A TANGLED WEB Part 2: WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE ON YOUR CORUSCANT?

Chapter 2

By Charlie Nelson

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Q and Q2 flashed into Quark's Bar startling a few of the crew who were being served drinks by Morn, the only one Quark had enough trust in to run the place while he and his brother were away.

"Well, that was quick."

Q turned to see Janeway walking up to him. "I wish it had been quicker," he responded with a heavy sigh.

Janeway froze. "Is something wrong?"

"No. It's just that we are going against the clock, as you Humans say."

"So how are things going?" inquired Janeway. Captain Picard, Captain Sisko, and a number of the friends of those that had gone on the mission started to gather to hear, hoping to learn some clue as to how things were going.

"Why don't you show them," suggested Guinan as she suddenly flanked in beside him.

"What do you mean?" asked a suddenly nervous Q. It was a rare occasion that Q didn't like being the center of attention. And it had been happening a lot lately.

"You have the power. Use it so that they can see what is happening to their friends."

"And why should I exert the energy to do that?"

Guinan frowned. "Because the people here will sit and worry about their friends. And the longer it takes to find out things, the more nervous they will get." Turning her attention to Q2 she continued her explanation, "In addition, those who are able to watch safely here will be more able to know what to expect when their turn to go comes up, thus making them better prepared."

Q2 took a moment to think about it, then he nodded to Q. "Do it."

Q sighed in frustration. "Very well." With a snap of his fingers six of the paneling behind where the dabo tables had been moved suddenly began displaying scenes of the six missing people. Only something seemed wrong.

"Why is it doing that? It's showing things too fast," said a perplexed Picard.

Q2 chuckled. "That would be my doing. When the young lady," with a wave of his hand he indicated Guinan, "mentioned that time was of the essence; I decided to speed up time wherever Q's recruits were sent so that the Borg wouldn't get too far ahead in all the other parallel universes."

"That also means we won't have to wait as long for them to return," commented Admiral Paris as he mentally weighed the pros and cons.

"Still, it is going to be rather difficult to understand what is going on if all their actions being displayed for us are at warp speed," Chakotay pointed out.

"True, but we don't want the visuals slowed down or else our people will return halfway through it," added Kira Nerys, eyeing the speeding details from one of the pictures that seemed to be focusing on Rom.

Janeway was frustrated but intrigued. "Regardless of what we do I recommend we set up some equipment to record all this. We have the opportunity to study other parallel dimensions here. We should not pass it up."

"That's it! Captain, you are a genius!" piped Tom Paris, even as he brought up a tricorder to get some figures to work with.

"How's that," asked Janeway.

"Well," continued Tom, "if we record the visuals that Q has provided for us, and then we can play back segments of them at our speed to find out what is going on."

"Good idea, Tom," congratulated Janeway. Out of the corner of her eye, she noted the admiral nodding respectfully to his formally wayward son. Janeway was almost about to summon her Chief of Engineering when she remembered she was not on her ship. "Captain Sisko, do you think your people can handle it?"

"Of course," nodded Sisko. "Captain Sisko to Chief O'Brien."

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"Do you have any idea what this might be worth in our universe?! I have never seen technology like this before!" Quark exclaimed.

"I'm more worried about those soldiers we slipped by earlier. They didn't look very friendly."

Quark snorted. "Well, they will have less of a chance of finding us if you shut your yap and come over here. I'm not getting anywhere with this thing."

Noting that Rom hadn't moved due to his worry of being discovered, Quark rose to his feet and dusted his hands off in frustration. "Fine! I'll guard the door. You go see if you can get anything valuable off that mechanical thing."

Rom hurriedly traded places with his brother. "This is an important mission we are on," he scolded, but not expecting his brother to heed him. "Not to mention dangerous. We really don't have time to scrounge around for valuable technology to steal."

"There's where you are wrong." Quark did a quick peek out the doorway then resumed correcting his brother. "The others are more than capable of fixing this without our help. Besides, what are you? A Ferengi or a Hew-mon?" Quark shook his head. "The only reason that we are here is because those Q creatures decided it would be amusing to place two innocent Ferengi in the midst of this mess."

Rom didn't even try to remind his brother that it had been him who had volunteered Rom, and thus, brought himself to the Qs attention. "I miss my Leeta."

Quark scowled at his brother. "Will you get busy! We don't know how long it will be before those soldiers return!" Seeing that his brother was finally focusing on his work, Quark turned back to the door to check the hall for soldiers. Instead he saw a sharpened wooden object descending towards his chest with lethal intent. "Aaaahhhh!"

Just before the stake would have made contact, Data's hand flashed out and caught Buffy's wrist.

"What are you doing? I gotta stake him. The older and more powerful a vampire is, the uglier they are! And this guy's gotta be the oldest I've ever seen! Help me; don't hinder me!" she tried freeing her hand from his grip, but was surprised to note that Data was stronger than she was.

Data tilted his head. "I understand your logic, having referenced vampires. However, these two are not the type of creatures that you are used to dealing with. They are of an alien race called the Ferengi. This is how they are supposed to look. They are also the two team members that we have been searching for."

"Oh," responded Buffy in a small voice. "My bad."

Quark lay on the floor clutching his chest over the area the stake had almost plunged into. "I… I… She… She..!"

Rom hurried forward to console his brother. "It's alright. She just mistook you for a vampire." Rom paused, tilted his head, and then looked at Buffy. "What's a vampire?"

Before she could comment Data went into reference mode. "A vampire is one who preys ruthlessly on others."

Rom glanced back to his brother in alarm. "Quark, you are a vampire!"

Hearing this partial confirmation, Buffy quickly raised her stake again. Data instantly regrabbed her wrist, and continued with his reference. "A vampire, in Earth lore, is also described as a reanimated corpse of a person that survives by drinking the blood of living people."

Quark made a face. "That's disgusting. And you thought I was a monster like that?! I'm-I'm insulted!"

"Well, there is the teeth. And the ridges on the forehead are kind of similar," defended Buffy. "The ears are new."

"And they drink blood?" asked Rom wide-eyed, which got a nod from Buffy. "That is so disgusting. I think I'm going to be sick."

"Now look what you have done," said Quark pointing a finger at Buffy. "He's going to be whiny for hours thanks to you! He's almost impossible to work with when he's like that!"

"Rom, what were you doing with that robot?" The robot in question, covered with decades of dust and grime, emitting a series of beeps and whistles. "Pardon me; the correct term is 'droid'."

Rom forgot his upset stomach. "You understand him?"

"Yes." Data tilted his head in thought. "I believe it has something to do with Q making it so we could understand and speak the local languages. Since I am an android, I am also able to now understand and speak the local computer languages." A few more whistles and beeps came from the ancient droid. "I have been informed that it's designation is JC-2B. Evidently its last orders were to stay here and recharge. Fortunately, it was left recharging on one of the few circuits that have not failed down here."

"Can you have him explain some of these parts to you?" asked Rom. "I can't seem to grasp the meaning behind half of them and they look important."

The two tech knowledgeable members went to converse with the strange machine leaving Buffy and Quark to fend for themselves.

Quark struggled to get off the ground. Buffy held out her hand "Uh, here. Let me help you."

Quark waved her off. "You nearly kill me, and then you insulted me. Not to mention that whole blood thing you mentioned. Yuck!" Quark stuck out his tongue in disgust. Suddenly struck from a bout of dizziness, he stumbled toward a dust and cobweb-covered chair. "I gotta sit down. The stress of this whole mess is getting to me." He turned and pointed an accusing finger at Buffy, "And you are not helping!"

"I'm sorry about the misunderstanding," she said, weakly. Oh my God! I almost killed somebody who wasn't a demon! One of her worst fears had almost been acted out. "Really. Is there anything I can do?"

"What can you do?" Quark snapped sarcastically. "Well, you can..." He paused. An idea can to him. "You could massage my lobes."

"What?" She knew that he wasn't originally going to say that. He looked like he was going to say something spiteful and mean, but he didn't. According to Data these were aliens, not monsters. In a social studies class in school, she had been taught that what was acceptable or expected in one culture may not be so in another. One of the things covered was that often times it was the little things that caused the biggest troubles between cultures, thus causing groups to not be able to work with one another. Her only problem was that she couldn't know what would be the norm for the Ferengi. She wasn't dealing with a culture from the other side of the world, but from some other planet.

"It would calm me down from all this excitement. It's quite therapeutic for my people," stated the Ferengi as innocently as possible.

"You mean like a massage, but with your ears instead of your shoulders?" Buffy tried to define. Or to even understand.

Quark nodded. "And you have to be gentle. I've seen your Hew-mon backrubs. They look barbaric."

