Disclaimer: They're not mine, they're not mine. Don't sue, don't sue.
"This is the Enterprise to all ships, transport as many survivors off the ships as possible and retreat to point Epsilon Alpha Epsilon." Captain Will Riker looked at the carnage displayed on the view screen and saw dozens of wreckages. Just two hours earlier, the assembled ships were an impressive collection that showed the might of the Federation. The assembled fleet would have been enough to deter other empires like the Romulans or the Cardassians not to attack the Federation. The Borg was not deterred. If anything, the Borg treated the once mighty Federation ships like a nuisance, a minor one at that. The battle, if one could call a one sided affair a battle, was probably over before it started. The Borg adapted relentlessly to the weapons trotted out by the Federation ships. The phaser blasts and the barrage of torpedoes caused negligible damage to the cube on its journey to Antica. After two hours and many destroyed ships, the fleet decided it was time to leave. Another couple of billion lives would be lost to the Borg collective over the next year on Antica but three years after the Borg made their presence known, the sight was not uncommon.
Riker headed to his ready room to go over details of the battle and report to Fleet Admiral Shanti the details of another debacle while the remains of the fleet headed to Corvis Minor, or as he broadcasted to the other ships, Epsilon Alpha Epsilon. He and the rest of Starfleet knew the Borg would intercept and analyze the broadcasts and would head to a stated location with a couple of cubes to crush the assembled Federation ships. All communications would be coded and changed weekly so the Borg could not catch them with unaware like they had near Vulcan that first year.
As Riker sat down on his chair, it still didn't feel like his after these last two years, he picked up the PADD from his desk. He continued to regret the fact that he hadn't been able to stop the Borg and rescue Captain Picard more than two years ago. He cleared his head and went over the recordings of the recently completed battle. According to the information, his hunch was right. The newly deployed quantum torpedoes had some effect on the Borg cube, but it was much less than it should have been. According to Fleet estimates, the newer torpedoes should have caused significant damage to the cube before they could adapt. But his suspicions were that the Borg had better information about the capabilities of the Federation than Starfleet did with their hostile takeover of the major Federation planets starting with Earth and the Sol system.
He continued to read the most up to date report from Starfleet. It was estimated that in another year, the fight against the Borg would be negligible because Starfleet would run out of ships. Initially hundreds of ships could be counted on for an assault against a Borg cube, now it was only a couple of dozen ships per attack. By next year, the projections were that it would be about a dozen ships per attack but probably less. A year after that, there would probably be only dozens of starships left in all of the Federation.
He continued to read the reports of the various other powers in the Alpha and Beta Quadrants. The Cardassians were currently in a worse position than the Federation. When the eight Borg cubes entered the Alpha Quadrant after its conquest of Earth, two cubes left for the Cardassian Union. Starfleet did not learn of it until a month later when all Cardassian ships were called back to defend the Cardassian planets. Most of their fleet was destroyed after a long running battle over Cardassia Prime. They continued to fight for that first year, but effective resistance had ended. Rumors were that there was still minor resistance on the outer rims of the empire but that about a hundred ships had fled from Cardassian space to parts unknown in the second year of their fight against the Borg. Right now, the only reports Starfleet got about the situation in Cardassian territory was which planet was currently being assimilated by the Borg and not about any resistance the Cardassians were putting up.
The situation was not much better for the Klingon Empire. Two of the eight Borg cubes headed for their territory. One went to Q'osnos and subdued the ships in that sector as easily as they had done in the Sol system. The other went to another major planetary system of their empire. Adding to the problem was that High Chancellor Kmpec and the rest of the Klingon Council were killed or assimilated in that first battle against the Borg. This resulted in a Klingon civil war by two major factions and a few smaller ones. Gowron's group attacked the Borg and tried to reclaim Q'osnos and many of his forces died as a result. Duras's group held back and tried to defend their territory, but they died when the Borg came. It didn't matter which side Klingons were on, the Borg attacked both sides and assimilated them anyway. The fall of the Empire was faster than expected. While the Klingons fought bravely, they were overmatched by the Borg. The worst of it was that the Klingons refused to flee, seeing that as an act of cowardice and many perished in battle. A head on attack against a superior force was not brave, it was foolish and in the end suicidal. Latest reports from Starfleet indicated few if any surviving Klingon ships and none in Federation space.
