TITLE: Dear Annie ("Regeneration")
AUTHOR: Mara Greengrass
AUTHOR'S E-MAIL: fishfolk@ix.netcom.com. Feedback is better than chocolate.
PERMISSION TO ARCHIVE: Yes, just let me know.
CATEGORY: Gen
RATINGS/WARNINGS: G
SUMMARY: Hoshi writes home after the events of "Regeneration."
DISCLAIMER: Enterprise and all its crew belong to Paramount and many other entities with expensive lawyers. I am making no profit from this story.
NOTES: As always, my eternal gratitude for the beta goes to Captain Average.
* * * * *
Dear Annie,
I'm sure the news coverage of our latest adventure completely missed the mark--it always does. Even if it was close to accurate, no talking head who wasn't there could convey to you what it felt like to encounter this latest...I'm not even sure what to call them. Menace?
What *do* you call a species that reproduces itself by taking over the body of other species and just dragging them along for the ride? Parasite, I suppose.
I'm fairly certain you've heard about the expedition to the Arctic Circle that disappeared, right? Well, they found these remains, alien remains, but several different aliens with a ton of mechanical parts. Cyborgs, I guess. I find it hard to believe, but these cyborgs woke up after being frozen for at least one hundred years. Then they took over the scientists on the expedition.
I didn't recognize most of the scientists' names, but one of the archaeologists was Marian King. Remember her? She gave that guest lecture in Barbara's class, and Mark decided he was in love. Mooned over her for a month, as I recall.
She's gone, you know. They're all gone. We couldn't save them.
They started turning into cyborgs and took off in a shuttle, forcing us to chase after them.
We only tracked them down when I got a distress call from a freighter. Thank goodness the message was in a language related to one already in the UT, or I'd never have been able to translate it quickly enough.
By the time we got to the freighter, though, the cyborgs had done a lot of damage, but we managed to find two of the aliens alive. We got them to sickbay, but Phlox found they'd been injected with nanoprobes that seemed to be turning them into cyborgs.
Malcolm wasn't any too thrilled about having these guys on board, but we couldn't leave them to die, so he posted a guard. Meanwhile, the captain and T'Pol started looking for information on these things, these cyborgs.
Buried in the later years of Zephram Cochrane's life, Captain Archer found a story about cybernetic aliens from the future. It was during one of his more pickled periods and he immediately recanted the tale when he sobered up, so nobody took it seriously. T'Pol is frankly skeptical, and despite the captain's enthusiasm, I lean in her direction.
Okay, we encountered strange cyborgs, but that doesn't automatically validate the drunken ramblings of Cochrane, no matter how much Captain Archer worships the man.
But that's beside the point. Of much more concern to me were the two aliens in sickbay, who woke up and attacked Phlox, injecting him with the same nanoprobes. Then they began climbing through the ship, just as we resumed our chase of the transport containing the other cyborgs.
I'll be honest, between expecting these aliens to jump me in a corridor, or their buddies to blow us up, I was terrified. I was even more scared for Malcolm and his team--chasing the cyborgs throughout the ship and finally, cornering them in a section where they'd begun modifying the ship in some way.
Somehow the cyborgs were able to shield themselves against phase pistols, so the captain made the only decision he could. He cleared the section and blew the hatch--venting them into space before they could do any further damage, or attack anyone else. It was heartrending to watch him: desperately wanting to save these two aliens, whose species name we didn't even know, but unable to sacrifice his crew.
Then we settled in for the long chase after the transport. I went to the mess to get something for Phlox and his menagerie, since I suspected he might forget to eat. Chef (who adores Phlox's love of food) sent all his favorites.
Phlox looked even worse than I expected, tired and scared and frantic to figure out what was happening. He refused to eat, lest it fuel the nanoprobes, and he didn't even want me to stay in sickbay.
It hurt to leave him. I kept thinking of all the hours he's spent fixing our injuries, both physical and mental. He was really my first friend aboard, and he's still one of the first people I come to when I'm sad or homesick.
But he was so afraid of turning into a cyborg and hurting me that I had to leave. I was actually upsetting him instead of comforting.
The engineering staff was trying to undo what the cyborgs had done, but it was slow going. Then we found the shuttle.
We came roaring up, guns metaphorically blazing. I say metaphorically, because the captain and T'Pol weren't in agreement over whether we should simply destroy the transport or try to save the people inside. It was always possible that Phlox might find some sort of "cure" for the nanoprobes.
But it became rather a moot point when the transport sent a signal that activated the cybernetic bits that our proto-cyborgs had installed, and the signal shut down most of our power. It became a race between Trip trying to undo what they'd done, and the cyborgs aboard the shuttle.
They'd tricked us, lured us into bringing our booby-trapped ship to them, and they were going to turn us into cyborgs as well. So, while Trip got as much working as he could, Malcolm and the captain used the transporter to get aboard the shuttle and plant a bomb.
It was nerve-wracking, sitting on the bridge, wondering which side would win. The cyborgs made it aboard our ship, but thankfully they didn't manage to inject anyone else before the shuttle beamed them back, just in time to get blown up.
So that left just one person alive and infected by nanoprobes: Phlox. Somehow, while power was fluctuating left and right, he managed to dose himself with some kind of radiation that killed the nanoprobes.
But while he was under their influence, he says he remembers a message being sent out--it wasn't a very complicated code, so I cracked it. The cyborgs were giving our location to the folks back home. From the distance the message was intended to travel, it looks like we've got some time--in the realm of several centuries--but eventually they'll be back. And I doubt they'll be very happy with humans.
Well, they can join the club.
