The Borg Cube was still behind them, and Beka was starting to wear down. The Borg might not be good slipstream pilots, but they didn't seem to get tired. Beka realised that there was no way she could outrun them.
Harper, Tyr, and Dylan were standing next to the main weapons station, trying to come up with a way to stop the Cube. While they were trying to come up with unusual weapon systems, there was a bright flash in the center of the bridge. A man wearing the uniform of a High Guard admiral stood at the center of the bridge.
"Nice outfit," The stranger said, examining a sleeve of his uniform, "But it doesn't breath like the starfleet ones."
"You did this!" Harper accused, walking over to the newcomer, "You gave the Borg slipstream, you brought them here, you trapped us next to that vortex! Didn't you!?"
"Now, since when have I been known to meddle with the affairs of humans?"
"Hey, I know about all that stuff you did to the Federation," Harper explained.
"I'm sure you do. Why, I'm the only character to appear in every Star Trek series to date."
"You know about Star Trek?" Harper asked.
"I'm Q! Of course I know about it. In fact, I think John DeLancie did a pretty good job, even if it is a little ridiculous for an omnipotent Q to show no control over his own receding hair line."
"Harper, would you mind introducing us to your friend?" Dylan walked over to them.
"This is Q," Harper explained, "He's pretty much omnipotent, omniscient, sadistic..."
"Hey, I resent that," Q responded in mock hurt, "I was only putting humanity on trial for its own crimes."
"What about the time you sent the Enterprise D crew to be characters from Robin Hood, or that time you turned Starbase 216 into a giant doughnut?"
"Oh, you're just like Picard and all those other humans. You should really learn to relax and see the humor in a situation."
"You turned a starbase into a giant doughnut?" Dylan was shocked.
"Of course not," Q was indignant, "It was a bagel, and it wasn't my fault. Q wanted to turn the starbase into something, and I tried to talk him out of it. But, I'm sure you know how children are. Besides, the starbase put an end to the famine on Jeruis Prime. I thought starfleet could at least be happy about that, but no. Its all about starbases with them."
"So, did you do this or not?" Harper insisted.
"I wouldn't do something like this. I mean, the Borg are so boring. Sure, they're fun to watch once and awhile, but after hearing 'You will be assimilated' a few hundred thousand times, it gets a little old. If I were going to send someone over here, it would probably be the Vorlons, or maybe that Galactic Empire from Star Wars... Anyway, it wasn't me."
"So, how did the Borg get slipstream?" Harper asked.
"What do you think a transwarp conduit is?"
"But transwarp is so slow!" Harper objected.
"That's because they have to map out their slipstream paths as they go along, and their techniques for de-randomizing the stream aren't very advanced. You can go fast because your slipstream doesn't have any interference on it anymore. The Borg are barely learning how to use it."
"So why are you here?" Harper asked.
"I thought you guys might know how to have some fun. But more importantly, Species 8475, as you call it, has been wreaking havoc with the multiverse. There was...an anomaly in space-time that allowed them to break through the inter-universal barriers. Only Q are supposed to be able to do that."
"And you're here to stop them, and other species, from crossing these barriers?" Dylan asked.
"If I were going to do that, it would be over already. I'm just here to observe. Maybe I'll make the situation more interesting now and then, but nothing major."
"How can you just sit there while the Borg assimilate an entire universe?" Harper was aghast.
Q became deadly serious, "You, of all people, should know that the universe is a cold, dark place. Your people once sat around in that little atmosphere around earth, trying so hard to get out into the most inhospitable environment you could imagine. Then, even after you've made it this far, you still don't understand: The universe doesn't want you."
"You aren't the universe," Dylan broke in, "You don't have to sit by and let this happen."
"What would I do?" Q asked, "I could destroy the Cube, and seal the barriers in the multiverse. You'd never encounter the Borg, and you might even rebuild that Commonwealth of yours. For what? So you humans can live a little longer and fool yourselves into thinking that you know how to survive?'
"You don't want us to be destroyed," Harper responded, "We won the continuum's trial."
"You're small, and you think in small terms. The trial doesn't end. You're on trial every minute of every day. And if you're lucky, we might let you live through this."
