Danag decided to obey. There wasn’t much else he could do. He was about to initiate one of the transporters when he noticed something different on his console.

  Danag checked his readings again, but they were still the same. “Captain, I think you’ll have to wait a while on that away mission. Unimatrix One has just raised its shields and the Cubes are moving into offensive formation.”

  Paris didn’t even have to be told this news. He could already see through the viewscreen just what was happening.

  “Evasive maneuvers,” he said. “Have all ships follow our lead. Hold fire until I tell you to.”

  *

  Takma finished downloading the last of the virus into the console. “It’s done,” she said.

  Kail looked around. So far, nothing had happened. All of the drones around him looked the same as usual.

  “Pretor,” he said. “I hate to say this, but nothing is happening.”

  Takma was finally knocked out of her daze. She looked around as well. “I don’t understand,” she muttered. “It should have taken affect by now.” She cursed under her breath. “I’ll just have to call the ship and see what’s wrong.”

  She tapped her communicator, but all she received was static. Exchanging a confused glance with Kail, she motioned for the general to do the same thing. Kail’s communicator didn’t work either.

  “Why can’t we hail the ship,” she muttered to herself. “It’s like some type of force field is blocking our...”

  Her voice drifted away as she came to her conclusion. The Borg had raised their shields.

  A slight fear began to gnaw at her insides. As she looked around, that fear began to grow. The drones that had once been impervious to their presence were now stalking forward.

  The phrase that seemed to emanate from all around them sent a shiver of fear throughout both Takma and Kail. “You will be assimilated. Resistance is futile.”

  Kail raised his gun. “I’m not about to go along so easily.” he muttered. “Takma, we’re getting the hell out of here.”

  For once, the Pretor gave no protests. “You don’t have to tell me twice,” she said.

  *

  “Take us through that opening.” Paris ordered.

  So far, the Borg Cubes were surrounding the armada at an extremely fast rate. *So much for our cloaks,* Tom thought.

  “Have the other ships follow our lead. Hold your fire just a few more seconds.” Tom had only a vague idea of what he was about to do, but if his plan worked, it might buy them some more time as well as pave the way for their ‘allies.’

  A few shots passed by their ship as the Cubes began to fire upon them. Tom watched as the Cubes began to come in closer to one another. *This had better work,* he thought.

  There was a tiny hole between two of the Cubes. Only a few ships could fit through it at best.

  *If I can just hit that one coordinate on that Cube,* he thought.

  From his time in Borg space before, he could remember some of the weak points on a Borg Cube. His mind drifted back to the countless number of battles his crew on the Jihaid had faced when they had been swept into Borg space.

  He shook his head. That had happened months ago, he needed to keep his mind on the present. But as he thought about it more, a smile grew on his face. It might have happened months ago for him, but in this time, it had not even yet occurred.

  “Have all ships focus their weapons on point 147.4 and fire.” Paris ordered.

  Danag looked up from his controls for a moment. “That’s the same trick we used on the Borg when we were here before,” he said to himself. “Are you sure they’ll fall for it?”

  Tom smiled. “Actually, we’ve never done it before. Remember Danag, the last time we were here, we came through a time-space anomaly. Actually we haven’t even gotten here yet.”

  Danag nodded. He had forgotten about that. They had been swept almost five or so months into the future when that had happened. That meant that their past-selves would arrive in Borg space in about....

  Danag’s mouth dropped open. He looked back at his captain. He had completely forgotten about the date they had arrived, but apparently, Rune hadn’t. Paris gave Danag a knowing smile and the returned his attention to the battle at hand.

  They would soon be in position. “Okay,” Paris said. “Fire.... Now!”

  “Fire now.” Janeway ordered.

  She watched as a combination of torpedoes found their marks on the Borg Cube. What happened next, she was totally unprepared for.

  The Cube burst into a assemblage of colors as thousands of different explosions rocketed through its center. Her attention was then swept away as she watched Tom’s vessel take the lead again and jettison a line of plasma coolant around the surrounding Cubes. Other ships soon took his lead and did the same thing. Once the coolant came in contact with the destroyed Cube, it set off a chain reaction.

  The other Cubes around them soon burst into flames as well. Janeway sat in awe as she watched all of this happen.

  “What happened?” Chakotay asked.

  Seven looked up from her station. “Apparently the particles inside the coolant reacted with the highly charged ions from the explosion of the Cube. The reaction that was created stimulated the self destruct mechanism in the Cubes.”

  Janeway smiled. “So a dozen Cubes just self destructed because we told them to. I wish I would have known this trick a while back.”

  “I doubt that this will be effective again. The Borg shall soon adapt. It is only a matter of time....”

  Seven was cut off as Voyager was knocked to its port side.

  “Status report!” Janeway ordered.

  Harry looked over his console. “It looks like the reinforcements have come in already.”

  Janeway turned her attention to the viewscreen. A line of Borg Cubes were steadily approaching. It looked like twice as many as they had previously encountered.

  She sat down in her chair. “Tuvok, arm all weapons and stand by on my mark. This is going to get rough.”

