Atlantis, Pegasus, an hour after Persephone followed the Superhive into Hyperspace.
Willow was standing at the bottom of the central staircase that led to the Atlantis Gateroom. She was staring at the ripples on the event horizon of the active Stargate wormhole with a straight face given the thoughts going through her mind right at that moment. However, a smile appeared on her face when a tall, suited, dark haired woman walked through the Stargate while Willow took a few steps towards her.
"President Chase," said Willow nodding her head as she motioned towards the stairs that led up to Stargate Operations, "this way."
"General," said the President as the two women walked up the stairs to Stargate Operations, "so it's true? About Starfleet, the Enterprise? Basically, the whole Star Trek thing?"
"Yep," replied the redhead as they walked up the stairs.
"You do realize that this is going to make all the Trekkies go nuts, right?" asked the President.
"I'm married to one," said Willow, "she's already on the way with Jack, Sam, Daniel, Xander, and the others."
"We'll have to go public with this sometime," said the President once they reached the top of the stairs and just stood there talking to each other, "and you do realize that New Hollywood is already planning a Star Trek reboot, again."
"I heard it's a prequel," replied Willow with a smirk.
"This news is going to blow their minds," chuckled the President, "can't wait to see what Angel says about this whole thing. What next, Star Wars is real?"
"You do know that I've been to a lot of galaxies when I was ascended, right?" asked Willow before a grin formed on her lips.
"Willow," said the President as her eyes went wide, "this isn't a joke.. are you telling me that… Willow…?"
"Oh look," nodded Willow at the briefing room, "we're gonna be late for the meeting."
"Will?" asked the President as Willow turned around and walked towards the briefing room where there were already a few bodies waiting around. Hearing her name being called once again, Willow smiled before stopping, then she turned around again, chuckling, and then walking towards the President while telling her that she was just kidding.
"Seriously, Cordy, it's just a joke. Think about it, how would anyone on Earth get visions from a galaxy far, far away?"
"Dr. Jackson and Vala were transported to the Ori galaxy using a piece of tech," the President reminded Willow, "you're telling me that there is no way given what we know that…."
"Cordy," whispered Willow patting the President's shoulder, "I really was just kidding… those movies were a result of great imaginations; which will eventually lead to Episode Twenty of the reboot next year."
"Fine," sighed the President before she walked past Willow towards the briefing room. The redhead looked at the President as she walked away before a smile formed on her lips. And then she rushed to the President's side. Once they entered the room, the cantilever doors automatically closed shut to give them some privacy.
Cordelia Chase, the current President of the Tau'ri, shook hands with President Hunt of the Kobolians, Laurel Adama of the Furlings- children of the Eden Cylons and Earth humans, and later included the offspring's of those who eventually procreated with Colonial humans, who grew up to have fully organic bodies with nanites running through their bloodstream; and Loras from Asura, the replicator homeworld. Cordelia, the former head of the Bureau of Paranormal Research and Investigations based out of Sunnydale a few centuries ago, greeted the rest of the delegation who were involved in the battle over the three Wraith held worlds; the battle that was supposed to have effectively ended the Wraith threat to the Pegasus galaxy. But now, there was a super hive heading for the Earth.
"Loras just came to us with news that the Oberoth faction stole four ZPM's from Asuras."
"The Tau'ri and the other races have a treaty with your people, Loras," said Cordelia as she looked at the man in the tanned and cream uniform standing with his arms behind him, blue eyes looking at Cordelia, "all in exchange for taking out the aggression protocols in your base-code. After our people moved to this galaxy, we had a deal that there would be no war between the replicators in Pegasus and…"
"And the Asuran Council has held up our end of the deal, President Chase," said Loras as he approached Cordelia, with Willow mentally prepared to use her telekinesis to knock the human-form replicator back, "you Lanteans…."
"Tau'ri," Cordelia reminded him before he could finish what he wanted to say.
