Previously in Apex AZ:
The final preparations were made in anticipation of the Borg arrival. Since there was no word from Tenchi as to how he had done, everyone was prepared to fight, but no-one was prepared for what they saw as the Borg opened communications. Tenchi had been assimilated, turned into a Borg drone, and given the new identification of 'Locutus of Borg'. Of course, they'll find a way out of this. They always do.
Apex AZ, Part VI – End of Evangelist
"Fire."
The officer sent the Emperor's command to the OB gunship. Washu received the command and activated the cannon.
A single shot, several hundred metres across, crackling with black electricity, tore through space towards the cube. Residual electricity crackled inside the gunship barrel.
The shot hit the defensive shields of the cube and dissipated. It had caused no damage.
/--------------------/"What!" the Emperor yelled. "No damage?"
"No, sir," the sensor operator replied. "It didn't do a thing."
The Emperor sagged in his chair. Now that the OB gunship had an effectively useless weapon, he knew that the galaxy was doomed. That ship had five times as much firepower as the entire fleet combined, and it hadn't caused any damage at all.
"The information we have assimilated from the being you called Tenchi," Locutus said, his image still on screen, "has enabled us to adapt to your every strategy. Resistance is futile."
"We will not allow you to assimilate us," the Emperor said grimly. "It's against our way of life, our freedom and self-determination."
"Freedom is irrelevant," Locutus said, still in the same even tone. "Self-determination is irrelevant."
"We would rather die."
"Death is irrelevant," Locutus replied. "You will be assimilated, or you will be destroyed."
"We will not submit to your rule," the Emperor said firmly.
"Emperor Asuza, ruler of the Jurai people and this galaxy. You speak for your people. I speak for the Borg."
"Then each side has a spokesperson," Asuza said. "Perhaps we can negotiate a..."
"Negotiation is irrelevant," Locutus said. "Lower your shields and prepare to be boarded. You will escort us to your sector zero-zero-one."
Washu appeared on the control deck of Ayeka's ship. She had beamed aboard a few moments ago. "Agreed," she said to Locutus. "You may board us, and we shall escort you to Jurai."
"Lady Washu, what are you doing?" Asuza asked, automatically opening another view window to Washu. "We will not let them..."
"End the Borg communication," Washu ordered. The comms officer looked at Ayeka, who nodded to validate the order. The screen deactivated.
"Emperor, Tenchi is still alive," Washu said to him.
"What do you mean?" Ayeka asked.
"I heard that," Ryoko said. Another view window appeared, displaying Ryoko. "Tenchi is a Borg now. He told us himself, once you're assimilated, you're dead."
"But he's not," Washu replied. "If he was dead, we'd be in a battle now. Tenchi is trying to buy us some time."
"But for what?" Asuza asked.
"I don't know," Washu admitted. "To figure out some way to improve the situation, I'd guess."
"That's just speculation," Asuza said.
"Maybe, but that's not all. Tenchi said that the Borg have a collective consciousness, with no individuals. Locutus also said that he was a spokesperson for the Borg. He couldn't be a spokesperson if he wasn't still, to some extent, an individual. Therefore, Tenchi must still be alive."
The Emperor paused for a moment, thinking about this. "Are you sure?" he asked the scientist. "If you're wrong, we'd be letting the Borg onto the flagship of the galaxy."
"I know," Washu replied uneasily. "But I am almost never wrong. Besides, Tenchi would never allow himself to be controlled. He would much sooner destroy himself. He's still in there, Asuza," she said, staring straight at the ruler of the galaxy. "I can feel it."
"I can also feel it," Tsunami said, the overlapping images of Sasami and the goddess appearing on another screen. "Tenchi is still alive, I know it. And I will not let you refuse to try and help him."
Asuza sighed. "On our heads be it. Commander, hail the cube. Tell them we agree to their terms."
/--------------------/
Locutus appeared on the control deck of Ayeka's ship, obviously using an advanced form of teleportation. He looked around slowly. "Micro-organic power core. Adapted weapons systems. Varied crew, inefficient. You will all become one with the Borg."
