"Let's move!" Major Timothy Bennet yelled at his troops, who had taken up defense at Vandenburg Air Force Base. "Fall back, we'll rendezvous in 20 minutes." The major took another shot at an intruder and saw his bullet deflected before retreating down the corridor. Where had they come from, and what did they want? The intruders hadn't made any demands or tried to take information. They had just come in force, taking base personnell and injecting them with some kind of pathogen that discolored their skin. The MPs on base had tried to shoot the intruders, but all of their bullets had hit some kind of force field, inflicting no damage whatsoever. Bennet had lead the one-sided battle, and had finally ordered his men to fall back. He was running through the corridors blindly, just trying to get away. He rounded a corner and smacked straight into one of the intruders. The man was about 6 foot 3, a whole head above Bennet. The intruder reached out and grabbed Bennet by the throat and began to lift him up off the ground.
"Who are you?" Bennet screamed. "What do you want?"
But the invader just injected him with tubules coming out of his hand and dropped him to the ground. Bennet could hear voices in his head, a white noise willing him on, to take up arms and fight.
Against his own men.
He turned another corner and saw a young lieutenant, staring aghast from the end of a corridor. The lieutenant fired a shot, but Bennet put up a force field to block it. Now that he was Borg, he understood what he had to do. Unknowing, uncaring, Bennet took the young lieutenant and assimilated him.
* * *
Weapons drawn, J and K entered through the hole they had cut in the ship. Their jet had long since taken off, commandeered by one of the alien entities. They found themselves in a small, confining space, with green lights casting eerie shadows among a thick fog. The occasional sound of a spark could be heard as it lit a section of the fog with a brilliant white light.
"They need to get Martha Stewert up in here." J said. "A little curtains, some paint... it could really be something."
"Somehow I doubt this species cares much about decor." K said, dryly as ever.
The aliens were all plugged into sockets on the walls, and J could only guess what they were doing. Then two of the aliens got out of the sockets in the walls between he and K.
"K, look out!" J yelled. K turned and found himself face-to-face with one of the aliens. He shot it in the chest while J dispatched of the other one. They fell to the floor with a THUMP.
"Weaklings." J said. "One shot takes them down... it's just a matter of extermination."
K, meanwhile, had knelt down to check the bodies. "J, do you recognize this one?"
J looked at the alien's face more closely. "He's a Cepillapoid!" J was clearly surprised.
"And this one's Human." K said of the other body. "I've seen humans killed by aliens before, but these were transformed somehow, made into aliens."
"Like the agent just a minute ago." J replied.
"And the man in the shack, and the agents on the jet."
"Didn't Zed say there were more of these ships coming?" J asked.
"Come on. Let's try to get something from their computers, maybe we can find out what they want."
* * *
"Security breach. Two humanoids have entered the vessel. Dispatch three of four and four of four to assimilate. Resistance quotient 2." Three of four and four of four exited their alcoves and moved to assimilate the first of the intruders.
"K, look out!" was yelled from the other humanoid. The first turned and shot four of four, and three of four was shot in the back. K and J had thought their disturbance had gone unnoticed. But the collective had taken note.
"Alert. Humanoids are equipped with energy weaponry. Adapt to weapon frequency. Resistance quotien increased to 5. Do not engage unless provoked. Allow humanoids to proceed and observe procedure." The collective chattered among itself, as the thousands of entities from the sphere made more decisions.
"Humanoids from Earth have not posed a threat. Continue to assimilate Earth. New primary objective; construct interplexing beacon and link to collective of this period."
* * *
Two hours had passed. J and K had searched the entire ship two times over and found nothing. No computers, no data terminals, not even any sign of data storage. Nor were there weapons, food storage, or quarters. This species was turning out to be more than they had bargained for.
"K, man, we're not going to find anything. Let's start taking these guys out!"
"We don't do anything until we find out what they want. They may not even be hostile."
"What do you mean? They took a whole town hostage, screwed up the buildings, and did something to the people. How can they not be hostile?"
As if to punctuate his statement, another alien emerged from its cell and began to move toward the duo. J shot it. This encouraged more aliens to move toward them.
"We're surrounded!" K said.
"I noticed that, K!" J shot two more of the aliens.
K pulled out his weapon and shot an alien moving towards him.
