I am truly sorry it's taken me this long since my last update. I know it's a bad excuse, but I have been very busy recently settling down in my new house, sorting the place out moving and fetching furniture and decorating my bedroom, etc. On top of all that, I've been writing other stories and new plans
Seeing First Contact.
The longer they were in the time bubble watching the scenes around them, the more Hoshi wondered about the point was of showing these images was.
There was some doubt in her mind they were seeing the events at all; for all, she and the others knew they were watching them from within a holographic environment; she had eventually come to realise everything they were seeing, while real, just seemed to be shown in a projected style, it certainly felt like it and that they hadn't moved a metre from the ship in all that time, but she wondered just how much they were going to see and what they weren't.
She had never really had any time for Daniels in all the time she'd known - or hadn't known - him. The temporal agent was annoying, and she had never really gotten rid of the implication he might have had his own agenda; he had shown it more than once, like when he had dragged Enterprise into the mess with Vosk in that alternate World War Two.
That thought was now ringing within her mind as she watched the whole thing. She could well understand why Daniels would have shown them the disgusting truths that were Borg assimilation, but at the same time, Hoshi had been asking herself if he had a bigger reason for it. She remembered the way he had lectured the captain on how he shouldn't change history, but she had silently held back her own criticism he and other time travellers had been meddling in the past before now.
While some aspects of the damn Temporal Cold War - Hoshi was not alone and knew she was not alone when she wished she knew more about the origins behind it, and what else had been caused by the various factions involved - would forever be a mystery to her and her friends and crewmates since they only caught the peripheral of it in the 22nd century, Hoshi had no doubt, while some of the actions of Silik and the Suliban cabal they'd fought so many times against had been mitigated, it had left some scars.
How many events caused by the Cold War had never happened originally only for history to change? What was happening to the timeline following those changes? Hell, Hoshi had no idea if the warp five project which had resulted in the launch of the Enterprise - her Enterprise - and the Columbia were even meant to have happened already, creating another alternate timeline. Who knew what the effects would be in that case? Or were the effects largely beneficial in the long term? Were they likely to be detrimental instead? Hoshi did not know. Her own view of time travel was to take small tidbits, but nothing more than that; in terms of technology, having small amounts of advanced technology (by the standards of her time) would go a long way to helping them. Were there similar events in a different timeline, but now she and her friends had made it out into space, would there be more beneficial effects on the rest of history? The only one who'd know for certain was Daniels, but he seemed to find the work of her and her ship and crew to be a benefit, and there was no sign he was in a hurry to change history so they'd never have gone deep into space.
And then there was the Xindi.
Hoshi remembered how Captain Archer had told them what that time traveller who was aiding the cabal had told him, how the Xindi had been told humans would destroy their homeworld in the future; at first, it had seemed far-fetched, but she had known the captain would never lie about something like that, and time travel was something she had just come to accept thanks to those encounters with Daniels, to say nothing of that mess caused by that futuristic ship they'd stumbled upon once. She still did not understand why T'Pol was stubbornly clinging to the clear reality the Vulcan Science Directorate had just not done a good job investigating time travel, but she hoped the Vulcan now believed otherwise.
But while she was horrified by the presence of the Borg on the futuristic Enterprise, Hoshi wondered why Daniels was showing them these images in this manner at all, and what he was hoping to keep from them since they knew the temporal agent was very picky of what he kept from them. Hoshi was wondering what the point of all of this was because they had watched the future Starfleet officer - she was almost certain he was the captain of this ship, although she was unsure if she were correct or not, so she hadn't said a word of comment on the matter - dancing with Dr Sloan (hey, who would have expected that course at the Academy on basic warp designs would have come in so handy?) for a few minutes, being accosted by that blonde woman, having a brief argument with her before he managed to shake her loose, and then waltzed over to a man who was dressed as a stereotypical American gangster, dressed in a smart suit which was gaudier than it needed to be, which told the linguist he wanted to be richer than he was in - well, holographic life - with a metallic beak of a nose, which certainly explained his nickname. Surrounding him was an entourage, with two fawning young women and guards.
Hoshi watched as the gangster used the metal of his nose to strike a match for a cigar - she had read enough novels from the 20th century to recognise the habit for what it was, although she was pleased and yet even more certain what they were seeing was a projection of what was going on, so they could not smell the acrid smoke of the filthy habit, just as the Starfleet officer and Dr Sloane approached the table.
"Well, well, well," the gangster smirked insincerely as the Starfleet officer walked past, shaking the match absently in his hand to wave the flame away, "look what the cat's dragged in. What's shakin' Dix?"
"The usual, Nick," the future Starfleet officer said, slipping effortlessly into the role of Dixon Hill, nonchalantly grabbing one of the gangster's entourage and making him stand up so he could pat him down, ignoring his grumble of protest, "martini's in skirts, excuse me."
Hoshi blinked at how this ridiculous holoprogram was going, and she wondered what the outcome was going to be. She exchanged looks with her friends, and she was pleased she wasn't the only one who didn't understand where all of this was leading to. A woman screamed. Hoshi saw that she had gotten in the path of the approaching drones, and she hoped whatever these two were planning, they did it fast.