"You Tau'ri," Loras corrected himself before continuing, "have the thanks of the Asuran people for removing that particular code, but as you know… change has always been hard on a people. Oberoth and his faction were most for the erasure of the programs that heightened our aggressive tendencies, but he and others later learnt that it was that anger which defined who they were. The majority of them wanted to lash out, in fact they enjoyed harbouring that rage… it made them who and what they were."
"And luckily we re-enabled the program that protects us from a rampant Replicator threat," said Willow, "you and your people could attack us without significant changes to your base-code.. something we would have detected."
"Yes, Athena," said Loras nodding his head at a frowning Willow, while using the name she had been known by when she lived on Atlantis more than ten thousand years ago, "Oberoth is enraged at you and your sister for successfully deleting the aggression out of our programs. And as thanks, our people have agreed to use our facilities to help build your weapons and ships we were cloaked in the time dilation field. Even so, there was no way to expect Oberoth and his faction to betray all of us like this."
"Weren't your people supposed to be keeping an eye on the ones that have the same thoughts as Oberoth?" asked President Hunt with his hands in his pockets, "your people are supposed to have a link of some kind?"
"He and the others hid their intentions from our link," Loras replied as he tapped the side of his head, referring to the link that he and all the other human-form replicators share with each other, "we discovered the missing ZPM two days ago, after the link was severed. We are currently working on new security protocols with the Tollans and Asgard."
"We should have been told, Loras," said Willow with a frown on her face as the screens on the walls behind her turned on to reveal faces of the representatives of various worlds in Pegasus; from Thor of the Asgard, to a representative of the Hebridians and the Sarakin who chose to leave the Milky Way with the Tau'ri, the Athosian leader Teyla Emmagen Sheppard, a representative from Langara, and various others... both from the Milky Way and Pegasus, who made up the Pegasus Council. Willow and the others notified them of what happened, and the threat facing the Milky Way galaxy and the living beings that remained there. Willow and Loras then briefed them on what happened with the ZPM's, and the involvement of Oberoth's faction in a possible alliance with the Wraith.
"The population of Earth has risen to a little over seven billion," said Willow, "at least according to the scans that the Persephone sent back to us after repelling the enemy attack. But that number does not include the various human colonies, and the populations of the races that have risen following our exodus from the Milky Way."
"You are worried that the Wraith will rebuild in the Milky Way, and then return, a far more dangerous foe than before.. a foe bent on vengeance," asked Teyla.
"Yes," said Cordelia nodding her head.
"They have the capability to attack Earth, and then head to any other planet to find a way of hiding from the other races and rebuilding their forces unknown to anyone else," said Laurel, "we know where they are located in this galaxy thanks to the database in Atlantis, however, in the Milky Way it is different; they will have a new beginning there."
"An option to begin wherever they want," said Krema from Langara.
"But would it not make sense for the Wraith to attack Atlantis directly," said Thor, "wouldn't the Wraith be better served in attacking Atlantis before going to Earth?"
"Atlantis has a full complement of drones and the Atlantis shield, we have the Prometheus, Shen Long, the Elizabethan, and the Europa stations orbiting Lantea," said Willow looking at Thor, "even if they did attack, we would have been able to hold them off long enough for our combined forces to destroy them in orbit of Lantea."
"They did not expect to be attacked on the three worlds," Loras nodded his head.
"I've authorised General Rosenberg to send the Persephone, the Vantage, and the Sunnydale back to the Milky Way," said Cordelia while Willow moved to a panel next to the screen and pressed a few buttons. The delegates that made up the Council then looked to the screens on either side of their individual consoles at their own stations and looked at the contents of the subspace databurst from Atlantis. They saw the Pegasus galaxy, along with a line extending out from the planet where the Wraith super hive was discovered by the Persephone, leaving the galaxy one right behind the other; the second line representing the Tau'ri ship. The two lines were joined close behind with another eight lines.
