*

  Paris moved closer to the Thinkulum. Thoughts were flooding through his mind. Would this work? Had the Borg already adapted? Did he even have any chance in winning this battle or had he sent thousands to their deaths?

  He tried to push these thoughts away. One question now surfaced in his mind. It was the only one of any importance. How would he link with this machine?

  *It will link with you.*

  Paris’s eyes widened as he heard the familiar voice. *Sorores?* he asked.

  *Yes. All you must do is let it link with you. It will assimilate you just like you were assimilated back on my station.*

  Paris felt a deep dread lurching forward as he remembered that day. Every single moment of the process had been carved into his memory, and now he would have to go through the same thing once again.

  He pushed back his fear. He didn’t expect to live through this anyway. After thousands had followed him here, the least he could do was this. He wouldn’t let those who had already died, die in vain.

  Stepping closer to the cylinder, he watched as the walls of the structure began to slowly recede. They flowed back like liquid as they slowly took another shape. The walls of the cylinder slowly melted into the floor. After a few seconds, there appeared to be a small chamber inside of it. Cables and Borg tentacles hung down through every side of the cylinder, except for the five-foot opening where Paris stood.

  *The Borg were never able to replicate this process,* replied Sorores. *Despite all of their attempts, they were never able to duplicate this Thinkulum. That is why all of the others look so different.*

  *Cheap imitations,* Paris thought.

  *Exactly,* Sorores confirmed. *That is why the Borg should never have been able to assimilate the information from the station. If they discovered the technology Vestin had stored there, they would be unstoppable. Takma never knew just how valuable the information was that she had stolen. The Borg have already assimilated her and her ship. They won’t be so careless as to look over such a valuable resource.*

  Paris understood what Sorores was implying. In not so many words, she was telling him that he had no choice. He had to do this, no matter what.

  He turned his eyes to B’Elanna one last time. She stood only a few meters behind him. She gave him an encouraging grin despite the worry that he clearly read in her eyes. He presented her with a rebellious smile as well.

  Through that small exchange, his courage had been boosted. There was no need for words. B’Elanna had conveyed all of the hope and strength that she had through just one glance.

  He turned his attention back to the Thinkulum. He could do this. He had to do this.

  Breathing in his newly found courage, he stepped inside the cone structure. Now was the time. The Final Battle was about to be brought to an end.

  B’Elanna watched as Paris stepped inside the Thinkulum. She had no idea what was about to happen. There was no way she could possibly imagine how this piece of technology worked.

  Of course, some thoughts did enter her mind, but she pushed them away. She had no time to waste on horrifying images when she didn’t even know what would happen.

  She felt her breath leave her as one of the tentacles wrapped around Paris’s leg. Soon, another had done the same. Before she knew what was happening, other tentacles soon began to wrap around Tom’s body as well.

  She wanted to cry out, to tell Tom to stop this madness, but part of her wouldn’t let her do so. This was Paris’s decision. She should honor it.

  A deep fear began to rise in her as it became harder and harder for her to see her mate. Finally, she realized what was creating the problem. As more of the tentacles wrapped around Tom’s body, the walls of the chamber slowly began to melt together once again. After five more seconds, the fluid-like metal had been restored to its previous shape. There was no door, no hole, where Paris had stepped inside. Not even a seam could be found where the chamber should open.

  B’Elanna stepped closer. The anger and fear became a raging storm within her body, but she forced herself to remain calm.

  If Paris, no, WHEN Paris came out of the chamber, he would need her to be calm and to be thinking rationally. There would be no telling what kind of state he would be in when he came out.

  She just had to stay here and wait. She had to stay and wait while Paris did no telling what inside of there. B’Elanna didn’t know whether it was the waiting or the not knowing, but her impatience was getting the best of her. She would give just about anything right now to know that he was alright.

  Paris felt anything but alright. His mind turned back to his first assimilation. All the pain, all the fear, they were mirrored in his thoughts as he did this, but he forced himself to be strong. He had to do this.