Buffy moved behind the chair that Quark was sitting in. "Well, I suppose, since they don't look like they have any slime or ear wax."

"We Ferengi take very good care of our ears," said an insulted Quark. Quark then sighed once Buffy walked around behind ham and began to massage the upper lobes of his ears. "Oh yeah. That feels wonderful."

Buffy continued her ministering as her mind tried to work on another problem. Now why do I have the feeling I know this guy from somewhere, wondered Buffy.

On the other side of the room, Data and Rom were making some headway. Having removed one of the side covers of the droid's shell, the two were able to get a good look at the makeup of the droid. "This droid's data relay system has some similarities to my positronic brain."

"I know," agreed Rom. "I've seen part of a schematic once. Isn't it amazing? The similarities, I mean."

"Due to those similarities, this droid may actually be sentient. In addition, much of it behavior seems to support that conclusion. It seems to express personality."

"A stubborn personality, maybe," commented Rom. "It tried to burn me with a welder when I first tried to examine it."

Data cocked his head. "Why did it defend itself?"

"Defend…? It attacked. Quark had me try to open up some of its hatches to see how it ran. Then-"

Data nodded. "I see. As much as I would like to explore the scientific mechanics this universe has to offer, we really must return to our colleagues and focus our attentions on defeating the Borg."

Rom reluctantly nodded in agreement. Turning from their impromptu project, the android and Ferengi both froze at the sight of Buffy and Quark.

"Oh, a little higher. Yes, now lower. Hey, you learn fast. And your hands… Oooh! So skilled!"

Even Data showed signs of being stunned for a few moments before he was able to address the Slayer. "Ms. Summers, are you aware that you are engaging in 'oo-mox', which is a sexually arousing stimulus for the Ferengi."

"What!?" Buffy's eyes bugged even as her hands clenched tightly around Quark's lobes.

"Aaarrrrgh! My ears! My ears! She's crushing them!" Quark flailed around in agony, but with Buffy behind him with a good grip on his ear lobes he wasn't going anywhere. "Heeeelp!"

"I'm gonna rip them off your head, you… you… Ferengi sicko!" Buffy lifted him up in the air and kicked the chair he had been sitting in across the room. She then threw Quark on the ground, all while maintaining her crushing grip on his ears.

Rom's eyes were wide. "She's stronger than she looks."

"I agree," commented Data.

Rom looked at Data. "Aren't you going to do something?" asked Rom

"Commander Riker once pointed out to me that sometimes it is useful to let two individuals who have a disagreement to 'fight it out and get it out of their system' so that they can function better together later," explained Data as he kept his eyes on the spectacle in front of him.

Rom watched fearfully and emphatically as Buffy placed her foot on Quark's left ear and used both of her hands to twist his right ear in a circle. "Oh, that's- that's just not right!"

"Get off my lobes!" Quark wailed. "Getoffgetoffgetoffgetoff!"

"I thought you liked your ears handled by others!" she yelled

Data was unsure of how to gauge Riker's theory, but he was certain that things were getting out of hand. "Buffy, this irrational behavior does not seem to be accomplishing anything. I must ask that that you desist."

"Oh, but it is working," spoke Buffy as she began banging Quark's head into the floor using his ears for leverage. "I'm working out a lot of my aggression right now, and trust me it feels good!"

"Eeerrggh!" screeched Quark. "I'll pay latinum! A tenth my weight in latinum! Just get her off me! YEEEAAAOooocCH! AWK! PleasYEEEaaahhhh!"

Before Data could comment, the tricorder in his belt made a beep. "Buffy, the tricorder is detecting a Borg drone in our vicinity. I recommend you leave your assault on Quark's ears for later."

Buffy did a quick roll to the side and was on her feet in an instant.

Quark lay on the floor in agony, half curled into a fetal position, trying to gently cradle his ears with his hands. His lobes were quickly turning colors of red, purple and black with little trickles of blood sprinkling on the dusty floor. "You're a monster! A horrible, horrible monster!" groaned Quark.

"I know you are, but what am I?" See smiled sweetly as she kneeled down beside him. "You know what, I'll tell you what I really am. I am literally the slayer of monsters. That is literally what I am, you little turd blossom." Quark shivered and started to curl into a ball. She whapped one of his battered ears with her wooden stake to get his attention. "You try to take advantage of my ignorance about you or anything else again, and I'll use Mr. Pointy here to pierce your ears. Got it?" Without waiting for him to acknowledge her, Buffy stormed out into the hall to cool off while wiping her hands on her pants.

Rom immediately went to his brother. Upon a closer inspection of the wounds Quark had suffered, he winced. He could see that they were superficial, but also that it had to be extremely painful. Rom looked up to Data, who was searching in a medical kit he had brought, and asked a question he was very afraid to hear answered. "She's not a homicidal maniac, is she?"

Data took a couple of milliseconds to run Rom's hypothesis before giving a response. "Unknown. However, she has not displayed any violent behavior prior to Quark's subterfuge. I do not believe we will have any other problems with her. In addition, she seems to be a formidable opponent. We need her."

On the far side of the room a door slid open. A Borg drone walked in. Data immediately dropped the medical hypo-spray and drew his phaser. After the drone had visually scanned the room, it walked over to the small droid and began a more serious scan.

Quark had closed his eyes in anticipation for the relief that the hypo-spray would provide. Not hearing the gentle hiss of the hypo-spray or feeling the cool release it would provide, Quark decided he should open his eyes even though he was sure he wasn't going to like what he saw. He was right. "Don't just stand there! Kill it!" he said, pointing to the drone on the room. "That's what you came here for, wasn't it?"

Data answered Quark without taking his eyes off the Borg. "If I attack it, then the rest of the Borg will perceive us as a threat before we are prepared to become one." The droid being scanned by the Borg gave a few quivering whistles, but Data did not translate.

"It's an assimilated Cardassian, isn't it?" noted Rom.

"What," Quark said, temporarily forgetting his injuries in view of this new danger. "How can you tell? The majority of it's face has been replaced with sensors and stuff?"

"Rom's assumption is correct. Look at the ridges of the exposed left eye as well as on the exposed neck areas. It has-"

Just then the door behind them opened. Data spun around, and Buffy found a phaser pointed directly at her.

"Hey! What gives?" Then Data spun back to covering the drone. "Who's that… or better yet, what's that?"

"Shhh!" shushed Rom. "It's a Borg"

Buffy smiled. "Cool. Let's see how much of an upgrade Q really gave to Mr. Pointy."

Data held out a hand. "Buffy. You-"

"You are the android Starfleet officer known as Data." Data froze. If he had had blood in his veins, it would have been running cold. "You have resisted the Borg before. Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated. As will everything here." As quickly as the drone had addressed the android, the Borg unit turned away from him and returned to his task. A laser came out of its arm-housing appendage and began cutting into the droid.

The painful squeals coming from the rusty droid were all Buffy needed to get her going. "Assimilate this!" Buffy threw her Q-amplified stake at the Borg drone with surprising results. The throw was true to its mark and pieced the drone's body. Just as suddenly the drone turned to ashes and its metal components collapsed on the ground along with Mr. Pointy.

Buffy walked over and picked up her stake. "Dusted and rusted. Two points for the new and improved Mr. Pointy."

Quark grunted as he got into a better sitting position. Then he blinked. Slowly, he began his pitch. "You know, there would be an incredible market for functional anti-Borg weapons," he stated through his quavering voice. "If we could mass produce your… Mr. Pointy, we could capitalize on-"

Buffy gave him a cold glare. "You may be on this team, for what reasons I have no idea, but there is something about you that just makes me want to see what Mr. Pointy can do to you."

"What did I do? I'm actually a nice guy," Quark stated as he struggled to get to his feet with the help of his fearful brother.

"You are annoying, cowardly, sniveling, obnoxious, arrogant, self-centered, opinionated, greedy, and Oh! My! God! I've just realized that you remind me of my high school principal, Snyder. And believe me that last one is more than enough for me to want to hurt you!" She looked down at her hands, remembering what she had been touching with them. "I really need to find some industrial disinfectant."

Data put his hand on Buffy's shoulder. "The Borg are aware that we are here. We must leave here immediately."

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"Morn, you crook, I should have known better than to have bet against you by now." Ezri put the appropriate number of latinum chips in front of her friend.

Morn just shrugged his shoulders, and quietly scooped up his winnings. He knew better than to gloat. Experience had taught him that all gloating did was discourage people from betting with you another time.

Kira Nerys saddled up to the bar next to her to companions. "What's going on here?"

Morn just winked at her, pointed to Ezri, and then politely dismissed himself to go to the men's room to relieve his bladders.

