Afterthoughts: A Deep Space Nine/Voyager Crossover

Part 4:

Across Voyager's fifteen decks, there was almost deafening feedback coming from the neuro-modules. The crew cried out in mental pain as they reactively clutched their heads. Then, all hell broke loose.

Seconds later…

Conduits exploded, with their remains aflame. Computers, the viewscreen, and the neuro-modules had gone offline from overloading. The only thing working on the ship was the lights and environmental controls. Chakotay, Tuvok, Kim, Kellin, Seven, and most of the crew were knocked off their feet. Seven was in the Astrometrics Lab at the time. Kellin was in a corridor when it happened, but got up shortly after with a groan. Chakotay, Kim, and Tuvok were on the bridge. Janeway and Tom had grabbed ahold of their chairs fast enough to avoid being knocked over by the impact of another shockwave of dark red energy.

Tom muttered, "talk about a bumpy ride. You all right back there?"

Chakotay groaned, "I will be." He uneasily got back up along with Kim and Tuvok, seeing smoke rising from aflame consoles and conduits.

Janeway commented, "which is more than I can say for Voyager. B'Elanna, Seven…you there? They're not…"

Tuvok was saying, "captain, our only logical course of…" Suddenly, Tuvok and Chakotay were beamed away. Kim got back up.

He asked, "what happened?" Janeway, with sadness and teary eyes, saw multiple crewmembers on the bridge and multiple broken neuro-modules on the floor.

The voice of her father inside her head urged, "if there was a rocky path and a smooth one, you'd pick the rocky one every time."

Janeway asked over her combadge, "doctor? No response."

Kim figured, "we got to get off Voyager."

The voice of Kim in Tom's head said, "and if I'm wrong…if this doesn't work…you'll be blown up right here."

Tom turned to him, "Harry, this ship is our only…!"

The voice of B'Elanna called out in Kim's head, "Harry!"

Kim sighed, "I don't mean permanently."

Janeway turned to him, "Harry, what are you suggesting?"

Kim suggested, "with the shuttles, we may have a fighting chance." Suddenly, Borg drones started beaming onboard Voyager. Tom punched one of them down.

He said as he did so, "we won't have a fighting chance if we don't get out of this alive!" Janeway wrestled with a Borg drone in an upright position, ramming it against the railing to knock it out. Kim took out a phaser and rammed it at a third Borg drone to knock it out onto the floor.

Janeway added, "right. Let's show the Borg we mean business...but keep the phasers on stun."

Tom added, "yes, ma'am." He, Kim, and Janeway climbed over the railing to avoid the incoming Borg drones. They ran to the side of the bridge, just as more Borg drones were beamed onto the bridge. One by one, the bodies on the bridge were starting to be infected by Borg assimilation tubules. Prepared for this, Janeway and Tom had taken out their phasers to fire on the Borg. Janeway, Tom, and Kim fired on as many Borg as they could…before they adapted with personal greenish shields. Each of their phasers was set on a different frequency, so it took until ten fallen Borg drones for the Borg to adapt to them. As they were taking out phasers, Tom pointed out, "but I thought they saw us as Borg."

Kim muttered as he started firing on the Borg, "not anymore. Their neuro-modules must've overloaded for ours to end up overloading."

Janeway added, "for all we know, they could be seeing us as Species 8472. They've adapted. This way!" She led Kim and Tom into a turbolift.

Kim sighed, "now what?"

Janeway suggested, "a human ladder should get that panel open." As they were talking, the remaining Borg drones turned to their unconscious and took away some their implants to beam back up to their vessel.

Meanwhile, elsewhere on Voyager…

Kellin and several other crewmembers with yellow uniforms that happened to be part of Beta Squad had gathered together to fire on incoming Borg drones with their phasers. Their phasers were at differing frequencies, so a bunch of Borg drones fell into unconsciousness before they adapted. Conduits and wall panels were either on fire or had a big hole held up by a bluish emergency force field. The lights were running on emergency power only. One of the Beta Squad members urged, "let's move!"

The voice of Curneth inside Kellin's head said, "I'm afraid I can't let that happen."

Kellin reported with help from a tricorder, "there's some strange neural activity in main Engineering…up ahead." Kellin and the rest of Beta Squad rammed their fists and elbows into the Borg drones they passed by, knocking them out. More Borg drones beamed in, only to see to their injured.

In Engineering…

B'Elanna had fired her phaser at some incoming blackish red ghost like beings, but with no effect. The rest of the engineers around her were unconscious, with fire surrounding Engineering and the warp core.

In B'Elanna's head was the voice of Tom saying, "don't you think you're overreacting a little bit?"

B'Elanna cried out in frustration and fear, blasting around the warp core without a second thought. It just went right through the blackish red ghost like beings. Suddenly, a coolant leak formed from where B'Elanna hit the warp core. B'Elanna cried out in tears, "no! I won't let you die!" She tried to set her phaser on a higher setting to weld the coolant leak shut, but one of the blackish red ghost like beings blasted her phaser to pieces with a dark red energy blast. B'Elanna was knocked backwards by the explosion, landing on the floor with a great big thud. She huffed with anger as she got up.

One of the blackish red ghost like beings tried to assure her, "it's not the end…just our nourishment." Not long after, Kellin and the other five members of Beta Squad came into Engineering.

One of the other members of Beta Squad asked, "what the hell?" The four blackish red ghost like beings in main Engineering blasted dark red energy blasts at the Beta Squad. Some of them fell to unconsciousness. Some tumbled out of range and got back up to aim phasers at the blackish red ghost like beings.