The hologram of the man the future Starfleet officer was manhandling and patting down urgently pushed him off. "Hey, I'm gonna take this personal in a second."
The Starfleet officer didn't seem bothered; none of the NX-01 crew was surprised, really, either. They knew with a simple command the officer could delete the hologram, but for the sake of the pretence since the other holograms in this simulated club who were between this man and Dr Sloane and the Borg drones who'd walked in after they were acting as shields.
"No offence," he said before he lunged for a large violin case the gangster had nearby.
"Hey-!" The hologram shouted indignantly, lunging forwards himself to catch hold of it, and he looked like he was about to throw a punch, but Dr Sloane, thinking quickly and on her feet, although the crew of the NX-01 guessed the scientist from the 21st century had acted instinctively probably due from the decades of hell she'd been born into and forced to live through, grabbed a champagne bucket and slammed it into the hologram's back and neck, sending little bits of ice flying while the henchman groaned.
Hoshi noticed his boss, this Nicky the Nose, didn't seem to care; he was just sitting there nonchalantly smoking his cigar. She couldn't help but wonder if the holocharacter was sitting like that because he wasn't involved directly but he would be if this officer did something to him or spoke to him.
In the meantime, the future Starfleet officer had popped open the violin case and ripped out a large, but primitive gun.
"A Tommy gun? I suppose it fits in the time period this holo-story is set in," Reed commented.
"You know about this weapon, Mr Reed?" T'Pol enquired although her question was purely rhetorical.
"Yes, I do. It's a forerunner for the automatic weapons that come later," Malcolm would have said more if the 24th-century Starfleet captain didn't aim the Tommy gun at the Borg drones and he opened fire. The captain didn't release the trigger as he fired the bullets into the two drones. He didn't stop firing even as the holograms of the guests in the club screamed and ran out. He didn't stop or even take stock of the situation when the first drone, its body riddled with bullets collapsed to the ground. He just kept firing.
That wasn't the scariest part. No, the scariest part was seeing how the 24th-century Starfleet captain's expression shifted until he was glaring at the two Borg with nothing but hatred in his eyes.
Archer frowned, inwardly feeling sick as he remembered how obsessive he had become when the Xindi incident was happening; the eight months spent in the Expanse had changed him, in some ways for the better, and in some ways for the worst. He and Trip had once told T'Pol shortly after Enterprise had gotten underway the human race had moved on from their baser, more barbaric instincts… but when the Xindi launched that probe and cut a path of destruction across Earth, Archer had been furious and vengeful, but he had also been terrified.
When Silik and the Cabal had kidnapped him off of the bridge shortly after Enterprise had gotten word of what had happened on Earth, Archer had taken to meet the Suliban's future benefactor who had given the Suliban advanced technology and had given them sophisticated genetic enhancements - Archer still didn't know for sure if the enhancements were offered in a way of making the Suliban more powerful physically and mentally in order to gain their full allegiance or because the Suliban had genuinely felt their race had gotten the short straws when it came to evolution.
While Archer didn't care despite feeling some regret especially since Silik had died saving his life in that alternate World War Two, he had listened to Silik's employer who had explained the Xindi were duped by people from the future into attacking Earth. At the time Archer had been in two minds when it had come to believe the statement. T'Pol's scepticism about the inclusion of time travel was unsurprising considering her stance and her natural stubbornness although she had mellowed a great deal over the years since she'd joined the crew, and even Archer had to consider the possibility the Sulibans' employer was lying although the sudden desire to give advice when the Suliban had spent two years manipulating events and causing damage was enough to make him grab a scanner and personally prove to Forrest and Soval the Xindi had been helped by people from a different time and place.
But his time in the Expanse…
Archer had been determined to stop the Xindi. At the time he had passed over the line more than once; he had tortured a pirate by using an airlock, threatened the clone of a friend, manipulated and duped Degra, stranded a number of innocent people in space, just to stop them launching their genocidal attack.
He had changed so much, his whole crew had.
But Archer wondered if he had been as obsessive as this captain was starting to appear to be. He had already gotten the impression just by looking at this captain of the 24th-century Starfleet ship the Borg had done something to him, but Archer wondered what it was…
"I don't get it," Reed commented, breaking his captain out of his thoughts much to Archer's relief since it entered territory the captain did not like to think about, the look in the English Tactical officer's eyes disturbed as he took in the scene.
"What?" Travis asked, just as disturbed.
"The gun is holographic, therefore the bullets are holographic; so why are they killing the Borg as easily as real bullets?" Malcolm asked.
Trip grunted in thought. "Y'know, these holograms are like the ones I saw on that Xyrillian ship; they were more than happy to tell me how their hologram technology worked. Unlike simple projections, the Xyrillians told me they'd developed a way of creating a hologram using matter-energy, holding it in place with an electro-magnetic forcefield. This must be a similar but more advanced system."
"So, in effect, these holograms are like real people but cut through the surface and the true hologram is revealed?" Hoshi said.