"Uh oh, when Morn gets that quiet, I know he's won something." Kira turned to her friend. "So how much did he get you for?"

Ezri Dax sighed. "It really wasn't about the money. I was just trying to do a little re-bonding, you know?" Even though Ezri Dax was herself, she was also more. Her people had a symbiosis relationship with a parasitic lifeform that was able to pass on the life experiences, memories and to some extent personality traits to their current host of previous beings they had lived inside. The previous host, Jadzia Dax, had worked on Deep Space Nine among the same people Ezri Dax now found herself among. It was confusing and difficult to say the least. "Anyway, we were betting which team would be the first to defeat a drone."

"They encountered the Borg already?"

Ezri nodded. "You could say that."

"Who won?" Kira asked.

"Morn did."

Kira laughed. "No. I meant who took out the first Borg drone."

"Oh, it was the girl. Buffy."

"You're kidding, right? That skinny, little, blond girl?"

Ezri snorted. "I would not pay three strips of latinum for a joke." She paused. "Well, maybe if it was a really good joke… on someone like Worf or Julian… and I didn't get blamed for it."

Morn, having returned from the bathroom, quietly slid up behind Ezri and whispered in her ear. After a few moments of continual whispering and listening to Ezri giggle from time to time, Kira knew that she was not going to be a part of whatever plans they were hatching. Besides she had too much on her plate at the moment. "Well, I think I will leave you two conspirators here." She stood up to leave. "If you see anything interesting in the portals call me, okay?"

Ezri was giggling almost hysterically now but still managed to nod to her friend. "Have to tell you though, you already missed one of the most amusing sights I have ever seen."

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Tuvok and Xander had made good time. They had run into someone during their journey, but the wretched looking thing had taken off as soon as it saw them. Tuvok pointed out that it most likely nothing to worry about since it was probably just a derelict or hermit living in the sublevels of the city. Xander argued that some of the things living under cities were not so harmless leading to a discussion on the different creatures found on the Hellmouth. After exhausting that subject, Tuvok discussed Vulcan culture after much pleading from the inquisitive Xander.

"So far I am getting that you and your race have green blood, funky eyebrows and no emotions. No emotions at all?"

"That is correct. However, we can become annoyed. Which is what you have been doing for the last ten minutes."

"Well sorr-ee! I'm just trying to get a little cultural exchange program going here." The two walked in silence as they came around a corner.

"Freeze! Friend or Foe," challenged the man with the gun pointed directly at them.

"Friend," responded Tuvok. "I am Tuvok. This is Alexander."

The boy turned to Tuvok, miffed. "The name is Xander. Short and simple. Xan-der."

Tuvok ignored the outburst of the teenager and focused his attention on the man who still pointed the gun directly at them. "You were brought here by the Doctor, were you not? We are the allies you were to meet here."

The man with the gun smiled. "How do we know you are our allies? How do we know you aren't members of the Borg trying to infiltrate us?"

The man must have major paranoia problems, thought Xander. "Hey, look, we have the same tracker thingee that you have. See," responded Xander.

"That doesn't prove anything. You could have-"

"Ease up, Bill," spoke up a blond curly haired man who was sitting at a table looking over a manual. Having taken his focus off the manual the man stood up to see what Bill was making so much noise about.

"Hey, why are you wearing red pajamas?" asked the teen.

"These are not pajamas, and the name is Ralph."

"Oh, are you one of those male exotic dancers, or, Oh! are you part of a circus? Cause circuses are cool. I suppose being a male exotic dancer is cool, too, but just not the kind of thing that interests me."

"Hey, kid," Bill snapped, "this is one of the Greatest American Heroes of all time."

Xander gave him a look of disbelief. "You've got to be kidding? Wearing that kind of outfit?"

Ralph sighed. "I give up." Ralph turned to his friend, "Bill, put the gun down."

"Kid, we are in enemy territory here. We don't know them."

"Would you send in someone to infiltrate someone else's base that was that annoying?"

"HEY!" protested Xander.

"You got a point, Ralph." Bill reluctantly lowered his gun. "Tuvok was it? Nice to have you on board. Bill Maxwell's the name. FBI."

Ralph shook his head and turned back to what he was reading. "Bill, I'm going to try read that instruction manual again. I think it might be really helpful if I can just figure it out. The thing is driving me nuts. It reads like stereo instructions."

Bill nodded. Now that Ralph had another instruction manual for the superhero suit that the aliens given him years ago, he was trying to learn the correct way to use it. When they had originally gotten the suit, they had accidently lost the instructions in the desert on the night they had received it. After that, learning to use the suit had been a trying experience and sometimes dangerous.

"Yeah, sure, kid. No pro-" Bill whirled around and pointed his gun at the two figures coming around the corner. "Freeze!"

Steve and Jamie froze.

"Jeez, give a guy a little warning before you come traipsing into base next time, huh?" sighed Bill, lowering his weapon.

"This is base?" asked Jamie, as she and Steve resumed walking forward.

"Well… it's a temporary base until we meet the others that… we just met."

"Who's this?" spoke up Steve.

"I am Tuvok," responded Tuvok, "and this is 'Xander'."

Xander grinned. "He can be taught!"

"This is Steve and I'm Jamie."

Tuvok nodded acknowledging the names.

Bill looked closer at Tuvok noticing the different features. "What's with the ears? You an alien?"

"I am a Vulcan," retorted Tuvok in a way that could be interpreted as smug.

"Yeah, he has green blood, too," spoke up the teenager. "And no emotion. Unless you count being annoyed."

Bill scrutinized the black Vulcan. "I always thought that aliens would look a lot different that humans. I've been around aliens before, but I just never got the opportunity to see one." Bill stepped back, deciding to accept the man's claim to being an alien. No human could be that much of a stiff! "Well, I'm disappointed. I thought there would be more to aliens than pointy ears and slanted eyebrows."

At that Tuvok's eyebrows raised. "Indeed!"

Tuvok looked over his companions with interest, familiarizing himself with their personalities. Now that everything has calmed down it was time to move on. "This has all been intriguing, however, now we need to leave this 'base' and meet with the others."

Bill turned to the Vulcan. "Why? What's the hurry?"

"Because the trackers show that our friends are being pursued in this general direction by the Borg," answered Tuvok.

Steve interjected, "We could set up an ambush."

Tuvok turned to address Steve. "We do not want the Borg to perceive us as a threat this early in our mission. We need to get closer to their 'base' before we start attacking."

Maxwell grunted his displeasure. "I don't like it."

"I could stay behind and make sure that our companions make it," volunteered Ralph.

"No need," commented Tuvok as he examined his tricorder. "The Borg seem to have not yet set up transporters yet. Since the Borg are basically slow on foot, our friends are quickly outdistancing them."

"So they don't need our help?" asked Jamie.

Data shook his head. "It appears the Borg that have given chase to our friends have instead run into the authorities of this world."

"Well good," commented Bill. "They can help defend this place."

"They will not succeed," commented Tuvok. "They do not know what they are up against."

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Vorik wiped off some of the rust and grime on to his chest. One of the main occupational hazards of working in engineering was always getting your hands dirty. Even so, as much as he didn't mind getting his hands dirty, he preferred to have them clean.

"So…?" inquired a voice behind him.

Turning to the Starfleet doctor, he noticed an air of unease or discomfort. He did not know much about Dr. Pulaski, he did know that she had worked on the U.S.S. Enterprise. Though he was a Vulcan and without emotion, he still found that to be impressing. "So…what?"

Pulaski shook her head. "So, the computer circuitry you were working on? Were you able to do anything with it?" Ensigns, Pulaski thought in frustration.

Vorik looked down at the montage of computer components meshed together. "I believe so. The quality with which I have had to work with is the largest obstacle to overcome." He watched her shift her feet in agitation. Just like B'Elanna, he thought, She wants a direct, straightforward answer with little or no explanations. "Basically, I have created an echo analyzer. This device is sending out a signal throughout the working and non-working circuitry then returning here for analysis. My tricorder," he pointed to the assimilated Starfleet device attached to the collection of dilapidated equipment from this universe, "will then cipher through the data looking for Borg technology and-"

"And then it will tell us where they bloody well are." Spike threw what was left of his snack at the wall near Vorik's head, who ducked. "You've really got to work on your dialog, mate. I'd be dying over here if I wasn't already dead." Spike laughed when they pointed their phasers at him. He knew they wouldn't shoot him. He was their 'ally' after all. Spike laughed at that, too. In truth, Spike was quite taken with this world that was covered with mountain-sized buildings that shaded him from the sun. At first, he was interested in this job just to get the damn inhibitor chip out of his head. But then the sweet coppery smell of the blood in Tuvok and Vorik called to him like nothing had before. Even better, the chip didn't stop him when he attacked them. The chip didn't care if they weren't demons. The chip just knew they weren't human. After the others had pried him off Vorik followed by Buffy beating him to near unconsciousness, Spike took a little time to regain his control again and put everything in prospective. Besides, the phasers really took a lot out of him. The green blood affects me like too much good wine, he thought. Or drugs. Better hold off that stuff until this is all over. He wasn't sure if he could resist it much though.

