The Borg cube dropped out of warp. It had taken a circuitous route around
the Kessel system to the far side of the interstellar phenomenon known as
The Maw.
A black hole is essentially a star that has collapsed upon itself and become so dense that it generates a gravity well powerful enough to stop light. The sheer power of a single black hole is enough to tear a hole in the fabric of space and time. The Maw was a large cluster of these phenomena.
Though most spacefaring beings avoided The Maw, for fear of being drawn into one of its singularities and crushed into plasma, The Borg ship approached it directly. There was safe passage through The Maw, and Tarkin was one of the few in the galaxy that knew the route.
To an objective observer, The Borg cube seemed to wink out of existence as it entered The Maw; the black holes' gravity held in the illumination of the ship.
Tarkin had been given full control of the navigational system, which was now linked directly to his brain. He could pilot the cube ship at the speed of thought, making it possible to maneuver such a large ship in such a tight corridor.
The Queen observed the efficiency, the precision, the pure perfection of The Maw. She saw how each singularity' accretion disk spun inward into the event horizons, releasing unbelievable energies into space. This would be the perfect home for the Collective in this new galaxy. Now that The Borg knew the safe path into the phenomenon, they could come and go as they please, with little concern of interlopers.
Moments later, the cube ship emerged from the corridor into a large space, surrounded with the light of hundreds of black holes' accretion disks. Near the center of the space, the Queen saw a series of asteroids networked together with artificial conduits, four triangular-shaped vessels, and a large spherical-shaped object with its entire support skeleton exposed. If Tarkin was correct, this was a vast cache of advanced technology that even the Empire had not had access to for years. And that spherical skeleton: the prototype for the Death Star, complete with functional superlaser.
Soon, mused the Queen, The Borg would spread across the galaxy. And not even planet-destroying lasers would be able to stop them.
On the bridge of the Star Destroyer Gorgon, the crew had been performing one of their many combat readiness exercises when the sensor lieutenant shouted, "Admiral! Unidentified vessel has entered the installation perimeter at 007 Mark 25!"
"On viewer!" ordered Admiral Daala. Daala was a tall woman with long brown hair. The only thing that detracted from her beauty was her cold, Imperial stare. As the only woman in a ranking position in the Imperial Starfleet, she had become cold and stony against her male subordinates over the years. Her viciousness against failure was only surpassed by that of the Emperor, Darth Vader, and Grand Moff Tarkin, although it was only known inside the separate universe of The Maw Installation.
Such was the lieutenant's efficiency that the viewscreen flashed to life instantly. Anything slower would have been a death sentence for the lieutenant.
Daala observed a geometrical figure shadowed by the bright black hole material behind it. It seemed to be heading directly toward them.
"Enhance image."
A second later, the shadowy image took better shape. She could see an edge of two facets pointed a them. The surface of the vessel was littered with piping, conduits, and exposed devices.
"Ma'am, the intruder appears to be cube-shaped," reported the sensor lieutenant.
Daala calculated in her mid for exactly three seconds. Then, she calmly ordered, "Battle stations. This is not a drill. All ships ready weapons and TIE fighters. Comm, send them this message: 'You have entered Imperial space and are ordered to identify yourselves and surrender. If you resist, you will be destroyed."
Daala's four Imperial Star Destroyers deployed into attack formation, at the ready to fire weapons and launch fighter interceptors.
"Tarkin," said the Queen, "they are readying to attack us."
"As well you should, Daala," muttered Tarkin.
The Queen looked sharply at her equal. Se sensed something new in him. Affection. Love. Irrelevant emotions. She must make sure they do not affect his loyalty to her.
"Hail them," said Tarkin. Standing at a void in the center of the cube ship, Tarkin watched as a cube-shaped rotating viewscreen appeared in thin air. In it, he could see his lover, Daala, staring back at him with sudden surprise.
"Daala," said Tarkin, "I see that you have done well in keeping the efficiency of your men." Small talk. Keep her off-guard. "There has been a civil war inside the Empire. The Emperor, Darth Vader, and all the Grand Admiralty have been murdered by treacherous Rebels inside the military. I am all that is left of the true Empire. I need to take control of this installation to stage the Empire reconquest of the galaxy."
