrea ordered coffee while she thought about it. “Before I left the Diego I was supposed to have had a clearance review with my Captain, but that never happened. There’s a rumor at the Academy about a docket of secret emergency plans…”
At that moment the Holographic Doctor’s voice made itself known in the conference room “Captain! I must speak with you immediately!”
“Come in, Doctor.” The Doctor appeared and began to speak, then noticed Selan in the room. “I don’t mean to seem rude, but this is a personal conversation.”
Selan arched one eye-brow in perfect Vulcan fashion, and then excused herself.
“Captain, I know why the computers and sensors are shutting down when you scan this new power source.”
“How on Earth would you know something that I don’t, considering our relative security clearances?”
“I am a duplicate of the Doctor that traveled with Voyager. I was so upgraded and patched together that when Mr. Smith recruited me, they just copied the entire matrix from Voyager. Captain, what you are seeing is the Omega Protocol. If this ship were purely Federation you would have seen the entire ship shut down, and received an eyes-only document regarding Omega.”
“It sounds like my only briefing is to come from you.”
“Omega is a particle of immense power. A few atoms of Omega could destroy an entire quadrant of Subspace. It is Starfleet’s highest protocol that we eliminate any Omega particles we come across. It even overrides the Prime Directive!”
“That may be difficult to implement, seeing our relative position to this object. Thank you, Doctor…”
“One more thing Captain. Usually the Omega protocols demand absolute secrecy, even from your own command crew. Captain Janeway was cut off from Starfleet command, and felt she had to count on the crew.”
“It seems history is repeating itself. I’ll call on you later for any further details you can provide. Thank you, Doctor.”
As the Doctor left, Selan entered the room. “What was that about?”
Andrea stared at her a long time before continuing. “There isn’t enough trust in the galaxy.”
Selan seemed to understand something had just happened that made the Captain upset. “The keeping of secrets has its uses. Compartmentalization of information can keep a battle-plan alive if a leader is captured.”
“But outside of combat… Starfleet would probably shoot me for this.”
“Starfleet never shoots anyone, except in self-defense.” Selan said dead-pan.
“No, there are some death sentences still on the books. This one is most likely not in any book, anywhere.”
“I can help without understanding, but I can most likely help more if I know what has you so scared.”
“I’m not scared, not exactly. If attacking Borg and being swallowed by a giant spaceship hasn’t scared me out of my skull, I doubt anything will.” Andrea looked into her coffee, and to the face that reflected back to her.
“Once upon a time, there was this magic particle…”
He arrived just in time to see Andrea fall to the ground. The smell of ozone in the air attested to the fact she had just vaporized Selan. The wound across Andrea’s face was partial indication why.
When Genis couldn’t wake Andrea, he activated the EMH.
“Please state the nature of the medical emergency.”
“The Captain is down.”
The doctor produced a tricorder and scanned the Captain. “She has a mild bruise to her cheek, and she has been drugged with Tescaline. It’s used to place patients into a comma.”
“What should I do?”
“I suggest you inform the second in command, the Vorta Sal’Ar Rei. Computer, site to site transport to the medical bay.” And the Doctor and Andrea disappeared.
Sal’Ar took the news calmly and summoned the command staff to the bridge ready-room.
The doctor appeared and gave his diagnosis. “Tescaline must run its course. She’ll be unconscious for anywhere between seventy two and two hundred thirty hours. Trace elements in the air of the Captain’s room at the time of the event indicates a second person was vaporized, most likely Sub-Commander Selan.”
“I wonder if she sabotaged our computers with regard to that particle.” Allen was acting with self-discipline, but a blind man could have perceived the amounts of anger and fear radiating off him.
“That would fit the current evidence. What is so special about this particle?” Sal’Ar swirled the dark liquid in his mug.
“We haven’t been able to tell, the computers shut down every time we get a fix on it.”
“Use the targeting sensor from torpedo bay two. It doesn’t have the resolution of the sensor array, but it does have limited target identification abilities, and it’s Dominion technology.” Sal'Ar seemed lost in thought.
“It would at least give us mass and energy output. I’ll get on that.”
“No, Mr. Skagg, have the engineering crew attempt the modification.” Sal’Ar could see Allen visibly contract, but Sal’Ar felt he had to establish his chain of command. “Something about the Captain’s attack feels…”
“Yes?”
“I can’t explain it, but I want a thorough review by both you and Genis on this matter. If Selan did indeed drug the Captain I want to make sure she is dead, or ready to be questioned.”
Allen found that the Vorta had given him the task he was going to work on secretly anyway. Maybe the Vorta won’t be so hard to work for after all, thought Allen.
