Star Trek
Benevolent
Chapter 2
The blue light suddenly became opaque, then dissipated, leaving a horrific scene. All of the other ships were gone, including the Enterprise and the sphere. Instead were at least one hundred cubes, surrounding a planet of green clouds and seas, with dull metallic grey land.
The Borg Had Assimilated Earth.
At least a minute passed, in which the bridge was engulfed in utter silence, until Captain Davidson breathed just one word:
"Sulaak"
The helmsman did not need to be telepathic to understand what the captain had meant. He set a course away from earth, at maximum warp, and quickly left it behind.
"But how?- How could the Borg take earth like that?" Gordon Joseph remarked.
"I can only guess that the Borg travelled back in time- to a time when
we were weak, unable to fight, where they could have fully assimilated us." Answered the Captain slowly, "would you agree, Sulaak?"
"That would be logical, Captain- A center of activity in the Alpha quadrant would be very valuable to the Borg."
"Of course, where are we headed helmsman?"
"We are headed at maximum warp towards the Romulan neutral
zone, Captain. Because the Federation technically does not exist anymore, if it ever did at all, as well as the evident Borg threat, we should be able to find common cause." We will arrive at the neutral zone in about three hours."
"Thank you, Sulaak. If any of you need me- I will be in my ready room."
Hours passed, Davidson dreaming, when a single word began to surface from the inky depths of nothingness, echoing through his mind as if it contained the very same darkness as his dreams.
Captain...captain...
He woke with a start, bolting upright, panting. Standing in front of the desk, his hands behind his back, was his first officer, Mr. Masahiro Tanaka. He was about six feet tall with a slow, deep voice.
"Sir, we have reached the neutral zone, and there is something that you need to see."
Leo Davidson followed his first officer into the bridge, and was greeted by a blood curdling sight.
They had warped right into a trap. Uncountable Borg vessels had surrounded them, forming a twisted mass of metal and emerald light. The silence that had once again filled the bridge was interrupted only after a few minutes by an alert. Mr. Joseph glanced the screen and announced three words: "They're hailing us."
Leo had been expecting this: If their ship had never been existed, then the Borg would re-announce their interest in assimilating them.
"Open a channel"
The entire bridge was suddenly bathed in emerald light, as Mr. Joseph carried out the captain's latest order.
Filling the center of the screen, veiling the recently occupied captains chair in shadow, was the embodiment of the evil that had befallen worlds, the defiled husk of civilization: A drone.
After a time of it simply staring, appearing to be looking at everything and nothing in equal, unsettling measure; it spoke:
"We are the Borg" It said, but with the echo of thousands, as if the entire collective was speaking in unison, "Lower your shields and surrender your ship, you will be assimilated. Resistance is futile." The drone then terminated the link and left the bridge waiting for the inevitable.
Shortly after, the inevitable happened. A flash of emerald erupted from the chaotic array of cubes and spheres, and hit the ship squarely on the top of the saucer.
Recovering from the huge disconcertion the hit had produced, Mr. Sulaak read the damage report on the nearest screen.
"Shields down to 40%, they appear to have ceased their fire."
Sure enough, there were no more bursts of light from the dark miasma of metal that had trapped them, instead, there was only silence and darkness, a thing that the crew of the Benevolent beginning to get used to.
Not knowing what was to come next, the Benevolent's crew began to confabulate as to how they were going to escape the Borg.
"If we were to capture a drone, we might be able to use it to make the ships auto destruct, perhaps we should try to lure them onto the ship" Gordon joseph suggested.
"No" Masahiro replied, "It is an ingenious idea, but for the fact that it has been tried before, and the Borg quickly adapted to it. Knowing how well suited the Borg are to attrition combat, we would not be able to win such a combat, and keep the captured drone ali-"
He was interrupted by an almighty siren, a siren that could only mean one thing:
"INTRUDER ALERT!" Kingston hollered, barely managing to be heard over the siren, 'AND WILL SOMEONE TURN THAT THING OFF!"
Obviously shocked by Kingston's outburst, Masahiro turned it off with the press of a button, and glared at Kinston, annoyance burning in his eyes.
"Sorry about that Captain, Masahiro," Kingston said, evidently speaking mainly to The first officer, "Five drones, in the mess hall. Luckily there was no one still in the mess hall to be assimilated."
"Thank you, Mr. Kingston," Masahiro responded, "Mr. Banks, take a security team to the mess hall, do not try to spare them; we do not need Borg on this ship right now.
"Aye Captain."
A few moments passed before any of the security team said anything: Instead they exchanged nervous looks: they had never fought the Collective before.