"You are all looking at the routes of the superhive, the Persephone, the Vantage, and the Sunnydale; in addition to the Odyssey and the Daedalus," said Willow, "President Hunt has authorised the Mercury class vessels – the Atlantia, Galactica, Athena, and the Hermes… the last two from New Caprica. The ships were set to stop-over at a planet called Edina to replenish the drone weapons, but with the possible involvement of Oberoth and his faction, I have ordered them to continue towards the Wraith vessel's exit window. There they would have to destroy the ship with everything they have."
"We have already run simulations once Athena contacted us, Councillors," said Loras changing the subject as he looked at the screens, and then at Willow, Cordelia, and then back to the screens once again, "it would have taken weeks, if not months, for the organic hiveships to render themselves compatible with the ZPM. I, and the Asuran leaders agree, that it is entirely possible that members of Oberoth's faction was able to assist the Wraith in cutting down the time, significantly if I may add, to combine the ZPMs with the organic nature of their ships."
"So we could have Oberoth's people on board?" asked Cordelia.
"Indeed," nodded Loras.
"The Tau'ri ships already have ARG's on board," said Willow, "and the ship to ship anti-replicator energy weapon. So in the event that the Oberoth faction is on the Super Hive, we can destroy them"
"General," said Teela; the leader of the Tollan Curia on New Tollana, "we can offer two vessels to accompany the others."
"Thank you," replied Cordelia nodding her head while Thor offered the use of two O'Neill class vessels. Willow and the others nodded their heads at the grey skinned alien.
"General," said Teyla, "given the possibility that Replicators could be working in concert with the Wraith, may I recommend sending a convoy of Daedalus and Avalon class ships to Earth orbit in the event that the Replicators on the Wraith ship manage to regenerate its systems faster than anticipated."
"I'll send the Resolute, Ark Royal, the Endeavour, and the Garrison," said Willow before clarifying that the ships would remain at the edge of the Sol system with their cloaks enabled. She told them that if the Super hive is destroyed during its rest-stop, then the ships would return to Atlantis. But if not, if the Hiveship was able to withstand the barrage from all nine ships, then the Daedalus class vessels would join the fight over Earth. She then asked Thor and Teela to be ready with their respective ships at the edge of the Sol system, in case the Replicators and the Wraith were able to survive.
"We have read Colonel Summers' report on Starfleet Command," said Athon of the Serakin, "would it not be prudent to inform them of the possible danger to Earth."
"If the Vantage and others can't destroy the ships," said Willow, "then I'll notify Starfleet. No sense in panicking them, especially since they are already fighting a war. And scans have shown that there are several ships in near Earth orbit, including the Enterprise."
"Would then be able to hold off a ZPM powered hive-ship if it ever comes to that?"
"In that event, I doubt how many ships would be able to hold off the Wraith from taking control of Earth with their Superhive," said Willow, "but with that scenario in mind, I am requesting permission from the Council, President Chase, President Hunt, and the Furling Representative, Laurel, to initiate Altantis' Wormhole Drive."
"Willow?" asked a surprised Cordelia.
"I don't think we need to use it," clarified Willow looking at the screens and then at Cordelia and the others in the briefing room, "I have confidence that we can defeat the superhive with all nine ships that are currently in pursuit. But in case Oberoth has done something to help the Wraith in creating the Superhive, we need another backup. If the Superhive survives, all of our ships and the Starfleet ships would engage over Earth… and they would have Atlantis' shield covering a large part of Earth from weapons fire. And with counsellor access, we can wirelessly connect to the weapons platform in the Death Valley outpost… seven silos with twenty thousand drones each. Two silos would be enough to decimate the entire ship."
"Only if it comes to that," said Cordelia.
"Only if it come to that," Willow assured her, and then nodded at the others.
"Let us hope it does not come to that," Teyla said, "with the races that have risen following the exodus, discovery of the Ancient weapons systems would shift the balance of power to whoever has control of that technology."