"Why us? Why does the continuum let the Magog live, but come so close to wiping out humanity?"
Q smirked, "You really think humans are special, don't you? You have a lot to learn from the Magog, if you would open your eyes a bit."
Without another word, Q vanished. As Harper attempted to explain what had just happened, Beka realised that she couldn't keep going any longer. As they expected, the Borg were practically on top of them the instant they returned to normal space.
"A single intruder has beamed aboard," Andromeda stated, "It is a type three cybernetic life form. He's in the engineering section."
"One?" Dylan asked.
"He hasn't tried to access any of my systems yet."
"They need time to adapt to our technology," Harper explained. We have to get rid of the drone."
"Do it," Dylan ordered, "Harper, take over the slipstream drive."
"Right," Harper responded as he relieved Beka.
"I've eliminated the intruder," Andromeda responded, "But another one has beamed aboard... He's got some sort of shield against my main internal defenses. Switching to secondary systems..."
"What's he doing?" Harper asked.
"I'm not sure..." Rommie responded, "He's using some sort of device on... wait, he's tapping into my databanks."
"Shut out the central processing unit!" Harper said, "We've got to get down there and stop him."
"I'm trying, but somehow he's getting extra processing power from the rest of the Borg. They're overriding my security."
"We have to shut down the AI before they reprogram her," Harper frantically pressed keys on his console.
"Andromeda," Dylan said, "Emergency AI shutdown. Access code Lexic Dark 52278."
"Access denied," Andromeda responded, "They're hacking into my command structure."
"Tyr, Harper," Dylan ordered, "We have to get to engineering. Rev, I need you to handle slipstream."
"I'll do my best," The humble Magog answered.
"Rommie, open the door," Harper said, nearly running into it as he bolted for engineering.
"Uhh, guys?" Beka began.
Everyone turned. The first thing they noticed was the blue beam of laser light. To Harper's horror, he realised that Andromeda's hologram had become pale, and now gave the appearance of having mechanical devices implanted in it.
"I am Tarsus of Borg. We have assessed your defenses as being unable to resist us. Your culture and your technology will adapt to service us."
"Rommie!" Harper shouted, and he ran for the nearby android. The humanoid body appeared to be in a trance. When Harper reached her, he grabbed a tool from his belt and waved it just behind her head, "I changed her comm frequencies to cut her off from the ship. We have to get to the Maru before we're all assimilated."
"Harper, you should know that escape is futile. You will be assimilated."
"Best of Both Worlds all over again," Harper muttered.
"Your knowledge of our culture is irrelevant, Harper. We have assimilated all the information in the Andromeda's databanks. We know all that you know."
"Override Seamus 831!" Harper shouted, and the doors to the bridge opened, "I've just unlocked all the doors from here to the Maru, and disabled the internal defenses along the way, but the Borg will restore them soon. Let's go."
"What about the Andromeda?" Dylan stood with his eyes fixed on the hologram.
"We've lost the ship," Harper insisted, "We have to get out of here. We can pick up Trance on the way out."
"I agree," Tyr added, "We can't stay on a ship that's trying to kill us."
"You will not escape. The Maru is incapable of defeating us."
"We'll see," Harper answered, as he followed the rest of the crew out.
After a moment, the AI that was once the Andromeda hailed the Borg Cube, "The crew has escaped. What are your commands?"
"Let them go," The Borg Queen responded, "They are irrelevant. The Cube will proceed to sector 5153 to assimilate a colony from species 10081 in that area. According to your database, an attack force from species 10082 is in grid 1425. You must locate and assimilate them. We are relaying the coordinates of our probes in this universe. You will contact them and relay all relevant data from the Andromeda's computers to them."
"We will comply," Tarsus stated.
"We are sending 1000 drones, technology, and raw materials to complete your assimilation. Will you require anything else?"
"We are prepared," The assimilated AI answered, simply.
***
"I'm picking up the Borg probe," Harry Kim spoke up.
"Change course to intercept," Janeway ordered.
"The probe is holding position," Tuvok stated.