Washu slowly walked up to Locutus. "Yes, I'm sure we will. But before that, you should come and check out our medical facility."
"Irrelevant," Locutus replied. "Imperfection is destroyed."
Ayeka walked up next to Washu. "Tenchi?" she asked hopefully. Locutus looked at her.
"Ayeka, First Princess of this galaxy," he said. "You will become one with the Borg." Locutus raised his left arm forwards suddenly towards Ayeka. Ayeka yelped and stumbled back. Two small tubules emerged from the finger joints of Locutus's outstretched left hand and extended towards Ayeka. They pierced the side of her neck and remained there for a second, before retracting back into the first two fingers of Locutus. "Resistance is futile," he said evenly.
Ayeka clutched at her neck, gasping in shock and pain. Twinges in her neck and lower face caused her to grimace. Washu grabbed her as she staggered back. "We need to take her to the MedBay, now!" she said.
/--------------------/
The door of the MedBay opened to allow Washu through, guiding the weak Ayeka. Ayeka stumbled over to a bed and collapsed onto it. Her face had gone pale due to shock, and there was a grey patch of skin just in front of her right ear, towards the jaw. Locutus walked in after them and looked around. Three guards followed him and stood rather uncertainly outside the door, seeing the look Washu gave them.
"Activate the EMH," Washu announced. There was a disturbance in the middle of the room as the Emergency Medical Hologram appeared.
"Please state the nature of the..." he started, but stopped abruptly as he caught sight of Locutus. He paused for a moment, before seeing Ayeka. He walked over to her, picking up a medical scanner on the way, and started scanning her. "I take it Tenchi was unsuccessful in destroying the Borg, then," he commented as he tended to the princess.
"Holographic technology," Locutus said. "Your distinctiveness will be added to our own."
"Yes, I'm sure it will," the EMH replied. "But right now I have to take care of Ayeka here." He walked to a console and started to process the information Tenchi and Washu had added to him about the Borg, to see if there was anything he could do.
The skin on Ayeka's cheek began to bulge, where the grey patch was. Suddenly, something looking like half a mechanical spider burst out and stretched over her skin. It was a Borg implant.
"Ayeka, how are you?" The voice took Ayeka by surprise. It was Tenchi.
"Tenchi?" she asked.
"That's right," Tenchi's disembodied voice continued. "I managed to get Locutus to inject you with different nanoprobes, ones that will only construct a communications implant, so I could speak to you."
"You're alright?"
Washu walked up to her. "Ayeka, are you alright?" she asked.
"Think your words," Tenchi said.
"Tenchi, how did you manage to survive?" Ayeka thought. "I thought once you were assimilated, you were dead."
"Normally that's true, but I have a strong mind. I'm stuck in this body, while Locutus controls it. He's trying to get rid of me, Ayeka. He's trying to dissolve my ego. Help me."
"How can I help?"
Washu was busy scanning the unresponsive princess. Ryoko, Sasami and the Marshall walked in.
"What's going on?" Ryoko asked, before seeing Ayeka. She rushed up to her. "What happened?" she demanded.
"Locutus assimilated her," the EMH explained. "It's only a matter of time, now, before she becomes a drone. I can't stop it."
"I'm fine," Ayeka replied. "I'm talking to Tenchi."
"What?" the others exclaimed. "How?"
"Quiet!" Ayeka demanded.
"You already are helping," Tenchi said. "Your presence is making me stronger. I'll try to help, and possibly regain my body. Your implants aren't permanent, nor will there be any more. Don't worry about them."
"But is there anything else we can do?" Ayeka asked.
"Just..." Silence. "Just hope." More silence. "I'm losing my mind. I'll have to stop talking now. Trust me."
"Tenchi?" Ayeka asked, but there was no reply.
"Ayeka, what is it?" Ryoko asked. "What did Tenchi say?"
Aki and Mihoshi walked in. Aki rushed up to Ayeka, seeing the implant in her cheek, and frowned at Locutus.
