"The interceptor is powering weapon systems. Suggest we execute evasive manoeuvres immediately," said Lieutenant Dax at the helm.
Sisko nodded. "Engage. Bridge to transporter room: did you get them?"
"We got them, sir. They'll be up shortly. Transporter room out."
He breathed a little easier. When the Borg shields had gone up, the first thought he had was that his away team was about to be assimilated into the Collective. But the Dax-replicate's plan had created a considerable energy release that had also caused a fluctuation in the shields, giving him time to beam them off. It had been a slightly foolhardy tactic, but it was not his place to debate it with her, so he decided to let it pass. "Mister Worf," he said, still watching the torpedo-shaped vessel on the screen. "Power up phasers. Open a channel to the interceptor."
If the Klingon was surprised by this order, he did not show it. "Phasers charged and ready to fire. Channel open to the Borg ship."
Sisko stood up and walked a bit closer to the screen. "Borg vessel, this is Captain Benjamin Sisko of the Federation starship Defiant. I respectfully request that you power down and surrender. According to our scans, your defences cannot withstand our weapons." He stopped and waited for a response. The Borg gave him none.
"Fire a warning shot. Fifty percent power, and target a non-essential system, if you can find one. Shoot when you're ready," he said grimly.
"Captain!" Worf exclaimed. "Should we not destroy them while we still can?"
"Negative. This may be our only opportunity to study them. A chance like this has not, and most certainly will not, come along every day. We have to seize it with both hands and hang on for dear life…" His reply was cut short as an emerald ray of light stabbed across the void and hit the Defiant's shields. Everyone swayed, and Sisko staggered back to his chair.
"Then again…to hell with it. Open fire, full strength. But try and disable them," he added, almost as an afterthought. Soon, bright pulses of orange phaser light filled the screen, and the Borg ship shook a little under the brunt of the attack. Two shots got through before the shields suddenly grew stronger.
"Borg defences have adapted to our phasers. Remodulating frequencies…firing again," Worf said with zest. A renewed stream of energy lanced from the Defiant, accompanied by a muted pew-pew-pew-pew-pew-pew that made the ship vibrate ever so slightly. A trail of fire-bright explosions lit up the interceptor, and it suddenly turned around and made a beeline for the anomaly. Sisko pushed himself upright again with renewed urgency. "Pursuit course! Don't let them get away. Worf, knock their engines out, now. Use photons if you have to."
A pair of glittering torpedoes streaked away and thudded into the Borg ship, adding to the blaze that already trailed along the interceptor's spine. Worf tried another phaser barrage, but the ship was accelerating and dodged the pulses. Sisko glared at the screen, silently willing the interceptor to slow down, but it had little effect. Then, all of a sudden, the leaden surface of the Borg ship ignited, and blew itself to a cloud of spiralling shrapnel and frozen gases. The captain whirled to look at the tactical officer. "Worf, what the hell just happened?"
He checked his boards. "It appears that one of our torpedoes failed to detonate, instead lodging in their hull. A drone must have tried to disarm it: the security safeguards on the warhead triggered the explosion. I apologise for not disabling them, sir."
"It's alright, Worf. Somehow, I think we're going to get plenty of chances in the future," he sighed as the doors behind him whooshed open, allowing the three senior officers from the away team onto the bridge. "The Borg were a little oversensitive, I see."
The Dax-replicate nodded as she took a vacant seat. "It's my fault, Captain. The security net was off-line when we beamed aboard, and it instantly recognised our hand weapons when it was regenerated. I should have been more careful: disguised our phasers, formulated a scattering field to mask us, something to keep us safe."
"But it was your quick thinking that saved your arms from being turned into guns," Colonel Kira pointed out. Her parallel replicate nodded in agreement as she brushed a smudge of carbon scoring from her uniform. "And you did a little damage to them in the first place. It seems that — " She stopped when she saw the lights on her screen change position. Kira bent over the console intently, shaking her head and muttering something under her breath as a coloured diagram took the place of her tactical analysis of the Borg interceptor. "Captain," she called out. "we've got more of a problem than we thought. I'm detecting a low-level impulse trail heading away from the debris field and into the anomaly's mouth. The frequency readings…they correspond with the information our alternate selves provided about the Collective."
"Your point being what, Colonel?" Sisko asked impatiently.
"Well, sir, it looks like the Borg ship launched some kind of probe just before it exploded. It survived the blast and headed through. If I've done my homework correctly, I'd say it's back with the Collective now."
Sisko blew out a breath and rested his head against his steepled fingers. "Then it's entirely possible that the Borg know exactly where and who we are. If that's any indication, we could be looking at yet another attack. Just what we needed." He swung his chair around so it faced the viewscreen again. Sharply-angled pieces of the interceptor's hull floated in a jagged cloud, partly obscuring their view of the emerald clouds behind. "Dax, scan that debris field and beam aboard anything that looks remotely interesting. We'll haul it back to DS-Nine and sort through it there. Then plot a course for home, warp five."
"Captain," said the Worf-replicate. "I do not believe that the Borg will attack just yet. It will take their task force at Deep Space Nine a day or two to completely assimilate all technology and personnel: until they have completed that objective, we should not expect anything larger than a sphere ship."
"Alright. When we get back, I want you to brief me on the situation at your DS-Nine. I'll need a list of ships they had there when you left, as well as approximate maps of Borg territory in your universe. We'll reconvene in my office, at 1700 hours."
