Chapter 4

Alpha Quadrant

U.S.S. Preserver

In orbit around Verina III

'Captain's Log: Supplemental. Everyone I know can recall where they were, and what they were, doing, when it was reported that Voyager had returned home. Not only did they, after seven years, return from being stranded in the Delta Quadrant, they brought shield and weapons technology from the future, a new form of faster than light propulsion, and an amazing amount of information on the Delta Quadrant, they brought news that the Borg hive mind had been destroyed! It almost made up for all the millions of deaths of the Dominion War. It almost made up for the 11,000 that died at Wolf 359 at the hands of the Borg, two of which…

I have sent a science team to the planet surface to gather anything they can that could help us on assessing everything that happened here. Of what exactly, I'm not sure. Then again, I'm not too sure a good number of things now…'

Xeroth shut off his log and gave a small sigh. After taking a small sip of his glass of raktajino, he accessed the Preserver's subspace radio. He got an error message in response.

"Xeroth to Lieutenant Sorn'ah."

"Sorn'ah here."

"I'm trying to send a message, but the subspace radio is down."

There was a short silence. "You should be able to now, captain."

"Thank you. Xeroth out." Developing a personality already, are we Preserver? He tried the subspace radio again.

"Destination please," said the computer.

"Utopia Planitia Starbase, office of Admiral Joseph Haugen. Priority One and initiate encryption program Xeroth Beta Phi 9."

After a minute's wait, the face of Joe Haugen appeared.

"Captain, so soon?"

"Admiral, we believe we know what happened to the Hawkings Colony. The crater where the colony used to be shows evidence that a Borg tractor beam was used."

"Not surprising."

"Could you elaborate, sir?"

The admiral sighed. "Before I do, Xeroth, you must not tell anyone other than your senior staff, do you understand?"

"Yes sir."

The admiral's voice became very low. "We're not the first to have problems with the Borg. In the past week, Starfleet Intelligence has been receiving reports that the Klingons, the Romulans, the Dominion, the Cardassians, and even the Ferengi and the Gorn have either encountered Borg ships or have had colonies disappear."

It's an invasion… Xeroth thought. "What types of ships?"

"According the reports, Scouts and Spheres Luckily no Cubes."

"Do they have the ablative armor and transphasic torpedoes?"

"If they did, I doubt we'd be alive to have this discussion."

"Whatever happened to the technology, Admiral? The reports said nothing of what had happened to it all."

"The fate of the weapons technology that Voyager brought from the future was yet to be decided between the major powers, but for now…I believe Temporal Investigations has taken all samples of the technology until the conference in a few months…which your ship will be attending, by the way.

"I am sending another ship to your current location to replace you, the Spiegel. Once the Spiegel arrives, you are to leave and proceed to Starbase 68 for you new mission objectives and a quick shipwide assessment. Admiral Fox will brief you once you arrive.

"All good things must come to an end, captain. It's a well known fact. Haugen out."

"All good things must come to an end…I hate that quote…"

Yet it turns out to be true most of the time… he thought.

The bridge was filled with flames. Half of the crew lay on the ground, dead. There was no sound to the explosions or the screams. There was no sound of the Borg weapons slicing through the hull of the Westminster Abbey.

Three green shafts of light appeared, quickly forming into Borg drones. The ship's computer was too badly damaged to sound the intruder alert, as if it was just giving up.

What was left of the crew silently fired their phasers to no effect. Silently ran for the turbolift.

Silently screamed as the drone's assimilation tubules pierced their necks, inserting the millions of nanoprobes that would, within seconds, make them one with the Borg.

One woman, sitting in the center chair, tried to save those she commanded, those she had worked with and loved.

A drone grabbed her from behind, ignoring her struggle and plunged its tubules into her neck.

As her skin turned grey, she let out a scream that pierced the silence.

"Minerva!"

Hemmingway awoke, startled. As she caught her breath, she looked at the chonometer on the table next to her bed.

"Four hours of sleep…same as usual.."

As she got undressed to get into the sonic shower, the computer beeped.

'There are two messages.'

She turned on the sonic shower. "Play them."

After a small confirmation sound, it started.

"This is Captain Xeroth. There will be a meeting of the senior staff in the briefing room at 1000 hours. Come with an open mind. Xeroth out."

'Next message.'

"This is Kel. Just reminding you of our meeting tonight at 2100."

"Doubt I'll have any time…" she muttered.

"I really hope you can make it. Thanks."

She gave a small sigh. "If it'll stop those damn dreams…"

Having waken up late, Sorn'ah was in a rush as he finished a diagnostics report. Lieutenant Griswald was next to him, taking notes.

"Will you be ok here, Melinda?" he asked.

"Yes, I'm fine," she responded. "Thank you."

Lieutenant Eric Cresser, working only a few feet away, turned to face the both of them.

"Wait a minute," he asked, "you're leaving her in charge?"

"Of course, she is the assistant engineer," said Sorn'ah.

"But..."

Griswald backed off, gazing to the floor.