"Which is why the Avenger Three virus was used to disable the entire Stargate network in the Milky Way," Willow said, "it was all to keep Earth safe; the same reason we burned the Goa'uld homeworld, the same reason we decimated a majority of the Lucien Alliance before they slinked back underground. The same reason why all of us, mostly the Asgard, spent nearly ten years after the nuclear strikes on Earth either beaming out Stargates and depositing them in the void, or burying them underground… all to keep Earth safe while it was defenceless."
"Begin preparations, General," said Cordelia as Willow nodded her head, "I'll let Dr. Weir in Lemuria know about the situation."
"The Council is to be notified before you begin evacuation of Atlantis, General," said Kolasa, the Langaran representative.
"Understood," said Willow, "let's hope it doesn't come to that."
USS Enterprise, Earth Orbit, an hour after encounter with Persephone.
Ever since the destruction of the Enterprise D a few years ago, the El-Aurian, Guinan, had been on an extended period of leave travelling through various Federation worlds. Not spending more than a few months in one place, she returned to the Enterprise a few minutes ago. Her plan had been to spend some time on Earth since the Enterprise was supposed to be out on a mission, but given that the ship was already in orbit, she decided to transport herself to the ship where she found Captain Picard waiting for her in the teleportation room. She asked the Captain for permission to board his ship, smiling when he nodded his head. Guinan then stepped down from the pad with the Captain's help before telling him that she was ready to resume her duties as host in Ten Forward, the lounge and recreation area of the ship; a place for members of the crew to unwind and let their worries ease away before returning to the stress of their duties on the Sovereign class ship.
"Guinan," said a smiling Picard as he placed his hands on her arms, welcoming her back to the Enterprise, "it has been far too long."
"It's only been two years, Captain," she replied nodding her head as he let go of her arm, and the both of them walked into the hallway, "and besides, I've heard that you've already gone on a few big adventures without me."
"If you're speaking of going back in time to stop the Borg from stopping the first warp-flight of the Phoenix? Or saving the Baku from the plans of the Sona'a?"
"Yes, those are the exact adventures I'm speaking of," she replied with a stifled chuckle.
"Then yes, you have missed quite a few adventures," replied the Captain, "the timeline's been restored, and the borg queen is dead."
"There is always a queen, Captain," whispered Guinan as she leaned sideways into the Captain, who frowned at that information while they continued walking, "so now the Baku are safe, and then now there is the war with the Dominion that has taken over the Alpha quadrant."
"We just received word that Chin'toka's been retaken by the enemy," noted Picard as Guinan looked back at him, "Federation, and Klingon ships have been sent to rescue the survivors and…"
"The Dominion leaves survivors now?" asked Guinan in a hushed voice.
"Yes," was the reply form Picard, "they want the survivors to spread the tale of how they were defeated."
Guinan nodded her head as they continued to walk the hallway towards a turbo-lift. Both she and Picard, however, stopped walking when the Captain told her that Earth was attacked by the Breen the previous day.
"I've seen the news reports when I arrived on Earth," she said, "that attack was stopped by the Enterprise, and several other ships."
"Not exactly," said Picard, "the damage could have been much worse if not for the intervention of an alien ship, before the Enterprise could make her way to Earth."
"Alien?" asked Guinan as she tilted her head.
"They called themselves the Tau'ri, and… Guinan?"
Picard noticed the look of genuine surprise on Guinan's face as she took a step back with her eyes wide open. The Captain of the Enterprise took a step towards her and gently asked if she recognized that name.
"It's a name I haven't heard in three hundred years," she said shaking her head while steadying herself. She then looked up at the captain and asked if he had heard what he thought he heard.
"The woman identified herself as Colonel Lisa Summers of the Tau'ri warship Persephone," said Picard as Guinan closed her eyes and took in a deep breath, "Guinan, what do you know about these people?"
"Just stories that could be classified as a myth, Captain. If true, and you've said you heard them refer to themselves as Tau'ri, then these are people that should not be angered," said Guinan, her voice serious, "you should gather your people, Captain… we need to talk."
