Disclaimer: Star Trek the Next Generation is property of Paramount Pictures and all respective cast, crew, and employees. I am not making a profit off this. This is simply for fanfiction enjoyment.

Summary: The Borg have returned and have captured Data. Using very different tactics from their last encounter with the android, they will stop at nothing to gain control of the Enterprise … and Data may not survive the ordeal.

Rating: PG-13



Eternal Scars

The first thing Data noticed was the smell.The acrid smell of burning circuits reached his olfactory sensors, engulfing this circuitry and forcing his eyes open. It took point three seconds for Data to realize that he had been unconscious.He then realized that it was his own arm that was burning. His left forearm had a gaping wound; his artificial skin gone, exposing his wiring and the one wire that had short-circuited and set a small spark. Quickly, he covered his left arm with his cupped right hand, depriving the flame of oxygen and putting it out. Checking his internal chronometer, his files told him that he had been unconscious for twenty-four minutes and two seconds.

"What has happened?" he asked out loud, more to himself than anyone else.

Data then stood up, taking in the scene around him. He was inside an enclosed solid structure. Black pipes and wiring covered the enclosure, making sinister wallpaper. Immediately, Data realized where he was: a Borg Cube.


"We defeated them!" Captain Jean-Luc Picard shouted, "I took the Borg Queen's mechanical spine in my hands and split it in two!"

Picard's hands repeated the movement he had done two years ago, only this time, his hands trembled as he did so and there was no satisfaction when he made the mock-break movement with his hands.

"How the hell is she alive?"

Picard's question was not answered. All senior officers in the Observation Deck sat in grave silence. Gerodi's right hand made an involuntary movement to the empty seat beside him.

"More importantly," First Officer Will Riker said, "how do we get Data back?"

Picard's thoughts raced back to the last few hours; though they seemed to last an eternity.

The Enterprise was responding to a breach in the Neutral Zone, though they did not know who had crossed the line.

"Why can't the Romulans just give up?" Riker asked, assuming the intruders were the aliens who had time and again crossed into neutral territory.

However, when the Enterprise reached the Neutral Zone, noting seemed out of the ordinary. All that lay before the crew of the Enterprise was a familiar black space speckled with stars. The emergency siren blared in everyone's ears and the red lights flashed on and off as the red alert Captain Picard enabled continued.

"Sensors show no trace of a Romulan Warbird or aerial craft of any kind," Data said.

After a few moments of silence (except for the red alert), Picard's tense gazed turned into one of annoyance.

"Lower shields," he said, "Cancel red alert."

Worf, the Klingon security officer behind the archway, pressed a touch pad key, stopping the alarm, which enveloped the Bridge in silence.

"Maybe a false alarm?" Riker suggested.

"It seems so, Number 1… I wonder…"

But Picard wasn't able to finish his thought. Instantly, everything happened at once. In a split second, the Bridge's silence was broken by a foreboding hum. On the Bridge, eight light green cylindrical groups of molecules descended, arranging themselves back to their original forms: the Borg. Data, stationed at Ops, found himself surrounded by three Borg, the rest were scattered throughout the Bridge, aiming their weapon-assembled arms at the nearest Federation officer.

Before anyone's shock could wear off, the three Borg that surrounded Data roughly pulled him to his feet. Data struggled to wrestle away, but as he pulled his right arm away, the Borg to his left grabbed his left arm, gripping it with such force, his artificial skin tore. The other Borg used that opportunity to force his free arm behind his back and beam him away. As they did so, the other Borg disappeared from the Bridge, dissolving away in a beam-out.

This all happened in a matter of five seconds.

"Shields up!" Picard shouted as Data was being beamed away, "Red alert! Arm photon torpedoes!"

The emergency signal blared throughout the Enterprise , signaling the presence of the enemy. In the viewscreen on the Bridge, the starry black space wavered as if it were desert air in intense heat. Slowly, a Borg Cube revealed itself, before shooting at the opposing ship with an assault of light green lasers.

Just as the Enterprise was about to return fire, however, the lumbering Borg Cube glowed emerald before it sped away in a blurry streak, leaving the stunned crew of the Enterprise in its wake.


Data did a quick self-diagnostic and found that he was not badly injured. His arm has a few loose connections from the tear, but he had plenty of backup wiring to compensate. He checked his uniform and found that it had been stripped of his communicator. One thousand and three questions ran through his processor, searching for answers. How is it possible that the Borg are still alive? How were the Borg able to obtain a cloak? These were just some of the answers he was searching for as he took a few steps forward. He was stopped, however, by a forcefield, which buzzed in protest.

As if cued by the forcefield, four Borg appeared around the corner, their robotic feet echoing down the hall. As soon as they lowered the forcefield, Data launched his attack. Using his electronic strength, he shoved his right elbow into the leading Borg's chest, forcing it to the ground. The other three advanced around him, but he held his own. He shattered the left eyepiece cover of the second Borg while crushing the third Borg's arm. The last, he dealt heavy blows with his feet and arms, but not without sustaining another slash on his arm. As soon as the final Borg hit the floor, he ran.

Data's internal memory banks scanned for a map of the Borg Cube. His last few encounters with the Borg allowed him to eliminate the guessing on some corridors. However, even he had not ventured in every corner of the Cube. The room he had been in had only one tunnel leading up to it. He followed it as far as he could, hoping it led to something useful. He had not been in this section of the Cube before.

His hopes were dashed, however, in just a few minutes. The one tunnel led to a large cavernous bay. Around the perimeter were Borg, all connected to the collective. A single structure stood in the middle. Data recognized it instantly. It was the table he had been bound to when he was captured by the Borg.