  Another tentacle latched around his waist. He could feel it slowly making its way upward as it moved over his body. Another did the same. This time it pierced through his back and slowly wrapped around his spinal cord.

  Paris could feel his conscious mind begin to leave him. This was it. It was about to happen.

  He was slightly unaware as the Thinkulum walls began to close upon him. The space inside the chamber began to grow smaller and smaller as the walls constricted around its new inhabitant.

  Tom closed his eyes as one last Borg wire wrapped around his neck. He could feel his consciousness begin to slip away as it linked to him. Suddenly, all of his own thoughts were lost as he felt his mind spread throughout the entire Borg.

  All of the thoughts, all of the assimilations, all of the memories of the Borg entered his mind at once. He tried to push this feeling away. He needed to concentrate. He needed to focus. He couldn’t just let himself become overwhelmed by everything that he was seeing.

  He had a job to do and now it was time that he did it. Focusing his mind on Neryem, he began to download the computer virus into the Borg Thinkulum.

  He could feel his body slowly begin to convulse as the Thinkulum reacted to the virus. He could feel the pain of every single Borg as the virus began attacking their systems.

  Paris’s own body became limp as the virus affected him as well. All of these thoughts left him as one Borg tentacle after another was ripped away from him. The pain was growing within his own body. He couldn’t take much more.

  The Thinkulum seemed to protest the virus’s effects. It tried in vain to save itself, but it was too late. The virus had already begun to destroy it from within.

  One last thought occurred to Paris before he fell into unconsciousness. *The Final Battle has been won.*

  As this thought left his mind, his body fell to the floor, and darkness was his only company.

  B’Elanna watched as the consoles around her began to overload. Power surges erupted from them and soon they exploded. She turned her eyes to the Thinkulum.

  “Well, Tom, it looks like you’ve done it.” She whispered.

  As she said this, she watched the Thinkulum’s outer walls slowly begin to morph between their solid and fluidic phases. She took a step closer and watched as the entire structure returned to its fluidic state. The walls slowly began to lose their consistency.

  Large holes began to appear inside the sphere and tremors erupted through its side.

  B’Elanna’s eyes grew wider as she watched the massive piece of technology slowly resemble little more than a giant drop of opaque water. As this thought entered her mind, the entire structure lost its consistency. In only a moment, the walls collapsed in a giant wave of water.

  As the dark waterfall soon dissipated, B’Elanna ran over to the form that had been left behind.

  Paris’s body lay amid the puddles of water that had gathered next to him. Every inch of him was completely soaked in the element he had been engulfed in. B’Elanna gently rolled him over onto his back. Bending over him, she tried to check to see if he was still breathing.

  *

  The Enterprise took another hit. Picard gave a deep sigh. They had to leave now before they were destroyed.

  “Put a signal through,” he ordered. “We have to leave...”

  His words were cut off as his eyes fell onto one of the Cubes directly in front of him. The entire structure was now growing a bright red. Picard had no idea what was happening until fire shot out of the giant vessel. Within a second, it had exploded.

  “What happened?” Picard asked.

  Data looked over his console. “There were no shots fired. Apparently the Cube just... exploded.”

  Picard’s brow furrowed. “It ‘just exploded?’” he asked.

  As he said this, three more Cubes joined in similar actions as the one before them.

  Data looked over his readings once again. “I can not explain it, Captain, but it appears that something is destroying these Cubes from the inside.”

  “Or someone,” Admiral Paris said.

  Picard turned his eyes to the Admiral. His thoughts soon mirrored Owen’s. It looked like Paris found a way after all.

  The Enterprise shook as another Cube exploded to its side.

  “Captain,” Data said. “I do not believe that our shields will be able to deal with the stress of these explosions. If we do not leave, we will be destroyed.”

  “How much longer do we have?” Picard asked.

  The Enterprise shook again as another explosion rocked it to the side.

  “Approximately four point two minutes,” Data responded.