"Seven?" Chakotay turned to the former drone.
"The probe may be awaiting new orders from the collective. This behavior is fairly common on deep space reconnaissance missions."
"We're receiving a signal from the probe," Ensign Kim stated as the Borg took control of Voyager's communications systems.
"We are the Borg, you will be assimilated. We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own. Resistance is futile."
"We'll see how futile it is," Janeway responded.
"We have a weapons lock on the probe," Tuvok stated.
Janeway gave a steely glare to the image of the probe that had just appeared on the viewscreen, "Fire."
"The Borg are firing their primary weapons array," Tuvok stated, "We have been hit, minor damage to the forward shields. I am detecting slight power variances within their shield grid."
"Cut phaser power by 50%," Chakotay ordered.
Voyager was shaken by a blast of energy from the probe, but Tuvok was not distracted. With precise motions, he finished off the shields of the probe and destroyed its primary shield generator. Immediately, the drones were beamed away from the small Borg ship, and isolated in Voyager's brig. Security officers from Voyager, led by Seven of Nine, took control of the Borg ship.
"Lieutenant Monroe," Seven turned, "I will require your assistance in removing the components of this vessel's transwarp drive. Crewman Chell, you will begin downloading information from the computer and upload them to Voyager. Contact me when you have finished your task."
"Yes ma'am," Chell responded, quietly.
"Hey Chell," Beissman strode over to the console Chell had been working on, "Better watch out for left-over nanoprobes. If you get assimilated, Voyager'll have to send over another engineer."
"Hey, those things wouldn't still be working, would they?" Chell looked around nervously.
"I disabled the internal defenses before you arrived," Seven stated, "Crewman Beissman, I suggest you find a way to be useful."
"How? I'm a weapons expert, and we already took care of all the drones."
"Examine the Borg weapons array. It could be used to improve the performance of Voyager's own phaser systems."
"No problem," Rick Beissman responded.
Seven tapped her comm badge, "Seven of Nine to Voyager, we have established control of the Borg probe. According to the vessel's database, this area contains numerous transwarp conduits. I suggest we use the probe to open one, and send Voyager through. Another Borg unit could arrive soon to deliver orders to the probe, and that vessel is likely to be more heavily armed."
The first officer's voice came in through the badge, "We can't navigate through a transwarp conduit network without a drive system installed."
"I believe nearly any relocation would be advantageous," Seven responded, "Voyager's shields should keep the vessel within the bounds of a conduit. I can follow you in the probe."
"What do you mean about our shields keeping us in the conduit?"
"This form of transwarp drive works by moving a vessel into a subspace domain in which distances are practically irrelevant. Transwarp conduits are areas in which damaging incoherence has been removed. Vessels do occasionally break through the boundaries of a conduit, though it is generally the result of insufficient energy shielding."
"Agreed," Captain Janeway responded through the comm link, "Open up the conduit whenever you're ready."
"There is a conduit seventy three kilometers on a course of 165 mark 96, relative to the probe. We will open that conduit momentarily."
***
Captain Janeway watched as the probe opened a conduit ahead of them. There was no way to tell where it might bring them, but they could return to their previous position, or to any number of locations, as soon as the probe's technology had been moved to Voyager.
"We're ready," Paris stated.
"All hands, prepare for turbulance," Janeway looked over the bridge, and back to Tom Paris, "Engage."
Both ships were rocked violently. Even Seven was unprepared for the sudden jolt of the foreign transwarp conduit network. It was clear that it had not been made by the Borg. After mere seconds, Voyager and the probe were dumped back into normal space.
"Report!" Janeway ordered.
"Astrometric data from our previous location was inconsistant with any known location within the Milky Way galaxy," Tuvok stated, in his normal matter-of-fact tone, "However, I believe we are now in the Typhon sector."
"Is that even possible?" Paris was awe-struck. His question gave voice to the disbelief that had permeated the bridge. Silence fell over the crew, until the comm system beeped.
"Seven to Voyager," The familiar voice spoke from the nearby probe, "I do not believe that the conduit was created by the Borg. It is far more coherent than any conduit I am familiar with. However, it will take time to access the relevant information in the probe's databanks. Nevertheless, I believe it is safe to assume that we have traveled a far greater distance than any known species has traversed."