The underground forgotten levels of this place still teamed with life and Spike began sampling it. Some, like the chicken-lizard thing he caught, he had to spit out right away. But a few, like the bat-jellyfish thing reminded him of delicacies back home, such as chocolate-covered cherries mixed with blood - at least the filling inside the creature did. Spike was really beginning to like the idea of living on a smorgasbord planet filled with alien delicacies.

Dr. Pulaski lowered her weapon. She hated having been left in charge, but Ensign Vorik was nowhere near ready to lead, and Spike…, Pulaski shuddered at the thought. "Spike, don't throw your food. Got it?"

Spike smiled and gave a mock bow. "Whatever you say, your worshipfulness."

Shaking her head in disgust she decided to direct her attention to someone who was at least not intentionally trying to give her a headache. "Vorik, is there any sign of the others?"

Vorik did a quick readout of the surrounding area. "None. But that is not surprising considering the density of the support beams and all the other mass. Once the readings from the echo device come in I will see if I can convert it to also listen for Starfleet technology as well."

Pulaski bit her lip in frustration. "Vorik?"

Vorik looked at her with his head tilted to one side.

"I hate to do this to you," she began.

"Do what?"

She hesitated. Why didn't Starfleet ever cover situations like this, she wondered. When I get back I'm going to make some very subtle suggestions to the people who create the training simulation holos. "I'm going to have to leave you alone with Spike."

To his credit Vorik only raised one eyebrow. "Why?"

"She's got to take a leak, man," commented Spike. At Vorik's look of non-understanding Spike decided to clarify. "You know, it involves the porcelain powdery room and all that mortal nonsense. Haven't you noticed her fidgeting around? She's about to explode. Glad I don't have to deal with that mess anymore," he snorted.

Dr. Pulaski glared at Spike as she began running scenarios in her head having her explain before a tribunal how killing a being who was technically already dead could not be construed as murder.

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Laughter filled the bar as Worf and Odo entered. Worf's eyes darted to the left and right, looking for anything out of the ordinary. Odo immediately centered in on the focus of everyone's attention. All the beings in Quark's bar were looking one of the monitors O'Brien's team had set up to display the visuals produced on the paneling by Q at a slower and more normal pace.

"What's going on here?" Odo growled.

No one noticed. Instead they all began chanting, "Play it again! Play it again!"

Odo and Worf gave each other a look, then pushed to the head of the crowd. Everyone was overjoyed to the point of being in pain.

"Oh good, you got here. They're about to show it again."

Odo looked confused. "Nerys? You said it was a priority that I get down here and bring Worf. What's going on?"

Kira was gasping for breath as tears streamed down her face. "It's one of the visuals we got. It's hilarious."

Odo shook his head. This was unlike the Kira he knew. "I don't understand. What is it?"

Kira took a moment to take a drink before answering. "It's Quark. He gets the living tar beat out of him by a skinny, young girl."

Odo frowned. "I can see how that could be appealing; however, I don't think it would be befitting to watch this for enjoyment. Don't you agree, Worf? Worf?"

Odo turned to find Worf sitting at a table staring at the visual with a rarely seen grin of pure enjoyment. What has gotten into everybody, thought Odo.

Catching sight of the screen he managed to glimpse the young blond girl lift Quark up by his ears and slam him onto the floor. Then again, thought Odo, maybe something of this caliber does have its merits.

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Quark was running down the corridor as fast as he could hobble. Near the end of the hall, his foot caught a large piece of rubble causing him to crash headfirst into the floor. Every battered part of his body screamed for him to lie there, but then the little voice in the back of his mind whisper to him - 'You will be assimilated.'

"No!" he cried as he stumbled to his feet. His hands found fresh blood on his forehead. He looked behind him for signs of pursuit. I just have to outrun the others. If I keep them between myself and the Borg I'll be alright, he thought.

He put his hand out and leaned against the wall taking in deep breaths. His ears were pounding to a rhythm his head couldn't keep up with. 'What about Rom?' his inner voice asked.

A wave of guilt flooded over him momentarily. "He should have stayed with me," he said to himself. "But would he listen to his older and much wiser brother? Oh no! He's got to go try save the rusted pile of junk that we found."

'You were the one who made him examine it,' reminded Quark's subconscious. 'And you knew he would get interested in it. In fact, you were counting on it."

Quark noticed the floor tilting to the right then sharply to the left. Finally, it went straight up and Quark found himself flat on his back on the floor. "What's the matter with this place? Why won't anything do what it's supposed to? And has anyone got anything to drink?"

'You've been careless and got hit in the head too many times. That last time on the floor really did it to us.' Quark heard a sigh in his head. 'As for a drink, well, you could ask those fellows standing above us. But I don't think they are going to help us.'

Quark opened his eyes. Then blinked. "Odo? Is that you?" he asked the blurry images above him.

The Stormtroopers answered by simply pulling him to his feet and dragging him away.

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Bufy was furious. "I can't believe he just left us there like that!" Buffy tossed a metal beam that was blocking their way to the side in frustration.

"I can," replied Rom.

Buffy was surprised. Rom had no tone of resentment or anger. "But he's your brother. He should have stayed with us." Though Buffy hadn't liked Quark, she was surprised to find how sweet Rom was despite how non-cute he was.

"I'm his brother. That's why I know what to expect. Or at least have an understanding when he does do something."

"But he ran away!" she exclaimed.

Rom shrugged his shoulders as he was moving an empty barrel to the side. "He's a Ferengi."

Buffy was puzzled at that. "You are, too, aren't you?"

"Not to a Ferengi I'm not."

"I'm really not understanding here," replied Buffy. "You mean like a social class or cast system?"

"Not exactly." Rom paused as he tossed some of the larger pieces of rubble to the side. "I think it's a perception thing more than anything."

"Anything in particular."

"I think you call it money."

Buffy nodded. "The gears are turning now. So basically, you have a world of Cordelias and anyone who doesn't fit into the highest standing of considerable wealth is considered a loser."

"Loser?" Rom scratched his ear and caught his breath. "Basically, we're considered somebody to exploit." He paused in reflection. "What's a Cordelia?"

She heaved some other metal thing to the side. "You don't want to know," she replied with a shake of her head.

"He will come back though."

"Quark?" Buffy smirked at the thought. "Not likely."

"Once he stops to think and catch his breath, he'll come back."

Buffy didn't want to install doubt in Rom's belief in his brother, but as far as she was concerned, Spike had a greater chance of becoming a caring person than Quark had about becoming genuinely concerned about his brother. "Well, if he does, I bet he doesn't do it as fast as he left." Seeing Rom grin, she turned to the task in front of her. She took a deep breath and began pushing a collapsed servo-bot out of the way. After a minute of grunting and no sigh of success she gave up. "Hey, Data."

The android looked up from the smaller rubble left behind by Buffy and Rom that he had been kicking to the side. Following him and making an assortment of beeps and whistles was the small rusted JC droid that had been freed from its restraining bolt and moving about for the first time in centuries. "Yes, Buffy, may I help you?" asked Data.

"Yeah. This thing is rusted to the floor or something. Can you give a hand?"

The android and droid moved through the cleared trail that Buffy and Rom had been making for JC-2B. "Fascinating. Evidently, the lifters evident on this device gave it the ability to-"

"Data!" Buffy glared at the Starfleet officer. "This is not Popular Mechanics or even Archeology Today. Can you move it?"

Data cocked his head to the side. Raising his left arm, he reached over to the decrepit servo-bot and casually pushed it to the side. Turning back to Buffy he answered, "Yes."

Buffy stood there with her mouth hung open. "Now I know how the others felt when I used my strength in front of them for the first time."

Rom took a step forward to examine the droid following Data. "How is the JC-2B? Any signs of- - Yeeah!"

JC-2B swung its sparking welding appendage at the back pedaling Ferengi while emitting a series of sharp buzzes and static.

Data quickly moved between the droid and engineer. Once the cantankerous machine had settled down and its welding appendage had ceased arcing, Data was able to address his two teammates. "I believe that it would be best for you to keep some distance between yourselves and JC-2B. His time alone for all these centuries has left him to build up a strong resentment and dislike against organic lifeforms."