“I will remain on my watch. I’ll Assign Lieutenant Vernes, ‘First Watch.’ Despite the temporary shift in command we’ll keep as much of the duty roster intact as possible.” Sal'Ar stood at the head of the table to make sure everyone was looking at him. “I realize our Federation allies have been placed into a position of trust they thought would never come. I ask that you trust your Captain’s judgment on this matter, and that you give me the courtesy that she would expect you to give in this situation. It was our intention that I would be leading First Contact inquiries in any case. I will expect proposals for initial contact on my desk in four standard hours. Dissmissed.”
The meeting quickly broke up, everyone looking to his or her duty. Sal’Ar indulged himself in a small smile; he had half expected a mutiny. “I guess they are professionals after all.”
Numerous sensor scans of the Captain’s ready Room revealed no new information. It appeared on every level that Selan had been vaporized, although the motive was still a mystery. Another mystery was the phaser setting.
“She had it set at max. She could have blown out the inner hull if she had missed.” Allen double-checked his own findings.
“Federation hand phasers can vaporize a target at level 14, and I see the Captain attempting to stun rather than kill.” Genis was sweeping the room once again with a dominion portable scanner, in case Selan really had sabotaged the Federation tech on the ship.
“She might have been feeling the drug. I don’t know anything about Tescaline.” Said Allen.
“Nor I.” Replied Genis.
“I’ll ask the computer for more information on it later tonight.” Allen rubbed some of the sleep out of his eyes. They had been going at the investigation for thirteen hours, and the initial probe by the Vorta would be launched in a few hours. “I’ve got to sleep. Goodnight, Genis.”
“Safe sleeping, Mr. Skagg.”
Four hours later Allen joined the rest of the command crew on the Bridge as the Vorta was getting final launch numbers from the probe.
“The energy fluxuation from the hull continues to scan us.” Allen reported as he adjusted his sensors. “We have arrived at the center mass and have stopped moving.”
“Very well. Launch Probe One, Mr. Skagg, and begin transmitting universal language library.”
The probe launched from the underside torpedo launcher and proceeded to shrink in size until it was invisible against the backdrop of the leviathan-ship.
“Receiving telemetry. Initial scan…” Allen was cut short as the ship lurched forward.
The Granameir struggled in the grip of the beam, but it was a futile gesture. The bulbous mass in front of them opened up and swallowed them into darkness, darkness so complete that even the lights and scanners of the Granameir found no purchase, and all sense of motion stopped, except for a feeling that they were falling in every direction.
Into that blackness the Granameir plunged, and all lighting on the ship failed, and no light would spark, and even the instrumentation showed no light. And soon they discovered individually that no sound could be heard outside their own breathing.
And then, as one, everyone could hear everyone else, perhaps a million, billion other souls. Scared, tortured, and screaming beyond the ability of physical voices.
The last the crew was allowed to hear was the closing of the bubble, trapping them in hell.
Out of the darkness came a thick, rubbery tentacle. On the underside was an eye that looked at her, and a mouth below with five spines, clicking to feed it. The set of eyes and mouths played out again and again across the underside of the tentacle.
“What have we here? It has tiny things, sleeping in it.” From all over her body she could feel something crawling under her skin, then bursting out as dark beetles, covering her body….
She awoke screaming. Allen was there immediately, trying to calm her. “Captain, Captain, relax. Everything is all right.”
“Allen… where am I?”
“Sick bay.”
“We beat the Borg?”
“Captain, what are you talking about? You are on the Granameir, we are headed home.”
“I’m sorry. Everything is so fuzzy. The last thing I remember… I was fighting the Borg on L9.”
“We are outside the Galaxy. We found this huge, wondrous craft out here, waiting in the dark. We should have left it alone…” Pain briefly crossed his face, but faded as he struggled to control himself. “We made it, that’s all that matters.”
“Where is the doctor? What happened to me?”
“The Doctor is off-line, much of the ship is damaged beyond repair. The transwarp still works…”
“Transwarp? Start at the beginning.”
“We don’t have time. You were in a coma, induced by a drug. We need to keep you awake, but let’s keep the thinking light, ok?”
“OK. Wait… when did I make Captain?” She continued to ask questions, but Allen was unwilling to answer anything. He had her walk around for a while, then put her back on the bed and scanned her. “No long-term neurological damage. Looks like you can rest normally. I’m sure you must be tired.”
“I’m tired of not knowing what is going on!”
“In the morning. If you check out again as OK, we’ll let you in on everything you can’t remember in the morning. Let’s see if anything comes back on its own.”
She lay back on the bed, frustration at not being able to remember… how long? How long has it been? “Computer.”
“Working.” Came the short reply.
“Display my personal logs.”
“Password.”
“Password? Since when do I need a password to open my own personal logs?”
“Password.”
“Never mind.” Allen had encrypted her own logs? She didn’t even think that was possible. And since when did Allen know anything about sick bay?
She was more than ready to get out of sickbay and find out what was going on. Just as she got to the door, an ensign walked in. As she did, the light in the hallway and sickbay flickered.