"But what, lieutenant?" asked Sorn'ah.

Cresser paused. "Permission to speak freely, sir?"

"Permission granted."

"How can you think of leaving her in charge? You don't know what she'll do! For all we know, she's one of those rebel spies!"

Cresser's outburst caught the attention of the engineering crew.

"That's enough, lieutenant," said Sorn'ah.

"No! Her species and their slaves killed my entire family, and I for one will not serve under such a monstrosity, no matter for how short of time!"

"That's enough, lieutenant!" Sorn'ah roared, causing Cresser to stand back in shock. "I am the chief engineer, Lieutenant Griswald is my assistant, and she will be in charge while I am outside of engineering! I don't care if she personally choked your mother to death, if she is in charge, you will listen to her!"

A deathly silence engulfed Main Engineering. Cresser's legs were shaking. After partially regaining his composure, he spoke up.

"Permission..." he choked, clearing his throat and turned to Griswald. "Permission to return to my quarters...ma'am..."

She looked up, although she did not meet his gaze. "Permission granted."

Putting down his padd, Cresser shakily turned and walked out of engineering. Sorn'ah turned and face the rest of the crew.

"That goes for the rest of you!" he screamed. Turning back to Griswald, he nodded. "Don't worry," he whispered. "You'll be fine."

Patting her on the back, he left engineering as the crew started to return to work, knowing never to anger their chief ever again.

Sorn'ah was the last to arrive in the briefing room.

"I apologize for being late, sir. I had a small…disagreement with Ensign Cresser about leaving Lieutenant Griswald in charge."

"That's quite alright; I'll have a talk with him about it later. Prejudice is the last thing we need," said Xeroth. "Anyways, before I say anything else, you are all under Starfleet General Order 3. What I am about to tell you is not only vital to the Federation, but possibly to the entire galaxy. It is not to leave this room at all until I or Starfleet says so.

"People, there is no mistake about it. The Borg are back."

Save for the humming of the power conduits behind the bulkheads, there was absolute silence.

"Mr. Cache, do you have any theories on how this is possible?" asked Xeroth.

"I do not know how, sir," he replied. "When Unimatrix 01 was destroyed, it was observed by various sources that all the branches of the Collective were disconnected from each other." Cache tapped a panel in the table, and the small viewscreen on the wall came to life. "This is a video from the IKS Kaloth, a small Klingon freighter."

An image of a Sphere attacking another small freighter appeared. It stopped suddenly. Seconds later, it self-destructed, sending the disabled freighter it was attacking spiraling in flames. The image changed to static.

"The Borg, rather than let other species have a sample of their technology when they are vulnerable, fuse anything worthwhile." Cache paused for a few seconds, then continued. "It is possible that a few ships did not do this."

"But I thought they couldn't function without a central hive?" asked Kel.

"That is what we have observed," Cache replied. "Until I have more information, anything else I say will be speculation, and nothing more."

"Thank you, lieutenant. That was very insightful. Commander Hemmingway, how is the child?"

"He's in a deep coma," she replied, quietly, "and barely alive. We have him on life support, but I don't know how long he'll last."

"Keep trying, doctor," said Xeroth. "If he ever does wake up, he could have some useful information.

"Ok..." Xeroth thought for a second of where to place assignments. "Lieutenant Cache, Will, I want you to search the Borg database..."

"No need captain," interrupted Cache, "I have the entire Borg database in my neural net."

Xeroth paused. "Well," he replied, slightly irritated, "Commander Woskosky does not, and I would prefer more than one opinion when you and him search through the database and come of with some theories, understand?"

Cache blinked, surprised. "Yes sir."

Xeroth sighed. "Commander Sorn'ah and Lieutenant Kel, I want you to work on a way to strengthen our defenses. They were only here a day ago, and I want to be prepared in case they decide to come back."

"Aye sir," they replied in unison.

Xeroth stood, fixing his uniform. "I know this is a comes as a shock to you. I share what you are all feeling. But, we must let that feeling pass, for we have a job to do. I have not been with you all long, but from what I have seen, you will be more than able to do what we wear these uniforms for." Xeroth paused. "We are to stay here until the Spiegel arrives, then we will set a course for Starbase 68 for a small upgrade and a complete briefing on the situation. Dismissed."

After Sorn'ah had returned to Engineering, Griswald, mentally strained, returned to her quarters. She had spent the last hour under the angry stare of many people, who hated her and her species, with a passion.

She opened up her closet and pulled out a small bucket, placing it next to the bed. Sighing, her form started to melt into a russet brown color, morphing from her human form to her true form, common for the Changeling race when they needed to regenerate.

She had never known the Great Link. With having battled her own species in the Dominion War, she was glad.

Lieutenant Cresser's words echoed in her mind. 'Her species and their slaves killed my entire family, and I for one will not serve under such a monstrosity, no matter for how short of time!'

How common is it, she thought, for someone to hate her own species? It sure seems easy for others to hate another...

Now a gelatinous puddle on the floor, she warped and moved into the bucket and let her worries drift away.