Buffy nodded. "So that's why you insisted on walking back here with JC. And here I thought it was an ethnic thing."

Data cocked his head to the side. "In a sense, it is an ethnic thing. You see, his distrust is in organic forms of life-"

"Got it," Buffy interjected. "Boy, somebody needs to download you with a sense of humor. Let's go already, okay. I really want to get home and shower."

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Violence begets violence, Jamie thought to herself. She had just thrown another Stormtrooper into the corner. Neatness is next to Godliness, she thought, oh wait, that's 'cleanliness'. She grabbed a convenient rod of metal leaning against the wall and began hitting the soldiers near her, seriously denting their armor, plus knocking them over.

It had all started out so simple. Her, Steve, and their group of new allies had determined that the other group of allies, which Jamie had not met yet, were going to need help because it was about to be attacked. That being the case, her group had moved out to see if they could be of any assistance to the other group. Yet somehow the other group had avoided contact altogether with the Borg and Stormtroopers. However, Jamie's group had found itself cut off by the Stormtroopers of this universe. Instead of any attempt to reason, the Stormtroopers had attacked. Much to the Stormtroopers regret.

Jamie kicked the rifle of a Stormtrooper who had been aiming at Tuvok. The soldier wheeled back and attempted to get a bead on the woman. Suddenly the Stormtrooper was tackled from behind.

"Here I come to save the day…owww! Mental note. Tackling guys in full battle armor hurts." Xander got up and stood over his 'victim' a little shaken and sore.

"Not bad," commented Jamie. Taking another look at Xander's tackle dummy, she added, "but not out."

Xander looked down and saw that the Stormtrooper he had taken down was slowly shaking off his stunned state and was getting up. Reaching over to a pile of rubble next to him, Xander picked up a large chunk of rock. Standing over the Stormtrooper, Xander dropped the rock on the soldier's helmeted head. Looking at Jamie he shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know about anything else in this sci-fi junkyard, but gravity still works."

Jamie was already taking stock of the situation. Ralph had two attacking soldiers by the arms and would swing them into one of the walls whenever they tried something stupid like trying to attack him. Bill was merrily collecting the weapons that the Stormtroopers had been using. Tuvok, now that most of the fighting was over, was using his tricorder to check for any injuries. And Steve had just posted himself at the end of the hall to watch for more troops.

"I count twelve individuals. None with any serious wounds. All unconscious except for those Ralph has detained." Tuvok put away his tricorder. "Xander, I have a question for you."

Xander was busy looking at the guy he had taken down. "Huh? Sure. What?"

"Why did you tackle your opponent?"

Xander blinked. "He was about to shoot the agent lady. What kind of question was that?"

"Why didn't you use the pulse rifle I gave you? It would have been quicker and more efficient."

"I… I guess I just went on instinct." He shrugged. "Plus, I haven't had much experience with guns before."

"Indeed." Tuvok turned to address Jamie. "Mrs. Austin-Sommers, if you would take sentry here I will go assist Mr. Hinkley with his two prisoners." Giving Xander another glance he turned and walked toward Ralph and his two captured soldiers.

"Oh sure." Jamie took another look at Xander. "You know, it was still a big thing that you did tackling that guy."

"Huh?" Xander looked up at Jamie. He had been busy trying to get the helmet off the guy he had downed. "No big. Say does this thing look familiar to you?" he said as he held up the helmet up with one hand for her to see.

"Looks like a scene out of Hamlet. You do have Shakespeare where you come from, right?"

"Yeah, old dead English guy who wrote a bunch of plays and stuff several hundred years ago. But that's not what I mean. The helmet. Does it look familiar to you?"

"Like a football helmet?"

"No," said Xander, his voice going all serious. "But something just about as familiar. It's on the tip of my brain. You sure you don't know what it is?"

"Xander. I come from 1991, you come from the year 2000. There are going to be things that you know or are familiar with that I will not."

"Yeah, but for some reason I think this is something even you would be familiar with."

"But my world is different than yours. For instance, my world doesn't have vampires."

"That you know about."

Jamie paused at that uncomfortable thought. "Uh, true, but-"

"Oh, wow!" Xander stared at the helmet like it was gold.

Jamie took a quick look down the hall, then back at the young man. "What?"

"Jamie, did you ever have a movie called 'Star Wars' back in your reality?"

"Uh, yeah. I think it's the only non-romantic movie I ever saw more than once. Why?"

"This!" He thrust the helmet up at her. "Remember in the movie the evil Empire had these foot soldiers that armor that made them look like skeletons on steroids! They were called Stormtroopers!" He began looking around him with a gleam in his eye. "We are in a reality that the plot of the 'Star Wars' movie actually exists!" He looked down at the Stormtrooper helmet in his hands. "Talk about owning a collector's item!"

"I don't know, Xander. Let's not jump to conclusions."

"No!" He shook his head. "You were on the right track before."

"I was? With what?"

"In your reality vampires are a myth, well, maybe. In my reality we have Spike and other things that creep in the night. In both our realities 'Star Wars' is a myth. Well, sort of a myth, anyway, but here it's real!"

Jamie took a moment to contemplate Xander's theory. "What you're saying is that what's real on one parallel world may be fiction in another, and vice versa?"

"Indeed."

Jamie and Xander turned to Tuvok who had returned. "An interesting hypothesis. I do not have any idea what this 'Star Wars' is, however, from what I was able comprehend, your conjecture may be probable. Good work, Xander. As I see it almost anything is possible as long as there is as unchanging template to base it on."

Xander shrugged. "You mean there has to be some absolutes that stay the same in all the realities. Right?"

Tuvok raised an eyebrow. He was surprised that the boy had understood him. "Exactly."

Xander raised his hands in a silent cheer.

Tuvok shook his head at the teen's display. Somedays proved to be much more difficult working with Humans than others. "Unfortunately, we shall have to postpone this speculation until later."

Jamie coughed. "Excuse me, Tuvok. What about the soldiers that Ralph captured?"

Tuvok frowned. "Unfortunately, Ralph tried to encourage them to talk." Tuvok paused. "By banging their heads together."

Jamie winced and looked down the hall to see Ralph being berated by Bill while standing very sheepishly over the bodies of two Stormtroopers. "Are they okay?"

"Merely unconscious," stated the Vulcan. "Now we really must…" Tuvok stopped to look behind Jamie and Xander. "Borg."

Everyone in the room turned to see Borg drones coming around the corner. As one the drones raised their various weapons on their bodies and began targeting.

"Down!" cried Tuvok as he dived behind a collapsed desk.

Jamie ducked behind a pillar. Bending down, she picked up a hand-sized piece of rubble. With a quickness that was supplied by her bionic parts, she turned and threw the rock at one of the drones. She was behind the pillar again before the rock even found its mark.

Xander cowered behind a low pile of rubble that had been part of the ceiling at one time a century or two ago. As shots flashed by him, he looked to a spot on the floor ten feet away where the rifle that Tuvok gave him lay from where he dropped it during his previous fight with the Stormtroopers. Great, I dropped the ball again, thought Xander. Looking down at the helmet he held, he began to become angry. I should have been ready for this instead of looking for collectibles. With a quick jump up, he threw the helmet at a Borg drone and dropped back down.

"Xander!" Jamie shouted. "Stay down!"

Unfortunately, the Borg began to lay a concentrated fire down on Xander's position. "What are they, nuts? It was only a helmet!" Xander looked for a way out. Seeing that the door near him was partially wedged open he began crawling toward it.

After an eternity and a close shot that left his left hand tingling, he found himself safely inside the room. Out of habit of exploring caves and old crypts in the night, Xander pulled out his pocket flashlight. It didn't help his confidence any to be able to immediately identify some of the items and machines in the room as obviously being torture devices.

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Deep Space Nine

Captain's Quarters

"Ensign Nog to Captain Sisko!"

Sisko sighed. He was tired. It had been a long shift with many new and troublesome situations of huge proportions. The Kai Winn had been very demanding over any matters she could think of. The admirals had been less problematic, but had, nonetheless, made their presence felt. On top of it all, he had just handed over position of command for this shift over to Kira two minutes earlier, but Nog couldn't have known that. All he wanted to do right now was to go to his quarters, take a sonic shower, hopefully followed by uninterrupted sleep. Plus, he also promised to see the video clip that Kira had sent to him with the warning that he should only watch it in private. "What is it, Nog?"

"The Borg are attacking!" exclaimed the excited young Ferengi.

"What! Computer, Red Alert!"