“What was that?”
“Nothing, Captain, just some power fluxuations. Now, let’s see if we can’t jog your memory just a bit.”
“Allen said…”
“Lieutenant Skagg isn’t really a doctor, though, is he?”
“I was wondering about that myself.”
“You were fighting the Borg, on L9.”
“That’s right. They had broken into the outpost. I threw a phaser that exploded… God! I was taken!”
“It’s all right. You were rescued.”
“That… little man… not Starfleet. The Granameir! I remember the Granameir!”
Andrea looked up, and the ensign was gone. Almost immediately Allen rushed into the room. He looked angry for a second, and then seemed to look concerned. “Captain, we had some sensor problems.”
“The lights flickered Mr. Skagg, that’s all.”
“As long as you are up…” Allen produced a PDA. “Consumption reports.”
“I have no memory of this ship.”
“Oh, I did them for you, I just need your approval.” The PDA requested her thumbprint and password.
“Alright, I’ll sign them. You can leave them here.”
Allen looked at her, trying to read her reaction. Andrea looked up at him inquisitively.
“No, I’ll have you sign in the morning. Goodnight.”
Allen walked out. She noticed there were now two guards outside.
“What is going on?” She asked herself as she began walking in circles, trying to jog her memory. “There should be Jem’Hadar, and… Sal’Ar. Genis, and Narse.” The image of the tentacle and the dark beetles flashed into her mind again. The beetles were Borg, billions of nano-probes congealed into thousands of beetles.
The image hit her so hard she lost her balance and backed up into the wall. An arm came around her neck from behind, and she could feel something needle-sharp pressing into her neck. “Do you remember me?”
“Selan.”
“Don’t make me kill you, Captain.”
“Who do you work for?”
“I work for you, Captain.”
“Seems less than likely at the moment.”
“Remember, Captain, remember. And hurry.” The arms disappeared as Allen walked back into the room.
“Captain?”
“It’s hard to rest with all these interruptions.”
“My apologies. I have something for you to look at. I’ll leave it over here.”
“What is it?”
“A strange little thing we found out here. Very interesting and fun. You’ll love it.”
Again Allen left the room.
Andrea cautiously approached the box, feeling a sense of curiosity growing around her. The whole ship felt like it had gone silent in anticipation.
Outside Allen waited, impatience growing across his face. He was just about to go back in when he heard a scream.
He smiled, and opened the door.
Andrea lay on her stomach. On her back a large insect was burrowing into her, until nothing was left visible except a blue spine. A look of desperation was on her face, a look that slowly went neutral. Then she smiled at him.
“Well, that was a waste of time.” Allen said as he helped her to her feet.
“She was never going to tell us, and I was growing impatient. She feels… so good.” Andrea smoothed out her shirt and stretched.
“Enjoy the flesh, brother.”
Andrea looked at him with a predatory smile. “I intend too.”
She walked out of the sickbay, the guards leering at her and nodding.
Allen walked out of the sickbay. Just as the door closed, he heard the faintest of sounds.
He walked back into sickbay, slowly walking around to try to pinpoint the sound, a squeak or squeal. He was still unaccustomed to the human senses, but he was sure the sound was coming from this room.
Humans were far too visibly oriented for his taste. His eyes were telling him nothing! He ears could hear the squeal clearly now, it was just a matter of hearing everything in stereo…
No, there, behind the table. Inside the panel. He relished the dexterity and strength of the thing he was controlling, he just wished he could hear what it was thinking, feel it squirm as he told it exactly what to do, in total control.
He found it, wrapped in a small cloth. An insect, broken and smashed, clinging to the last vestiges of life as it stretched out one last time, and fell silent.
Out of Allen’s mouth came a high-pitched scream that seemed to pierce the very ship as it was taken up by every other person on the ship.
Every person but Andrea Petros, running down the corridor towards engineering, Phaser rifle in hand. Off her back a glob of amber flew, and changed into a bird in mid air.
Selan and Andrea charged Engineering.
The creatures Andrea and Selan currently find themselves against are insects that burrow into the spine and control otherwise friendly targets. Even more complex is that the insects are very resistant to traditional stun settings.
Andrea knew all this when she checked out the pulse compression phaser rifle from the locker. These creatures had been discussed at the academy. Except for recognition techiques no clear strategy of incapacitating the possessed humanoid had been agreed upon.
Andrea decided to take a lesson from history. When the Klingons were a threat in the Twenty-Third century Federation hand phasers had a stun setting that Starfleet jokingly called, “Klingon Stun.”
Ensign Yohan leaped across the engineering room from the balcony of the warp core, screaming like a Banshee. Andrea stepped slightly to the side and fired her weapon. While there was an electric shock involved, it was no where near as impressive as the distance Ensign Yohan flew as his body skipped off the warp core and landed in a heap on engineering level two.