  *

  From her position inside Unimatrix One, the Borg Queen could sense every detail of the battle just outside. She waited patiently as her head and shoulders were lowered onto her body. Once that was done, she stepped down from her platform an onto the floor below.

  She was briefly caught by surprise as twelve of her Cubes were destroyed, but that was no matter. She quickly ordered an entourage of Cubes to take their place.

  She smiled to herself. While the newcomers were kept busy with these new attacks, she would have time to assimilate those aboard the Imperial ship.

  She wondered for an instant how these small minded creatures could be so easily fooled. She had known of Takma’s intent since she set foot in Borg space. The Drones that Takma had brought along might not have been assimilated by the Borg, but it was hardly difficult to link their minds with the Collective. After that was done, she permitted Takma to get closer to her. If it was any other species, she would have assimilated the ship much more quickly, but there was something on Takma’s vessel that the Queen wanted. There was something more precious to her than her entire Collective.

  And now that these new vessels had arrived in her space, the Queen saw no reason to stall any longer. There was some humor in the situation. Both Takma’s and the newcomers’ shielding had been based upon the same design. It had been little trouble for the Queen to adapt to these new shields.

  She issued the order for all of the Imperial Battleship’s occupants to be beamed aboard the Hive. First, she would assimilate these small minded creatures, then she would collect what was hers.

  She smiled again. Soon all that Vestin had kept from her all these years would be hers once again.

  *

  Xara could feel the ship begin to tremble from the after-shocks of the explosions outside. Her breaths became quicker as a shiver of fear ran up and down her body. It took her only a second to realize that this shiver wasn’t just from her fear, but from the transporter beam that had locked onto her.

  She looked around at her new surroundings to find herself inside the Borg hive. Drones surrounded her from all sides. She could see some of the other unassimilated Imperial crewmen being herded into a room to the left of her, but for some strange reason, she was left alone.

  Xara then remembered what Aria had told her. She stood firm with her head up and awaited the drones to make their move towards her again.

  She didn’t have long to wait, because in no time at all a pair of drones had already begun to escort her out of the room.

  From his vantage point, Kail could see just what was going on below them. His fellow crewmen had already been led into an assimilation chamber and now the child was being led away as well. For an instant, he felt a surge of remorse for the girl, but that was quickly wiped away. He needed to get out of here now, and if his ship had already been taken, he needed to figure a way to get out without it.

  “Maybe if we change the variance of the virus...” Takma was murmuring to herself again.

  Kail turned to his Pretor. “Takma there is no way we can go ahead with our planning. We’ve just got to find a way out of here.”

  “I am not about to leave now! Not when we’ve come this close. I’ve already lost Deknoks, the only way to win my Empire back is if we take the Borg!” Takma pushed past him and began to mull over her plans yet again.

  Kail lowered his head. It was clear that Takma wasn’t about to leave. And with the limited amount of fire-power he had left...

  He shook his head. The odds were already stacked against him. There was no way he would ever get out of here alive, but that didn’t mean he would let them take him either.

  *I’ll be damned if I let them assimilate me,* he thought. Taking his gun in hand, he looked back to Takma one last time.

  Her thoughts were miles away right now, so she never noticed the small nod he gave her.

  Taking one last breath of air, he made his descent from the platform he had been hiding on. As he approached the drones, he raised his gun and began to fire.

  Through the corner of his eye, he could see Xara behind two of the drones. Setting his aim on the two drones, he quickly shot them down before they had a chance to adapt.

  “Get the Hell out of here,” he told her.

  Xara slowly stepped back as she watched Kail shoot the drones mercilessly. After about six shots, the Borg had adapted.

  As he continued to shoot them, they steadily moved closer.

  Finally, a drone had come up behind him. In less than a second, it punctured Kail’s neck with one of its implants and sent a stream of nanoprobes through Kail’s blood.

  The drones stepped back as the General fell to the ground. Xara’s eyes widened as she watched Kail’s skin slowly begin to turn a pallid gray. He gripped his side as the nanoprobes tore through his insides.

  Xara couldn’t help but feel sorry for him. If there was anything she could have done...

  She didn’t have a chance to think about that any longer, because with one last movement, Kail lifted his gun up to his head and pulled the trigger. Xara gasped as she saw his body convulse a few times and then slowly retire into the stillness of death.

  A few drones took their places around her once again and began to lead her away. Taking one last look over her shoulder, she watched as another pair of drones took Kail’s body away to be disposed of. After that, she turned her eyes back ahead of her. She had already seen more than she ever wished to encounter in this lifetime.

  Takma watched in silence as Kail pulled the trigger of his gun one last time. A lump was slowly growing in her throat, but she pushed it away. Kail shouldn’t have been so wasteful. Didn’t he realize that he could still be useful to her?

  She gave a sigh. It didn’t matter. She was alone now. She needed to concentrate on finding a way to make this virus work.

  That would be the only way she would be able to...

  She felt a small pinprick in the back of her neck. As she raised her hand up to see what had created the sensation, she felt a metallic implant pull away from her skin. Her eyes widened as realization finally sank in.