Klaxons began sounding and flashing throughout Deep Space Nine. Somehow through the noise Sisko was able to make out Rom's voice. "Captain! Captain! Not on the station! In the Q-portals! The team Q had sent over! They are being attacked!"

"Computer, stand down from Red Alert." Sisko squeezed the bridge of his nose in an attempt to compose himself. "Nog?"

"Uh, yes captain?"

"In the future, try to use a little more discretion and clarification during tense moments."

"But captain, you're the one who put-"

"Nog! Just take the advice. I'll be down in a minute."

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"So, if I understand correctly, your race procreates by draining a person of their blood, But before the person expires, you provide the victim with some of your own blood to consume orally. Death then takes temporary hold of the body for around twenty to forty hours. At that point, the body revives as one of your race with all the memories and personality traits of the host-body that has been killed. You then continue to exist by taking the life essence of other living Humans to feed on."

Spike shook his head. "You're looking at the whole thing like you could fit it into a petri dish and study it. The whole getting the dead bloke's memories is like a tree growing from the nutrients in the soil. The tree doesn't care. It just takes what's there in the soil and uses it." Spike paused to take out one of his cigarettes. "As for the life essence thing. It's the blood, man. It's what we live off of. It's what I was made to consume. And not just Human blood either. Some of the things around here are proving positively delightful." He looked at the young Vulcan as he lit his cigarette. "You're quite a good vintage yourself," he added. "But the vampire thing is more than that. It's the whole meanness of it all."

"I do not understand."

Spike sighed in frustration. "You know. Taken over and basically debasing everything that this mortal shell represented. Vampires have a distinctive natural ability toward evil. Every trust, every hope, every dream not only shattered, but perverted. The path that could have been taken has suddenly been left behind for the entrance ramp to the highway to hell."

Vorik tilted his head in confusion.

Spike paused. "Do they believe in God where you're from?"

Vorik nodded. "While all sentients may not agree that there is a Divine Maker or what the Maker's purposes were when he made so many diverse creatures, every sentient species the Federation has made contact with has records in their past of a Creator Entity belief. Some species still give worship to the Almighty while others have abandoned such thought and found other concepts to worship or seek enlightenment. A Vulcan team of delegates have been finding strong comparisons in history among all the worlds we have come in contact with concerning this Creator Entity. It has been theorized that-"

"Hey!" Spike snapped, "It was a simple question. No need to recite an entire thesis paper on the subject. Now, where was I going with this? Oh yeah, this Creator Entity as you call him creates a whole bunch of angel types. Later he decides to create mortals. Some of the angels become rather put out about it. Probably jealous of the spoiled newcomers or some such. Sibling rivalry and all that rot. These jealous angels become corrupted. Not having any resistance, they become a real nasty bunch. Anyway, after some roughing around some of the rowdy angels, now changed by the whole experience and called demons, are getting hauled off to hell. On the way, one of the bad boys takes some of his evil nature and passes it on to some nearby humans. And so it begins. These newly born vampires began tearing into the humans around them, drinking their fill and leaving them for dead."

Vorik found the folklore both fascinating and bothersome. "What I do not understand is why do you kill your prey. Wouldn't it be more feasible to take just a small amount of blood from a number of donors than to kill one every time you feed?"

Spike shook his head. "You just don't get it, do you? Vampires kill because we want to. We torture because we like to. It's who we are."

Vorik looked at Spike confused again.

Spike paused to take a drag from his cigarette. "Look, it's a demonic thing. You wouldn't understand."

"I see. I think." Vorik stretched his legs from where he was standing next to the tricorder linkup with the wall console. He wanted to concentrate on the tricorder more, but self-preservation was more necessary, so he was keeping his attention focused on Spike. "How is it that you, a predator, are able to travel with a predator of your kind, the Slayer?"

Spike chuckled. "She may be a predator of my kind, mate, but she is not a predator of me. I've hunted her just as much as she's hunted me. I've even killed two Slayers before her."

"As you have said." Vorik was intrigued. "Are you are not concerned about her?"

Spike smiled wolfishly. "Not at the moment." He stretched his legs where he lay down on the floor. "Though I admit she has been quite the adversary and I really admire her tenacity. It's like my sire always said before he became all goody-goody, 'Nothing like a challenging opponent to keep you sharp'."

"Yet you don't always look at her as an opponent."

Spike gave Vorik sharply. "What do you mean?"

"You have feelings for her."

Spike snorted. "Yeah! I feel I want her dead."

"Of a romantic nature," Vorik corrected.

"Have you gone daft in the head?" protested Spike.

"I am a Vulcan. We have limited telepathy," explained Vorik. "Though I did not seek this information, your mind broadcasted your feelings every time you spoke of her."

A duel beeping from the console and tricorders drew Vorik's attention away from the flustered vampire. He turned to the tricorder, not trusting nor understanding all of the buttons on the console. He typed a few commands to realign the information then began adjusting it to see if it could be useful to them or if the entire effort was wasted. The plans of various levels became more focused as well as showing some of the obstacles in them. Some of those obstacles were more problematic than others.

The young Vulcan quickly punched a few more buttons to relay the information to Tuvok and Data, then looked to the problems immediately approaching.

Suddenly, Spike pinned Vorik to the console wall. The tricorder setup fell to the ground breaking. Vorik tried to move but found he couldn't. "What are you doing?"

Spike maintained his hold as he moved to get closer to Vorik's neck. "What does it look like I'm doing? I'm a bloody predator so I'm preying. No one's tellin' Buffy I have feelings! Especially for her!"

Vorik struggled but even with his Vulcan strength Spike's grip was to secure. "We don't have time for this. Any minute now- -Aaarrrgh!"

The two men wrestled, but it was futile for the one. Vorik couldn't move and was rapidly losing any strength to do so. Spike held on. He knew this prey was his, but he couldn't let up now. Any move Vorik made, Spike countered all while keeping himself attached to Vorik's neck. Spike was much more experienced at this sort of thing than Vorik was.

Because of his concentration on his meal, Spike was totally unprepared for the energy bolt to the back of his head.

Two Stormtroppers lifted Spike's body off of a bleeding and very weakened Vorik. One of the Stormtroopers turned to a third coming down the hall. "Sir, this one is dead and the other needs medical attention if we are going to interrogate him."

The senior Stormtrooper surveyed the area around him. Then as if looking down at a repugnant bug he addressed the barely conscious Vulcan. "We appear to have saved your life. You had better have information to make that worth our while." Nodding to one of the Stormtroopers, that Stormtrooper dragged Vorik to his feet and led him away.

The higher-ranking Stormtrooper came over to one of the Stormtroopers that had been searching the corpse that was Spike. The subordinate shook his head when he didn't uncover anything noteworthy then stopped and pointed to the wall. "Sir, there is something near that console."

The leader gently lifted the remains of the tricorder in his hands. His aide quickly provided a bag to put the broken items in and then carried them away to be examined. The Stormtrooper in charge took one more look around the room then exited. All that was left in the room was the body of Spike, which was dead after all.

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Steve batted the Borg down with his bionic arm, then quickly kicked behind him to send another drone flying. The energy rifles had given up being effective for him a while ago. True, there was a device to change the energy signature every time the Borg adapted to the new frequency of the weapons they were using, but now the Borg drones were so close that Steve felt it essential that someone take out the closer drones by hand. And the drones did not seem to want to put up personal force fields between them and the ones they wanted to assimilate. So far he and Ralph were it for coming into physical contact with the enemy. Everyone else was busy covering them with phaser fire.

Down the hall four more drones came to aid the seven drones still functioning. "Where do they keep coming from?" he asked of no one in particular.

A red blur of motion to his right caught Steve's eye. Ralph had done a super-speed trip for ten feet to drop a drone that had gotten the drop on Steve. "I think they've begun to assembly-line them. Look at that one's hand," he said while lifting the one Borg up and tossing him toward two of the newer drones coming in the room. One of the drone's arm had on Stormtrooper armor. And as the two drones came around the rubble pile blocking the way, the Stormtrooper leg armor could be seen on both drones.

"Mr. Austin, you must take cover. You are making yourself too available as a target," noted Tuvok as he took aim and shot at another drone. The drone's shielding took the blunt of the blast and Tuvok immediately punched in a new frequency for his weapon. Taking aim again he noticed that the drone had fired a small projectile toward Steve. "Look out!"

Steve turned in time to see the projectile explode at his feet. The concussion force of the weapon threw him into the air and bounced him off the wall. Reeling from the impact, he just listened for a moment to the sound of the fighting while the fog parted in his head. Feeling some clarity, he looked up to see a Borg drone leaning over him. Two long, thin tubes came shooting out of the Borg's hand heading toward Steve's chest. Thanks to his bionic reflexes Steve blocked the two tubes with his right arm. Kicking out with both feet he hurled the drone across the room into another drone incapacitating both.