The Romulan Star Empire was also in a precarious position. While the Federation was busy attacking the Borg in sector 001, the Romulans assembled a large fleet and began attacking Federation colonies on the Federation side of the Neutral Zone. Starfleet was otherwise occupied with trying to defeat the Borg so could not do much against the Romulan fleet. But their got their comeuppance when two of the eight Borg cubes headed to Romulan territory. The Borg engaged the Romulan forces in Federation space and routed them back to Romulan territory. The two cubes then proceeded to Romulus and Remus and decimated the hastily assembled fleet in the system. Reports were that the Romulans had lost over 1000 ships in the system and only a handful limped away. It was all downhill for the Romulans then because their best ships were used in the attack against the Federation and the Borg destroyed two full fleets of ships. The cloaking devices which were so useful against the Federation did not protect them. If anything, it made them easier targets because the Borg easily detected their cloaked ships and blasted them away before the ships could decloak and return fire.
The Tholian Assembly had fallen over a year ago as has the Gorn Empire. Right now there were hundreds of cubes in Federation territory as well as Cardassian, Klingon and Romulan space.
Riker sighed heavily. He did not like what he was reading and the obvious conclusion to be drawn from the reports. It seemed the Federation had two options: one was to continue to stand against the Borg; the other was to flee like the Cardassians. The Klingons and Romulans did not have any success with the fighting method. Maybe the correct way would be to flee from the Borg and hope to come up with something to counterattack the Borg at a later date. He would have to bring that idea to Starfleet Command who as yet did not see the picture he was saw at the frontlines.
Suddenly, from out of nowhere a being appeared and said, "Hello, Captain Riker."
Riker looked up from the PADD at the sudden appearance of a man a few feet away from him. He reached for his phaser thinking it might be a new form of attack by the Borg and pointed the weapon at the strange looking man in from of him. It took a moment before he recognized him as the Traveler, the strange being that had propelled the Enterprise into another galaxy a few years ago. "Traveler, what are you doing here? Speaking of which, how the hell did you get here?"
"I've come because you need help and I want to help."
That statement caught Riker's attention. "The Borg, what can you do about them?"
"Unfortunately, I cannot help you in your fight against the Borg. That power is beyond me and I cannot destroy them in any event."
"Then what help are you willing to give us?" Riker didn't like beings that had the power to protect people but just watched from the sidelines as humanity and the rest of the Federation got assimilated by the Borg. His bitterness probably had to do with the fact that the Federation's attempts of getting help from the Organians were rebuffed.
"I see that you are having thoughts about possibly leaving this area of the galaxy to escape from the Borg. I can help you with that. I cannot help you in defeating the Borg."
"Why the hell not!? You propelled the Enterprise over two million light years into another galaxy with your mind. Then you propelled us billions of light years in the other direction. You can probably do the same with the Borg. Or maybe you have the knowledge to build weapons that would be effective against the Borg."
"The answers to both statements are yes. However, I am limited in what I can do to offer your Federation help. There are other beings in this universe that would rather let things play out as they currently are rather than interfere."
"Oh? It was that damn Q that introduced the Borg to us and this invasion by the Borg is a result of his actions. If he hadn't introduced the Borg to us, then none of this would have happened and billions that are dead or assimilated can still be alive today!" Riker was mad at so called superior beings and their attitudes. They didn't want to interfere now after the Borg had arrived but did not show the same restraint when introducing the Borg to the Federation.
