Chapter 5: Rescue
Picard sat in the captain's chair. He knew that at that very instant, most of the surviving crew members were now hurrying to escape pods.
"Computer. This is Commander Dawn Summers. Begin autodestruct sequence. Authorization Summers one-one-alpha."
Nearby, a junior officer worked swiftly at a control panel, typing in a response to the request ENTER DESTINATION COORDINATES.
Immediately, a map of Earth appeared on the screen, which zoomed in on a mere pin dot of land in the South Pacific.
COORDINATES ACCEPTED.
LANDING TARGET: GRAVETT ISLAND.
AREA: TEN SQUARE KILOMETERS.
POPULATION: ZERO.
Beverly, her face drawn and tense as she sat at the captain's right, continued the litany.
"Computer, this is Commander Beverly Crusher. Confirm autodestruct sequence. Authorization: Crusher two-two-beta."
To the left, Worf, his voice was subdued: "This is Lieutenant Commander Worf. Confirm autodestruct sequence. Authorization: Worf three-three-gamma."
Instantly, the computer responded.
"Command authorizations accepted. Awaiting final code to begin countdown."
"This is Captain Picard: destruct sequence one-A. Fifteen minutes. Silent countdown." He drew a breath, then felt his throat constrict painfully as he gave the final word: "Enable."
"Self-destruct in fourteen minutes, fifty-five seconds," the computer intoned matter-of-factly. "There will be no further audio warnings."
The three of them—Picard, Worf, Crusher—exchanged a solemn look. Picard rose and took a long, final look at his bridge.
"So much for the Enterprise-E," Crusher said, wistful.
Picard put a hand on his chair and gave a distracted nod, gazing out at the viewscreen image of the blue, slowly rotating Earth. "I barely knew her."
"Think they'll build an F?" she asked; he turned.
Picard smiled at her with his eyes alone. "I have a feeling they'll keep building them until they run out of letters."
Dawn looked at her counterpart who smiled at her. She could feel there was one more thing she had to do.
Commander Dawn and Beverly joined the calm group of bridge personnel, each awaiting a turn to crawl into the Jefferies tube hatch that led to the escape pods. Worf was among them, next in line and already crouching down, ready to climb through the hatch.
"Mr. Worf?" Picard called softly.
The Klingon straightened, waved the next person to take his place, then faced his captain.
Picard met his gaze directly. "I regret some of the things I said to you earlier."
"Some?" Worf cocked a brow in surprise, but one corner of his lips quirked upward, dimpling one cheek in a very un-Klingon-like display of humor.
Picard returned the smile and extended his hand; Worf immediately took it. "In case there's any doubt," the captain said, "you're the bravest man I've ever met." He paused to glance back at the image of Earth. "See you on Gravett Island."
The Klingon nodded, gave his captain's hand one last, firm shake, then moved quickly to the hatch and disappeared.
Picard looked to Buffy and Dawn the last two that remained on the bridge with him.
"Now," Dawn said. "Isn't there something we need to do?"
"We?" Picard asked.
"You have a tactical advantage in retrieving your friend," Buffy said. "One the queen doesn't understand or may not suspect."
"I cannot ask you two for your help," Picard said. "When it means potentially altering your history."
"Did you think this could be part of her history," Dawn said. "To help you, rescue him?"
Picard looked at the two of them for several moments and then at the viewscreen that showed Earth. He tapped his commbadge. "Picard to Commander Dawn Summers."
"It is up to you, Jean-Luc," came Commander Dawn's reply. "I know what I do, but I can't tell you or it could influence what you do and change my history."
"Thank you, Dawn," Picard said as he looked at his friend's past. "I can't, without knowing exactly how your part unfolds. I can see two outcomes. You help, yes that is one and we get off the ship before it explodes. Or we don't and you float in space for the next several hundred years. I can't risk potentially changing your future."
"Very well," Dawn said. "Take care, Captain."
"And the two of you," Picard said. "If you see Commander Riker or any of my crew, give them this," Picard said as held out a padd.
"What is it?" Buffy studied it curiously.
"Orders to find a quiet corner of North America— and stay out of history's way."