He saw the confusion in Daala's face, both at his words and at his bio- mechanical appearance. He needed not worry about her response. This dialogue gave The Borg more than enough time to transport drives over to the four Star Destroyers and the research base inside the collection of asteroids.
Daala could not believe her eyes when she saw Tarkin's visage, partially blocked by black machinery, and one eye covered with a device that was unfamiliar to her. The man who had been her lover must have been seriously injured in some assassination attempt. However, despite her loyalty to Tarkin, she was still an Imperial Admiral and must be sure he told the truth of the Empire's current status.
"Governor," Daala said through dry lips, "Forgive me, but I cannot see how the Empire could be defeated in such a few short years. Was the Death Star not successful?"
"No, it was not," said Tarkin. "Lemelisk betrayed the Empire by reveling to the rebels a design flaw he had placed in the design, allowing them to gain full control of the station. I barely escaped with my life, in an attempt to warn the Emperor. However, I was not quick enough. Coruscant has been destroyed."
Daala's heart skipped a beat. She had known from the beginning that such a powerful weapon would be an attractive target for any faction looking to take over the galaxy. Now, the home world of the Empire, and the entire Imperial command structure based there, had been destroyed. They may be all that stood between the Empire and total chaos.
"Very well, Governor," said Daala. "What kind of ship are you traveling in? It is not one we have seen before."
"Humans from the deep outer rim," said Tarkin. "We conquered them before the coup, and they chose to remain loyal to me."
Daala thought for a second. This was all wrong. Her instincts told her that this was all some kind of ruse. Perhaps Tarkin had been cloned, or this was an impersonator she was speaking to. She had to be sure.
"Governor," Daala said, "if it's all right, I would like to meet you onboard my ship to discuss this matter further. You will understand if I need some more clarification on the current state of affairs."
"Of course, Admiral," said Tarkin. Perfect. This discussion had bought them the time they needed to implant drones all over the four Star Destroyers, The Maw base, and the spherical skeleton hanging in the background.
"Admiral!" cried the comm. Lieutenant, "Reports from all ships and the installation! Intruder alert! Some type of soldiers have just…appeared everywhere!
Daala was dumbfounded. There had been no reports of any other ships in the area. How did they…?
"Tarkin! What is going on here?"
Tarkin's visage smiled. "Don't worry about it, Daala. It is no longer your concern."
Just then, a dozen Borg drones appeared on the bridge of the Gorgon. They immediately attacked the bridge crew with assimilation tubules, leaving the to writhe on the floor in agony. Daala whipped out her blaster pistol and began firing on the drones, to no effect. Their force fields protected them.
One drone grabbed Daala from behind. She lashed out with all her might against the drones leg, trying to stun it, but its superior strength allowed it to absorb the blow, just as it injected assimilation nanoprobe into her throat. She collapsed to the floor, and rolled over to watch Tarkin's triumphant smirk in the viewscreen.
"This channel is now open to all ships on all frequencies," said Tarkin. "We are The Borg. This installation now belongs to us. Any resistance is futile, and will be met with swift execution. The Empire's power will soon come to an end." With that, the viewer went blank.
Daala, now lying on her back, closed her eyes tightly, letting hot tears flow out of them and over her temples to the back of her head. She hadn't thought it would end like this. She tried to reach for her blaster, to take her own life. However, her hands wouldn't respond. An entity was forcing its way into her mind. She could hear vague whispers inside her head, and she imagined them whispering about her utter failure as an Admiral to even keep four ships and a research station from enemy hands.
The whispers grew louder. To her, it sounded like thousands, all speaking a strange language she could not understand. As she felt her body involuntarily relax, despite the searing pain running throughout, she began to understand the voices. Ordering her to remain still until the assimilation was complete. She didn't understand why at first, but she was compelled to comply. Not out of fear, but because she wanted to. The voices simultaneously frightened and soothed her.