Andrea knew that a hand to hand struggle would turn out badly. The parasites increase the strength and speed of their victims to such an extent that they hardly can be contained by a normal human.
Selan was not human. As Lieutenant Reiger advanced upon them he was met by a giant amber fist, knocking him cold and sending him instantly to the floor.
Alone Andrea would have been hard pressed to take Engineering, but an angry Founder evened the odds very quickly. Soon they had open access.
“Computer, recognize Petros, Andrea.”
“Password.” The computer replied.
“Access encryption program clock three.” A clock appeared on the screen.
“Freeze time. Use algorithm three.” Andrea manipulated the holgraphic display as she spoke.
“Algorithm accepted. Enter command phrase.”
“Strike silent knives all monsters met.”
“Computer active.”
“Lock out all transporters and replicators to my command code. Activate protocol forty-seven and use Anestisine on all decks but engineering.” Selan's plan had been dangerous, but the only thing they could agree on was the ship could not be taken, at least not for long. Any chance the crew had was by leaving on the ship after whatever captured them and found them necessary to run the now computer-crippled starship. The only two people with actual access to the computer were dead, presumably, or in a coma.
“Working. All transporters locked. All Replicators locked. Protocol forty-Seven in progress, Anestisine levels at point one part per million and rising.” The computer replied calmly.
“Hold at seventy parts per million.”
“You’ll kill them, or put them in comas.” Selan said as she scanned the unconscious group in engineering for signs of consciousness.
“These things would kill them with any less of a dose. Computer, activate command password routine four.” A new visual clue would be needed for the next set of computer commands, based on a three-dimensional puzzle box.
“We had best transport these out into the corridor.” Selan said.
“I turned the transporters off, even the shuttle transporters. Let me get a mask on, and we’ll open up this compartment.”
Andrea and Selan made their way through the ship as she saw the crew lying very still on the deck. They had to find the queen, destroying it would kill all the other insects and end the threat.
They also had to find… It. Selan had filled in Andrea on the creature and how it planned to enter our galaxy through the Granameir. Just the thought of that nightmare thing being real sent a cold snap up Andrea’s spine. There was no way it could be allowed to enter the galaxy.
It was nesting in cargo bay two. Most likely the queen would be there as well.
Cargo bay two was completely dark. The light invaded from the hallway as Andrea made her way into the darkness, the light on her weapon being swallowed up by the inky blackness of the infested bay.
“Come to me, child of my new home. Look upon me and embrace the truth of the universe. Embrace the terror of your future.”
“What is it with you all-powerful, ‘Things.’ Can’t you just die in peace so I can get on with my life?”
“Many show courage, in the beginning. To look upon me is to look upon your death.”
Andrea swung her weapon around, trying to get a bead on the creature. For a creature that size it hid remarkably well. “To look upon me is death? Untold ages in the ether and that is the best spooky line you can come up with?”
“Insolent gnat…”
“Seriously. What makes you think anyone would be afraid of a giant pimple like you? I fought the Borg. I’ve seen creatures that don’t even fit into three dimensions. I’ve watched your cockroaches turn my friends into puppets. I’m done being afraid of those that seek to harm me. You can rot in hell, whatever you are. Kill me or not, I will not fear you!”
“Fool!” The thing boiled down from the roof, vomiting itself into the tentacled form Andrea remembered. “I will burn your soul for all time!”
“Gotcha.” Truthfully something primal was turning Andrea’s guts out, a feeling this creature was elementally wrong for this world. The fact was she was able to ignore this response. Perhaps it was being taken by the Borg, or living with the nightmares that had haunted her since, but her reaction to fear was no longer revulsion, but an anger that burned through her so bright she thought light must be blasting out of her eyes.
She was also one of the best tacticians Starfleet had produced in recent months. From under the floor dozens of golden spikes rammed through the creature as it howled from the changeling’s attack. Andrea blasted the creature, her rifle set past safe limits.
Perhaps in times past it had enjoyed some kind of invulnerability from primitive creatures, but the repeated blasts of the rifle and the insane attacks of the Founder quickly set the creature to the defensive.
After it realized it could not physically harm Selan a hard tentacle caught Andrea in the chest and sent her flying across the entire cargo bay, bones snapping upon impact. As she fought to right herself, feeling multiple ribs broken, she caught sight of Sal’Ar Rei, curled up in the dark.
“Sal’Ar, help me.”
“We will help you, Andrea. We will help you all.” Sal’Ar looked at her with dead eyes, and a large insect crawled out of his mouth towards her. “Just don’t move; it will all be over soon.” Despite the fact that Sal’Ar was controlled by the Host Queen, Sal’Ar seemed supremely sad at what he was doing.
“We only wish to lift the burden of free thought from you. Through us you will serve He who shall not be named…”
“Sal’Ar Rei, we serve the Founders.”