Buffy and Dawn nodded and headed down the ladder. When they were out of earshot of Picard they stopped.
"I'm going to help him," Dawn said. "It's the right thing to do, I know it."
"Did the other Dawn tell you something?" Buffy asked as Dawn shook her head. She nodded and hugged Dawn. "If you get killed, I'm telling."
And that was all there was to be said as they laughed and then turned in different directions.
Dawn moved calmly and deliberately though the empty ship. She climbed through the tunnels in the wall, making sure the Borg was not aware of her presence until the right moment. It was from the tunnel in the wall she watched what happened below in Engineering as she readied herself.
Below Dawn, Picard crossed the threshold into Engineering. She noted that none of the Borg stirred as he entered and gazed at his surroundings. Which told her, he had been expected.
Dawn noticed movement behind him and then she saw her, the queen.
"What's wrong, Locutus?" asked she in a voice feminine, seductive, slightly mocking voice. "Don't you recognize me? Organic minds are such fragile things. How could you forget me so quickly? We were very close, you and I. You can still hear our song."
Dawn watched as the Queen's hand touched Picard's cheek. She placed her hand against the wall of the tunnel and began drawing energy into her.
Picard staggered backward. "Yes," he said. "I remember you. You were there ... you were there the entire time. But—that ship and all the Borg on it were destroyed."
Her coy expression grew scornful. "You think in such three dimensional terms." She turned her angular chin toward one shoulder. "How small you've become. Data understands me, don't you, Data?"
From one of the alcoves, Data stepped forth, his expression composed, entirely emotionless .
And almost totally human, golden eyes now blue, brown hair tousled, face almost entirely covered by pink human flesh.
"What have you done to him?" Picard asked with concern.
"Given him what he's always wanted. Flesh and blood."
"Let him go," he demanded. "He's not the one you want."
Her lips parted in the sly, slightly mocking smile. "Are you offering yourself to us?"
"Offering myself ... that's it. I remember now. It wasn't enough to assimilate me; you wanted me to give myself freely to the Borg, to you."
She seemed to sense that freedom, to be repelled by it; the corner of an alabaster lip curled in repugnance. "You flatter yourself. I have overseen the assimilation of countless millions. You were no different."
"You're lying," Picard said, with bitter relief.
"You wanted more than just another Borg drone. You wanted the best of both worlds, a human being with a mind of his own who could bridge the gulf between humanity and the Borg. You wanted a counterpart. An equal. But I resisted. I fought you."
The curled lip rose higher, baring hard, white teeth. "You can't begin to imagine the life you denied yourself."
"That's why you created Locutus—to ease the burden of your lonely existence. But it didn't work; I resisted. And in the end, you had to turn Locutus into just another drone."
"You cannot begin to imagine the life you denied yourself," she said, an unmistakable trace of sadness in her voice, her eyes.
"Together ... nothing could have stopped us."
He took a deliberate step toward her, fighting to suppress his revulsion. "It's not too late. Locutus can still be with you, just as you wanted him. An equal." He shot a sidewise glance at the unresponsive android-human hybrid. "Let Data go, and I will take my place at your side—willingly, without resistance."
She moved closer, her body almost touching his; she spoke, and he fought not to shudder at the feel of her warm, sterile breath upon his skin. "Such a noble creature—a quality we sometimes lack. We will add your distinctiveness to our own," she murmured. "Welcome home, Locutus..."
She lifted a hand and stroked cool fingertips teasingly over his cheek; he forced himself not to flinch. Then, abruptly, she turned toward Data. "You're free to go, Data."
The human android did not move.
"Data, go," Picard commanded.
"I do not wish to go," Data replied simply.
The Borg queen smiled. "As you can see, I've already found an equal. Data—deactivate the self-destruct sequence."
Picard reacted with alarm. He took a desperate step toward Data; immediately, two drones stepped from the shadows behind him, each seizing an arm and holding him fast.
"Data!" he shouted. "Don't do it! Listen to me!"
Dawn watched as android moved calmly to a computer console and pressed a series of controls with preternatural speed.
"Autodestruct sequence deactivated," the computer reported.