Finally, Banks, a tall and rather rotund man with an astonishingly large mustache, broke the silence. "When we arrive at the mess hall, we will activate the manual release on the door, and attempt to retake it, we will then alert the Captain. Charge phasers and set to a rotating modulation: The Borg will adapt, so we will be lucky to get ten shots before we are limited to melee. Do not let them touch you, we do not need any more drones to fight.
"Yes sir." The security team responded, though not all at once. Shortly after, the low hum of the turbo-lift ceased, and the door opened, revealing one of the many corridors of the ship.
The security team filed out of the lift, lead by Banks, who could just barely extract himself from the doorframe without one some of his team pushing him.
"When this is over and done, I need to lose a couple pounds- you cant have a security chief who can't get through the door," Banks resolved, "We have arrived. Remember, the Borg show no mercy, so show them none."
With that note, Banks pulled the manual release, and with a click, opened the door.
The Borg had outdone themselves in causing terror among men. Every one of the drones that were busying themselves with the mess hall's assimilation was once human. The Borg wanted the security team to cleanse the ship of their own race.
With a start, one of the drones abandoned the replicator it was scanning, and shambled towards Banks.
"WELL, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR!" Banks barked, "DESTROY THEM!" With that, he sent a blast of blue light right into the relentlessly approaching drone, shattering it's armour and sending it tumbling to the floor, chest smoldering.
Three of his team followed suite, sending another drone down each, but one of his team; a man called Charleston, hesitated. It was all the Borg needed, banks sent a shot into it, but it only dissipated in the drones shield. Seeing that his phaser was useless, he dropped it and instead charged the drone, bawling his best array of Human curses at it, then finally tearing it's head clean off, showering the mess hall in blood and lubricant; he then threw the severed head to the floor, still growling.
"It is o.k," He said, examining the shocked faces of his colleagues, "But we needed that drone destroyed, and I got a bit carried away."
"Sir, I am sorry that I hesitated, It- It's just-"
"I understand," Banks interjected, "The Borg are a merciless and unsubtle race, it takes huge courage to fight them, and even more to say when you can't. You did well not to run out of the room; most would."
Banks activated his communicator, "Banks to bridge. We have destroyed the Borg on the ship, we are coming back to the bridge now."
"Good job Banks, do we have any casualties?"
"No. We will need a cleanup team here though, we had to resort to melee, and one of the drones' arteries burst."
"I see, well, we will get a cleanup team when we get out of here, once again, good job."
Thanks Captain, also, any idea on how to get out of the trap?"
"Yes, we do. We have come up with only one idea that might get the ship out unharmed, we are going to eject a single lander, and ram it into the formation. It is a gamble, but hopefully it will create a hole big enough for us to escape out of."
"I see, well, please let me know when we are going to carry this out."
"We intend to do so right now, but there is one problem. We need someone to fly the lander."
"A suicide mission."
"Yes, we are still trying to find a volunteer though."
The conversation had not been private, all of the security team had heard the news, and all of then stood silent.
A long, painful minute ensued, where no one dared to break the silence, until Charleston stepped forward.
"Il do it." He said, still shaking, "All of my family were assimilated, and I want to do something to avenge them."
Banks, as well as everyone else stared at him, no one had expected this from him.
"Are you certain?" Banks asked, his voice laden with shock.
"Yes, if it get's us out, I will do it."
Banks tapped his communicator.
"Captain, we have a volunteer, his name is Charleston."
"I wish to speak to him"
Banks removed his communicator, and handed it to Charleston.
"C-captain?"
"I am here."
"What hanger bay do you want me at?"
"one. Thanks for doing this, Charleston, you are saving all of our lives."
"Just doing my bit, captain"
He handed the communicator back to Banks.
"Would you bring him to bay 1?"
"Of course, captain, Banks out."
A couple minutes later, Banks and Charleston reached the lander, waiting for them was the captain and first officer.
"Thank you, once again," The Captain said, "Your bravery will be remembered by us forever."
"Thank you, Captain."
With that, he entered the lander, not with fear or regret, but pride and dignity; his last was act his most heroic.
He sealed the craft, and with the tap of a button, he floated through the bay, and out into the vast expanse of darkness.
The Captain had watched the craft's departure, a mark of respect for the pilot' last act. He then tapped his communicator.
"Captain to the bridge, the moment he- it happens, go to warp."
"Yes captain." Sulaak replied. He then took his place at the helm and tracked the lander's course.
The lander was hurtling towards a patch of brightest emerald, right in front of the ship, when it was on course, it jumped to warp.
In place of the emerald patch, there was now a swirling vortex of dull metal and bright green.
Taking no notice of the beauty of the vortex, Sulaak activated the warp drive.
At the heart of the formation, A shadowed figure was observing the barbaric ferocity of Banks destroying drone three of four. She turned the screen off, and muttered to herself:
"And so it begins..."