The Vorta’s head twitched. Ingrained in every fiber of the Vorta is an overwhelming sense of duty and reverence to the Changlings that made them. It was as much biological as mental.
“We serve the Founders.” The insect was crawling up her leg. She couldn’t get her rifle on it in time. She pulled he dagger and made a few swipes at the thing, but her broken condition was not allowing her to put up any serious defense. “Serve the Founders! Serve the Founders!”
“We… serve…” Sal’Ar locked up, his body becoming rigid and shaking violently. The insect had begun to bore into Andrea’s back, but it also began to loose control of itself.
As quickly as it had begun, it was over. Neuro-toxin flowed through Sal’Ar Rei’s body, and as lethal as it had been for him, it was doubly so for the queen inside him.
The thing fell lifeless as Sal’Ar did. Andrea fought to roll onto her side, to get a bead on the thing that was fighting Selan.
Selan did not even look like a creature at this point. Sharp amber spikes protrudes from dozens of places on the creature as it screamed in protest, unable to grab her, unable to stop her from impaling him over and over. Two monsters, fighting in the dark.
Forever? For all the damage the thing was taking, it didn’t seem to be slowing down. Andrea began to wonder if the creature could be destroyed at all.
A blue blast of light came from the darkness, and struck the creature in its boiling center mass. Selan withdrew as a score of Jem’Hadar, released from the stasis imposed when it was discovered that only the Vorta could unlock the white for them to feed upon, freed by their god and sent against this most unholy of creatures.
“You… filth! Feculent ape! I cannot be defeated! No one survives me!”
“Shut up and die already, I have bleeding to do.” Finally angled so she could shoot from the floor, Andrea unloaded a steady stream of energy into the creature. She was beginning to lose the light in the room, a tunnel of blackness was forming around her.
“You will suffer as no one ever has. You will carry my new form into the cradle of life, and nothing will ever soothe your pain. Even when I burst from you, your soul will burn within me for all time!” A tentacle reared back, and a purple spike appeared at the tip. With all the force it could muster it threw the spike across the room and deep into Andrea’s chest.
“Scream, for all time.” The mass dissolved into a stinking mass of rotted meat, and then dissolved to nothing.
The screams that came from the darkness even gave the Founder pause. Against the wall, next to her faithful Vorta, Andrea writhed in complete, perfect agony as the spike buried itself into her chest.
“Computer, activate EMH!” Yelled Genis.
“Enter pass-code.”
“I’ll rip your vitals out, Founder’s help me!”
“Pass-code incorrect.”
“Genis.” Behind the Jem’Hadar warlord Selan stood quietly, but not as a Romulan. Her head has lost much of its detail, the common way a Founder chooses to reveal itself in humanoid form. “Peace, Genis. Computer, Activate command password routine four.”
“Enter Passcode.”
“Victory or Death.” Selan solved the virtual puzzle quickly, being only three-dimensional.
“Password accepted.”
“Activate EMH.”
A small balding man appeared in a blue Starfleet uniform. “State the nature of the medical emergency.”
“Doctor, she’s been infected…” Genis began.
“Thirty milligrams dioxillate.” The doctor filled a hypo-spray and shot it into her neck. Thirty milligrams would have knocked out a Klingon, but it seemed to have no effect on his screaming patient. “Get her onto the table, I’ll try a spinal block.”
The Jem’Hadar put her on the table as gently as they could. Andrea curled up into a ball, then sprawled onto her back, grasping her chest. All the while she was screaming in a way no one thought was possible. It was also obvious that the spike was either disintegrating, or sinking deeper into her chest. All the while she spasmed into new positions as she unconsciously sought solace from the pain.
“Hold her down! I could injure her if she keeps moving.” Two Jem’Hadar held her in place while the Doctor felt around her spine near the base of her neck, then used another hypo-spray. Immediately her body went limp.
To the Docotor’s horror she continued to scream, now unable to move. Her eyes darted from side to side.
“That’s impossible! She shouldn’t even be able to breathe without the respirator.”
“I am unstoppable, and without mercy. She will feel every moment of pain throughout her entire body until I consume her, and then her essence will relive that pain for the rest of eternity. You cannot stop me, mirage.” The voice was a combination of Andrea’s, and the nightmare that had taken over the ship.
“We’ll see who is more real here, infection.” To everyone in the room, it seemed like the Doctor paused for mere moments, but in that time millions of files were accessed, searched for relevant information, and discarded.
The Doctor scanned her. “It is infecting her nervous system and brain first. It bypassed my spinal lock, but I believe I can still shut down the pain center of her brain…”
“You will not touch her again.” The air shimmered around her, and became harder than any material in existence.
“Hmm.” The Doctor could still see her, the monster’s way of torturing him. “He stopped us from hearing her,” he processed to himself, “I wonder if I have any other frequencies of approach?”