Dawn prepared to knock the grate out of the way and fire, but something stopped her. She looked at Data and his gaze met hers. And she knew instantly he had a plan. One that might even involve her. His gaze flicked toward a tube and Dawn nodded in understanding without knowing what exactly the gas in the tube would do.
The queen directed a smile of purely malevolent triumph at Picard, though her words were still addressed to Data. "Now ... enter the encryption codes and give me computer control."
Data complied, and as he worked, the queen stared into Picard's eyes with such infinite malice, infinite satisfaction.
Data looked up from his console; simultaneously, the warp core began to pulse, and all consoles in engineering blinked to life. The near-human android moved to the queen's side and said, as the two Borg guards dragged Picard toward a surgical table: "He will make an excellent drone."
The Borg dragged the captain to a surgical table—but let their queen have the honor of slamming the human down upon it.
Dawn watched as Picard stared up at the queen.
"The Phoenix is coming into range," Data said. "I am bringing the phasers online."
The queen smiled, gloating, and leaned closer to Picard.
Dawn watched as Data joined the queen and Picard. She watched as the android gave his commanding officer a look and then looked up, at her.
Was Data telling Picard she was there?"
Data moved to a console, on whose monitor was displayed the long, cylindrical capsule of the Phoenix, with her flanking warp nacelles and Dawn smiled. The Phoenix had risen from the ashes and if they could just wait one more minutes it would be in warp.
The monitor image of Cochrane's ship was partly obscured by blinking red cross hairs.
"Quantum torpedoes locked," Data said.
The Borg queen graced Data with a savage smile, her delight in the moment distracting her from commencing surgery upon Picard. "Destroy them."
Picard drew in a breath as Data returned his attention to the monitor, lifted his android arm, and held the white-gold synthetic hand poised over the controls, on the verge of complying. But then he shot an odd glance back at the queen, turned, and took a step toward her.
"Resistance," he said, "is futile."
At that moment Dawn pushed open the grate and the queen turned and looked up. Dawn fired a massive amount of energy at the plasma conduit.
Liquid gas spewed from the resulting puncture.
Data leapt at the queen and grabbed her just as three long black cables snaked downward at her silent command.
Picard had prepared for this moment: at once, he freed himself and stood upon the table to avoid the lethal flood that washed past upon the deck. When the cables arrived, he threw himself at them, succeeded in grabbing one, and began a desperate scramble toward the ceiling—away from the slowly rising gas and toward Dawn.
The moment Picard was on the balcony above the swirls of gas, he moved to help Dawn out of the tunnel in the wall. They looked down at where lay the queen—the pale flesh of her handsome face and hands bubbling as it slowly slid from her skeleton.
Picard moved to a wall panel, opened it, and struck a control. An enormous whoosh followed as the emergency ventilation system set to work; the captain at once moved back to Dawn at the edge of the deck and peered down.
In that brief instant, the powerful vents had already sucked away all but a few last wisps of plasma coolant, revealing a grisly—but relief-inspiring—sight: the stripped metal skeletons of Borg drones, most fallen from their alcoves as they slept, interior metal workings spilled everywhere.
Picard and Dawn made their way to an access ladder and down to the first level. The sprawling metal carcasses were so numerous, the chamber so vast, that they spent some time looking through the black-and-gray sea before finding Data sitting among them.
All of the new human flesh on the android's face and right arm had been utterly stripped away, exposing the silvery android skeleton beneath; the synthetic flesh on his left arm, however, remained.
Dawn and Picard hurried to him—but Picard was stopped in midstride by a faint whisper ... then two, then three, and more in his head. He knew at once what it was, the voice of the collective. He glanced about the cavernous chamber for any sign of the queen, of surviving drones. At last, when he looked up, he saw to his horror several Borg convulsing on the upper level—unharmed by the gas, but apparently suffering from the harm done their queen.
And still, the voices whispered.
Locutus...
On instinct, he whirled and saw behind him she who was all: a blinking steel cranium atop a smooth metal spine. She writhed in frustrated anguish, struggling to lift herself, to rise, to conquer and control as she had done from the beginning of time.