Briefing Room, USS Enterprise, thirty minutes later.
After hastily calling for a meeting between his senior staff, including Data and Laforge who were planetside, Picard sat at the head of the briefing table next to Admiral Paris, who was introduced to Guinan, who was seated next to Riker and Troi. After making sure that his senior staff was present, Picard asked Guinan to begin the briefing.
"This was about two hundred years before the Borg assimilated my homeworld," said Guinan as she took off her purple headdress and placed it carefully on the table in front of her, "we travelled to various worlds in the galaxy to gather stories, and encounter new cultures. I travelled to worlds outside what we now call the Federation and listened to stories from the various locals. One day, a group of us landed on a world right outside the Federation border… there I met two peoples who told me a story that I hadn't heard before."
"Which is?" asked Riker when Guinan had a far-away look in her eyes. Eyes which shifted up and looked at the First Officer before she began speaking again.
"The Salish were Native Americans who were kidnapped from Earth and set down on that planet as slaves for a race of parasites called the Goa'uld," said Guinan.
"We've heard of various Native American cultures taken from Earth, Guinan," said Picard.
"Those races like the Sky Spirits did what they did it out of a worry that the Native Americans would be extinct," said Guinan, "these Goa'uld did it to enslave these people."
"I am checking the Federation database for any information of the Goa'uld," said Data as he looked straight ahead with his eyes shifting from left to right. It was a few seconds later that Data turned to Guinan, and then to Picard before saying that there was no information in the database, "there is no mention of the Goa'uld."
"As far as anyone knew," said Guinan, "the Goa'uld have been extinct; and the Tau'ri were the reason for their extinction."
"Excuse me?" asked Admiral Paris as he leaned forward while the others looked at each other in disbelief.
"You're talking about genocide," said Riker, his eyebrows narrowed a Laforge leaned forward on his seat.
"Guinan," said Picard, "please start from the beginning."
"Like I said, a group of us, myself included, landed on this particular world," said Guinan as she placed her arms behind her headdress on the table, "we were welcomed by the natives, the Salish Indians, who lived and worked in what would seem to anyone to be an ancient village. But they were happy, they living in concert with a race of aliens that they simply called 'Spirits'. We sat down with their elders before they told us about how the Goa'uld kidnapped their ancestors from Earth millennia ago and enslaved their ancestors after placing them on their current world. The Salish and Spirit elders told us that the Spirits took the form of animals to spy on how the Goa'uld were treating the Salish."
Guinan continued to say that the Spirits were horrified at what the Goa'uld were doing, so they intervened and drove the Goa'uld off their world.
"It would be thousands of years later that the Salish would encounter the Tau'ri," continued Guinan.
"Have they ever mentioned their homeworld?" asked Laforge, "the Tau'ri homeworld, I mean."
"Whoever these Tau'ri are," said Riker, "there is a connection to Earth. I mean the name of their ship was the Persephone."
"The ancient Greek goddess of death," said Data, "and the Spring."
"So, the Tau'ri were also taken from Earth by the Goa'uld thousands of years ago?" asked Picard looking at Guinan who replied that she wasn't sure; with Data saying that it could have happened during the rise of ancient Greece. Picard then took a deep breath while nodding his head, and then asked Guinan to continue.
"One of the Spirits, T'akaya," said Guinan nodding her head, "she told us she knew the homeworld of the Tau'ri. In fact, she and her race had been there before in the belief that the Tau'ri were the enemy… that they wanted to forcefully steal a valuable mineral that the Spirits were providing the Salish so that they could build homes and weapons to defend themselves. She said that they were only a few moments from destroying the threat posed by the Tau'ri, but one of them intervened; one of the Tau'ri told the Spirits that they were not going to bother the Spirits or the Salish, ever again."
"Did they keep their word?" asked Troi.
"Yes," replied Guinan, "the Spirits and the Salish said that the last time they had seen or heard from the Tau'ri was nearly three hundred and fifty years ago. They returned to the Salish's homeworld and offered to take them away."