Rising to his feet, Steve immediately noticed his right arm going limp at his side. "Must have hit something vital," he muttered. Looking up across the hall he could see Ralph pulling a Borg drone away from the frustrated FBI agent who had been trying to beat it with his fists. Somewhere off to the side, he could make out Jamie's voice calling out to him, but he couldn't make out what she was saying. On his other side, he noticed two drones bearing down on him. Turning to face them he tried to bring up his bionic arm. Somehow, he found himself flat on his back with his arm acting like a lead weight. It's entirely frozen up, he thought as he tried to move his arm again. Looking up he saw the two Borg above him. From somewhere he could here Jamie screaming his name.

"Pardon me, do you boys have a permit for that cyborg?" Stepping out from the doorway, Xander leveled the weapon he found at one of the drones and fired. The drone hit by the energy quarrel tumbled into its fellow drone effectively knocking them both to the ground.

Xander nodded. "Not too shabby." Aiming the bowcaster he'd found down the hall he managed to shoot down two more drones before the Borg adapted their defense shields. "Well, that was fun while it lasted." Noticing one of the fallen drones near him getting up he added, "Can't you guys take a hint!" He swung the weapon in his hands in a wide arc, using it as a blunt instrument, he bashed the end into the drone's head. But then suddenly Xander felt like he had been hit by a freight train. Before he could tell what was happening, he felt he was spinning and bounced off one of the walls.

Opening his eyes, Xander could make out the fuzzy image of Tuvok bending over him. Then he remembered being shot. He sat up patting himself down looking for a wound. "I can't believe they shot me! Me! I'm not supposed to get shot! I'm one of the good guys! They shouldn't be shooting at me!"

"Regain control of yourself, Xander. You're babbling."

"Babbling? I'm not babbling! I'm rambling! Entirely different concept! Willow is the one who babbles!"

"You are a very fortunate young man. This chest armor you put on most likely saved your life."

Xander gave a weak smile. "Hey, I'm bad."

Tuvok raised an eyebrow. "You are in pain?"

"No, I mean bad like I'm really, really good."

"Truly you are a unique individual." He paused in his medical exam. "At least I hope you are."

"Thanks." Xander paused. "I think."

"Where did you find those weapons?" asked Tuvok as he administered a hypo spray.

"Uh, one of the rooms back there seems to have been a torture chamber. And, ow, I think they had a kind of trophy case of weapons that had belonged to the people they had tortured. Uh, I just grabbed some of the stuff that seemed to still be functioning. I figured the Borg wouldn't have defenses for those things yet."

"Impressive. Very good thinking. Especially of the chest armor. I believe it is made up of some type of light-weight energy resistant material which is why it saved your life."

Xander groaned feeling the side of his head where he had hit the wall. "Yeah, well it may not have been able to zap me, but it sure packed a wallop."

Tuvok left the groaning but not seriously injured young man to catch his breath while he went to check on the other members of his hodgepodge group. He could see blond curly haired teacher dressed in the flashy and impractical red suit helping up the loud, annoying federal man. Hearing their arguments with each other, Tuvok knew immediately that neither had sustained any serious injuries. Off to the side, Tuvok could see Jamie ripping the sleeve off of her husband's limp arm. Seeing her face filled with fear, Tuvok hurried over. "Is there a problem?"

"I… I was checking his arm for damage-"

"I got stabbed in the arm by one of tubes the drones lash out with," Steve interrupted. He turned his arm for Tuvok to see. "What do you make of this?" The skin of his arm below his elbow had metallic veins slowly appearing on its surface. And it was spreading before their eyes. "This is bad, right?"

"It is not good," answered Tuvok. "You have been infected." Scanning with his tricorder Tuvok made some quick decisions. "Mr. Austin, we are fortunate that only your bionic arm is thus far infected. The lack of any real flesh for the nano-probes to transform has greatly slowed down the transformation. However, time is of the essence if we are to keep you from becoming a Borg drone."

Steve took a breath and held it. He looked at his wife who meant everything to him standing silently in front of him, her eyes filled with fear. He looked at his prosthetic arm which was becoming more covered with the alien nano-probes as he watched. Turning back to Tuvok he released his breath. "What do we have to do?"

"Can your arm be taken off with no harm to you?"

"Sure. With hours of surgery and a trained medical staff."

"Not soon enough. I'm afraid we shall have to try more drastic measures. Do you have any feeling in your arm?"

Steve shook his head. "It became numb and limp almost instantly."

"What are we going to do?" Jamie asked.

Tuvok took a minute to consider his options. Having decided, he addressed Jamie. "Clear a space for him, then help him lie down. And do not touch the infected area." Seeing the teacher and the FBI agent, Tuvok called over to them. "Mr. Hinkley, can you give us a hand here?"

Ralph and Bill let their personal discussion drop and walked over to the others. "What's going on?" asked Ralph as he watched Jamie gently lower her husband on to a cleared section of the floor.

Tuvok was making a quick survey of the medical supplies so he didn't even look up to answer. "Mr. Austin's cybernetic arm has been infected by Borg nano-probes. It must be removed. Mr. Maxwell, please take a weapon and guard the door. Try to see that we are not disturbed." Bill nodded grim-faced and was gone. "Mr. Hinkley, I will need you here."

Xander light-headedly walked over to see what the group was doing. Before he could come up with any 'Xanderese' to lighten the situation, he got a good look at Steve Austin's lower arm and the mesh of spreading metallic cobwebs slowly spreading from the two entry holes. "This is bad," commented Xander. Looking up at Tuvok he added, "In the 'not-at-all-good' sense of the word."

Tuvok silently laid out the medical instruments most likely to be needed. Pausing only to make another quick scan of Steve's arm, Tuvok turned to address the others. "We don't have much time. I've administered a local anesthetic to his shoulder, but I do not think it is wise to administer a sedative due to the amount of enemy activity in the area."

"Enemy activity in the area? Whoa! News flash at 11." Xander sat down near the wounded man and risked giving him a grin.

Tuvok frowned. "Xander, I could use your assistance as well."

Xander had been absent-mindedly been poking the charred area where his chest plate armor had been hit. "Huh? Uh, I don't know if that's such a good idea. My brain is still feeling a little fuzzy." He paused. "But I'll do what I can."

"I just need you to sit there and be silent. We cannot have any distractions during the proceedings. Understood?"

Xander opened his mouth to defend himself. But then noticed Jamie taking Steve's good hand and kissing it. He also noticed the tears she was only barely keeping contained. Looking at Tuvok he nodded.

Tuvok nodded back. "Fine. Now, Mr. Hinkley, if you would place your hands here and here on the uninfected areas of Mr. Austin's upper arm."

A little confused, Ralph just did as he was told. Maybe laying hands on the injured is part of some Vulcan religious belief, he thought. "Okay, now what?"

"I want you to use your strength to pull his arm in half."

"What?" cried Ralph and Jamie. Xander, for his part, was speechless.

"He's right."

Jamie looked down at her husband in horror. "Steve, the shock-"

He smiled. "I'll have to bare it. I don't have any other choice. You know that." Steve looked at Ralph. "Do it."

Ralph gave a heavy sigh. He reached down and got a good grip on the arm in front of him. He took another breath and reminded himself that it was not a real Human arm he was going to tear in half. He took another breath trying not to notice how similar it appeared to a real arm. He gripped down hard with his fingers so that they pierced the synthetic skin. Metal and few wires showed underneath the skin flaps. A few sparks arose. Ralph stopped as Steve took a deep intake of air. Seeing that Steve was in no real pain, Ralph continued. Let's do this quick and hopefully right, he thought. With a quick twist and pull, Ralph separated the infected part of the artificial limb. "Done." He quickly stepped out of Tuvok's way and tossed the broken limb aside against the wall.

Tuvok scanned the remaining section of the arm for any nano-probes before checking on the wellbeing of his patient. Jamie held Steve down as he suffered a few minor convulsions while Tuvok continued his exam. Finally, he reassured her that though there was some trauma, Steve's body was sound. "All we need to do now is to find something to trim the area of its more jagged edges and he should be ready to move."

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Kate Pulaski stood stunned. She had just come around the corner down the hall where she had made some makeshift, yet much needed, toilet facilities to find everything not as she left it. Vorik was missing. The device that Vorik had put together was also missing. And Spike lay on the floor dead.

Then he moved.