Her condition might have been seen as frighteningly pathetic—as indeed it was—but Picard wasted no time on such emotions. Instead, he summoned to his mind a million years of misery: a million planets and their lucky inhabitants consumed by fireballs, a billion planets and the not-sofortunate natives assimilated, their wills consumed by the queen, their individual minds forced into endless purgatory.
Picard reached forth with his hands, and with a surge of adrenalized, inhuman strength, seized her slender metal spine and snapped it in two.
Dawn smiled as she watched. She knew that what she had to do, was now done. Picard had gotten his revenge, he had killed Ahab's whale. And with the queen's death, Dawn knew that Picard would be no longer be haunted by what had been done to him.
The cranium ceased blinking and glowed stark red for a long, agonizing minute ... then abruptly darkened, and the queen fell still.
When at last Picard turned from the queen, he saw Data, Dawn was helping him to sit up, though he was apparently unharmed.
"Are you all right?" Picard asked.
Apparently the emotion chip was active, for the android replied with remarkable good humor, "I would imagine I look worse than I feel." He gazed down at the corpse of the queen. "Strange. Part of me is sorry that she is dead."
"She was ... unique," Picard said as he looked at Dawn as he wondered which one, she was. His friend or the one from this time period. Then he realized this was the past Dawn not the one he had known for years.
"She brought me closer to humanity than I ever thought possible," Data confessed. "And for a time, I was tempted by her offer."
"How long a time?" Dawn wondered.
"Zero point eight six seconds," said Data, as both Dawn and Picard grinned. "For an android, that is nearly an eternity."
Still smiling, they helped Data to his feet. "Try to put it behind you, Data," Picard said.
The android hesitated, his golden eyes intense with curiosity. "Is that what you did, Captain, six years ago?"
The smile abruptly fled Picard's face as he looked at Dawn. And he remembered how she had persuaded him that he had not done what he had just told Data to do. "No…"
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
Buffy and Dawn stood on either side of Zefram as they and everyone else gazed up at the sky, at bright lights that shone through the night clouds, the lights that had drawn every townsperson to the silo, the lights of a descending spacecraft.
A murmur passed through the crowd as the colossal ship—a good twenty times the size of the Phoenix—at last emerged from the clouds. To Dawn and Buffy, it looked rather like a huge pterodactyl spreading its great wings as it lowered itself, feet first, to the ground—a sleek, high- tech pterodactyl, of course, with wings suspiciously reminiscent of warp nacelles and landing lights aglitter like jewels. And a domed head in the center.
As it descended, landing gear emerged from its belly, and the "claws," which had been tucked under the nacelles, began to lower, merging with the gear to form a stable platform. With exceptional grace, it slowed almost to a stop, hovered a few feet above the earth, then settled down so delicately that the ground never shuddered.
Riker and Commander Buffy stepped forward and took Zefram gently by the arm.
"Zefram," Commander Buffy said softly, "you're on."
Zefram stared at them—perfectly sober, yet drunk with awe. "My God. . . they're really from another world?"
Riker smiled in his easy manner. "And they're going to want to meet the man who flew that warp ship."
A whirr, a hiss; a hatch in one of the landing claws began slowly to open. Zefram glanced deliberately toward the shadows where Picard and Commander Dawn invisibly watched. then took a deep breath and strode over into the blinding circle of light where the alien ship stood. There he waited, expression and eyes bright, nervous, until at last the hatch swung completely open.
Light spilled out, illuminating the night air; three hooded figures emerged, robed in elegant patterned brocades of charcoal, bronze, aubergine. Human-sized,
One of the taller ones pulled back its hood.
It was a man. A handsome man, with a strong jaw, strong cheekbones, coal-black upswept eyebrows—all framed by a severe fringe of coal-black bangs. His skin was pale. And there there were the ears, they were unswept, pointed as a pixie's, yet they possessed a delicacy and naturalness that was becoming rather than ridiculous.
Behind him, the other aliens lowered their hoods as well, revealing another male with precisely the same coloring and haircut, and a striking woman with the same coloring and fringed bangs, but a waist-length jet braid entwined with jewels.
Slowly, regally, with remarkable and formal composure, the group's leader walked over to Zefram and raised a hand, palm out. Zefram mimicked the gesture, adding an uncertain smile and a little wave.
