USS Avalon

Avenger Class Battlecruiser NCC-20616

Main Bridge

En Route to Sedna


─•~:~•─


"Captain Bakay, I would like to know just what in the hell you're thinking!" Commander Fizbil shouted at his Captain, speaking the words that were on everyone's mind.

"Sit down," Zelina said, quietly.

The Caitain XO shook his fur-covered head, and instead looked at the helmsman, "Mister Sheppard, full stop. Take us back to the Task Force at full impulse-"

Fizbil's orders were interrupted by his Captain shoving him forward. When he turned, Zelina had her Marine-issue assault phaser staring him in his face.

"SIT. DOWN!" Zelina screamed at him.

Her eyes were red from all the tears she had been shedding for the last few hours, but they were still full of anger, and Fizbil knew that his Captain – a woman he had known for eight years – would shoot if he said the wrong thing.

"Zelina, you're scaring us. We shouldn't be charging off like this without backup. Please, just hear me out," said Fizbil, trying to soothe Zelina's clearly frayed nerves.

"I know what I'm doing. We're flying the second most well-armed ship in the fleet. We'll take these boshtets on ourselves. And I won't be afraid anymore." Zelina said, holstering her phaser and sitting down in her seat again, "Continue previous course, helm."

This was for Rain's benefit as much as it was for Earth or Starfleet. She ran away in the CIC. Zelina was afraid. Afraid of death. Afraid of being away from a girl she loved. And afraid that she'd never be enough for Rain.

She had to prove to Rain she was strong. Zelina heard what Rain had said to her just a day before.

You don't have to be afraid. You don't have to be strong. You don't have to be brave. You don't have to fight like I do. I will always protect you, and I will never lie to you about anything, ever again.

But what Zelina didn't have the courage to say to her was Kochania tse dwoje, Love is two people. How could she let her one and true love protect her if Zelina weren't willing to do the same for her?

And she loved Rain. She didn't care that Rain was an Augment. She didn't care that Rain was a criminal. And she didn't even care if Rain was only Seventeen. Zelina had fallen in love with her from their first kiss, three years ago in Beaufort.

Zelina had fallen in love with Kayla as well, and more than anything else, she wanted to go home and live with Kayla and Rain in that palace in the mountains, forever and happily ever after, just like the fairy tale says.

But before the fairy tale could happen, she had to prove to Rain, and herself, that she was strong too.

"Comrades, we are flying in a ship built for battle. Stop being so scared. Let's send these Borg to hell, da?"

"Aye Captain!" answered all the bridge crew, even Fizbil.

They were scared, but the Captain was right.

Avalon had been the most effective combatant during Operation Soul's Edge just a year ago. Even without shields, she had killed twenty Kinshya battle cruisers all by herself, and damaged nearly fifty more, in return for almost no damage to herself. She lacked a Nadion Pulse Cannon but was otherwise as well armed as any of the four much larger Vanguard class Battleships, and unlike those massive BB's, Avalon had a proven and tested in battle design.

"I have a visual on the enemy vessel Captain. On screen." Jake Shakley, the BC's gunner said next.

He flipped the image on the view-screen, and for only a moment, Zelina felt some of her confidence slip.

The Diamond shaped Borg vessel was unmistakably Borg in design, with its mechanical looking hull, black armour, and machine-like nature. But beyond that, it was completely strange and alien to Avalon and her crew.

It was much larger than the 330-metre-long battlecruiser, and looked to be stronger than any other Borg vessel yet encountered by Starfleet.

"Tactical Assessment," Zelina ordered, refusing to let her confidence break now.

Jake's confidence was broken, however, and he spoke with an uncertain voice,

"I can't get any kind of reading off her hull, Captain. All of our sensor scans are being bounced away. She's got some kind of subspace-dampening field around her, but way over anything we've ever seen the Borg put out before."

"That doesn't matter. She can die like anything else. Are we in weapons range yet?" Zelina asked.

"Aye," Jake replied simply.

Zelina rose and hoped her own confidence would rub off on the rest of the crew, "Full power to the Plasma Lance. Fire when ready!"

The space around Avalon lit up as the fang of blue plasma erupted from the ventral hull and screamed across space almost faster than the eye could track.

Zelina watched as the beam, burning at 4500° Kelvin, and bringing all her hate, anger, and fear with it closed in on the Borg Diamond.

A heartbeat later, the beam slammed cleanly into the middle of the diamond, and Zelina smiled knowing that it would cut the Borg in half in less than a minute, and Rain would finally know that her lover had her own strength.