Janeway looked at the empty starscape on the viewscreen, and breathed a single word, "Home."
"Your orders, captain?" Tuvok asked, impatient with these strong human emotions.
Janeway awoke from her trance, "Seven, we're beaming you and the others back to Voyager immediately. We can tow the probe in and let Starfleet analyze it. Mr. Paris, set course for earth, maximum warp."
"Yes ma'am," Lieutenant Paris smiled as he laid in the familiar coordinates.
***
"What are we dealing with, exactly?" Dylan asked as the Maru waited in an empty portion of normal space.
"The Borg are a cybernetic species that grow and improve their technology mainly by assimilating other species. They generally beam drones over to a target and use them to capture it. If they run into an organic being that they want to assimilate, the drones inject nanobots into it, which take control at a cellular level. All the drones are connected into a collective consciousness," Harper explained.
"What about an AI?" Dylan asked.
"They usually find a way to break through the security and reprogram it, and then link it to the collective."
"Can the ship be repaired?" Tyr looked only mildly concerned about Andromeda's welfare.
"If we can get the Borg away, and isolate it from the collective, I should be able to dump Rommie's core personality into the ship's main processor."
"What about the cube ship?" Dylan asked.
"It's a Tactical Cube. They're very heavily armed and armored. Their armor technology isn't as advanced as ours, but they have energy shielding and adaptive shielding on top of that. They have a shield-draining pulse weapon, but that shouldn't affect us. The main thing we have to worry about are the torpedo banks and the tractor beam. Plus, they'll probably be adding any useful weapons they get from this universe."
"What sort of internal organization do they have?"
"For the most part, everything is shared fairly equally," Harper responded, "But most drones are designed for maximum efficiency at a particular function. They have scout drones, assimilation drones, engineering drones... The Queen keeps everything in order. She organizes the collective's thoughts, and she's partly separated from the collective. There's also a drone that acts like an avatar for the collective. They're used to anticipate tactics and conduct psychological warfare against recently-encountered species. I think that's what they're doing to Rommie's ship self."
"What can we do?" Trance looked worried.
"We have to use lots of different weapons systems, especially unusual ones. They could adapt to our missles pretty fast because the technology isn't all that different from things they've encountered before. We'll probably have more luck with AP cannons. What we really need, is something that we can remodulate to keep ahead of their adaptive shields. Other than that, I can try modifying some nanobots to fight their assimilating nanoprobes, but they'll change the nanoprobes to fight back. It won't be effective for very long."
"Make the nanobots, but don't use them until I give the order," Dylan decided, "Now, we need to find someone with the right kind of weapons..."
***
'Identifying targets... Three Neitzchian battleships, five Neitzchian cruisers, two Neitzchian heavy transports, eleven Neitzchian frigates, eight Neitzchian destroyers, one hundred thirteen fighters of various designs... Sending standard hail.'
"We are the Borg, you will be assimilated. We have assessed your capabilities, and found you unable to defeat us. Lower your defenses and surrender your ships. Resistance is futile."
'Targets moving into attack formation. Transport drones to largest enemy vessel. Lock primary tractor array on cruiser 02. Destroy all fighters. Regenerating shield grid section three. Torpedo launcher seven disabled...regenerating. Thirty five targets destroyed. Lock secondary tractor array on cruiser 01, transporting drones. Heavy damage to outer hull, section three. Rotate vessel and regenerate. Enemy battleship 72% assimilated. Lock tertiary and quaternary tractor arrays on battleship 03... transporting drones. Regenerate energy production unit 16. Seventy two targets destroyed. Regenerating shield grid in sections three, eight, fifteen, and twenty one... Transport drones to battleship 02. Relocate drones from battleship 01 to cruiser 05. All hostile fighters disabled. Destroy enemy frigates. Transport all scout drones to enemy cruisers. Hostile transports have made contact with our outer hull. Prepare to assimilate boarders. One thousand Neitzchian combat troops infiltrating cube. Moving drones to intercept... Resistance has been sufficiently neutralized. Preparing to assimilate colony of species 10081.
