Standard disclaimer applies; I am not making any profit from this story;
Couple of things that you'll probably want to know about this story: It depends heavily on lore from Star Trek Online and various other sources, from Star Trek novels to magazines, so you should have at least a reasonable amount of knowledge about what is Star Trek and Star Trek Online before start on reading. That being said, you can search for it on numerous websites across the internet. One more thing, If you do play STO or has at least a limited amount of knowledge about it, you recognize this' story introduction as the original tutorial of the game :D
Stardate 86088.58, Near the Pollux system;
It was another calm day aboard the U.S.S. Shi'Kahr. No contact on sensors, no attack on close colonies, not even a single case of the common bolian cold on board; It was such a calm day, that lieutenant commander T'Elihr choose the specific moment of 07:57 in the morning to pause her research on the tactical lab, in the end of gamma shift and go to the mess hall and have her breakfast. Now, the time she chooses to go to the mess hall is a very important affair, and will directly determine if she will live or die in the next three minutes. You see, the Shi'Kahr was one of the three Miranda-class ships assigned to patrol near the system of Pollux on the Orion sector. Not much Klingon ships ventured so deep into Federation territory, so their patrol routines were normally not much exciting. Besides the Shi'Kahr, there were two other Miranda-class ships on their group, the U.S.S. Amargosa and the U.S.S. Bozeman.
It was on the precise moment commander T'Elihr exited the turbolift coming from the bridge, and prepared to eat a fine serving of Plomeek soup, that the intercom of the ship activated.
"This is your Captain speaking. We were just contacted by the U.S.S. Renown, calling all the ships in the immediate vicinity to their position. We will affect a short warp jump to their position, in close proximity of Pollux IV, with an ETA of three minutes. To be on the safe side, as we don't know the nature of the emergency yet, all on-shift crew should present to battle stations. Qat'Anmek out."
It was not that uncommon; At least on the three years that the Commander had been stationed on the Shi'Kahr, a similar situation had happened at least once a week. There was even that one time with the Nausicaan rock band and their desperate Ferengi manager. Sitting at an available table, she started to sip on her finely seasoned Plomeek soup.
It is probably nothing, she thought, just one more absurd incident like last week's Orion matron and her burlesque show staff asking for assistance because of a Klingon raid.
She was so distracted thinking on last week's incident, that she didn't even notice someone sliding on the chair opposite hers.
"So, you're still traumatized by last week incident, huh?"
"By the Elements, Mercy! Can you stop sneaking up on me?!" It was not necessarily the most expected reaction by a Vulcan, all about control of their emotions and all, but T'Elihr was half Romulan, and her father had instilled in her a personal sense of freedom from the traditional Vulcan beliefs not commonly found on Vulcan space.
"Ha! It's just sneaking up on someone if they're actually paying attention to their surroundings." Lieutenant Mercedes "Mercy" McMary was the security chief aboard the Shi'Kahr.
"You know I normally am. I just had never seen so many half-naked women kill so many Klingons before... it was truly disturbing." She shuddered just from remembering.
"Well, it could really be much worse... you could have been assigned to supervise the team dispatched to one of the Klingon's Bird of Prey... the Orion matron ordered the weapons to hit the main Inertial Dampeners, and you don't need to be told that every inch of the interior of that ship was covered in this reddish goo... not the best thing to see after your breakfast."
"Okay, stop! I get it. I won't complain about half-naked murderers anymore! And I promise I'll try not to faint in the middle of a crime scene either." Mercy always had the worst stories to tell; normally involving far too much blood to T'Elihr tastes.
Mercy did not get any other chance to admonish T'Elihr on the proper way of a lady to behave about on crime scenes as the ship was suddenly out of warp, and the scene that was caught outside of the mess hall main window instilled sheer terror on everyone on-board.
The quiet "God have mercy upon us." said by Mercy as she looked upon the metal carnage that was the orbit of Pollux IV was the only noise on the mess hall in that moment. There was Starfleet metal wreckage until the horizon, as all around them ships battled. It was in that exact moment that a grim shadow passed above the Shi'Kahr and all around the mess hall people started panicking. A moment like that had happened only once before in living memory for the Federation. And it had ended with 39 ships destroyed and 11,000 killed or worse. It was a giant cube.
It was the Borg.
Explosions. Screams all around, people shouting and security officers trying to maintain the calm but ultimately failing. It was chaos. Until a firm whistle drew the attention of everyone.
"The Borg are attacking and Captain Qat'Anmek needs all hands to battle stations!" Mercy shouted. After seeing the slightly panicked look on T'Elihr, she put her hands on the half-Vulcan shoulders and looked her dead in the eyes "I need you to get to the bridge to help coordinate our efforts with the Captain."
Swallowing, T'Elihr tried calming herself. It was in times like these she wished to be fully Vulcan. "You're right. I'll go; please, try to get the rest of the crew to work. If we are to get out of here alive, we better stay sharp."
"Good. Go, the captain must be waiting for you." She paused. "And T'Elihr, take care okay?"
T'Elihr produced a smile from some part of her psyche that wasn't still in shock "I will. Don't have too much fun while I'm out."
