STAR TREK: ENTERPRISE VOYAGES
Relentless Nightmare
Awaking abruptly with a quiet gasp Captain Picard sat up. Momentarily unsure where he was, he closed his eyes and breathed a sigh of relief realizing he was in bed in his quarters. Tossing aside the sheets, he walked over to the sink and splashed some cold water on his face. As he dried off in front of the mirror, he stared stoically back at his reflection as if he wasn't sure who was looking back. After a moment he regained his composure and walked over to the replicator and ordered his usual beverage.
"Tea, Earl Grey, Hot," he said to a computer panel. With a series of musical tones, the replicator began making a whirring noise with swirling light that became a steaming cup of tea.
Picking up the cup, he casually strolled over to a window looking out at light glistening off the ship's hull and a starry backdrop. As he sipped at his tea, he seemed to almost relax, letting his shoulders drop a little. He began to focus his attention on the planet they were orbiting, it reminded him very much of Earth. Just as he thought about trying to go back to bed, an echoing chirp filled the silence followed by a young man's voice.
"Bridge to Captain Picard" spoke the disembodied voice.
"Picard here."
"Sir, there is a priority one message for you from Starfleet!"
The captain momentarily dropped his head and then replied, "Put it through down here."
He strolled over to his desk and spun a small computer around to face him. With the tap of a button, he then spoke to the computer, "Computer, open transmission, authorization Picard 4 7 Alpha Tango." The computer made a series of tones and then the face of a middle-aged Admiral appeared.
"Admiral Ross, I take it your not just calling to say hello?" Picard say casually.
Admiral Ross replied in an almost worried tone, "I'm afraid not captain, we've lost contact with Starbases 457 and 462 in the Baralis system, you're the only ship in range. Your orders are to investigate and report back your findings."
Captain Picard took a sip of his tea. "Are any other ships responding, and are there any preliminary indications of what may have happened?"
Shaking his head the Admiral answered, "No and no, most of the fleet is committed on the Romulan border during peace negotiations. I'm afraid your on your own Jean Luc. Good luck."
Picard gave a nod of acceptance and responded "Understood admiral, we'll do our best, Picard out."
Tapping the button once again the computer screen went blank. He tapped his comm badge and gave an order following the chirping noise.
"Picard to bridge, set a course for the Baralis system warp 9 and go to yellow alert!"
Once again a disembodied voice replied "Acknowledged captain."
Picard took another sip of his tea and murmured to himself, "So much for a little shore leave."
The Enterprise left orbit of the planet and streaked into the darkness of space.
Among the black backdrop of space, Starbase 457 was a prominent figure against the distant stars. Although a familiar looking starbase, there was an odd difference about this one, large portions of its hull had large masses of cable and microchip-like objects randomly scattered about the surface with low dull green tones to them. At a closer glance, this starbase is not as it should be.
A distant flash of light preceded the USS Enterprises arrival as it dropped out of warp and approached Starbase 457.
"On screen, full sensor scan Mr. Worf!" ordered Picard.
A look of puzzlement with a hint of fear washed over the captain's face as the image of the starbase appeared on the view screen.
"I am reading fluctuating power signatures throughout the station sir." reported Lt. Commander Worf.
"Life signs?" inquired the captain.
"1,054 life signs scattered all throughout the station, they are all Borg sir!"
"What?" the captain whispered to himself. "Are you reading any shields up or weapons armed commander?"
"No sir"
Picard stood up and walked toward the view screen and stopped at the helm control station. He paused for only a moment before turning to his first officer Commander Michael Maddox.
"Commander take an away team and find out what the hell happened over there."
"Aye sir, security team alpha to transporter room 3, Mr. Worf and Mr. LaForge your with me."
As the away team went into the turbo lift, Picard turned back to the view screen to study the image once more.
"If they assimilated the starbase, where is their ship?" he thought to himself.