The alien indulged in neither. His expression pleasant but decidedly solemn, he kept the hand raised, then separated the thumb, index, and middle fingers from the ring, and little fingers to form two V"s. "Live long and prosper," he said, in flawless, unaccented English.
Zefram worked frantically to emulate the gesture, but he finally gave up and instead smiled genuinely at the alien. "Um ... thanks."
The alien tilted his head and cocked a black eyebrow at him.
From the nearby shadows, Buffy and Dawn heard Picard's voice: "I think it's time for us to make a discreet exit."
Beside them, Riker nodded and surreptitiously tapped the small insignia beneath his jacket. "Riker to Enterprise. Stand by to beam us up." He, Beverly and Geordi moved deeper into the shadows, out of view; Picard, Commander Dawn and Commander Buffy stepped to the radiance's edge and smiled at Buffy and Dawn, who walked up to him.
"I envy you ... the world you're going to," Dawn said warmly.
The corner of his lip quirked, and an amused look came over his face; she got the feeling he was thinking of revealing something, but then decided against it. "I envy the two of you," he said, "taking these first steps into a new frontier." He stepped back into the shadows to give Buffy and Dawn a moment with their counterparts.
"Take care of yourselves," Buffy said.
"And you," Commander Buffy said. "You two will see so much. In a way I envy you and wish I could see it all again."
"You know I wish you and I had a chance to spar," Buffy said as Commander Buffy laughed. "Just to see you know."
"I would have liked that," Commander Buffy said.
"Can you give us any kind of hint?" Dawn asked.
"You know we can't," Commander Dawn said. "You've already seen a lot. I would say we will see each other again. Well in a way we will, but it will be you on this side. Enjoy yourselves."
Commander Dawn and Commander Buffy stepped back into the shadows.
Buffy and Dawn forced themselves to walk away, but they remained close enough to hear what happened next.
"Picard to Enterprise. Energize. . ."
Then a strange, shimmering hum. And Buffy and Dawn knew they had gone, and would not see them again for a very long time. Still the sisters could not resist staring up into the night sky watching and waiting. Then they saw what they'd been waiting for: not the horrifying bolts of laserfire streaking earthward, but a flash of rainbow light and a tiny star sailing inside it, then abruptly vanishing into the future.
Three hundred years later Dawn made her way through the corridors of the Enterprise. "Bridge," she said as she entered a turbolift and it proceeded towards the bridge. The moment it stopped she stepped out and looked around and smiled.
Riker was the first to notice her and smiled. "Captain," he said.
"Will," Dawn said as she walked over to Riker. "Permission granted to drop rank."
Riker smiled as he pulled Dawn into an embrace. When he stepped back, he smiled as he looked at Dawn. "Congratulations on your promotion, Dawn. Did you decide if you were staying on Earth or…?"
"I accepted command of the U.S.S. Sunnydale," Dawn said. "Is Jean-Luc in his ready room?"
"He is," Riker said. "Tell Buffy congratulations on her promotion as well."
"I will," Dawn said.
"You know I expected since she was first officer of both the NX-01 and Kirk's Enterprise that she would have been given command. Not that you haven't warranted it, Dawn. You both have."
"She didn't want it," Dawn said. "She will be my security chief though."
Riker nodded as he watched as Dawn moved to the door.
"Come," came Picard's voice seconds after the door chimed.
Dawn stepped into the ready room and Picard looked up at Dawn from his desk and smiled. "Hello, Lily."
Dawn laughed. "I haven't heard that name in a very long time."
"Well technically your heard it just a few days ago," Picard said. "So where is the Sunnydale off to?"
"We're taking Worf to Deep Space Nine while the Defiant is being refit," Dawn said. "Then who knows."
"Well it was my pleasure to serve with you," Picard said.
"As it was mine to serve with you," Dawn said.
"Also, I wanted to say thank you," Picard said.
"For what?" Dawn asked.
"For Data. I know you saved him three hundred years ago, but I didn't get to say thank you to your counterpart," Picard said.
"She could feel it," Dawn said as Picard nodded in understanding. "Permission to disembark, sir."
"Granted, Captain," Picard said.