  “Not now...” she whispered as she fell to the ground.

  The drone behind her stood still as it watched its nanoprobes take effect on the Parvanian. Takma’s black eyes lost all focus and her skin quickly lost its tanned complexion. Soon she was the same color as all the other drones around her.

  The Borg beside her lifted Takma up and took her away to another assimilation chamber. Currently, the Queen did not want to waste any more power on assimilations inside the Unicomplex so this one would have to be assimilated in another Cube.

  As Takma was escorted away, she was merely a ghost of the former being she had been. So obsessed with ruling the Borg, she had now become another of the Borg’s many victims. And because of the life she had led, no one would ever grieve her passing.

  *

  “Hard to port!”

  Picard’s words were lost as the Enterprise was struck by yet another volley of gunfire. As the captain picked himself up from the floor, he looked over to his companion.

  “I don’t believe we anticipated an attack this early,” Owen remarked.

  “I suppose we’ll just have to take what we can get. Fire all weapons on the designated coordinates. I’m not about to let them take us this easily.”

  *I knew this was a bad idea.* Raken told himself yet again.

  “Deactivate life support on uninhabited decks and issue that power into our shields. Find whatever available power-sources you can. I don’t care where. Just keep these shields operational,” he ordered.

  “Aye sir,” came the response. “Shields are rising back to full power.”

  Raken gave a sigh of relief. Whatever happened, he couldn’t lose his shields now. Not in this fight.

  The Consul cursed Landis yet again. Rune had led them into an ambush, yet again. And now, it looked like there would be no way any of them would make it out alive.

  But despite all the problems Rune had created, Raken had to admit that if there was any chance for them to survive, they all had to follow Landis’s lead.

  “Fire weapons on the points Landis has designated and follow his ship. Provide as much cover as possible.” Raken let out a reluctant sigh and said in a lower voice. “He might be our only hope.”

  *

  The Borg Queen smiled as she saw her new guest being led towards her. With a thought, the two drones were issued away and the doors shut behind them.

  Xara backed away slowly as the Queen approached her. Never in her life had she been so afraid. Despite all that Aria had told her, she still couldn’t maintain the courage that she was sure she should have had.

  “Don’t be afraid.” the Queen said slowly. “I shall not assimilate you... yet.”

  “You won’t assimilate me at all.” Xara said. She tried to make her voice sound brave, despite the fear that was permeating throughout her body. Somehow, she didn’t think it came across as she intended.

  “I won’t assimilate you until you ask me to,” the Queen continued. “I want you to freely give yourself to the Collective.”

  Xara just shook her head. “That won’t happen.”

  “Oh, I believe it will. Look around. See what you could achieve if you joined me here. You could become immortal.”

  “And become a drone.”

  “No,” the Queen said. “I wouldn’t make you a drone. You would have the same powers as I have, albeit, below me. You would retain all the individuality you already possess.”

  Xara looked at her doubtfully. “Why would you treat me any different? I’m not that important.”

  “Oh, you’re wrong about that, Xara. You are very important. You just don’t realize it yet.”

  *

  Another shot struck the ship. Paris, however, remained silent. He focused all his concentration on finding three people. He needed to see just what exactly was happening.

  “Shields are down to eighty percent,” Danag yelled. “We can’t take many more blows like that.”

  Paris could barely hear him. He focused his mind on finding Xara first of all. After only a few moments, he could feel the little girl’s thoughts.

  *Xara, are you alright* he asked.

  It took her awhile, but through her fear, she finally controlled her thoughts enough to say. *Yeah, I’m fine, but I’m standing next to the Borg Queen.*

  As Paris heard her words, he felt his fists clench. *Hold on, I’ll be there as soon as possible. What about Takma and Kail?* *Kail’s dead and if Takma isn’t, she’s probably been assimilated by now.*

  Paris nodded to himself. *Okay, I’ll be there as fast as I can. Just hold on a few more minutes.*

  With that said, Tom terminated his message. Stepping up from his seat, he took his rifle in hand and picked up the Padd he had next to his seat. Turning to Danag, he asked. “What’s our status?”

  The younger man looked down at his console. “Umm, sir, shields are down to eighty,” He was cut off as another shot rocked the ship. “No make that seventy percent. So far, Sargon has been able to keep the engines running somehow and all weapons are in prime condition, but our transporters are shot. I don’t think they’ll be working anytime soon.”

  “Okay, it looks like I’ll just have to borrow someone else’s.” he then turned to his tacticianal officer. “Target the Cube next to the Borg Unicomplex. Then jettison as many unstable ions as you can. Try and bring down the shielding around the Unicomplex. Do so on my mark.”

  “Aye sir,” came the reply.

  Danag turned to his captain. “Are you planning on leaving now?”

  Paris smiled. “I got us into this mess. Now I’ve got to get us out. Janeway’s in the best position to help us. Hail Voyager and tell them to put a transporter lock on me and beam me to the Unicomplex the moment the shields are down.”

  Danag realized that it was useless to argue with Rune when he was like this. Instead, he merely asked. “Who do you want to take charge of the ship while you’re away?”

 

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