But the beam, and Zelina's strength, began to wither away, and after that same minute, the safety interlocks on the Plasma Lance's reactor automatically kicked in to prevent an overload.

And the black Diamond was still coming towards Avalon.


Minimal thermal damage to section 2-1-8. Applying thermal reinforcement compound 42-A. Adaption in progress.

The Queen smiled, letting that emotional sub-process come to the surface of her mind for just a moment.

5618 always managed to surprise her Collective with their innovative resistance. In this case, they seemed to have gone back to an earlier model.

Her library files recalled one of her predecessor's encounters with a similar weapon almost forty years ago. While the plasma shot fired from the main deflector of the vessel that 5618 called Enterprise-D had failed to do any damage to Cube 118 – due in no small part to the knowledge taken from Locutus, knowledge that had now belonged to her – clearly 5618 didn't abandon the concept entirely.

The Plasma Lance mounted on USS Avalon, an Avenger class battle cruiser, was a far more efficient method of plasma energy discharge.

She ran a brief series of simulations in her background programs, evaluating the scenarios of what might happen if Cube 118 had confronted Avalon, instead of Diamond 802.

Her simulation software was less efficient than that possessed by Five of Eight, but it was adequate to her purpose.

9 999 simulations out of 10 001 confirmed that Cube 118 would have stood no chance against this more efficient weapon. It was fortunate that her Collective could innovate as well.

"Create a file in /root/dir/offensive_weaponry/adaption_templates and begin a process draft to construct a similar weapon. This model may prove to be a useful upgrade to probe and sphere production." She instructed the Collective, with her more logical mind not allowing her to miss an opportunity to further perfect herself.

The Collective began to comply, but the combat algorithm interrupted.

Alert. USS Avalon moving to course 128 mark 315. Additional weapons detected. Beginning Adaption sequence 98126.

"Potential of catastrophic damage?"

0.000018%. Catastrophic Damage risk is irrelevant. Resistance is Futile


"I can't see any kind of damage on that thing, Captain. The Plasma lance is cut off, we need at least five minutes for the reactor to cool off before we can fire again," Shakley said, letting the fear fully take his confidence.

Zelina let her own confidence turn to rage, and screamed back, "We have other weapons, don't we?! Start fucking shooting! Everything we've got, now!"

Shakley and the rest of the crew complied, and Avalon danced in space as she raced towards the Borg Diamond.

From her considerable jaws, Avalon fired with everything she had.

Photon and Quantum torpedoes screamed out from her forward magazine, followed closely behind by red anti-proton bursts from her CIWS systems. Behind the bursts and torpedoes, pulse phaser blasts flew out in every direction, while the more precisely targeted phaser strips cut orange lances across space and onto the hull of the Diamond.

In just over forty-five seconds, Avalon had shot out more ordinance than the entire 7th Fleet had during the First Battle of Chin'toka.

All of her considerable weaponry found easy targets, and the Diamond was sheathed in fire and explosions.

Zelina swore she could feel her battle cruiser shaking itself apart, as Avalon continued her relentless assault.

The red and blue torpedoes slammed endlessly, one after another, into the middle of the black Diamond. The anti-proton bursts fired from her CIWS systems wreathed the Black Diamond in red fire, while the pulse-phaser blasts created even more explosions on every part of the hull. Finally, eight different phaser beams cut lines all across the Borg ship, sort of like a macabre artist painting a picture in space.

The Diamond erupted in a massive explosion, and the darkness of space went as bright as Sol for just a moment.

Instinctively, Zelina turned away from the view screen as the auto-filters of the ship kicked in.

And inside, she felt strong. Strong enough for Rain.


Minor damage to power channels 221, 218, 216, 215. Secondary power taps destroyed in sub-junctions 315, 291, 807, 222. Hull damage estimated at 1.68%. Power to primary shields holding at 15.76%.

"A valiant effort," The Queen replied to the combat algorithm.

Once again, the emotional sub-process broke to the surface of her mind, and she admired the determination of 5618. No other species yet encountered by her Collective had ever resisted assimilation so fiercely.

Even Species 8472, responsible for the deaths of so many drones and the greatest material loss ever suffered by the Collective did not earn such respect. For all their advancements in biological processes and genetic engineering, they did not have the passion that 5618 possessed.

They didn't value their own lives as much. And, as she was reminded by her third predecessor's library files, they too had fallen to the fury of 5618.

An exceedingly small part of her mind almost felt like retreating, out of respect for Avalon and her valiant crew.

But that was an inefficient methodology. And mercy was irrelevant.

"Destroy them."


The explosion cleared, and the bridge crew started cheering. Truly, there was nothing in the entire galaxy that could stand against mighty Avalon.