Harper, Tyr, and Dylan were standing next to the main weapons station, trying to come up with a way to stop the Cube. While they were trying to come up with unusual weapon systems, there was a bright flash in the center of the bridge. A man wearing the uniform of a High Guard admiral stood at the center of the bridge.
"Nice outfit," The stranger said, examining a sleeve of his uniform, "But it doesn't breath like the starfleet ones."
"You did this!" Harper accused, walking over to the newcomer, "You gave the Borg slipstream, you brought them here, you trapped us next to that vortex! Didn't you!?"
"Now, since when have I been known to meddle with the affairs of humans?"
"Hey, I know about all that stuff you did to the Federation," Harper explained.
"I'm sure you do. Why, I'm the only character to appear in every Star Trek series to date."
"You know about Star Trek?" Harper asked.
"I'm Q! Of course I know about it. In fact, I think John DeLancie did a pretty good job, even if it is a little ridiculous for an omnipotent Q to show no control over his own receding hair line."
"Harper, would you mind introducing us to your friend?" Dylan walked over to them.
"This is Q," Harper explained, "He's pretty much omnipotent, omniscient, sadistic..."
"Hey, I resent that," Q responded in mock hurt, "I was only putting humanity on trial for its own crimes."
"What about the time you sent the Enterprise D crew to be characters from Robin Hood, or that time you turned Starbase 216 into a giant doughnut?"
"Oh, you're just like Picard and all those other humans. You should really learn to relax and see the humor in a situation."
"You turned a starbase into a giant doughnut?" Dylan was shocked.
"Of course not," Q was indignant, "It was a bagel, and it wasn't my fault. Q wanted to turn the starbase into something, and I tried to talk him out of it. But, I'm sure you know how children are. Besides, the starbase put an end to the famine on Jeruis Prime. I thought starfleet could at least be happy about that, but no. Its all about starbases with them."
"So, did you do this or not?" Harper insisted.
"I wouldn't do something like this. I mean, the Borg are so boring. Sure, they're fun to watch once and awhile, but after hearing 'You will be assimilated' a few hundred thousand times, it gets a little old. If I were going to send someone over here, it would probably be the Vorlons, or maybe that Galactic Empire from Star Wars... Anyway, it wasn't me."
"So, how did the Borg get slipstream?" Harper asked.
"What do you think a transwarp conduit is?"
"But transwarp is so slow!" Harper objected.
"That's because they have to map out their slipstream paths as they go along, and their techniques for de-randomizing the stream aren't very advanced. You can go fast because your slipstream doesn't have any interference on it anymore. The Borg are barely learning how to use it."
"So why are you here?" Harper asked.
"I thought you guys might know how to have some fun. But more importantly, Species 8475, as you call it, has been wreaking havoc with the multiverse. There was...an anomaly in space-time that allowed them to break through the inter-universal barriers. Only Q are supposed to be able to do that."
"And you're here to stop them, and other species, from crossing these barriers?" Dylan asked.
"If I were going to do that, it would be over already. I'm just here to observe. Maybe I'll make the situation more interesting now and then, but nothing major."
"How can you just sit there while the Borg assimilate an entire universe?" Harper was aghast.
Q became deadly serious, "You, of all people, should know that the universe is a cold, dark place. Your people once sat around in that little atmosphere around earth, trying so hard to get out into the most inhospitable environment you could imagine. Then, even after you've made it this far, you still don't understand: The universe doesn't want you."
"You aren't the universe," Dylan broke in, "You don't have to sit by and let this happen."
"What would I do?" Q asked, "I could destroy the Cube, and seal the barriers in the multiverse. You'd never encounter the Borg, and you might even rebuild that Commonwealth of yours. For what? So you humans can live a little longer and fool yourselves into thinking that you know how to survive?'
"You don't want us to be destroyed," Harper responded, "We won the continuum's trial."
"You're small, and you think in small terms. The trial doesn't end. You're on trial every minute of every day. And if you're lucky, we might let you live through this."