“I have seen your technology. Nothing you have can stop me.”
Nothing Starfleet has. Nothing the Dominion has…
The Doctor went to the computer and conversed with it briefly in raw trinary, so that the monster could not eavesdrop. It might be psychic, but it did not seem to have any way of reading the mind of a hologram.
The computer chirped ready, and there was a brief flash of light from the overhead sensor package.
“Nothing you can do, mirage.”
“We’ll see.” The Doctor turned to Selan. “I have cleared the corridors of any remaining gas. Please begin taking the crew to the mess hall, I will begin to revive them there.”
“I’m not sure that is wise. Without the Captain to explain…”
“She left a recording in my care. It will have to do, the human crew will begin going comatose within the hour without resuscitation.”
Selan looked him over for a moment. “We’ll begin bringing the humans to the mess hall at once, Doctor. I hope you can drug them again if all does not go well.”
“Have a little faith, Founder Selan. It may be all we have left.”
Three hours later a sore and groggy Allen Skagg made his way to sickbay, and sobered up immediately.
“My God.”
“You may address me as such.” Andrea’s mouth made the sound, but it was not her voice.
“Doc, what the hell?”
“Mr. Skagg, you are not helping here. She can’t really hear you anyway. Get out.”
“Don’t even think of giving me orders, you lightbulb…”
“Computer, enact EMH Protocol Three.” Allen was still screaming at the Doctor as he dematerialized.
“You should have let him stay, let him witness the pain I inflict. Maybe he would have joined me.”
The Doctor ignored, “The Infection.” There was no useful purpose to engaging it in conversation, and he was passively monitoring to see if his little ruse was working.
“I will get through to the other side of the barrier. I will consume this swirl of stars, then move on to the next, until perfect darkness reigns in the universe.” The thing continued to ramble on, the Doctor decided on a distraction.
“Why stop there? I’m sure there are alternate universes needing maid-service.”
“You may not know true fear, but those of flesh…”
“Why?” Asked the EMH.
“Because I can.”
“Congratulations on your fourth birthday. The sad truth of you is a lack of true consciousness. You act all-knowing, but you can’t even understand why you are driven to injure those not like you. You are just a talking infection, and I believe your vaccine is ready.”
“How would you deliver this elixir, even if it could work?”
“I deduced that while you act like the creature that captured us, you can’t access all those powers yet. I’d like you to meet the other set of guests in Ms. Petros.”
Dark matter seemed to course through her veins. “These gnats mean…. nothing!” Andrea continued her screams, but now the other voice began to join her.
“Lying does not become you. I can see they are already adapting to you, as I knew they would.”
“You will lose her to this infection, as you would lose her to me!”
“Unlike you, the Borg want her converted and safe. I also know how to deal with the Borg. The devil you know, and all that implies.” The doctor's voice was deadly calm.
“I’ll kill her before I’ll let you win!”
“Then she would be at peace. Any way this plays out now, I have won something. Proceed to oblivion, you are an obsolete footnote in the cosmic dust now.”
The thing inside Andrea screamed in anger as it began to feel tiny things pecking at it.
Andrea’s face became a mosaic of conflicting power as Borg nano-probes continued to convert Andrea, and with her the Spike, into Borg.
“I will win, illusion! No human will ever die again, for I will force them to live in eternal torment! I will make you watch with unblinking eyes as every human from infant to adult screams my name in agonizing reverence forever!”
Even through the pain Andrea could feel herself losing her grip on life. Everything turned white around her. “Looks like everyone loses today.” The white light brightened to an intensity that blinded her, then she found herself in a white room. There was a pain in her chest, a ghost pain of some horrible reality that could not hurt her here.
At the end of the white room stood a figure dressed in white and barely perceptible through the light. With the pain still fresh in her mind she moved towards him in a child-like fashion, tears beginning to stream down her face.
She reached him, and the being opened his arms and took her in.
“There there,” said the being, looking intently into a distant point only he could see, “Uncle Q is here now.”
Andrea took a moment to untangle herself from her host. “I’m ok. There isn’t any real air here anyway, is there?”
“Most lower beings find familiar surroundings more comfortable.”
“I’m not… You are Q, right?”
“My reputation precedes me.”
“In spite of that,” Andrea said as she finally found her bearings, “I am guessing you are here to somehow help me.”
“True. Right now is a very critical moment in the history of the galaxy. You have managed to make yourself a focal point in the history… of everything.” His eyes never left her.
“How is being torn apart by the Borg and… whatever that thing is, critical to history?”
“Still thinking at full warp with the parking break on?”
“The Doctor has started something horrible, hasn’t he?”
“Go on.” Q sat down in a chair Andrea couldn’t see before.
“In trying to cure me, the Doctor gave it access to the Borg collective.”
“The ancient evil, even we call it that. The Doctor, in his attempt to save you, may have doomed the entire galaxy.”