The Traveler looked at Riker as he railed against superior beings like Q. If only Riker knew that the Borg would come eventually and the Federation would have been even less prepared than they were now than when the Borg made their appearance in the future. Q's introduction at least gave the Federation a chance. And while it had not worked in this universe, he knew that the result in other universes were on a more positive note. "Captain Riker, please, your yelling is not going to change what has happened. Q did what he did for a reason. While you may not agree with his actions, they were done and there is nothing you or I can do anything about it. What's done is done. I offer my help to you in another way."
Riker sighed. He knew the Traveler was right. He was just angry over Q and over his own failed attempts to stop the Borg. "Okay, so what help can you give us?"
"I'm offering the Federation a chance to at least salvage your way of life. There is a wormhole located in this part of the galaxy close to Federation territory. It is located in the Bajoran system. This wormhole unlike others is unique because it is a stable wormhole." The Traveler was about to continue when Captain Riker interrupted him.
Riker rolled his eyes at the Traveler's plan. "Excuse me, but the stable wormhole will only take us to a different part of the galaxy or maybe even another galaxy. But who's to say the Borg won't follow us there and continue to assimilate us until we're all part of the Collective?"
The Traveler gave a small smile and continued, "If you let me finish. As I was saying, the wormhole is a stable one. I have talked with the beings known as the Bajoran Prophets who reside in that wormhole as well as other beings in this galaxy and they have agreed to help me transform the wormhole into a trans-dimensional gateway. The Borg will not be able to follow you once the gateway is closed. It will not take you to another part of this galaxy or even another galaxy in this universe. Instead the wormhole will send you to another universe, a new universe where the Borg does not exist."
Riker thought it over. He had thought about running from the Borg since the disastrous battle over Betazed during the first year of the Borg invasion. He thought about it again every time another major Federation planetary system was taken over by the Borg. It did sound like a better option than to continue the fight. In his heart of hearts, he knew that resistance was futile. The only thing saving them from a direct Borg attack was time because the Borg had so many systems to choose from to assimilate. And he also knew that luck would run out eventually. The Enterprise had fought dozens of campaigns against the Borg and each time was less successful than the time before. It took longer and longer to repair the ship for the next battle. He decided to get as much detail about this option as possible, "Sounds like an option. How big is this wormhole and how long will it stay open to this new universe? Can we come back to this one once we've come up with a way to defeat the Borg?"
"You can come back to this universe, but you will have to do it on your own. Neither I nor the other beings helping me will be with you in the other universe. You may find a way back someday, but your race will not have that ability for thousands if not millions of years. Most races never evolve to the point where they can travel to another universe." The Traveler paused a bit after this. He looked at Riker and went over the calculations in his head before he continued his response. "As for your other question, the mouth of the wormhole is large enough to accommodate up to a dozen ships the size of the Enterprise through at once and will remain open for only one hour. Unfortunately I can only keep a stable connection with this other universe for so long even with the help of others."
"An hour? But that means that many others will be left behind to the Borg. That's not much of an option if only few will be able to get away."
"I agree that it is not a lot of time, but it's all I can do. You will need to consult with your leaders to make the decision. But should you decide to take my offer the wormhole will open in 3 months time from today at this hour. My advice is to take as many ships and people as you can to the Bajoran system and run when the wormhole opens. The Borg will get to you sooner or later if you stay. At least this way, some of the Federation can still survive even if the majority of you will not."
The Traveler was right and Riker knew it. "Agreed, I'll pass along your offer to Starfleet Command."
The Traveler nodded and faded away thinking that he was able to at least save some of the Federation from the Borg.
Riker tapped his comm badge and ordered all senior officers on the Enterprise to the conference room to discuss his meeting with the Traveler. He had already concluded that it was definitely an option he would consider and probably take, but he wanted to find out what the others on the ship thought. Maybe he would talk with Guinan as well. Her people had encountered the Borg and the survivors had fled to other parts of the galaxy. She of all people knew that no matter how far you ran in this galaxy, the Borg will come for you eventually.