Nothing happened.
The bolt was absorbed by an energy shield that surrounded the alien.
"Agent J, my weapon is useless!" K yelled. J turned and shot the same alien, with the same result.
"Forget him, he's shielded. Get the rest!" K yelled. He began to shoot any of the aliens around him, but the same thing happened every time.
"Let's get out of here!" J called, kicking an alien in the knee. Then he and K were on the run. The hunters had become the hunted.
"Who are you?" Bennet screamed. "What do you want?"
But the invader just injected him with tubules coming out of his hand and dropped him to the ground. Bennet could hear voices in his head, a white noise willing him on, to take up arms and fight.
Against his own men.
He turned another corner and saw a young lieutenant, staring aghast from the end of a corridor. The lieutenant fired a shot, but Bennet put up a force field to block it. Now that he was Borg, he understood what he had to do. Unknowing, uncaring, Bennet took the young lieutenant and assimilated him.
* * *
Weapons drawn, J and K entered through the hole they had cut in the ship. Their jet had long since taken off, commandeered by one of the alien entities. They found themselves in a small, confining space, with green lights casting eerie shadows among a thick fog. The occasional sound of a spark could be heard as it lit a section of the fog with a brilliant white light.
"They need to get Martha Stewert up in here." J said. "A little curtains, some paint... it could really be something."
"Somehow I doubt this species cares much about decor." K said, dryly as ever.
The aliens were all plugged into sockets on the walls, and J could only guess what they were doing. Then two of the aliens got out of the sockets in the walls between he and K.
"K, look out!" J yelled. K turned and found himself face-to-face with one of the aliens. He shot it in the chest while J dispatched of the other one. They fell to the floor with a THUMP.
"Weaklings." J said. "One shot takes them down... it's just a matter of extermination."
K, meanwhile, had knelt down to check the bodies. "J, do you recognize this one?"
J looked at the alien's face more closely. "He's a Cepillapoid!" J was clearly surprised.
"And this one's Human." K said of the other body. "I've seen humans killed by aliens before, but these were transformed somehow, made into aliens."
"Like the agent just a minute ago." J replied.
"And the man in the shack, and the agents on the jet."
"Didn't Zed say there were more of these ships coming?" J asked.
"Come on. Let's try to get something from their computers, maybe we can find out what they want."
* * *
"Security breach. Two humanoids have entered the vessel. Dispatch three of four and four of four to assimilate. Resistance quotient 2." Three of four and four of four exited their alcoves and moved to assimilate the first of the intruders.
"K, look out!" was yelled from the other humanoid. The first turned and shot four of four, and three of four was shot in the back. K and J had thought their disturbance had gone unnoticed. But the collective had taken note.
"Alert. Humanoids are equipped with energy weaponry. Adapt to weapon frequency. Resistance quotien increased to 5. Do not engage unless provoked. Allow humanoids to proceed and observe procedure." The collective chattered among itself, as the thousands of entities from the sphere made more decisions.
"Humanoids from Earth have not posed a threat. Continue to assimilate Earth. New primary objective; construct interplexing beacon and link to collective of this period."
* * *
Two hours had passed. J and K had searched the entire ship two times over and found nothing. No computers, no data terminals, not even any sign of data storage. Nor were there weapons, food storage, or quarters. This species was turning out to be more than they had bargained for.
"K, man, we're not going to find anything. Let's start taking these guys out!"
"We don't do anything until we find out what they want. They may not even be hostile."
"What do you mean? They took a whole town hostage, screwed up the buildings, and did something to the people. How can they not be hostile?"
As if to punctuate his statement, another alien emerged from its cell and began to move toward the duo. J shot it. This encouraged more aliens to move toward them.
"We're surrounded!" K said.
"I noticed that, K!" J shot two more of the aliens.
K pulled out his weapon and shot an alien moving towards him.
Nothing happened.
The bolt was absorbed by an energy shield that surrounded the alien.
"Agent J, my weapon is useless!" K yelled. J turned and shot the same alien, with the same result.
"Forget him, he's shielded. Get the rest!" K yelled. He began to shoot any of the aliens around him, but the same thing happened every time.
"Let's get out of here!" J called, kicking an alien in the knee. Then he and K were on the run. The hunters had become the hunted.