The one tunnel he had come from was sealed off by a forcefield, trapping him inside. One of the Borg disengaged from the collective's mechanical sleep, its eyes snapping open. It advanced toward Data like a shark honing in on its prey. Slowly, it made its way to the android, aiming its weapon laden arm at the android.

Data prepared himself, ready to break its arm or leg, whichever came first. However, when the Borg was a foot away, an unfamiliar beam shot out of the Borg's arm, landing squarely on Data's chest. The shot was an electron charger that intensified electric signals. Data immediately collapsed to the ground, his own body signals working against him. His body twitched uncontrollably until it finally shut down.


Data regained consciousness only to find himself strapped to the same restraints the Borg held him captive in three years ago.

Data pulled his arms, trying to free them from the shackles. But it was one of the few restraints that even an android could not escape from. Using sensors, the lighted shackles measured the strength of the being trapped inside and strengthened accordingly. Although from his past experience, Data knew the shackles were too strong for him to break free from, this didn't stop him from trying. His android senses knew the effort was fruitless, but something inside him told him to at least try.

"That won't do you any good," came a bodiless voice. The voice echoed around the large chamber. Data recognized it instantly. It was the Borg Queen.

As if on cue, the Borg Queen emerged from the darkness across the other end of the chamber. Her seductive voice and nonchalant tone were hauntingly familiar.

Data surveyed his captor as she advanced toward him, her pale, soulless skin almost glowing in the black chamber.

"I've been waiting a long time, Data."

Millions of questions bombarded Data at once. But Data chose to ask the one he found most curious first.

"How is it possible that you are still alive?"

"Ever the inquisitive android, aren't you, Data? But I didn't come for you to answer your questions. In fact, you are going to answer mine. Give me the security codes for the Enterprise ."

Data stayed silent, surveying his captor's face. To even his surprise, the Borg Queen smiled. Her red lips curled upward revealing her brilliantly white teeth.

"I thought you would do that," she said, still smiling, "You see, Data, the last time we met, I gave you a gift… human flesh. I asked for you to join the collective, but you refused. Even when I gave you something you had longed for ever since you were activated."

"Grafting human flesh on my exterior does not make me human," Data pointed out, "And I will not join the Borg collective"

Casually, the Borg Queen made her way to one of the Borgs on the perimeter of the chamber. She extended her right hand, palm up. At once, the Borg's eyes snapped open. It pushed at button on its arm and out slid a device which, once it fell onto its palm, I handed it to the Borg Queen, who closed it in her hand.

"My memory banks cannot be forcibly removed," Data reminded.

"That's what you think…"

The Borg Queen turned to Data. She rested her chin on her left hand and her gin got wider as her eyes focused on the android.

[Bloop]

In point four seconds, a flood of emotions hit Data's positronic brain, pushing out the questions he was analyzing so methodically. It was as if Data had realized where he was. He looked wildly around, as if his sensors could not keep up with his optical inputs. His positronic brain filed back to the times he found himself in the Borg Cube, none of which were pleasant. He counted twenty seven Borg around the perimeter. Data's breathing quickened; at the time, he did not know whether his body needed more oxygen to cool his internal body temperature, or if it was a behavior of his human friends that he mimicked.

"You… have turned on… my emotion chip," Data said, his behavior visibly changed. He had turned from a calm, processing android, to a nervous, fearful being. New to emotions, Data did not like the way his emotion chip flooded his processing and forced him to face a barrage of unfamiliar inputs. Although he turned on the chip from time to time, it was something he was still very new to, and so, he regulated its usage with great care. He tried with all his strength to turn the chip off, but the Borg Queen had taken full control of it. It was as if an invisible forcefield had wrapped itself around his emotion chip. Every line of code Data processed to turn the chip off was blocked; even emergency subroutines did not work.

"Yes," the Borg Queen said matter-of-factly, "except this time I won't be so generous. I let you get away last time by giving you what you wanted. Now, I'm going to try a different tactic."

The Borg Queen enunciated the last few words relishing them as if they were a sweet fruit.

She stepped toward Data, keeping her right hand enclosed around the device the Borg had given her. When she came close enough to touch Data, finally revealed what was in her hand. Opening her fist, she revealed what looked like a short electronic rod. With the touch of a button on the rod, a blade shimmered into existence from the end of it. The rod had now become the handle of a ten inch, serrated titanium alloy knife.

Data's eyes widened, his optical inputs taking in as much as they could around him while focusing on the weapon. Fear gripped the android and he pulled at his restraints, desperately trying to set himself free. But the restraints strengthened even further, tightening their hold on Data's wrists and ankles.

"Now, Data…" the Borg Queen said sweetly. She then raised the knife high and slashed it across Data's right thigh, cutting a deep wound.

"AUUUUGHHHH!!!!"

Sheer pain surged into Data, coursing throughout his leg and pulsating to the rest of his body. The knife had cut through several layers of wiring, exposing his inner circuitry. The colored lights in his wound blinked and flickered wildly. Data tried to cover and protect the wound, but he could not move his hands. Slowly, his lubricant fluid leaked out from his thigh.

Data took a deep, shuddering breath, reeling from the undeniable sting. Having felt pain only a few times since he had been activated, it was an emotion he still could not fully understand. However, it was also an emotion he did not wish to explore.

"Now…" the Borg Queen brought her lips up to the android's ear, whispering seductively, "give me the security codes to the Enterprise ."

Data swallowed hard, instructing his positronic net to upload images in his life, the construct of the Enterprise , possible moves in a game of 3D chess, anything to distract him from his current state. However, all he could focus on were the predatory eyes of the Borg Queen and the weapon she holstered at her side.



To be continued…