"Away where?" asked Laforge.
"They didn't know," replied Guinan, "the elders told us that a man appeared to say that they were leaving their home. That they had made many mistakes, and that it was time that their planet moved on into the future without them. We were told that the Tau'ri wiped out the Goa'uld race… destroyed whatever remained of their homeworld in fire. Another of the Spirits said that the Tau'ri offered them a choice to be relocated, but they never forced the Salish or the Spirits to leave. When the Salish and the Spirits declined the offer, the Tau'ri said his good-bye, and then left."
"And they were never heard from again?" asked Riker.
"At least until now," said Troi who was leaning back on her seat.
"We went to another planet after that, and heard a similar story," said Guinan, "the Tau'ri were at war with the Goa'uld, they rose out of nowhere and eventually beat back the Goa'uld and freed slaves on many worlds. We went further out into the galaxy when we heard about how the Tau'ri fought a galactic-wide war against being called the Ori.. a race on the verge of taking over a vast majority of the galaxy was pushed back all of a sudden. The world I visited was one where the soldiers of the Ori, the story goes, simply left the planet alone following a brutal regime of forced indoctrination."
"You are speaking of another genocide?" asked Data as he looked at Guinan.
"No one know what happened to the forces of the Ori," Guinan said, "these were stories passed down from one generation to another. All involve the Tau'ri waging war on forces that threaten this galaxy and their homeworld."
"Guinan," said Picard, "can you show us the location of the Salish homeworld?"
"Yes," she replied.
"Maybe they could give us some additional thought on the location of the Tau'ri, maybe something they forgot," said Riker.
"Wouldn't this be violating the Prime Directive?" asked Troi, "this is a pre-warp civilization after all."
"Admiral?" asked Picard.
"The Salish sound as if they are a Pre-warp civilization, but if these Spirits fought back against a technologically advanced race then it is safe to assume that they have warp capable ships," said Admiral Paris as he leaned in on his chair, "the Enterprise could hail them from orbit; it they have the technology, then these Spirits could respond."
"We could speak to the Spirits, without contaminating the Salish," said Picard.
"Thank you, Guinan," said Admiral Paris as the woman nodded her head, "but our first piece of urgent business is the Energy dampening weapon. Hopefully it will turn the tide of the war if we know how the weapon works, and then prevent it from working on our ships. There's a rumour that one of the Klingon warbirds survived the effects of the weapon, we'll be speaking with the High Council once I get back to Earth."
"Understood, Admiral," said Picard nodding his head.
Delta Quadrant, Eleven hours later.
Lost in the Delta Quadrant, the Starship Voyager was running at Warp Seven towards home. It had been a little over five years ago that the Federation starship was forcibly brought to the Delta Quadrant by an alien being known as the Caretaker; and with the commander of the small ship, Captain Kathryn Janeway, having no choice but to destroy the very piece of technology that could have sent them back home so as to save another race of being in the nearby Ocampa system. The crew had been through much over the years as they journeyed through the previously uncharted Delta Quadrant.
The Operations officer, Ensign Harry Kim, was manning the Operations station when there was a beeping sound. He pressed a few buttons to his left before knitting eyebrows in confusion at the reading that flowing on his LCARS screen.
"Captain," said the young man as Captain Janeway looked over her shoulder, "sensors are a form of subspace radiation five light years from our present heading."
"A form of subspace radiation?" asked the Captain as she stood up, and then rushed up the two stairs to the Operations station and looked at the screen. The ship's computer had a catalogue of all forms of radiation in its database, and according what she was seeing on the screen before her, this form of radiation wasn't catalogued.
And the Captain was now intrigued.
"Mr. Paris," said the Captain as she walked back down the stairs to her chair, "take us to those coordinates."
"Aye, Captain," was the reply as the Voyager changed direction. It was then that there was another beep, this time from both the Operations and Tactical stations.