Kellin pointed out, "they're not physically here…just mentally."

B'Elanna called out, "get out…now!" She had picked up one of the phasers from the unconscious bodies of crewmembers, when a blast of coolant knocked the conscious crewmembers across Engineering.

Meanwhile, on a Borg cube…

Chakotay, Seven, and Tuvok were in Borg alcoves, with their physiology and mentality turning into that of the Borg. Voices echoed in their heads, "we are Borg. We will add your technological and biological distinctiveness to our own. Resistance is futile."

Seven thought, "I will not comply!"

Chakotay thought, "no thanks!"

Tuvok thought, "I am not Borg. I am…" He saw Voyager and a bunch of shuttles through a huge Borg viewscreen. The shuttles were firing at the somewhat vulnerable Borg cube, which led to rocking this Borg cube and many exploding Borg alcoves within it.

Back on Voyager, on a certain turbolift…

Janeway, Tom, and Kim were on top of the turbolift to the bridge. They had to crawl to get in between the turbolift shaft ceiling and the turbolift. Kim said, "I can barely keep my phaser out."

Janeway figured, "good. That means we can disengage this turbolift."

Sisko's voice assured her in her head, "you're running out of time, Kathryn."

Janeway asked, "who's there?"

Tom figured, "great. It's not just me."

Kim muttered, "if we are running out of time, then why don't we just disengage the turbolift?"

Sisko's voice added, "by then, it would be too late. We non-corporeal aliens can help you save your crew."

Janeway insisted, "if you're thinking that this will convince us to be part of your Matrix, you must be out of your minds. Harry, fire."

Kim suggested, "I've almost got it within range…but it'll be cutting it close."

Tom suggested, "captain…what if you're wrong?"

Janeway figured, "explain."

Tom pointed out, "first they were mocking us with the past…now they're trying to help us? It doesn't make sense."

Janeway added, "but they could be trying to trick us into their Matrix."

Tom went on, "do the voices even sound familiar anymore?"

Kim said, "I need to get the inertial dampener at an angle. Hold on."

Janeway realized, "wait! That's an order."

Kim wondered, "ma'am?"

Janeway concluded, "I saw this all end badly…from another telepathic experience. I didn't want to believe it…but it seems that the only way out is to trust these aliens in the back of our heads." Suddenly, a little blue wormhole opened up where Tom and Janeway were, with Engineering on the other side of it. Janeway crawled through the wormhole, then Tom.

Kim sighed, "I'll take her word for it." He crawled after them, right before the wormhole closed.

Back in Engineering…

Kellin called out, "don't you get it, B'Elanna?" She groaned as she started to get up, coughing. Kellin went on, "they're only real…for as long as…you think they are!"

B'Elanna sarcastically said between coughs, "that's…a big…help!" She ended up accidentally dropping the phaser she picked up. Then Tom, Janeway, and Kim tumbled into Engineering. B'Elanna figured, "we're…too…late!" Janeway, Tom, and Kim were not coughing though.

Janeway thought, "if you know a way to save my crew from the Matrix, tell me how!"

Sisko's voice assured her, "you're doing it right now. All you need is faith in the prophets." Suddenly, Janeway, Tom, Kellin, and Kim glowed with blue energy.

Tom figured, "let's take them down."

Kellin figured, "about time."

Janeway realized, "you can hear them too?"

Kellin pointed out, "obviously, captain…it's not just me." Tom, Kim, Kellin, and Janeway flew towards the blackish red ghost like beings that were firing at them. They dodged out of the way of random dark red energy blasts, using the leaking coolant as cover to sneak up on the blackish red ghost like beings with blue energy blasts.

One of the blackish red ghost like beings called out, "impossible!"

Sisko thought to Janeway, "hit them with all you got! The Joining…is complete."

Janeway muttered, "go back to hell!" The blackish red ghost like beings exploded from being hit by the blue energy blasts. Then, things began to change again.

Back on a certain Borg cube…

The Borg had two arrays of missiles at the moment. With a single thought, they could be shifted to the same direction as Voyager or the shuttles. A second later, they'd be launched. Tuvok closed his eyes, trying hard not to shed a tear. Tuvok muttered determinedly, "I am…Vulcan."

Chakotay urged, "fight it, Tuvok!"

Seven remarked, "free will will be sufficient!" In a split second, Tuvok decided.

He said, "a logical decision…when the other choices aren't beneficial." Tuvok, Seven, and Chakotay then glowed with blue energy…which seemed to melt their Borg implants into piles of black goop. A blue wormhole opened up, leading them into the Matrix. With blue energy blasts, Chakotay, Seven, and Tuvok blasted the missiles before they could reach either Voyager or the Federation shuttles.

Chakotay urged, "together…we'll resist."

Tuvok added, "my thoughts exactly."

Seven remarked, "resistance to free will…is futile." Then, with help from the Federation shuttles' phasers, Chakotay, Seven, and Tuvok blasted the Borg cube's defenses to non-regenerating shards.

Chakotay sighed, "we did it." Suddenly, shockwaves of dark red energy waves came towards them…surrounding them from all directions. The nearby Borg cube exploded. But, just as quickly as it happened, it stopped. The shuttles also disappeared from sight.

Tuvok concluded, "it seems that the mental attacks have failed to take down the crew." Soon after, they were beamed away from the dark red gas from within the Matrix…back to Voyager. As they were being beamed back, their blue energy auras were fading away.