  Picard looked up as he heard these words. “Inform the other ships that we’re about to enter subspace,” he ordered. “And scan the Unicomplex for human life-signs. We need to make sure that Paris still isn’t there.”

  “Captain,” Data said. “I don’t believe that is possible. The explosions are preventing us from running any scans. I don’t even believe that communications could reach as far as the Unicomplex either.”

  Picard cursed his luck. “Very well. Tell the other vessels to begin entering the rift. Hail Voyager. Maybe they’ve already beamed back to the ship.”

  *

  B’Elanna gave a sigh of relief as she realized that Tom was still breathing. She wiped away the moisture that still clung to his face and tried to get his attention.

  “Tom, can you answer me? Tom.” She quit trying to get his attention. She couldn’t waste time like this. She just needed to get them back to Voyager.

  Hitting her comm badge, she tried to hail Voyager. “Torres to Voyager.” The only thing she received was static.

  She cursed her luck, something must be interfering with communications. She looked down at Paris. Couldn’t things ever go right for once?

  Another console exploded behind her. At this rate, the entire station would be destroyed within minutes. She had to find a way out of here.

  As her eyes roamed the room for anything that would help them, her gaze finally fell on one of the consoles that had not yet been destroyed. Looking down at her comm badge, an idea hit her.

  Reluctantly, she left Paris’s side. If she was going to get them out of there, she had to do it fast. Taking off her comm badge, she connected it with the console. For the first time in her life, she thanked Seven of Nine. The ex-Borg had shown her how to work a Borg terminal over a year ago when they had begun a mission to infiltrate a Borg cube. She just hoped she remembered it all correctly.

  Tapping her comm badge, she increased the energy power of the comm badge. She still couldn’t get a signal, but it managed to connect her with Voyager’s computers. That was all she needed. Using an old Maquis trick, she entered the computer and issued an emergency transport. She didn’t have time to specify any coordinates, so she left her final destination to chance. Setting a five-second countdown, she took her comm badge back in her hand and ran over to Tom. Hopefully this would work.

  *

  “Try hailing them again,” Janeway ordered.

  Harry entered the commands. “I’m sorry, Captain, but there’s too much interference.”

  Janeway gave a deep sigh. Another tremor ran through Voyager as yet another Cube exploded. Most of the ships had already entered the rift. If she couldn’t find her two crewmen soon, she would have to leave without them.

  Harry was about to try and realign the Communicator’s power, when he noticed something on his console. “Captain, someone has broken into Voyager’s computer....” His eyes lit up as he realized who was doing this. “It looks like B’Elanna’s initiating a transporter sequence from where she is.”

  Janeway didn’t even ask any questions. She knew that B’Elanna had a lot of Engineering tricks up her sleeve, and Janeway thanked the woman yet again for having them.

  “Where are they transporting to?” Janeway asked.

  Harry didn’t have time to reply. The familiar image of two bodies began to materialize at the front of the bridge. Janeway made her way towards her two crewmen as they slowly took form.

  Everyone’s eyes widened as they saw the state that their crewmen were in. Both were covered in some dark liquid, but Tom seemed even more drenched than B’Elanna. Their eyes immediately went over to the unconscious form of Voyager’s chief helmsman.

  “Get us to sickbay,” B’Elanna ordered.

  Harry entered the commands and the two forms dematerialized once again. Janeway forced her eyes away from the spot that her two officers had just occupied.

  She turned to Harry, “Hail the Enterprise. Tell them we’ve got Tom and B’Elanna.” She then turned to Baytart. “Get us the

  Hell out of here Mr. Baytart.”

  Voyager’s EMH was more than a little surprised as his two most frequent patients were beamed into his care. Each of them was soaked in a dark liquid substance.

  He didn’t have time to ask any questions, he merely ordered, “Get him on the bed.”

  Both B’Elanna and the doctor slowly put Tom’s still form onto the biobed. B’Elanna hovered around the EMH as he began scanning Paris.