"Captain," said Lt. Commander Tuvok, the ship's chief of security, "sensors are detecting a ship coming towards us – six light years away."
"Get us out of warp, Mr. Paris," said the Captain, "and magnify."
The view screen in front of the bridge showed a field of stars, and then the image zoomed in to a purple coloured ship that was heading towards them at a fast rate of speed.
"Four light years away," said Tuvok as he looked at his console.
"What is that that?" asked Commander Chakotay, Janeway's First Officer before looking over his shoulder at Kim and Tuvok, "anyone recognize the hull configuration?"
"There are no races that we know of who utilize this type of vessel," said Tuvok looking over at Chakotay.
"Hail them," said Janeway. Kim pressed a few well-placed buttons before nodding his head, and telling Janeway that all frequencies were open, "unknown vessel, my name is Captain Kathryn Janeway of the Federation Starship Voyager."
In a dimly lit room in the Superhive, a dark-haired pale woman sat on a throne while standing next to her was a balding man in a set of brown cream and tanned robes. Around them were both Wraith commanders, soldiers, and various human form replicators who were manning various consoles. Oberoth, the human form replicator in the cream and tanned robes walked towards one of the monitors and tilted his head at the ship hailing them. He and the others had noticed the vessel on their scanners immediately after entering the Milky Way so that the ship's hull could regenerate.
With scans showing that the ship was manned by both humans and other undetermined life, Oberoth and the Wraith, Queen Reola, were interested in gaining information about the ship while letting the Replicator nanites that Oberoth had handed to the Queen two days ago did its work in accelerating the hull's regeneration.
"Oberoth," said the Queen as he turned around and faced the creature, "we hunger."
"There are a little more than a hundred living beings, Queen Reola," he replied with a sneer. He hated working with the Wraith, the one part of his programming that never changed was the Asuran's disdain for the Wraith. And Oberoth was doing everything in his power to stop himself from pummelling the Queen; they both had a common enemy, the Tau'ri and their allies. He knew that the ship contained information, and he let the Queen know as much, "you people can have the humans, but we need the information. I am certain it contains the current state of the galaxy. And the state of Earth itself."
"How are you certain that this ship is from Earth?" hissed the Queen.
"Where else could it be from, if it contains humans," smiled Oberoth, "you and the other Wraith can feed, while we absorb the data contained in the ship's systems. We will then go to Earth, where we will gather data on planets with high levels of neutronium, and then rebuild our civilization. We will rise to the height of where the Lanteans once were, and strike back at the Tau'ri."
"As will we," said the Queen as a bit of drool escaped the side of her lips when she imagined feeding on the Voyager crew, "how long until the nanites have helped to regenerate and reinforce the hull."
"It will not be long," said Oberoth, "the nanites began regenerating the hull ever since we reprogrammed them, and then introduced them to the organic hull six hours ago. It would take thirty-eight minutes for complete regeneration."
"What of the Lantean vessel that entered hyperspace?" asked the Queen.
"They will exit hyperspace soon," smirked Oberoth, "but the nanites that we injected into the hull will speed up regeneration to such an extend that they will not be able to extensively damage the hull, when they jump out and fire on us."
"Prepare six armoured personnel transports," said the Queen to another Wraith, "I want the humans on this Voyager brought to our ship… I wish to have the first taste. Fire weapons on the lowest setting, soften their defences before we feast on the meat inside the hard shell."
Voyager, Bridge.
"Anything?" asked Chakotay as he stood next to Janeway, the both of them staring at the massive ship.
"Our scans are unable to penetrate the hull," said Tuvok.
"So we can't see any life signs," asked Lt. Paris, the helmsman, as he swivelled his chair to look at Tuvok.
"No, we cannot," was Tuvok's reply as Paris frowned before turning back towards his console, "however, scans are complete on the hull itself. It is organic with…"
"Organic?" asked Janeway who turned back to her Vulcan Science officer, "is this a Bio-ship?"