She felt her anguish slip away. Everything was all right. Her embarrassment at being taken by surprised vanished. Everything was good. Her bitterness against her make subordinates faded into the mist, then evaporated. Everything here was equal. None were discriminated against. Here, all were one. Loneliness does not exist. Take comfort in The Borg. The Borg will provide for you. The Borg The Borg are always with you. The Borg The Borg The Borg. Resistance is futile. Assimilation stage one complete.
Stand.
The Borg drone that had been Admiral Daala stood up.
Survey.
Drone Daala looked around, and noticed that all bridge crew had been assimilated, and were standing over the nearest stations, coordinating their drones in the lower levels of the ships, and in all ships, preparing them to be fully assimilated for use by The Borg.
One last tear fell down Daala's face as her last shred of humanity left her. She had failed.
Then, she started marching forward toward the tactical console, assisting the assimilated technician in powering down the shields and weapons, preparing the panel for a nanoprobe-equipped drone to fully assimilate it.
Tarkin turned away from the space where the cubical viewscreen had been. He looked at the Queen with an expression of triumph on his face, augmented by her own look of pride at her new equal.
The Queen was sure now of his loyalty. Her doubt had been for nothing.
"Excellent, my one. I can see now that you are worthy to be my Locutus."
"Your beloved," said Tarkin, with relish.
Nothing had ever pleased him more than to have pleased his Queen. His ambition having been slowly and secretly leeched from him by the Queen, he felt no desire to eventually take full control of The Borg, as he had when he was part of the Empire. However, he did not even notice the slight change in his personality. She had purposefully orchestrated it all so that his less-desirable personality traits were removed, in favor of the many that she desired.
The Queen began sending orders to the Collective. As she did so, she said to Tarkin, "We will first ensure total control of this installation and all vessels. Then, we will integrate our matter replication technology throughout, and use it to absorb and convert this installation into a true base for The Borg. With the energy being released from the material orbiting the black holes, we will be able to build thousands of ships and dispatch them across the galaxy. We will construct an interplexing communication network in the corridor of The Maw, allowing us to control the collective outside the installation, while remaining in this secure location. One Death Star will no longer be of any concern to us.
"Besides," she continued, "the Death Star will soon become one with us."
A black hole is essentially a star that has collapsed upon itself and become so dense that it generates a gravity well powerful enough to stop light. The sheer power of a single black hole is enough to tear a hole in the fabric of space and time. The Maw was a large cluster of these phenomena.
Though most spacefaring beings avoided The Maw, for fear of being drawn into one of its singularities and crushed into plasma, The Borg ship approached it directly. There was safe passage through The Maw, and Tarkin was one of the few in the galaxy that knew the route.
To an objective observer, The Borg cube seemed to wink out of existence as it entered The Maw; the black holes' gravity held in the illumination of the ship.
Tarkin had been given full control of the navigational system, which was now linked directly to his brain. He could pilot the cube ship at the speed of thought, making it possible to maneuver such a large ship in such a tight corridor.
The Queen observed the efficiency, the precision, the pure perfection of The Maw. She saw how each singularity' accretion disk spun inward into the event horizons, releasing unbelievable energies into space. This would be the perfect home for the Collective in this new galaxy. Now that The Borg knew the safe path into the phenomenon, they could come and go as they please, with little concern of interlopers.
Moments later, the cube ship emerged from the corridor into a large space, surrounded with the light of hundreds of black holes' accretion disks. Near the center of the space, the Queen saw a series of asteroids networked together with artificial conduits, four triangular-shaped vessels, and a large spherical-shaped object with its entire support skeleton exposed. If Tarkin was correct, this was a vast cache of advanced technology that even the Empire had not had access to for years. And that spherical skeleton: the prototype for the Death Star, complete with functional superlaser.
Soon, mused the Queen, The Borg would spread across the galaxy. And not even planet-destroying lasers would be able to stop them.
On the bridge of the Star Destroyer Gorgon, the crew had been performing one of their many combat readiness exercises when the sensor lieutenant shouted, "Admiral! Unidentified vessel has entered the installation perimeter at 007 Mark 25!"
