"LOWER YOUR SHIELDS AND SURRENDER YOUR SHIPS! YOU WILL BE ASSIMILATED! RESISTANCE IS FUTILE!"
The Borg probe squared off against the Enterprise, firing its disruptor and cutting beams at the ship in an attempt to destroy its shields and lock onto it with a tractor beam. The Enterprise swung around and fired a folly of quantum torpedoes that slammed into the probe, destroying it.
"There are more Borg ships attacking the Renown and Khitomer," Zoe said.
"Helm, move us in to firing range of the other probes," Kyou said. "Tactical, attack pattern delta." The Enterprise moved at full impulse to engage the other probes.
"FROM THIS TIME FORWARD, YOUR CULTURE WILL ADAPT TO SERVICE OURS!"
"They obviously haven't learned anything," Kyou said.
The Khitomer took a beating and was leaking drive plasma but the Renown seemed to sustain moderate damage. The final probes didn't last long with multiple ships attacking them.
"We're being hailed by the Renown," Collett said.
"On screen."
Captain Vo'lok appeared on the screen once again. "The Khitomer is being overwhelmed by Borg boarding parties. They were brutally efficient on the Khitomer. The Borg have not been seen in the Alpha Quadrant in decades. Their arrival cannot simply be a coincidence. I will send teams to the Khitomer. You will have to finish the scans of the anomalies because I hesitate to speculate without all of the data from the sensor probes. You also must inform me if you or your crew are unable to continue. The Borg evoke a strong emotional response that can rattle even trained Starfleet officers. A crew of cadets that have already survived a Klingon attack may be unable to cope."
Kyou looked around to her crew and she read the answer on all of their faces. She turned her gaze back to Vo'lok. "We will get the job done."
The communication ended and the Enterprise moved around to the anomalies to collect the data. After collecting the data, they sent it to the Renown. Now they just had to wait to see what the analysis would reveal.
Zoe looked at her console after a series of beeps grabbed her attention. "Sir, more Borg transwarp signatures detected."
Kyou sighed in her head as multiple probes appeared. "Attack pattern epsilon."
The Enterprise maneuvered through space as she unleashed phaser and torpedo barrages on the Borg ships. Suddenly, a hexagonal shape transwarp hub appeared.
"Multiple Borg warp signatures detected," Zoe reported. Dozens of Borg spheres dropped out of warp and surrounded the three starships. The Enterprised continued to fire at the ships.
"We're outnumbered," Dowey said. "There's no way we can..."
Suddenly, the spheres began warping away.
"They're departing," Zoe said. "Maybe they're looking for a more strategic target."
"Message coming in from the Renown."
"Let's see it."
Vo'lok appeared on the screen once again. "Here is the situation as we see it. The Borg are using the Pollux system as a staging area for a larger invasion. Long range sensors are already detecting inbound transwarp signatures. The most likely target for their first strike is the Vega system. There is a civilian colony there, and if the Borg could take it by surprise they would have large numbers of new drones at their disposal."
Zoe turned around in her chair, "Sir, Ava..."
Kyou cut her off by holding up a hand. "The Enterprise should go to Vega to warn the colonists."
"That seems resonable," Vo'lok said. "We will remain here to hold off further attacks and to assist the Khitomer."
"Will you be able to hold them off?"
"This is not a matter of 'can,' Cadet. It's a matter of 'must'. We must buy you as much time as possible. Once we are no longer in a position to help, we will stage a tactical retreat. You should have enough time to warn the colony. I will attempt to summon additional ships but you cannot wait for them to arrive."
"Understood. We will set course for Vega. Enterprise out." The screen went blank. "Set a course for the Vega system. Maximum warp."
The Enterprise warped out of the system just as more Borg ships began dropping out of warp around the Khitomer and Renown and began to hammer the two ships."
The Enterprise dropped out of warp in the Vega system. There were no other ships in the area. Kyou was relieved they had arrived before the Borg. It gave them just a little bit of room to prepare and warn the colonists.
"Collett, hail the planet."
The screen switched over to a static filled image of a woman with gray hair. She looked pleasant and completely unaware of the horror headed for her planet.
"Greetings, Captain. Is there something I can do for you today?"
"The Borg are on their way to this system. You need to start evacuating."
"Can you repeat that? Your signal is breaking up. Did you say the Borg?"
"Administrator, the Borg are on their way. You have to evacuate now."
Suddenly the signal went dead. Kyou snapped her head to Collett who was trying frantically to get the signal back.
"What happened?"
"We lost contact with the colony. Something is blocking all subspace signals in the area. The Borg may be trying to isolate the planet before they take it over."
"We have incoming," Zoe said, "More Borg warp signatures. I don't know if we can make it."
More ships dropped out of warp around the planet. It was a mixture of spheres, probes and planetary assimilation ships.
"We make our stand here," Kyou said. "We're the only ship in the area that can help...or die trying." She knew this was the duty of a Starfleet officer.
"Borg landing craft detected nearby," Zoe reported.
"Let's engage them before they can cause any damage."
The Enterprise engaged the ships and destroyed most of them but a few were able to slip past and land on the planet. As the last Borg ship exploded, Kyou headed for the turbolift.
"Zoe you're with me. Ryou, meet us in transporter room three."
The three of them beamed down just outside the capital. The land was barren with uprooted plants, trees and dead animals. They made their way into the colony.
"Sir, according to my tricorder readings, over half the planet is already assimilated by the Borg. At the rate they're progressing, the region we're in will be overrun in roughly one hour. And if that wasn't enough, the interference is affecting the ship's transporters."
"It's always something," Kyou said. "We will manually tag any survivors we find for transport."
Ryou looked up to see the Borg planetary assimilation ships in the air above them. She activated her tricorder and aimed it at the ship.
"Sir, those landing ships don't just carry drones. They can pump nanoprobes into the ground and atmosphere."
"We'll have to act fast," Kyou said. "That may be why we saw those dead animals. The nanoprobes have been engineered to assimilate beings that will benefit the Collective. I don't think animals will benefit them at all."
They came across a group of refugees. The away team tagged all of them and they were immediately transported to the Enterprise. Suddenly, a green beam impacted ground, almost knocked the officers off their feet.
"We have to hurry," Ryou said. The three approached the outer rim of the colony. There were another group of colonists outside the main gates. A Cardassian woman approached them.
"We weren't sure if anyone from Starfleet got our distress call. We didn't want to open the gate and become victims to the Borg. The administrator and some of the others are still in there. You have to help them."
"We'll do what we can," Kyou said as she placed a transporter tag on the woman. The group of colonists disappeared in columns of light. After the transporter effect dissipated, Kyou entered commands into the console and let out a sigh to mentally prepare herself for what she was about to see. The three officers opened the gates and entered Hell.