The command center on the starbase only vaguely resembled what it had looked like before being transformed into a Borg central control hive. What was once a brightly lit and spacious room was now a dark and very warm, an almost halfway to hell feeling. A momentary brightness filled the room as the away team beamed into the control room. The security team had phasers already drawn as they fanned out in a search pattern. Worf and LaForge immediately opened their tricorders and began scanning various spots.
"Commander Maddox to Enterprise."
"Picard here."
"Sir, the entire control room appears to be a central hive for the Borg . They appear to have taken complete control of the station."
"Are they aware of your presence?"
"No sir, they seem uninterested in what were doing."
"Understood, keep me posted, Picard out."
"Commander Maddox, I think I've found something!" LaForge called out from the other side of the room.
Maddox and Worf closed in on Laforge's position.
"What do you got?" inquired Maddox.
"Well, they have total control over the main computer, I'm reading several upgraded torpedo launchers and shield generators all over the ship. They also seem to be pumping a lot of power into the shuttle and cargo bays."
"Any idea why?"
"No, I can't tell from here, there's too much interference."
"Can we get down to the main shuttle bay?"
"Not by turbo lift, they're all offline, and it's a long way down in a Jeffries tube."
"Is it possible to beam down there?"
"I don't see why not, the Enterprise will have to beam us down though, I can't access the station's transporters."
"Maddox to Enterprise."
"Go ahead."
"Captain, the Borg are devoting a lot of power into the shuttle and cargo bays for something, can you beam us down to the main shuttle bay?"
"Standby commander, Transporter room 3, lock onto the away team and beam them directly to the starbase's main shuttle bay."
Once again the light of a transporter beam filled the command center. The away team appeared seconds later in the main shuttle bay which felt very much like the command center. This room was different though, dozens of fish tank looking units filled the bay.
"What do you make of the LaForge?"
"I'm not sure sir."
"Sir, over here!" shouted one of the security crewmen.
The entire away team flocked over to his position. All their faces had uniform look of shock.
"They appear to be Borg infants, they also seem to share the same DNA pattern, they are clones sir!" stated Worf as he scanned several of the units with his tricorder.
"Maddox to Picard"
"Go ahead commander"
"Sir, the Borg appear to be using this entire starbase as a Borg cloning facility!"
"Do you have any idea how many clones there are?" Picard asked.
"Standby, Geordi can you tell how many there are on the station?"
"Just a second, I'm going to try realigning the scan radius of my tricorder, modifying bandwidth to high spectrum, and…, there, out of the 1,054 Borg onboard, 830 are clone infants at varying stages of development, and they're developing fast sir, I estimate most of the clones will mature in the next 6 hours."
"Did you get all that sir?"
"Unfortunately yes commander, Geordi is there any way to access the self destruct system?"
"No captain, the Borg have taken control of every system on the station including the main computer, I can't even gain access to the reactor control to set it to go critical."
"Could we beam a team into the reactor control room and set charges?"
"I'm afraid that's out of the question too sir, that section of the station has been heavily shielded, the Borg seem to have gone to great lengths to protect this station from being destroyed."
"I need options commander, the Borg must not be allowed to continue…"
Just then a warning tone on the Enterprise bridge sounded followed immediately by an Ensign at the Tactical post.
"Sir, I have a Borg ship bearing 1 8 4 mark 3 1 9!"
"On screen!" ordered Picard
The entire bridge crew froze in a look of disbelief at the image on the view screen.
"My god." Picard said quietly to himself.
The ensign at tactical chimed in once again.
"Sir that ship is the size equivalent to 75 Borg cubes!"
"Red Alert, Commander Maddox prepare your team to return to the ship, ensign how long until the ship is in weapons range?" Picard asked.
"Seven minutes sir." replied the tactical officer.
Picard tapped a button on his command chair. "Transporter room 3 beam the away team back now!"
"Aye sir, stand by, I've got them sir" replied a disembodied voice that emanated from Picard's chair.
"Ensign raise shields and send a message to Starfleet informing them we have engaged the Borg."