In Arthurian Legend, Avalon was the land of apples, a magical island that held the hidden power to give The Knights of the Round Table the strength to defend England against the Saxons.

It was where King Arthur's sword Excalibur was forged. It was where his magical protector Morgan Le Fay made her home, and it was the final place where Arthur came to lie when he was mortally wounded defending the realm against Mordred and the Saxon Hordes.

The name was meant to invoke strength, courage, honour, and perhaps just a touch of magic to defend the Federation against other hordes, be they Saxon or Borg. Zelina often joked with her crew that Rain was her Lancelot and that with the help of Squires Kayla and Comrose, they would one day find the Holy Grail together in deep space.

But after the explosion cleared, and as Zelina turned to look at the view-screen once more, she knew in her broken heart that even the Cup of Christ wouldn't save her now.

"T-there's... minimal damage to the Borg ship, Captain. We...we didn't kill it," Jake said from the gunner's station, his voice shaking in terror.

Zelina was dumbstruck and couldn't say a word in reply.

Fizbil screamed out in terror, "This is insane! We have to get out of here, now! Helm, bring us about and get us-"

Fizbil didn't finish his order. From the middle of the Black Diamond, a curious orb of green energy formed up. Seconds later, the green orb shot forward, as fast as Avalon's plasma lance, and slammed hard into the little battle cruiser.

The green energy cut through both shield grids and savaged the ablative armour covering her hull, throwing the ship 13° off her Z-axis and knocking her backwards nearly a kilometre in space.

On the bridge, it felt like the entire universe had exploded beneath her feet. Zelina was knocked off her feet, as was everyone else still standing. Consoles and EPS power taps shot out in showers of sparks.

Fizbil's cat-like reflexes allowed him to land on his feet, but a few seconds later, a piece of shrapnel from what used to be his XO console shot into his head, and the cat-like XO died on the floor with a look of true fear in his remaining eye.

Zelina tried to stand up, but realized that both of her legs were broken, as her entire body screamed out in the same pain that mighty Avalon was feeling.

She looked around the darkened bridge, with blood from her forehead obscuring the vision in her left eye, and screamed out, "Report! Anyone!"

Longer than she expected, Jake, at last, answered her, "They fired...fuck...they fired some kind of plasma discharge at us. I... ahh fuck!" he screamed out in pain.

Zelina looked at the weapons station and noted that Jake had only one working arm. The other arm hung grotesquely at his side with a large piece of shrapnel embedded into his shoulder. He was also leaning his body against his station to brace himself, considering that the only thing left of his right leg was burnt uniform pants.

"D-damage report," Zelina ordered as she tried to drag herself back to her Captain's chair.

Jake coughed blood out onto his console before he could answer, "We lost both shield generators. Warp drive's gone, Impulse engines are gone, and ablative armour is hanging on by spitballs and prayers. Weapons are offline, internal sensors are gone. Life support is down to 12%," Jake replied, stopping to hold himself up.

Zelina stopped just short of her chair.

Instead, she rolled onto her back and stared up at the roof of her ship, "Is...is the plasma lance back yet?"

Jake mustered all of his strength to cry back, "Fuck the plasma lance, Zelina! We're dead in the fucking water here! Not. Combat. Fucking. Effective! We've gotta get out of here while we still can!"

She knew he was right, as much as it broke her heart to admit it.

Rain would be so cross with her.

Zelina hit her comm-badge and weakly cried out, "This...This is the Captain. Abandon ship. Repeat, abandon ship. Save yourselves, comrades."

The sinister blue alarm sounded throughout the wounded Battle Cruiser, and Zelina hoped that at least a few of her Knights survived their Captain's tragic mistake. She rolled to her side and was about to order Jake to leave her behind when she noticed Jake was already on the floor himself and had already died from blood loss just seconds ago.

Zelina made one final conscious act. She tapped her comm-badge three times, opening a QC channel to the one place she wanted to be besides here. Battling through tears and pain, she spoke her last words as quickly as she could.

"Rain, if you get this...I'm sorry. I wanted to make you proud. I wanted to be as strong as you are. Please, don't hate me for that. Kochania tse dwoje, muy lovba. Help Kayla with her studies and tell her I'm sorry that she can't come to the ship this week. And pet Comrose for me too, Da? I... I have to go now. Ya tebe duzhe liubliu, Rain."

She managed to take one last look at the view-screen and saw a second sinister green orb forming up in front of the Black Diamond, preparing to make the kill.

I wonder if heaven will have apples.

That was all she could think about as the world around her burned, while Mighty Avalon died in cold, unforgiving space.