"Yeah, I guess so," Trip was suddenly interrupted when a shriek which rose in pitch sounded throughout the holographic ballroom, and they took note as the 24th-century Starfleet captain continued firing his holographic Tommy gun into the body of the second Borg drone. The captain was shrieking madly, but what frightened the more observant members of the NX-01 crew was how the captain seemed to be enjoying what he was doing.
"My God, he's going mad," Travis whispered in horror, but before anyone could say more, make a comment, the second Borg drone collapsed onto a table. They assumed the 24th-century captain would just leave the Borg alone, but he instead lunged towards the drone, throwing the Tommy gun around to use the butt of the weapon as a crude club, crying out like a madman…
Suddenly, a visibly disturbed and shaken Dr Sloane grabbed hold of the man. "Hey! I think you got 'im!"
Phlox breathed a sigh of relief, and Hoshi glanced at him, wondering if the Denobulan doctor had something to say, but Phlox didn't say a word.
The 24th-century captain was snapped out of his spell, panting and looking at Sloane in surprise as if he didn't know who she was, where he was, and even what he had been planning to do. He walked slowly to the fallen Borg. The Enterprise NX-01 crew could see that the holographic spectres of the old-fashioned bullets had torn open the chest of the drone, leaving behind a swath of shredded black metal and its remaining pale, bloodless looking flesh was tinged with blood. Without a word, the 24th-century Starfleet captain began ripping open a hole in the Borg's abdomen, and with his bare hands, he began ripping aside the armour and the flesh.
Hoshi grimaced. "Oh god! I feel sick!"
T'Pol was also grimacing. "You are not the only one, Ensign."
"What's he doing?" Travis asked.
Phlox, however, was frowning curiously. The Denobulan remembered the earlier experience with the Borg, and while he had tried to live through the nightmarish and ghoulish memories of how he'd been infected with those nanoprobe devices, Phlox remembered clearly how the nanoprobes that had infected those Tarkaeleans had developed devices within their bodies.
The thought only occurred to him because he remembered, after reviewing the scans taken from the scanners used by both Captain Archer and Lieutenant Reed when they transported over to the Borg ship in order to discover and to determine the full extent of the cybernetic transformation; if he remembered correctly, there was a cybernetic implant in that part of the Borg's body. Surely this man couldn't be after that?
"I don't get it," Sloane said above the 24th-century captain, looking disturbed and disgusted by the sight of him digging through the Borg's remains. "You said this was all a bunch of holograms. If the gun isn't real…"
"I disengaged the safety protocols. Without them, even a holographic bullet could kill."
Sloane nodded her understanding, but her disgust mixed with curiosity while he reached deep into the remains of the corpse, his hands moving through the squelchy mess, his manner was brusque, uncaring, as if he were reaching inside a computer or a flowerbed instead of being of partial flesh.
"What're you doing?" Sloane asked, her question asked in a neutral tone but it was clear to their audience she was disturbed by what she was seeing.
"I'm looking for the neuroprocessor. Every Borg has one. It's like a….memory chip," the 24th-century captain explained while he panted with the effort of ripping away the clearly tough material while he pulled out a piece of alien electronic circuitry, "it'll contain a record of the instructions this Borg has been receiving from the Collective."
Archer frowned and glanced at Reed, who caught his eye, both of them were now thinking that if they'd known about that little tidbit the last time it would have provided them with a good deal of knowledge about the cybernetic aliens. At first, they wondered why Phlox hadn't noted it down during his reports - all of the reports submitted by the Denobulan doctor were extensive - on what he'd learnt of Borg anatomy, but they quickly reasoned the Denobulan had been traumatised by the whole incident.
Dr Sloane was not listening; she had just seen something which left her visibly horrified. "Oh, my god. Jean-Luc, it's one of your uniforms," she said.
'Jean-Luc' didn't even look down at the corpse; his expression remained steely, determined. Detached. "Yes," he said while he took a small, slim, silver-grey device from a pocket and connected it to the neuroprocessor. "This was Ensign Lynch."
Archer glanced at his people, pleased to say they were as disturbed as he was; they did not know whether to be disturbed by this 'Jean-Luc' taking such pleasure in killing the Borg drone even if it deserved it although it could also be stated killing it would free the poor person who'd been mutilated in such a horrendous fashion, or disturbed 'Jean-Luc' could just stand there and actually give the name of the unfortunate Starfleet officer who'd lost everything that had made him human without any kind of sympathy.
Sloane nodded, staring at 'Jean-Luc' with concern and more than a little fear. He didn't notice while he tapped the little device Archer and the others took to be a more advanced version of their scanners. The dark-skinned woman was just opening her mouth to say something when the image froze, and the sound from the advanced scanner held by 'Jean-Luc' stopped.
"What's going on?" Hoshi asked.
Daniels sighed. "I think I know what it is. I have to go."
"Go?" Archer turned around, gazing suspiciously at the Time Agent. "Go where?"
"Back to my own time. My supervisors likely found out what I'm doing with you, and is likely not happy about it. I have to go," Daniels said insistently.
"But Daniels-," Archer tried to say, but it was too late; in the blink of an eye, Daniels had vanished leaving Archer, T'Pol, Hoshi, Phlox, Trip, Travis, and Malcolm behind. With no way out.