"Why us? Why does the continuum let the Magog live, but come so close to wiping out humanity?"
Q smirked, "You really think humans are special, don't you? You have a lot to learn from the Magog, if you would open your eyes a bit."
Without another word, Q vanished. As Harper attempted to explain what had just happened, Beka realised that she couldn't keep going any longer. As they expected, the Borg were practically on top of them the instant they returned to normal space.
"A single intruder has beamed aboard," Andromeda stated, "It is a type three cybernetic life form. He's in the engineering section."
"One?" Dylan asked.
"He hasn't tried to access any of my systems yet."
"They need time to adapt to our technology," Harper explained. We have to get rid of the drone."
"Do it," Dylan ordered, "Harper, take over the slipstream drive."
"Right," Harper responded as he relieved Beka.
"I've eliminated the intruder," Andromeda responded, "But another one has beamed aboard... He's got some sort of shield against my main internal defenses. Switching to secondary systems..."
"What's he doing?" Harper asked.
"I'm not sure..." Rommie responded, "He's using some sort of device on... wait, he's tapping into my databanks."
"Shut out the central processing unit!" Harper said, "We've got to get down there and stop him."
"I'm trying, but somehow he's getting extra processing power from the rest of the Borg. They're overriding my security."
"We have to shut down the AI before they reprogram her," Harper frantically pressed keys on his console.
"Andromeda," Dylan said, "Emergency AI shutdown. Access code Lexic Dark 52278."
"Access denied," Andromeda responded, "They're hacking into my command structure."
"Tyr, Harper," Dylan ordered, "We have to get to engineering. Rev, I need you to handle slipstream."
"I'll do my best," The humble Magog answered.
"Rommie, open the door," Harper said, nearly running into it as he bolted for engineering.
"Uhh, guys?" Beka began.
Everyone turned. The first thing they noticed was the blue beam of laser light. To Harper's horror, he realised that Andromeda's hologram had become pale, and now gave the appearance of having mechanical devices implanted in it.
"I am Tarsus of Borg. We have assessed your defenses as being unable to resist us. Your culture and your technology will adapt to service us."
"Rommie!" Harper shouted, and he ran for the nearby android. The humanoid body appeared to be in a trance. When Harper reached her, he grabbed a tool from his belt and waved it just behind her head, "I changed her comm frequencies to cut her off from the ship. We have to get to the Maru before we're all assimilated."
"Harper, you should know that escape is futile. You will be assimilated."
"Best of Both Worlds all over again," Harper muttered.
"Your knowledge of our culture is irrelevant, Harper. We have assimilated all the information in the Andromeda's databanks. We know all that you know."
"Override Seamus 831!" Harper shouted, and the doors to the bridge opened, "I've just unlocked all the doors from here to the Maru, and disabled the internal defenses along the way, but the Borg will restore them soon. Let's go."
"What about the Andromeda?" Dylan stood with his eyes fixed on the hologram.
"We've lost the ship," Harper insisted, "We have to get out of here. We can pick up Trance on the way out."
"I agree," Tyr added, "We can't stay on a ship that's trying to kill us."
"You will not escape. The Maru is incapable of defeating us."
"We'll see," Harper answered, as he followed the rest of the crew out.
After a moment, the AI that was once the Andromeda hailed the Borg Cube, "The crew has escaped. What are your commands?"
"Let them go," The Borg Queen responded, "They are irrelevant. The Cube will proceed to sector 5153 to assimilate a colony from species 10081 in that area. According to your database, an attack force from species 10082 is in grid 1425. You must locate and assimilate them. We are relaying the coordinates of our probes in this universe. You will contact them and relay all relevant data from the Andromeda's computers to them."
"We will comply," Tarsus stated.
"We are sending 1000 drones, technology, and raw materials to complete your assimilation. Will you require anything else?"
"We are prepared," The assimilated AI answered, simply.
***
"I'm picking up the Borg probe," Harry Kim spoke up.
"Change course to intercept," Janeway ordered.
"The probe is holding position," Tuvok stated.
"Seven?" Chakotay turned to the former drone.
"The probe may be awaiting new orders from the collective. This behavior is fairly common on deep space reconnaissance missions."