"Hull configuration does not conform to any ships we have on record used by Species 8472," said Tuvok as he looked at his console screen upon hearing a beep. The man's eyes opened wide at what he was seeing.
"Tuvok?" asked Janeway.
"Sensors are showing signs of Borg nanites on the hull of the ship," said Tuvok as he looked up.
"I can confirm that," said Kim.
"Borg?" asked the Captain as she looked at the ship outside the view screen. She was about to call Seven-of-nine, the Borg drone that Voyager had severed from the Collective a year ago, when alarms in the tactical and operations stations started to blare.
"I'm reading a massive energy surge, Captain," said Kim as he looked at the screen, "the power the ship's putting out is…"
It was just then that ten flashes of light erupted from the ship; ten blue coloured, tear shaped plasma blasts that were heading for the ship.
"Red alert!" yelled the Captain, "evasive manoeuvres, and fire all phasers."
The bridge lights dimmed as red accents lit up, to indicate 'red alert' status. The small ship fired her phasers at the larger ship while narrowly avoiding one volley after another. However, the phasers had very little effect since the hull had started to regenerate once the phaser fire stopped hitting a particular location on the hull. It was something that Tuvok had noticed as volley after volley missed the ship.
"Photon torpedo's, full spread!" yelled the Captain. However, the ships' luck ran out. Just as four torpedoes were fired at the massive ship, a plasma blast hit the port section of Voyager. The shields flared while Voyager shock violently. The crew inside were thrown in every other place… some hit the floor, walls, and even the ceilings of each deck before falling back down onto the floor.
"Damage report!" yelled Janeway as she was helped up by Chakotay who was bleeding from his forehead. However, before anyone could answer, the ship was hit again – and then the helm console exploded just as Paris was flung back onto the floor after a violent jerk. Alarms rang throughout the ship as smoke stated to rise from several systems on the bridge while Janeway slowly got to her feet as she was cradling her arm, her face twisted in pain. She had heard a crack from her arm just after she hit a railing hard following the last impact from the plasma blast.
"Ma'am," whispered Kim, who was being helped up by another member of the bridge crew. He was taken to the Operations console where he check on some reading being looking back up at the Captain, "shields are down… phasers are offline."
"Hail them!" yelled Janeway as she limped towards the exploded Helm console while a limping and bleeding Chakotay was helping up Paris, who was dazed.
"No response," said Kim.
"Doctor to the bridge!" yelled Chakotay into his comm-bagde.
"Captain," rasped the Chief Engineer of the ship, B'Elanna Torres, "I'm deactivating the warp core and… if.. if…"
"B'Elanna," said Chakotay as another crewman helped up an injured Tuvok who insisted on staying at his post, despite bleeding from the gash on the side of his forehead, "can you give me warp… any speed… we need to get out of here."
"Commander," said a male voice form engineering, "Lt. Torres is badly injured, the Core was about to breach from the last attack. We had to shut it down or else the ship would explode."
"Get her to sick bay!" yelled Chakotay while Tuvok, wiping the blood from the side of his head, looked at his screen before saying that there were fifty people injured, and ten dead from the last attack.
"Seven of Nine to the bridge," said a female voice in pain, "what has happened?"
"Are you alright, Seven?" asked Janeway was she glared at the strange ship.
"I was regenerating when I was flung out of my alcove," she replied, "I will be heading to the Bridge to assist."
"Are you hurt?" asked Janeway.
"I only have minor injuries, and…."
It was then that the ship shook violently, but it wasn't from any plasma blasts; something which Tuvok attested to when he said that there were hull breaches on deck nine, eight, seven, two, and five.
"Sensor readings are sporadic," said Tuvok as he looked at the screen, "there are six ships that have penetrated the hull… we are being boarded, Captain."
"Get me ship-wide," said the captain. Once Tuvok nodded his head, the Captain gave her orders, "all hands, we have been boarded by unknown hostiles. You are authorised to use whatever force necessary to take them down."
TBC.