The room disappeared into a maelstrom of stars. Andrea still felt like she was standing on something and did her best not to trust her eyes. The stars eventually coalesced, about a thousand or so. As she continued to watch, one by one, the stars went out.
“When are we?”
“One thousand years from the triggering event.” The last of the stars became all Andrea could see, and then the view shifted until a tiny spec became the focus of attention. Borg Cubes were tiny, compared to stars. It plunged into the star, and almost at once the brilliance of the star began to blacken.
“I’ve heard something about this. Trilithium fusion inhibitor.”
“Close enough. He used the Borg to invade all worlds in the galaxy. Backed by his mental powers no race was capable of stopping them, not even me.”
“I thought you were omnipotent.”
“No you don’t, but I would have been able to stop him, by coming back to this moment and killing you.” As he said this, there was a terrible collision of some kind on the invisible platform they were standing on. “Unfortunately, the enemy has blocked all temporal incursions in the galaxy.”
“In any case, once all life is Borg, he sends them all into the sun, and then extinguishes them.”
“There’s no sane reason for any of this.” Andrea was still trying to catch up. Q always had an angle.
“If he was sane, he wouldn’t be the enemy.”
“If this is true, why haven’t you killed me?”
“That seems an odd question. Do you wish to die?” His eyes seemed to look through her, searching for something he couldn't yet see.
“I don’t want to die! If you were the origin of the end of the universe, wouldn’t you want to stop it?”
“Well, there are other possibilities. The Borg could overcome the enemy, and the Doctor can then save you. With the billions of minds in the collective, it is possible.”
She waited while he paused and looked at her, like he was looking for something.
“I take it the fight changes something in a bad way.” Andrea offered.
“It depends entirely on your point of view. The Borg meet a being that is more powerful than their entire collective, something that attacks them without provocation. It makes the Queen feel weak.”
“So she expands, and takes over everything…” Andrea finished the thought.
“No, without the mental powers of the enemy, the Borg are eventually defeated. Unimatrix One falls two hundred twenty-nine years from now, subject to a Klingon Armada.”
“I get the idea that there is still a lot of wrong in this ending.”
“Yes, little one, there is. The Federation does not survive. It is because of the Federation that the Klingons eventually win, but the Federation is destroyed in the process. The last humans in the galaxy die when Unimatrix One implodes.”
“Implodes?” She asked.
“Oh yes. Point-Singularity Projector. Developed by R’Kan of Vulcan before his assimilation. The Borg never found a counter to the weapon because R’Kan believed there could be no counter.”
“Or, again, you could kill me.” His logic always seemed to bring them back to this point.
“While not as apocalyptic for the galaxy, it does hold future issues. Still, I am not an assassin.”
“Tell me there is another way.”
“There is almost always another way.” He looked at her again, as if he was looking for something specific in her eyes or face.”
“You aren’t telling me something. Can I change this future?”
Q looked at her, saying nothing.
“What makes Q afraid?” She asked.
“You do, my dear.”
“This has something to do with what the Enemy and the Borg are doing to my body while they fight for control. They are changing me somehow, I can feel it.”
In a flash she was on the table, pain washing over her like ocean waves. Even though the pain was more intense than she could have ever believed possible, Andrea could feel something. She could feel herself think.
She flashed back to Q, gasping for air as she rode out the pain she had felt.
“I… I can do it. I can end it all, can’t I?” She felt heat in her, but it was not anger.
Q did not respond, he just continued to stare at her.
“Say something!” She growled at him.
“I may have to kill you after all.”
“I am not scared of you. I am not even scared of that thing burning in my chest, or the Borg in my blood. Do what you must. If you won’t stop this, I will.”
She was back on the table, her body wracked with pain.
“I am done being beaten! I am done being manipulated! I…AM… DONE!”
By instinct, with rage and pain fueling her, and yet with a clear mind, Andrea grabbed hold of whatever thing was in her chest, and willed it away from her. She raged at the pollution in her blood, and began to burn it away.
Impossibly, these things became real.
The Doctor turned to the table in time to see the shimmering barrier surrounding Andrea explode. Everything in sickbay except the Doctor flew into the walls and embedded themselves deeply.
Andrea rose from the table, held out her hand, and forced the Spike to assemble itself. “You will float, for all eternity, in your precious darkness. You will never enter this galaxy, or any other, for the rest of time, and I will make sure you are forgotten.” She released her grip and it hovered briefly in the air, then shot through the wall, through the inner and outer hulls, and into deep space.
“Captain?” The Doctor approached reservedly.
“I… have become. I…” She started, staring at her hand.
“Yes?”
“I.” She finished.
“Captain, the trauma you have suffered, it has affected your psyche. Remember who you are, who your responsibilities are to.”
“My responsibilities.” It hit her funny, an illusionary man giving her advice about achieving… what? Did she now have the power of Q? It was only an instant later she realized she was laughing.