"We're receiving a signal from the probe," Ensign Kim stated as the Borg took control of Voyager's communications systems.
"We are the Borg, you will be assimilated. We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own. Resistance is futile."
"We'll see how futile it is," Janeway responded.
"We have a weapons lock on the probe," Tuvok stated.
Janeway gave a steely glare to the image of the probe that had just appeared on the viewscreen, "Fire."
"The Borg are firing their primary weapons array," Tuvok stated, "We have been hit, minor damage to the forward shields. I am detecting slight power variances within their shield grid."
"Cut phaser power by 50%," Chakotay ordered.
Voyager was shaken by a blast of energy from the probe, but Tuvok was not distracted. With precise motions, he finished off the shields of the probe and destroyed its primary shield generator. Immediately, the drones were beamed away from the small Borg ship, and isolated in Voyager's brig. Security officers from Voyager, led by Seven of Nine, took control of the Borg ship.
"Lieutenant Monroe," Seven turned, "I will require your assistance in removing the components of this vessel's transwarp drive. Crewman Chell, you will begin downloading information from the computer and upload them to Voyager. Contact me when you have finished your task."
"Yes ma'am," Chell responded, quietly.
"Hey Chell," Beissman strode over to the console Chell had been working on, "Better watch out for left-over nanoprobes. If you get assimilated, Voyager'll have to send over another engineer."
"Hey, those things wouldn't still be working, would they?" Chell looked around nervously.
"I disabled the internal defenses before you arrived," Seven stated, "Crewman Beissman, I suggest you find a way to be useful."
"How? I'm a weapons expert, and we already took care of all the drones."
"Examine the Borg weapons array. It could be used to improve the performance of Voyager's own phaser systems."
"No problem," Rick Beissman responded.
Seven tapped her comm badge, "Seven of Nine to Voyager, we have established control of the Borg probe. According to the vessel's database, this area contains numerous transwarp conduits. I suggest we use the probe to open one, and send Voyager through. Another Borg unit could arrive soon to deliver orders to the probe, and that vessel is likely to be more heavily armed."
The first officer's voice came in through the badge, "We can't navigate through a transwarp conduit network without a drive system installed."
"I believe nearly any relocation would be advantageous," Seven responded, "Voyager's shields should keep the vessel within the bounds of a conduit. I can follow you in the probe."
"What do you mean about our shields keeping us in the conduit?"
"This form of transwarp drive works by moving a vessel into a subspace domain in which distances are practically irrelevant. Transwarp conduits are areas in which damaging incoherence has been removed. Vessels do occasionally break through the boundaries of a conduit, though it is generally the result of insufficient energy shielding."
"Agreed," Captain Janeway responded through the comm link, "Open up the conduit whenever you're ready."
"There is a conduit seventy three kilometers on a course of 165 mark 96, relative to the probe. We will open that conduit momentarily."
***
Captain Janeway watched as the probe opened a conduit ahead of them. There was no way to tell where it might bring them, but they could return to their previous position, or to any number of locations, as soon as the probe's technology had been moved to Voyager.
"We're ready," Paris stated.
"All hands, prepare for turbulance," Janeway looked over the bridge, and back to Tom Paris, "Engage."
Both ships were rocked violently. Even Seven was unprepared for the sudden jolt of the foreign transwarp conduit network. It was clear that it had not been made by the Borg. After mere seconds, Voyager and the probe were dumped back into normal space.
"Report!" Janeway ordered.
"Astrometric data from our previous location was inconsistant with any known location within the Milky Way galaxy," Tuvok stated, in his normal matter-of-fact tone, "However, I believe we are now in the Typhon sector."
"Is that even possible?" Paris was awe-struck. His question gave voice to the disbelief that had permeated the bridge. Silence fell over the crew, until the comm system beeped.
"Seven to Voyager," The familiar voice spoke from the nearby probe, "I do not believe that the conduit was created by the Borg. It is far more coherent than any conduit I am familiar with. However, it will take time to access the relevant information in the probe's databanks. Nevertheless, I believe it is safe to assume that we have traveled a far greater distance than any known species has traversed."