Love,
Hoshi
AUTHOR: Mara Greengrass
AUTHOR'S E-MAIL: fishfolk@ix.netcom.com. Feedback is better than chocolate.
PERMISSION TO ARCHIVE: Yes, just let me know.
CATEGORY: Gen
RATINGS/WARNINGS: G
SUMMARY: Hoshi writes home after the events of "Regeneration."
DISCLAIMER: Enterprise and all its crew belong to Paramount and many other entities with expensive lawyers. I am making no profit from this story.
NOTES: As always, my eternal gratitude for the beta goes to Captain Average.
* * * * *
Dear Annie,
I'm sure the news coverage of our latest adventure completely missed the mark--it always does. Even if it was close to accurate, no talking head who wasn't there could convey to you what it felt like to encounter this latest...I'm not even sure what to call them. Menace?
What *do* you call a species that reproduces itself by taking over the body of other species and just dragging them along for the ride? Parasite, I suppose.
I'm fairly certain you've heard about the expedition to the Arctic Circle that disappeared, right? Well, they found these remains, alien remains, but several different aliens with a ton of mechanical parts. Cyborgs, I guess. I find it hard to believe, but these cyborgs woke up after being frozen for at least one hundred years. Then they took over the scientists on the expedition.
I didn't recognize most of the scientists' names, but one of the archaeologists was Marian King. Remember her? She gave that guest lecture in Barbara's class, and Mark decided he was in love. Mooned over her for a month, as I recall.
She's gone, you know. They're all gone. We couldn't save them.
They started turning into cyborgs and took off in a shuttle, forcing us to chase after them.
We only tracked them down when I got a distress call from a freighter. Thank goodness the message was in a language related to one already in the UT, or I'd never have been able to translate it quickly enough.
By the time we got to the freighter, though, the cyborgs had done a lot of damage, but we managed to find two of the aliens alive. We got them to sickbay, but Phlox found they'd been injected with nanoprobes that seemed to be turning them into cyborgs.
Malcolm wasn't any too thrilled about having these guys on board, but we couldn't leave them to die, so he posted a guard. Meanwhile, the captain and T'Pol started looking for information on these things, these cyborgs.
Buried in the later years of Zephram Cochrane's life, Captain Archer found a story about cybernetic aliens from the future. It was during one of his more pickled periods and he immediately recanted the tale when he sobered up, so nobody took it seriously. T'Pol is frankly skeptical, and despite the captain's enthusiasm, I lean in her direction.
Okay, we encountered strange cyborgs, but that doesn't automatically validate the drunken ramblings of Cochrane, no matter how much Captain Archer worships the man.
But that's beside the point. Of much more concern to me were the two aliens in sickbay, who woke up and attacked Phlox, injecting him with the same nanoprobes. Then they began climbing through the ship, just as we resumed our chase of the transport containing the other cyborgs.
I'll be honest, between expecting these aliens to jump me in a corridor, or their buddies to blow us up, I was terrified. I was even more scared for Malcolm and his team--chasing the cyborgs throughout the ship and finally, cornering them in a section where they'd begun modifying the ship in some way.
Somehow the cyborgs were able to shield themselves against phase pistols, so the captain made the only decision he could. He cleared the section and blew the hatch--venting them into space before they could do any further damage, or attack anyone else. It was heartrending to watch him: desperately wanting to save these two aliens, whose species name we didn't even know, but unable to sacrifice his crew.
Then we settled in for the long chase after the transport. I went to the mess to get something for Phlox and his menagerie, since I suspected he might forget to eat. Chef (who adores Phlox's love of food) sent all his favorites.
Phlox looked even worse than I expected, tired and scared and frantic to figure out what was happening. He refused to eat, lest it fuel the nanoprobes, and he didn't even want me to stay in sickbay.
It hurt to leave him. I kept thinking of all the hours he's spent fixing our injuries, both physical and mental. He was really my first friend aboard, and he's still one of the first people I come to when I'm sad or homesick.
But he was so afraid of turning into a cyborg and hurting me that I had to leave. I was actually upsetting him instead of comforting.
The engineering staff was trying to undo what the cyborgs had done, but it was slow going. Then we found the shuttle.
We came roaring up, guns metaphorically blazing. I say metaphorically, because the captain and T'Pol weren't in agreement over whether we should simply destroy the transport or try to save the people inside. It was always possible that Phlox might find some sort of "cure" for the nanoprobes.
But it became rather a moot point when the transport sent a signal that activated the cybernetic bits that our proto-cyborgs had installed, and the signal shut down most of our power. It became a race between Trip trying to undo what they'd done, and the cyborgs aboard the shuttle.
They'd tricked us, lured us into bringing our booby-trapped ship to them, and they were going to turn us into cyborgs as well. So, while Trip got as much working as he could, Malcolm and the captain used the transporter to get aboard the shuttle and plant a bomb.
It was nerve-wracking, sitting on the bridge, wondering which side would win. The cyborgs made it aboard our ship, but thankfully they didn't manage to inject anyone else before the shuttle beamed them back, just in time to get blown up.
So that left just one person alive and infected by nanoprobes: Phlox. Somehow, while power was fluctuating left and right, he managed to dose himself with some kind of radiation that killed the nanoprobes.
But while he was under their influence, he says he remembers a message being sent out--it wasn't a very complicated code, so I cracked it. The cyborgs were giving our location to the folks back home. From the distance the message was intended to travel, it looks like we've got some time--in the realm of several centuries--but eventually they'll be back. And I doubt they'll be very happy with humans.
Well, they can join the club.
Love,
Hoshi