"Captain's log, stardate 43998.5. With confirmation of the Borg's presence in Federation space, Admiral Hanson has returned to Starbase 324 to discuss strategy with Starfleet Command. Lt Cmdr. Shelby remains on board to continue tactical preparations."
The Enterprise orbited Jouret IV alone. In the ready room, Picard and Riker were discussing the preparations for the inevitable confrontation. "I've also ordered a standing yellow alert." Riker said, "All Federation and allied outposts have been warned and Ops will continue to monitor long-range sensors. I've assigned Date, La Forge and Mr Crusher to work with Commander Shelby."
"Good. You've covered all the bases." Picard nodded. He expected nothing less from his reliable first officer. "What's your opinion of Shelby?"
"She knows her stuff." Riker said simply.
Picard knew Riker well enough to know that he was trying to avoid the question. "She has your full confidence?" he pressed
"Well, I think she needs supervision." Riker clarified, "She takes the initiative a little too easily. Sometimes with risks."
Picard gave a light-hearted tut. "Sounds like a young Lt Cmdr. I recruited as a first officer." he commented
"Perhaps." Riker said with a smile. He knew his captain was right. Shelby was exactly like Riker was when he'd first came on board the Enterprise two years ago.
Picard then decided it was time to address the elephant in the room. "Will..." he began, moving round the desk and sitting down in his chair, "What the hell are you still doing here?"
Riker was caught off-guard by the question. "Sir?"
"You've been offered the Melbourne."
"I've decided not to pursue that commission at this time." Riker said, expecting Picard to be pleased at this news.
Picard wasn't pleased, he showed discomfort with Riker's decision. "She's a fine ship, Will." he pressed
"Yes, but she's not the Enterprise." Riker countered, "And with all due respect, sir, you need me. Particularly now."
"Indeed?" Picard raised a brow, "Starfleet needs good captains. Particularly now. Reconsider your decision." he ordered firmly
"Are you telling me to leave, Captain?" Riker asked
"I'm asking you to look at your career objectively." Picard told him, then he stood up and approached Riker. "Will, you're ready to work without a net." he said calmly and kindly, "You're ready to take command. And you know... the Enterprise will go on just fine without you."
~8~
Later, Riker and Troi were sat at a table in ten-forward. Riker was troubled and confused. "What am I still doing here, Deanna?" he asked rhetorically, "I've pushed myself hard to get this far. I've sacrificed a lot." He gave a meaningful gesture to Troi. "I've always said I wanted my own command, and yet something's holding me back. Is it wrong to want to stay?"
"What do you think?" Troi asked him gently
Riker didn't know what to think. "Maybe I'm just afraid of the big chair." he sighed
"I don't think so." Troi reassured him
"The captain says Shelby reminds him of the way I used to be." Riker continued, "And he's right. She comes in here, full of drive and ambition, impatient, taking risks... I look at her and I wonder whatever happened to those things in me. I liked those things in me. I've lost something."
"You mean you're older, more experienced." Troi told him kindly, "A little more... seasoned."
"Seasoned?" Riker grinned, "What a horrible thing to say to a man."
"I don't think you've lost a thing." Troi reassured her friend, commanding officer and former lover, "And you've gained a lot more than you realise. You're more comfortable with yourself than you used to be."
"Maybe that's the problem." Riker sighed, "Maybe I'm too comfortable here."
"I'm not sure I know what that means." Troi admitted, but there was one thing she did know. "You're happy here. Happier then I've ever known you to be. It really comes down to a simple question: what do you want, Will Riker?"
Riker was silent for a moment as he considered her words then he suddenly laughed to himself.
"What?" Troi asked him
"Stupid." Riker mused, "An old song I heard when I was a kid. Keeps running through my mind." He then began to sing the song in question. "Did ya ever have that feeling that you wanted to go? Still had the feeling that you wanted to stay? You knew it was right, wasn't wrong. Still you knew you wouldn't be very long. It's tough to have that feeling that you wanted to go, still had that feeling that you wanted to stay. Start to go, change your mind." He stopped when he saw that Guinan had paused by their table and was looking at him.
"You start on Friday." the El-Aurian bartender told him jovially, "Two shows a night, matinee on Wednesday."
"I play the trombone too." Riker shrugged. Guinan nodded and walked on.
~8~
That evening, Shelby was hosting a meeting in main engineering, showing her analysis of the data from the Enterprise's encounter with the Borg at J-25. "...a manipulation effect in the Borg ship's subspace field." she said, gesturing to an Okudagram of a Borg ship, "A definite pattern. At 4.8 minute intervals during your first confrontation with them."
"Might indicate high-output auxiliary generators kicking in." La Forge mused
"One theory is that their systems are decentralised with redundant power sources located throughout their ship." Shelby acknowledged
"It is a reasonable conclusion." Data concurred, "Borg technology has given each member of their society the ability to interface and function collectively. It is likely they would construct their ship with the same philosophy."
"Knock out one generator and another takes over without interruption." Wesley surmised
"What kind of damage would we have to do to shut them down?" Riker asked
Shelby's answer wasn't good news. "Projections suggest a Borg ship like this one could continue to function even if 78% of it was inoperable."
"And our best shot barely scratched the surface." Wesley said gloomily.
