Drone 10 looked over his priorities again.

1. Reestablish contact with the Collective.

2. Assimilate surrounding population.

3. Regeneration required.

The first would take time and require more drones to build a base and other equipment, so his computer moved it to the bottom of the list. The list refreshed in his field of vision.

1. Regeneration required.

2. Assimilate surrounding population.

3. Reestablish contact with the Collective.

Drone 10 thought about the list. It would do him no good to attempt assimilating without having regenerated. Unfortunately, all of the regeneration units were destroyed. If he found a power source the nanoprobes could the rest and create a collector out of the surrounding area and some ruined technology. His computer made the adjustment.

1. Find power source.

2. Regeneration required.

3. Assimilate surrounding population.

4. Reestablish contact with the Collective.

Drone 10 began scanning: no dilithium and no fossil fuels in the area. Wind was at a zero. No water. The only power source in the area seemed to be the planet's sun. His computer concluded that a solar panel would need to be constructed, one with the capacity to power a Borg base. The drone began to collect some of the nearest wreckage. He also grabbed one of the regeneration units that was in the best condition. This he put next to the pile of wreckage.

Then he programmed two sets of his nanoprobes; the first would turn the wreckage repair the regeneration unit, the second would turn the wreckage into a solar collector. He just hoped none of the population discovered him until he was ready. Surely, they noticed the crash and would checking out the crash site at any time. "I still don't think it is worth the risk," said the general.

"But, sir, any longer of a delay could be hazardous. We've already wasted enough time that any survivors who may have needed medical care have probably perished."

"But, we are obviously dealing with some kind of hostile aliens, besides the crash occurred on the Forbidden Continent. You know what it is like there: no food, no water, and zero resources. No team could survive."

"Sir," the scientist said, "it is worth the risk. Who knows what ideas we cold get from studying the alien technology. Maybe we could learn something to use against them."

"Hmmph," was the only sound the General issued.

"Besides, sir," Scientist said, "We need to recover the bodies for the families' sake. So, they can have a proper burning."

"Oh, very well. But some armed soldiers will accompany the team."

"Thank you, sir, and I promise this trip will change our planet's outlook on life."

Twelve hours after starting their work the nanoprobes had finished their respective jobs. Drone 10 was finally able to step into the regeneration unit. After so much unusual work it was like coming home for him. Other then not hearing all of the rest of the Collective's voices the regeneration cycle was normal. Because the other's were not there his own voice was noticeable to him for the very first time. He listened closely to what it said... which for now was exactly what the rest of the Collective would have said as well, We are the Borg, We will assimilate this world and return to the Collective. Once his regeneration cycle was complete he came to and stepped out of the regeneration unit. He paused and updated his list.

1. Construct base

2. Assimilate local population

3. Reestablish contact with the Collective

The plan seemed simple enough. The base would be to house the growing number of drones that there would soon be and to coordinate all their efforts on this world. He began to scan the local area for the best spot for the base but he getting an odd reading that seemed to mean nothing, but that he could not verify. So, the first thing that would need to happen was that he needed to build was a sensor array. That would have far better abilities then a mere tactical drone. Also, to actually get the base built he would need to have a small Collective on this world. Which meant that his neural processor would need to be repaired during his next regeneration cycle.

1. Repair neural processor

2. Assimilate local population

3. Construct base

4. Reestablish contact with the Collective.

Now he began cutting the sensor array out of the ship. He decided the base would be built around his regeneration unit. Cutting the sensor array was a painfully slow process, but he did not understand boring. This was just a task that simply had to be accomplished and if it took a while it took a while and it had to be a precise cut. Soon, once this task had been finished he would be one step closer to reestablishing his link with the Collective.

The Rajantans lived on one of the two continental masses on their planet. Ranjanta was one of the truest examples of ying and yang in the galaxy. One continent was teeming with life of every sort. The other was a barren wasteland where nothing could possibly survive on its own.

The Rahantans did not like the continent, but they put up with it. They were researching technology that would hopefully one day allow them to propagate across the entire face of their world. They knew the technology would probably take centuries to develop, but they knew that it would make all the difference for future generations. That was the real reason none of them could understand why some wanted to explore space if they could not explore there own world, what was the point of exploring others.

The soldiers were only now beginning to prepare the ship for the journey to the Forbidden Continent. Assignments had to be made; supplies ordered. Unfortunately, you could not just find something and go explore it. Certain procedures had to be followed and preparations had to be made.

One of the first thing that was decided was that a freighter ship would take the soldiers, scientists, ATVs, equipment, and food supplies to the Forbidden Continent. They had first thought about just flying over to the site, but it would have been too impractical to try to fly all the supplies over. After finally setting out they determined it would take a total of five more nights to arrive at the crash site.

So far, everything was going according to plan. It took ten hours to properly cut and move the sensor array. Right now one set of nanoprobes were fixing the array and another was ready to begin fixing his neural processor . Drone 10 stepped into the regeneration unit.

Borg regeneration was an interesting phenomenon. It acted as sleep did for most humanoid species. That is repairing and regenerating the body for the next day. But, where other species dreamed the Borg used this time to share and process information that was needed about new threats and to regenerate their vessel as well.

Things were different for Drone 10 now. There was no information to receive or send. No tactical threats to process. Nothing. Nothing but useless silence. It was almost unbearable for him. Then as if sensing his desperation whatever was left of his human nature took hold for the first time. The darkness faded away. He found himself in a corridor of a Federation vessel and looking at a woman.