“Captain, please control yourself.”
“Only I control I.” She was I. Nobody understood, except I. I understood.
The Doctor looked frustrated, and then spoke sternly. “You clean up this mess right now, young lady.”
The statement shocked her a bit, and she came more to herself. “Doctor?”
“Captain, you are trying to understand what has happened to you. Whatever has happened, remember who you really are: Andrea Petros of Earth.”
“I’m sorry, Doctor, but this is going to take some time, time I now have in abundance.” She waved her hand and a portal appeared, leading into a bright light. “Selan is in charge now, Doctor. Give her every courtesy.”
Andrea stepped through the portal. Q was waiting.
“Is this what you were afraid of?”
“It is quite rare when questions of scope have binary answers. I am both hopeful, and afraid. Hopeful that you will remember yourself before it is too late. Afraid I will be forced to put you down before you do.”
“Afraid you won’t be able to.”
“Andrea, my power comes with a great deal of knowledge. I have contested on this level, you are merely a guest. Even were you to hold your own, there is the entire Continuum to reckon with.”
“Will there ever be a moment, ever, when I will be in complete control of my own destiny?” It was the question of a hurt child, holding the power of stars in her hands.
“My dear child: You have always been in complete control of your destiny. If you are asking if the choices get easier, the answer is no. Not ever.”
“Then what?” Q was behind her, at her shoulder.
“God! Isn’t there a straight answer anywhere?”
“Andrea, you do have great power, and I more than any other understand your want to use it.” He came close and sat down on a couch that appeared for him. “The more power you have, the more cautious you have to be letting it out. Power can set you free, but power isn’t freedom, especially if you have a conscious.”
The galaxy once again formed before her and she saw herself launching a wave of force that destroyed the Borg. The ripple of the blast started a chain reaction that destroyed everything in the galaxy.
“Life exists on the most fragile of mediums. Life grows on the edge of subspace, like bacteria on the surface tension of water in a lake. The possibility of destroying it by accident is incredibly high.”
“Can’t I learn to control it?”
“Of course. I would even be willing to teach you, if only to have someone interesting to talk to. So you kill the Borg, what happens in six hundred years when the Galaxy needs the Borg?”
“For what?” This omnipotence thing was becoming extremely frustrating for Andrea.
“Haven’t you learned yet? There is always a greater evil out there. The Borg will stop an evil so dire as to make all their previous sins seem pitiful in comparison.”
“The Borg are evil…” This statement was about as fundamental as Andrea ever got.
“The morality of your past is no longer relevant. You have to take into account what they would have done in the future, without your interference.”
“So I have cosmic power, but shouldn’t ever use it.”
“When you were in the pool, and from the pool, you could do anything you wanted in the pool. There were laws you couldn’t break, but they were hidden from you. Now you are watching the pool, and aware of the laws, because you can break them. If you do, you could kill everyone.”
“What is the point then?”
“That is for you to find out.”
“I want to go back. Can I will myself back to what I was?” This power wasn't freeing her, and she was tired of choices. Just to be semi-normal for a few moments seemed like heaven.
“I can help you with that. Before we do go down that road, I’d like to show you a few things.”
Andrea smiled. “I guess we do have the time, don’t we?”
“All the time there is. We won’t take too long, it will be harder for you the longer you are here…”
“Will I lose… what makes me… me, if I return?”
“I have been waiting so long for you to appear that even now you would have a hard time comprehending. You will be you, and after you are done with your life, you can come back and join me. I’ll be waiting.” Q had a look of genuine affection. For an omnipotent being, he had a horrible poker-face.
“You act like you know me.” Even now, with everything at her disposal, she felt like she was missing something crucial.
“I know all of you. Come with me, we have some places to go.”
Descriptions of where they went and what they did would make very little sense, but to the crew of the Granameir there was no time lost at all. Q and Andrea stood in the sick bay of the Granameir, the rest of the ship frozen in time.
As Q prepared to remove Andrea’s power…
“What will I remember?”
“Nothing. I wouldn’t torture you like that.”
“How long… before I am ready?”
“The choice has always been yours.”
Andrea woke on the table in Sick bay. There was no pain, no confusion, no extra voices.
“Doctor, what happened?”
“It was more explosive than I planned for, but I used the Borg technology in you to destroy… whatever that thing was.”
“Doctor,” she began, trying without success to remember why she felt so sad and happy at the same time, “I had the most bizarre dream.”
The dialogue gets a bit confusing in places, though. Some more indications of who says what would be helpful. Also, what's the approximate timeframe of this story?
...Oh, baby, you know, I've really got to leave you / Oh, I can hear it callin 'me / I said don't you hear it callin' me the way it used to do?...
- Anne Bredon
The timeframe is about three years after Voyager returns to the Alpha Quadrant.