La Forge moved over to a monitor displaying design schematics of some of the new weapons Shelby's team at Starfleet Tactical were working on. They included phaser pulse cannons and torpedoes which used zero-point energy to deliver a bang far more powerful than the current photon torpedoes could. Unfortunately, these new weapons still only existed as designs. "From what I've seen, I can't believe any of these new weapons can be ready in less than 18 months, Commander." he told Riker grimly
"We've been projecting 24." Shelby added gloomily
Riker thought about the problem for a moment. "Is there anything we can do to adapt our current defence systems?" he suggested
La Forge studied the schematics of the Enterprise's weapon systems. "We'll have to go through the specs again." he said, then gave a tired sigh. He'd been working flat out for two days in a row now and it was catching up on him. "I don't know... My mind's turned to clay." he admitted
"Mine too." Wesley groaned
Riker took a moment to look at everyone at the meeting. The strain was starting to show, with Data being the only person not showing any sign of fatigue. Shelby didn't seem to notice any of this. "I think we should look at modifying the phaser plasma design..." she began
"Commander, I think we should call it a night." Riker interrupted, seeing that Shelby was perfectly content to push the crew until they fell.
Shelby reacted without eye contact. "Alright, anyone who's really that tired... if you want to leave..." she began
"No, that's ok." Wesley said quickly
"Go ahead, Commander." La Forge chimed in
Shelby quickly got back to work. "What would happen if we take the frequency klystron from the existing unit..."
Riker decided to put his foot down. "We'll break here." he said calmly but firmly, "That's an order. We'll reconvene at 0500 hours."
The rest of the group began to file out of engineering but Shelby stayed put. "Sir, if you'll allow me to continue with Mr Data, who does not require rest..."
"You need rest, Commander." Riker told her firmly
"If we have a confrontation with the Borg without improving our defence systems..." Shelby began to argue
"If we have a confrontation, I don't want a crew fighting the Borg at the same time they're fighting their own fatigue." Riker told her, his tone making it clear the discussion was over, "Dismissed."
Shelby gave a begrudging nod and left.
~8~
Next day, Picard, Riker, Shelby, Data, La Forge, Worf and Dr Crusher were in the observation lounge being given more bad news from Admiral Hanson from his office on Starbase 324. "At 1900 hours yesterday, the USS Lalo departed Zeta Alpha II on a freight run to Sentinel Minor IV. At 2200 hours and 12 minutes, a distress signal was received at Starbase 175. The Lalo reported contact with an alien vessel described as cube-shaped. The distress signal ended abruptly. She's not been heard from since."
Picard turned to Data. "Mr Data, how long to get there at warp nine?" he asked
"One hour, seventeen minutes, sir." Data replied instantly
"Make it so." Picard ordered. Data nodded and left to head to the bridge.
"We're coming with every available starship to assist, Captain." Hanson said "But the closest help is six days away."
"We'll try to keep them occupied till you arrive, Admiral." Picard replied with dry humour, though he knew of course that the odds were not favourable.
"I know you will." Hanson smiled, "Hanson out." The transmission ended.
"All hands stand to battle stations." Riker ordered over the ship's comms.
"Commander Shelby, status of tactical preparations?" Picard asked
"Mr La Forge has a plan to modulate shield nutation." Shelby replied, "Hopefully, that'll hold them off for a while."
"At the same time, we'll be retuning phasers to higher EM-based frequencies." La Forge added, "We'll try to disrupt their subspace frequencies."
"Your assessment of our potential effectiveness?" Picard asked
"It's... a shot in the dark, Captain." La Forge admitted, "But it's the best we can do for now."
Picard acknowledged all this. "Dismissed." he ordered and everyone began to file out of the room.
~8~
The Enterprise raced through space at maximum warp towards the Lalo's last reported position. The atmosphere on the bridge was tense, with Picard pacing back and forth. He was proud of his crew's work under the circumstances but the Borg were not like any other enemy he'd faced in his long career with Starfleet and he knew the outlook for their situation was not hopeful.
The tense silence was broken by a soft beep from the tactical console. "Sir, reading an unidentified vessel just entering sensor range." Worf reported, "Bearing 2-1-0 mark 1-5-1"
Picard had a pretty shrewd idea of what that ship could be, but he went through the usual formalities as protocol dictated. "Hail them, Mr Worf." he ordered, silently praying to all the gods in the universe that he was wrong in his assumptions and that this unidentified ship was just some civilian ship that had wandered off-course.
Worf sent the hail. "No response, sir." he reported
Picard wasn't surprised at this. "Move to intercept." he ordered Wesley at conn
"Aye, sir." Wesley acknowledged and complied with his orders.
Worf's console beeped again. "Sir, the vessel has already changed course to intercept us." he reported urgently, "Approaching at..." He checked his console again. "Warp 9.3. Entering visual range."
Picard knew the inevitable had come. "On screen." he ordered and the image on the main viewscreen changed to show stars streaking past, but in the distance, Picard could see a grey cube shape. "Magnify." he ordered and the shape leapt forward. It was just as Picard expected and feared: a Borg ship, an enormous cube festooned with girders, conduits and circuits, an eerie green glow emanating from within, hinting at the ship's power, power that was enough to swat the Enterprise like a fly. Picard slowly turned to face Worf, his expression grim. "Mr Worf, dispatch a subspace message to Admiral Hanson. We have engaged the Borg." And he turned back to watch the rapidly approaching Borg Cube, grim dread coursing through him.
Author's notes: And so the Borg show up to the party. Note that I included the extra moments in ten-forward and engineering that were in the script but not included in the finished episode. Not much to say, but next time is where the fun begins!