She hadn't even given two steps out of the mess hall when the ship's intercoms came back to life. "Attention, this is the Captain speaking. All hands to battle stations. Repeat: All hands to battle stations! A large fleet of Borg ships are attacking the Vega Colony. Federation ships are rallying to the defense, and we're moving to assist. Lieutenant Commander T'Elihr, report to the bridge. Qat'Anmek out."
She felt a small turn on her stomach: The ship had gone to warp. There was no time to be polite anymore; she took out running on the main corridor, narrowly avoiding a crouched Andorian ensign before she reached the turbolift to head to the bridge. It was only then inside the turbolift and alone that she allowed herself to collapse. Sweating, hyperventilation. She was almost passing out when the doors to the bridge opened and she couldn't ask for a worse viewscreen. A sole Borg Cube slashing the U.S.S. Amargosa in half, while the Bozeman was losing her port nacelles to a kinetic cutting beam. It would be exponentially worse had it not been for the Shi'Kahr attracting the Borg Cube's fire. In the background she could see the U.S.S. Vesta spinning dead in space. Not that they would end up much better, because as soon as she put her first foot on the bridge, she heard all the bridge crew shouting at the same time in reaction to that.
"Deflector charged for a tachyon beam!" "Try to keep shields intact by diverting auxiliary power!" "Coming alongside the Vesta, sir!" "Hazard emitters standing by!" "Tactical, prepare a high-yield torpedo volley!" "Where did they come from?" "Reports of heavy causalities, sir." "Engineering, we need more engine power to stay ahead of the Borg tractor beams!"
It was almost too much. T'Elihr was a pacifist; (even if she recognized that Phasers could play a long way in diplomacy sometimes) she was not accustomed to this kind of battle. Even the countless battles with the Klingons she had been part of were not as savage.
It was that moment that captain Qat'Anmek choose to look at her "Commander, you're just in time. The Borg are attacking Vega colony. Our orders are to join the fleet that was fighting the Borg, but we may be too late. The U.S.S. Vesta is supposed to be coordinating the defense. Hail them. We need to know what's going on."
They were battle orders. T'Elihr spotted a free console and started hitting the appropriate keys for a ship-to-ship secure hail. But was cut short when the console just short-circuited. Cursing the foremothers of all the Starfleet Corps of Engineers members that she could remember, she crouched in front of the console and started mending destroyed cables together, barely hearing Ensign Koja say that the Tactical lab had been depressurized. It took almost one full minute, but she finally was able to bypass the main comm's computer to the auxiliary power.
"The Commander did it, sir! We're getting a response from the Vesta. Captain, the signal is not coming from the Vesta's bridge ..."
Hmm, some static... it could have been worse thought.
"This is the Emergency Medical Hologram aboard the U.S.S. Vesta. I am requesting assistance from any Federation vessel in range. The Vesta is being overwhelmed by Borg boarding parties. These Borg are different than the ones in my history records. They seem ... disconnected somehow. They're strange, but still quite dangerous. I've lost contact with the bridge, and main engineering is under assault. I am unable to contact Commander Davis for new instructions. I don't know how much longer we can hold the ship. You must send help immediately!"
Qat'Anmek turned to look at T'Elihr "We cannot allow the Borg to take the Vesta. We will move to defend her until more help arrives. Commander, I have a job for you. Think you're ready for a mission? I need you to beam over to the Vesta and access the situation. Find the officer in charge and help the crew if you can. Good luck, Commander. I'm counting on you."
Even if it was a mad thing to send a lone Lieutenant Commander to free a ship from the Borg, it was not the most impossible of things... Just not the most probable. It was not even the first time that happened. Well, without the borg anyway. She had finished her basic M.A.C.O. training and took eagerly to all the chances she could have to go out of the ship. It had happened a month ago, when they had rescued a Andorian civilian ship from Ferasan raiders. Even if they did not know at the time, what had happened had been a large surprise. Apparently, President Okeg had gone on a mission to try diplomacy with the Great Prides of the Ferasan and to maintain the maximum of secrecy, decided to travel on a civilian ship unannounced. Even so, the commander of the M.A.C.O. team accompanying the president had thought T'Elihr's hostage rescue performance incredible. Or so he had said anyway. She had completed the basic training, now she had only to pass the so-called "test of fire", exceeding in a combat situation. She sighed deeply, calmed herself and strode to the bridge turbolift. Not moments after the turbolift doors closed, they opened again to a darker transporter room. Apparently some of the Borg fire had knocked the main lights offline. As soon as she spotted Mercy, she walked over.
"T'Elihr, we're sending you to investigate the situation. The only one talking aboard the Vesta is their EMH, so we're beaming you directly to the auxiliary medical bay. We're picking up weapons fire nearby, so be careful. Someone's still fighting over there." Mercy handed T'Elihr the basic combat phaser while checking her uniform for any vulnerability.
"Hey, it won't take too much time right? I just need to knock some sense on those Engineers aboard the Vesta. I'll be back in no time. Don't have too much fun while I'm gone!" T'Elihr's attempt at playful banter didn't work with all the gravity of the situation at hand. iWe are all going to die anyway./i
After a quick last equipment inspection, she put on a brave face, and walked over to the transporter pad. One simple nod at the transporter chief and the last thing she saw was Mercy's concerned expression.
TBC...