"On viewer!" ordered Admiral Daala. Daala was a tall woman with long brown hair. The only thing that detracted from her beauty was her cold, Imperial stare. As the only woman in a ranking position in the Imperial Starfleet, she had become cold and stony against her male subordinates over the years. Her viciousness against failure was only surpassed by that of the Emperor, Darth Vader, and Grand Moff Tarkin, although it was only known inside the separate universe of The Maw Installation.
Such was the lieutenant's efficiency that the viewscreen flashed to life instantly. Anything slower would have been a death sentence for the lieutenant.
Daala observed a geometrical figure shadowed by the bright black hole material behind it. It seemed to be heading directly toward them.
"Enhance image."
A second later, the shadowy image took better shape. She could see an edge of two facets pointed a them. The surface of the vessel was littered with piping, conduits, and exposed devices.
"Ma'am, the intruder appears to be cube-shaped," reported the sensor lieutenant.
Daala calculated in her mid for exactly three seconds. Then, she calmly ordered, "Battle stations. This is not a drill. All ships ready weapons and TIE fighters. Comm, send them this message: 'You have entered Imperial space and are ordered to identify yourselves and surrender. If you resist, you will be destroyed."
Daala's four Imperial Star Destroyers deployed into attack formation, at the ready to fire weapons and launch fighter interceptors.
"Tarkin," said the Queen, "they are readying to attack us."
"As well you should, Daala," muttered Tarkin.
The Queen looked sharply at her equal. Se sensed something new in him. Affection. Love. Irrelevant emotions. She must make sure they do not affect his loyalty to her.
"Hail them," said Tarkin. Standing at a void in the center of the cube ship, Tarkin watched as a cube-shaped rotating viewscreen appeared in thin air. In it, he could see his lover, Daala, staring back at him with sudden surprise.
"Daala," said Tarkin, "I see that you have done well in keeping the efficiency of your men." Small talk. Keep her off-guard. "There has been a civil war inside the Empire. The Emperor, Darth Vader, and all the Grand Admiralty have been murdered by treacherous Rebels inside the military. I am all that is left of the true Empire. I need to take control of this installation to stage the Empire reconquest of the galaxy."
He saw the confusion in Daala's face, both at his words and at his bio- mechanical appearance. He needed not worry about her response. This dialogue gave The Borg more than enough time to transport drives over to the four Star Destroyers and the research base inside the collection of asteroids.
Daala could not believe her eyes when she saw Tarkin's visage, partially blocked by black machinery, and one eye covered with a device that was unfamiliar to her. The man who had been her lover must have been seriously injured in some assassination attempt. However, despite her loyalty to Tarkin, she was still an Imperial Admiral and must be sure he told the truth of the Empire's current status.
"Governor," Daala said through dry lips, "Forgive me, but I cannot see how the Empire could be defeated in such a few short years. Was the Death Star not successful?"
"No, it was not," said Tarkin. "Lemelisk betrayed the Empire by reveling to the rebels a design flaw he had placed in the design, allowing them to gain full control of the station. I barely escaped with my life, in an attempt to warn the Emperor. However, I was not quick enough. Coruscant has been destroyed."
Daala's heart skipped a beat. She had known from the beginning that such a powerful weapon would be an attractive target for any faction looking to take over the galaxy. Now, the home world of the Empire, and the entire Imperial command structure based there, had been destroyed. They may be all that stood between the Empire and total chaos.
"Very well, Governor," said Daala. "What kind of ship are you traveling in? It is not one we have seen before."
"Humans from the deep outer rim," said Tarkin. "We conquered them before the coup, and they chose to remain loyal to me."
Daala thought for a second. This was all wrong. Her instincts told her that this was all some kind of ruse. Perhaps Tarkin had been cloned, or this was an impersonator she was speaking to. She had to be sure.
"Governor," Daala said, "if it's all right, I would like to meet you onboard my ship to discuss this matter further. You will understand if I need some more clarification on the current state of affairs."
"Of course, Admiral," said Tarkin. Perfect. This discussion had bought them the time they needed to implant drones all over the four Star Destroyers, The Maw base, and the spherical skeleton hanging in the background.