Janeway looked at the empty starscape on the viewscreen, and breathed a single word, "Home."
"Your orders, captain?" Tuvok asked, impatient with these strong human emotions.
Janeway awoke from her trance, "Seven, we're beaming you and the others back to Voyager immediately. We can tow the probe in and let Starfleet analyze it. Mr. Paris, set course for earth, maximum warp."
"Yes ma'am," Lieutenant Paris smiled as he laid in the familiar coordinates.
***
"What are we dealing with, exactly?" Dylan asked as the Maru waited in an empty portion of normal space.
"The Borg are a cybernetic species that grow and improve their technology mainly by assimilating other species. They generally beam drones over to a target and use them to capture it. If they run into an organic being that they want to assimilate, the drones inject nanobots into it, which take control at a cellular level. All the drones are connected into a collective consciousness," Harper explained.
"What about an AI?" Dylan asked.
"They usually find a way to break through the security and reprogram it, and then link it to the collective."
"Can the ship be repaired?" Tyr looked only mildly concerned about Andromeda's welfare.
"If we can get the Borg away, and isolate it from the collective, I should be able to dump Rommie's core personality into the ship's main processor."
"What about the cube ship?" Dylan asked.
"It's a Tactical Cube. They're very heavily armed and armored. Their armor technology isn't as advanced as ours, but they have energy shielding and adaptive shielding on top of that. They have a shield-draining pulse weapon, but that shouldn't affect us. The main thing we have to worry about are the torpedo banks and the tractor beam. Plus, they'll probably be adding any useful weapons they get from this universe."
"What sort of internal organization do they have?"
"For the most part, everything is shared fairly equally," Harper responded, "But most drones are designed for maximum efficiency at a particular function. They have scout drones, assimilation drones, engineering drones... The Queen keeps everything in order. She organizes the collective's thoughts, and she's partly separated from the collective. There's also a drone that acts like an avatar for the collective. They're used to anticipate tactics and conduct psychological warfare against recently-encountered species. I think that's what they're doing to Rommie's ship self."
"What can we do?" Trance looked worried.
"We have to use lots of different weapons systems, especially unusual ones. They could adapt to our missles pretty fast because the technology isn't all that different from things they've encountered before. We'll probably have more luck with AP cannons. What we really need, is something that we can remodulate to keep ahead of their adaptive shields. Other than that, I can try modifying some nanobots to fight their assimilating nanoprobes, but they'll change the nanoprobes to fight back. It won't be effective for very long."
"Make the nanobots, but don't use them until I give the order," Dylan decided, "Now, we need to find someone with the right kind of weapons..."
***
'Identifying targets... Three Neitzchian battleships, five Neitzchian cruisers, two Neitzchian heavy transports, eleven Neitzchian frigates, eight Neitzchian destroyers, one hundred thirteen fighters of various designs... Sending standard hail.'
"We are the Borg, you will be assimilated. We have assessed your capabilities, and found you unable to defeat us. Lower your defenses and surrender your ships. Resistance is futile."
'Targets moving into attack formation. Transport drones to largest enemy vessel. Lock primary tractor array on cruiser 02. Destroy all fighters. Regenerating shield grid section three. Torpedo launcher seven disabled...regenerating. Thirty five targets destroyed. Lock secondary tractor array on cruiser 01, transporting drones. Heavy damage to outer hull, section three. Rotate vessel and regenerate. Enemy battleship 72% assimilated. Lock tertiary and quaternary tractor arrays on battleship 03... transporting drones. Regenerate energy production unit 16. Seventy two targets destroyed. Regenerating shield grid in sections three, eight, fifteen, and twenty one... Transport drones to battleship 02. Relocate drones from battleship 01 to cruiser 05. All hostile fighters disabled. Destroy enemy frigates. Transport all scout drones to enemy cruisers. Hostile transports have made contact with our outer hull. Prepare to assimilate boarders. One thousand Neitzchian combat troops infiltrating cube. Moving drones to intercept... Resistance has been sufficiently neutralized. Preparing to assimilate colony of species 10081.