It was all supposed to be a mere gathering of galactic parties to participate in friendly competitions of various sorts. But then the Borg showed up, and things changed drastically for many sentient beings from then on. This is where the Covenant's legacy begins. The story of those aboard it and several other ships will be told. Join us now as our story begins in the midst of a huge battle, roughly thirty years ago. Come aboard the Covenant, young officers fresh out of various Academies. Learn what you can from our history. It's a dangerous Galaxy out there. Listen well.

The Covenant's Legacy: Going Rogue

T'Karala System

Milky Way Galaxy

Unknown Quadrant

February 10, 2380

1610 Hours, Ship's Time

Swinging bat'leths and other melee weapons. Energy blasts and explosions all around. Flying blades, fists, and feet. Assimilations left and right, both in space and on nearby worlds, including various moons. Many starships of various kinds were under attack, some being invaded or in the process of being damaged or destroyed. And with all of this happening either near or on the peaceful world of T'Karala III, a largely jungle and watery world with several hundred million inhabitants of all kinds.

Among the ships being attacked and invaded was the U.S.S. Covenant, and drones were busily trying to assimilate assorted technology and crew members there, but were currently being stalled by armed resistance from officers and members of the crew. Unfortunately, for several crew members, the process of assimilation had already begun, and some were now turning into Borg drones.

Consequently, even though many of the remaining crewmembers and officers hated the idea of having to fire on their companions and friends, they had no choice. Many fell, either to energy blasts or explosions or bladed weapons during the fighting in several corridors all over the Covenant.

Dylan Munro was thick in the middle of the fight, wielding a bat'leth near main engineering. He had been taking an off-duty afternoon walk near there when the Borg came out of a transwarp conduit in subspace within half a light-year from T'Karala III, the most populated world in the solar system. Minutes later, the Covenant and many other ships, along with bases or settlements on various other worlds in the system, were all under attack, with dozens of assorted Borg ships participating after separating from a huge Borg Cube just outside the system's heliopause. As soon as the Covenant's shields went down briefly, the Borg started coming aboard it, and began trying to assimilate its technology and those aboard. The shields were only down for about a minute, but that was still enough time for two dozen Borg to come aboard.

They materialized in various areas of the ship, but were not able to get to the bridge or to the turbolifts that would allow them access to that part of the ship. Within five minutes of them first appearing, they had begun the assimilation process on several crewmembers.

Dylan and several other people aboard were fighting to save as many people as they could from being assimilated, and they were attempting to keep their technology and information from being assimilated as well.

While Dylan and those with him were engaging the Borg near them in close-quarters combat, they were being covered by ranged attacks from other nearby defenders. Dylan gave no mercy to the Borg or those already assimilated, and fought with all he could to defend his ship and those aboard. Slashing and parrying as best as he could, and firing energy weapons, he killed or incapacitated many of his opponents.

It was while he was engaged with three Borg at once that a mechanized arm nearly smashed into his forehead, but before it could hit, it was swiftly severed by a thrown mek'leth from his Klingon first officer Etok Shonkor. Passing through that arm, the mek'leth also hit the other two Borg currently menacing the Captain on the same trajectory, while Shonkor killed the Borg who'd nearly bashed in Munro's forehead. Several seconds later, the other two Borg were decapitated by swings of both men's bat'leths.

It wasn't too much later, led by Captain Munro and Commander Shonkor, that the deck was cleared completely of Borg. The defenders with Shonkor and Munro soon cleared other nearby decks, but also took casualties and losses, much to Munro's dismay. Fighting down to Main Engineering, more losses were taken, but even with more Borg appearing on the ship from other nearby ships that had either been assimilated or come within transporter range, they still had a decent amount of success in defending the ship and those aboard, and the Borg had not been able to tap into the main control systems of the Covenant.

Several Cardassians met them at the doors to Main Engineering, including the Chief Engineer Tihum Zevaa. When Munro asked for a brief situation report, Zevaa reported that Centurion Nirun and those currently on the bridge had been able to prevent the Borg from gaining access to it. That pleased Munro and several of the others, and they vowed not to let the Covenant ever fall into Borg hands, even it if meant they would have to destroy the ship.

The ship had taken heavy damage both inside and out, but still was able to fight, and its crewmembers, officers, and civilians were also able to fight. The battle would go down in history as the Battle of T'Karala.

Munro and others left Main Engineering behind to engage other Borg still on the ship, while others remained behind to help defend that area from possible Borg intrusion. Shonkor was close by Munro as he led others out of Main Engineering towards a group of Borg that were battling several security personnel. An hour later, with dozens of corpses from numerous beings of all kinds laying all over the ship's decks, the last of the Borg aboard the Covenant had been defeated. Unfortunately, some technology-related information and some technology had been stolen and transmitted to several still-present Borg ships and surviving nearby drones. As a result, certain things in the Milky Way Galaxy would not be as they were prior to the Borg attack for quite some time.

Hours later, surviving ships and those aboard them saw the Borg finally driven out of the system. Regrettably, before they withdrew, the Borg had managed to assimilate millions of those existing on multiple worlds, but especially on T'Karala III and two of its four moons. They even assimilated a large number of creatures of all kinds from those worlds.

The surviving ships banded together, joined by several dozen other ships that were able to warp in and help. They sought out potential survivors of the battle all over the system, finding very few. They did so for several hours, before calling off the search.

Not long after that, Dylan Munro, among others, was able to reach his bridge. He arrived just as a new transmission came in from the Omega Force Alliance. Captain Munro had it put on-screen so that he and his bridge crew could view it together.

When it came in, several other ships were still entering the system to try and render whatever aid they could. Among them was the Dragonstar, a ship that many now on the Covenant already knew of. The conversation that developed shortly after the transmission appeared on the Covenant's main viewscreen and lasted twenty minutes did not go well for the involved parties.

Ultimately, by the time that the Dragonstar was in communications range of the Covenant, those aboard the Dragonstar heard Captain Munro and many others near him then on the bridge say, in various languages, to those they were talking to, "We wholeheartedly refuse to pursue the Borg at this time. We are unable and unwilling to continue fighting. Our ship has taken major damage, and we are in no condition at this point to pursue and re-engage them. Our first priority must be to ensure the safety and well-being of those who have survived this attack."

Those who had sent the transmission to the Covenant and several nearby surviving ships argued more with Captain Munro and others aboard the ship, as February 10 ultimately turned to February 11, before Munro made a decision that would have profound repercussions for quite some time all over the Milky Way Galaxy.