  Doc turned to B’Elanna. “Now get onto a biobed as well.”

  “What?” she asked. “I’m not hurt.”

  “No, but you’re covered in the same substance as Mr. Paris. I don’t know what it is but it’s giving off strange readings.”

  For the first time, B’Elanna didn’t protest when the doctor gave her an order. She watched patiently as Doc ran his tricorder over Paris and then began to treat his wounds. After only a few minutes, he turned back to B’Elanna.

  Torres cast the doctor an ominous look. “Aren’t you going to do more for him?” she asked. “He’s....”

  “In perfect physical shape,” Doc finished. “Apparently, his Borg healing factor went into over-drive. I don’t know how, but this element that he is soaked in has increased his immune system. All of his injuries were practically healed by the time you brought him here.”

  “Then why isn’t he awake?” B’Elanna asked.

  Doc turned his eyes back to his other patient. “I can’t answer that. His body is in perfect shape, but his mind was giving off strange readings. There’s nothing more I can do for him now, but I need to scan you. I need to make sure that this substance didn’t cause any adverse side effects in your system.”

  B’Elanna gave a deep sigh, but let the doctor run his tricorder over her body. After a few seconds, he pulled it away and looked at the readings. Doc’s eyes widened as he looked at the data present on his tricorder.

  “What?” B’Elanna asked.

  For a second, Doc had trouble finding his voice. Finally, he turned to his patient. “Lieutenant Torres, I have found something on these scans that you might be interested in.”

  *

  *It’s done.*

  Paris turned around as he heard Aria’s voice. *Yes, I suppose it is.*

  Aria brought a hand up to his face. *You did the unthinkable today, Tom. You’ve just brought down the Borg.

  Vestin Landis would be proud.*

  *And what about Xara Landis?* he asked. *Is she alright?*

  Aria seemed to stop to think for a moment as she contemplated Tom’s question. *She’ll be fine,* she said. *The

  Nalyans made a promise to Vestin Landis. They protected the remaining Dykinae from the Borg. They’ll do the same for Xara.*

  *Will I ever see her again?* he asked.

  Aria ran a hand through his hair. She could tell just how much he was already missing the young child. *Probably not,* she told him. *The Nalyans have found a home in a very remote area of space that few people ever heard of. While time passes by quickly for us, it goes by much slower for them. In their society, only a few centuries have passed by since the Borg were created.*

  Tom nodded. He always knew that Xara would be alright, but that still didn’t take away the pain that he was feeling.

  Aria could sense his thoughts. *Don’t worry. Xara will have a peaceful life with her own people now and you have a life to return to as well.*

  Tom looked up. *I thought the virus...*

  *Would kill you?* she asked. *No. Vestin designed it for the Borg only. You were assimilated, but not by the Borg.

  Besides, after carrying it for over a year, don’t you think that you built up an immunity?*

  Tom had to smile. He never had looked at it that way. *Well, if you know so much, what’s next?*

  Aria smiled as well. *You go home.*

  *Which one?* Tom queried. *Apparently, I’ve got two choices: the Delta Quadrant or the Alpha Quadrant. I suppose the

  Alpha Quadrant is out of the question. I don’t remember any of my past there.*

  *You might not remember now, but you will soon.* As Tom looked up; she finished her statement. *Tom, you never lost your memories. They were only pushed away to another part of your mind so that you would have more room to learn of what was to come. Now that the Final Battle has been completed, you have room for those memories once again.*

  Tom looked at her in disbelief. *You mean you knew of this all along?*

  Aria cast her eyes towards the floor. *I’m sorry, Tom, but I couldn’t tell you then. My people have been looking for someone like you for such a long time. After Vestin Landis died, we thought that there would be no hope to ever destroy the Borg. But when you arrived.... Tom, the Spirit had chosen you to fight this battle. I know that deep inside my heart. I couldn’t show you your past back then... I couldn’t risk losing you.*

 

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