Pulaski jumped into medical mode. Hurrying over, she knelt down by the wounded vampire's side. Pulling out an instrument she began scanning him for injuries. "Where does it hurt?" she asked more to distract him than learn what her instruments would tell her faster.

"Uhh, bloody…oh, didn't see the wankers." He opened an eye to take in Pulaski. "What are you doing with that thing?"

She continued to study her instruments. "Trying to find out how injured you are. But according to my readings you seem to be getting better by the moment. At least as far as I can tell about your physiology."

"Guess you can't keep a bad guy down," Spike commented as he carefully got to his feet. Gingerly, he felt the back of his head. "What hit me, doc?"

"These reading indicate an energy weapon. But not of any Borg design." She put away her medical tricorder and studied the surroundings. "Wish Vorik hadn't cannibalized my regular tricorder." Looking at the ground is when she noticed the specks of green blood. Glancing at Spike she could see the slight green stains that hadn't been there before. He had done it again. He had attacked Vorik, she thought. Her fist flew out and landed hard on Spike's nose. "You monster!"

Spike fell back on the ground he had just vacated. "Ya broke my nose! Why'd ya break my nose?"

"What did you do to Vorik? Where is he?" she demanded with her phaser pointed at the vampire.

"I don't know where he is," answered Spike. Swiftly, he kicked out with his leg knocking the phaser across the room. Jumping to his feet he lashed out with his fist breaking Kate's nose in return then pushed her hard against the wall. Gently rubbing his nose, he looked at her with his vampiric face. "Hurts, don't it."

Dr. Pulaski had tears in her eyes from the pain, but she did nod to Spike's question.

"Hang on, wait a minute." Spike pondered a moment. "Something doesn't seem right." He looked over at the Starfleet doctor. "Here," he said stepping forward. "You're one of those mad scientist types, right?"

Pulaski had managed to get hold of her fear and glared at him. "I'm a doctor, not a mad scientist."

Spike shrugged. "Close enough. I need to do an experiment." Seeing her flinch, he reassured her, "Oh, don't worry, it will most likely hurt me much more than it will hurt you." Seeing her look of confusion, he threw another punch at her hitting her in the nose again. "Oops! Guess my hypothesis was wrong." He felt the back of his head again. "Based on that little demonstration, luv, I believe I can safely hypothesis that the little chip in my head that has been hampering my style has been fried by whoever or whatever shot me in the head. You know what this calls for?"

Kate Pulaski whimpered as Spike held her pinned against the wall.

"This calls for a drink!"

Spike grabbed her and pulled her close. Forcing her head to the side he sank his teeth in his first human in over a year. At first, he took deep gulps but then he slowed in order to savory the taste. Her strikes with her arms grew weaker and weaker. Spike's thoughts were on Buffy. Buffy the Vampire Slayer, he thought. She'll stake me if I kill this twit. Spike slowed in his sucking. She'll at least try. For some reason as much as he enjoyed exchanging blows with the Slayer, he would much rather take her for a moonlit stroll. All right, I'll leave this doctor alive. But that Vorik is a different mat-

Suddenly, a lance of pain shot through his left shoulder just over his heart. Dropping Pulaski's limp body, Spike's first expectation was of the Slayer. Spinning round he was surprised to find not the Slayer, but a woman covered over with black rubber and metal parts. One of those metal parts was over her left arm and had two sharp prongs sticking out of it. "Don't know who you are, but you just made a big mistake," muttered Spike, "I'm feeling my oats again." Spike lashed out grabbing the unresisting woman. He pulled her close and swiftly snapped her neck.

Spike dropped the new body next to the body of Pulaski. "You shouldn't interrupt a person's meal. It's not polite." It was then Spike noticed the jagged metal that Pulaski's body had fallen on and was protruding through her abdomen. "Oops. I'm all butterfingers today." Looking closer he could tell that the good doctor had expired. "Gonna be fun explaining that to everyone, 'specially with my teeth marks on her throat. Oh well, accidents happen."

Spike winced at the wound the female drone had caused. "Right through the leather. Not considerate at awwwooowww!" Spike doubled over in pain. Pain crept like knives under his skin. With his left arm he ripped down on his T-shirt exposing part of his chest. Spike stared in horror as metallic veins began slowly spreading down his body. "Bloody-"

Down the hall, other people dressed in black and metal could be seen walking toward him. Their movements reminded him of some cultists and zombies he'd met. He knew from those encounters that there was no reasoning with them. Staggering, he turned and ran as fast as he could while trying to ignore the growing pain in his side.

AUTHOR's NoTeS:

I have a few made up characters for filler so don't be surprised if you don't recognize them, but they are very minor. Q2 and JC-2B are made up by me.

I loved Buffy tearing into Quark. I would have loved to make it longer, but that's not really the focus of the story.

As for Kate Pulaski's death, well, any group going against the Borg you just have to expect some losses to occur. Kate seemed to be a good place to start. And she will be no means be the last. That sounded creepy, but it wasn't meant to be. This is not going to be a kill-everyone-you-can story.

In order of appearance or mentioned:

Q (John de Lancie) – from the TV series Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987-?), Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Voyager

Quark (Armin Shimerman) – from the TV series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993-1999)

Morn (Mark Allen Shepherd) – from the TV series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993-1999)

Janeway, Capt. Kathryn (Kate Mulgrew) – from the TV series Star Trek: Voyager (1995-2001)

Picard, Capt. Jean-Luc (Patrick Stewart) – from the TV series Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987-1994)

Sisko, Capt. Benjamin (Avery Brooks) – from the TV series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993-1999)

Guinan (Whoopi Goldberg) – from the TV series Star Trek: The Next Generation (1988-1993)

Paris, Adm. Owen (Richard Herd) – from the TV series Star Trek: Voyager (1999-2001)

Chakotay, Cdr. (Robert Beltran) – from the TV series Star Trek: Voyager (1995-2001)

Rom (Max Grodenchik) – from the TV series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993-1999)

Paris, Lt. Tom (Robert Duncan McNeill) – from the TV series Star Trek: Voyager (1995-2001)

O'Brien, Chief Miles (Colm Meaney) – from the TV series Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987-1992), from the TV series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993-1999) (mentioned only)

Leeta (Chase Masterson) – from the TV series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1995-1999)

Summers, Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar) – from the TV series Buffy The Vampire Slayer (1997-2003)

Data, Lt. Cdr. (Brent Spiner) – from the TV series Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987-1994)

Riker, Cdr. William (Jonathan Frakes) – from the TV series Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987-1994) (mentioned only)

Snyder, Principal (Armin Shimerman) – from the TV series Buffy The Vampire Slayer (1997-2000) (mentioned only)

Dax, Lt. Ezri (Nicole de Boer) – from the TV series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1998-1999)

Nerys, Col. Kira (Nana Visitor) – from the TV series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993-1999)

Dax, Jadzia (Terry Farrell) – from the TV series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993-1998) (mentioned only)

Worf, Lt. Cdr. (Michael Dorn) – from the TV series Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987-1994), Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1995-1999)

Bashir, Dr. Julian (Siddig El Fadil) – from the TV series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993-1999) (mentioned only)

Tuvok (Tim Russ) – from the TV series Star Trek: Voyager (1995-2001)

Harris, Xander (Nicholas Brendon) – from the TV series Buffy The Vampire Slayer (1997-2003)

Maxwell, Bill (Robert Culp) – from the TV series The Greatest American Hero (1981-1983)

Doctor, The 4th (Tom Baker) – from the TV series Doctor Who (1974-1981) (mentioned only)

Hinkley, Ralph (William Katt) – from the TV series The Greatest American Hero (1981-1983)

Austin, Col. Steve (Lee Majors) – from the TV series The Six-Million Dollar Man (1974-1978), The Bionic Woman (1976)

Sommers, Jamie (Lindsay Wagner) – from the TV series The Six Million Dollar Man (1975-1976), The Bionic Woman (1976-1978)

Vorik, Ensign (Alexander Enberg) – from the TV series Star Trek: Voyager (1997-2001)

Pulaski, Dr. Kate (Diana Muldaur) – from the TV series Star Trek: The Next Generation (1988-1989)

Torres, B'Elanna (Roxann Dawson) – from the TV series Star Trek: Voyager (1995-2001) (mentioned only)

Odo, Constable (Rene Auberjonois) – from the TV series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993-1999)

Chase, Cordelia (Charisma Carpenter) – from the TV series Buffy The Vampire Slayer (1996-1999), Angel (2000-2004) (mentioned only)

Shakespeare – historical figure (mentioned only)

Nog, Ensign (Aron Eisenberg) – from the TV series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993-1999)

Adami, Kai Winn (Louise Fletcher) – from the TV series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993-1999) (mentioned only)