"Admiral!" cried the comm. Lieutenant, "Reports from all ships and the installation! Intruder alert! Some type of soldiers have just…appeared everywhere!
Daala was dumbfounded. There had been no reports of any other ships in the area. How did they…?
"Tarkin! What is going on here?"
Tarkin's visage smiled. "Don't worry about it, Daala. It is no longer your concern."
Just then, a dozen Borg drones appeared on the bridge of the Gorgon. They immediately attacked the bridge crew with assimilation tubules, leaving the to writhe on the floor in agony. Daala whipped out her blaster pistol and began firing on the drones, to no effect. Their force fields protected them.
One drone grabbed Daala from behind. She lashed out with all her might against the drones leg, trying to stun it, but its superior strength allowed it to absorb the blow, just as it injected assimilation nanoprobe into her throat. She collapsed to the floor, and rolled over to watch Tarkin's triumphant smirk in the viewscreen.
"This channel is now open to all ships on all frequencies," said Tarkin. "We are The Borg. This installation now belongs to us. Any resistance is futile, and will be met with swift execution. The Empire's power will soon come to an end." With that, the viewer went blank.
Daala, now lying on her back, closed her eyes tightly, letting hot tears flow out of them and over her temples to the back of her head. She hadn't thought it would end like this. She tried to reach for her blaster, to take her own life. However, her hands wouldn't respond. An entity was forcing its way into her mind. She could hear vague whispers inside her head, and she imagined them whispering about her utter failure as an Admiral to even keep four ships and a research station from enemy hands.
The whispers grew louder. To her, it sounded like thousands, all speaking a strange language she could not understand. As she felt her body involuntarily relax, despite the searing pain running throughout, she began to understand the voices. Ordering her to remain still until the assimilation was complete. She didn't understand why at first, but she was compelled to comply. Not out of fear, but because she wanted to. The voices simultaneously frightened and soothed her.
She felt her anguish slip away. Everything was all right. Her embarrassment at being taken by surprised vanished. Everything was good. Her bitterness against her make subordinates faded into the mist, then evaporated. Everything here was equal. None were discriminated against. Here, all were one. Loneliness does not exist. Take comfort in The Borg. The Borg will provide for you. The Borg The Borg are always with you. The Borg The Borg The Borg. Resistance is futile. Assimilation stage one complete.
Stand.
The Borg drone that had been Admiral Daala stood up.
Survey.
Drone Daala looked around, and noticed that all bridge crew had been assimilated, and were standing over the nearest stations, coordinating their drones in the lower levels of the ships, and in all ships, preparing them to be fully assimilated for use by The Borg.
One last tear fell down Daala's face as her last shred of humanity left her. She had failed.
Then, she started marching forward toward the tactical console, assisting the assimilated technician in powering down the shields and weapons, preparing the panel for a nanoprobe-equipped drone to fully assimilate it.
Tarkin turned away from the space where the cubical viewscreen had been. He looked at the Queen with an expression of triumph on his face, augmented by her own look of pride at her new equal.
The Queen was sure now of his loyalty. Her doubt had been for nothing.
"Excellent, my one. I can see now that you are worthy to be my Locutus."
"Your beloved," said Tarkin, with relish.
Nothing had ever pleased him more than to have pleased his Queen. His ambition having been slowly and secretly leeched from him by the Queen, he felt no desire to eventually take full control of The Borg, as he had when he was part of the Empire. However, he did not even notice the slight change in his personality. She had purposefully orchestrated it all so that his less-desirable personality traits were removed, in favor of the many that she desired.
The Queen began sending orders to the Collective. As she did so, she said to Tarkin, "We will first ensure total control of this installation and all vessels. Then, we will integrate our matter replication technology throughout, and use it to absorb and convert this installation into a true base for The Borg. With the energy being released from the material orbiting the black holes, we will be able to build thousands of ships and dispatch them across the galaxy. We will construct an interplexing communication network in the corridor of The Maw, allowing us to control the collective outside the installation, while remaining in this secure location. One Death Star will no longer be of any concern to us.
"Besides," she continued, "the Death Star will soon become one with us."