"Tenchi said I'd be fine," Ayeka said. "He's trying to help from his end, but his mind is being destroyed. He doesn't know how long he has left."
"Tenchi's okay?" Aki asked. "How?"
"We require regeneration," Locutus said suddenly. His eyes closed and he stayed still, as if in a trance.
"What happened?" Mihoshi asked.
"The Borg need to regenerate once a day, to replenish their energy," the EMH explained. "Obviously they need to regenerate now."
"How long will this last?" Ayeka asked.
"Two hours."
"Marshall, the Borg have just powered down their main systems," interrupted an officer from the command deck, via the comms. "What should we do?"
"Nothing, yet," the Marshall replied. "Wait for further orders."
"So that's what Tenchi did," Washu said. "This is good."
/--------------------/
An hour had passed. Once the Marshall had returned to the command deck, Aki helped Ryoko move Locutus onto a bed. Further examinations showed that Locutus, and the rest of the Borg cube, were indeed regenerating. Although the Borg would be fully prepared for any fighting later, they were vulnerable now. At the suggestion of Ryoko, the fleet stood ready, not attacking. Their weapons wouldn't make any difference, even with the Borg defence screen down, as the ship would regenerate itself as fast as it would be destroyed.
The EMH was staring at a console screen, although he didn't need to. All the information was being processed directly through his programming, but focussing on a console was courtesy, to prevent people being worried by the doctor standing in the middle of a room, his eyes flickering every so often. As he compiled relevant information, the others gathered around Locutus.
"I hope he does manage to get his body back," Sasami said. "As do I," Tsunami added.
"We all do," Ayeka said, putting her arm round the little girl. "But Tenchi said we could do nothing but hope."
"But what if he doesn't?" Aki asked. "Once this regeneration is done, we're all dead. Do we have a back-up plan?"
"Always the optimist," Washu said.
"Hey, Washu, don't you have a bomb or anything?" Mihoshi asked. "You know, like the one you gave Tenchi to destroy that galaxy?"
"No," Washu said, shaking her head. "I made that specially. I don't make weapons of mass destruction. Any more," she added. "I got rid of them all."
"We really have got no choice, then," Aki said. "Tenchi really needs to come back to sort this all out. I'd just put a spacesuit on and use my energy to blow the cube up, but from what Tenchi's told me it wouldn't do any good. They've already become immune to my energy attacks."
"Please come back, Tenchi," Mihoshi whispered.
/--------------------/
Another half hour had gone by, and they were no nearer to a good solution. Locutus still hadn't stirred, and showed no signs that Tenchi was coming back. Ayeka hadn't heard from him at all. She had refused the doctor's offer to remove her implant, as then she wouldn't be able to communicate with Tenchi, if he didn't manage to repossess his body.
Still, they didn't leave the MedBay. They cared too much.
"Does anyone want a drink or anything?" Aki asked. "I feel a bit thirsty."
No-one else wanted one, so Aki stood up and turned towards the door. And stopped.
Tenchi had stirred. Around him, his friends held their breath in anticipation, watching as he slowly woke up.
"Tenchi, can you hear me?" the EMH said, leaning over him. He tapped his medical scanner and stood up straight. "Don't all talk to him at once," he told the others. "I don't know what he's been through, but it's probably going to be overwhelming."
"Tenchi's back?" Sasami asked.
"Yes," the EMH nodded. "It's not Locutus, at least, as the rest of the Borg are still regenerating."
Tenchi's eyes opened and looked around. He spotted the group of friends standing next to him. He tried moving, but was promptly restrained by the doctor.
"Don't move too much until you're sure you're alright," he said. "Physically, you're fine, but that doesn't mean you're back to normal just yet." He walked off to resume his other business, always keeping an eye on Tenchi.
Tenchi moved again and sat up on the bed, legs dangling off the side. He peered at his friends and looked puzzled. Then he started giggling. "Funny hair," he said, before lying on his back across the bed. "Who you?"
"What?" Ayeka said, scratching the metal protrusion on her face. "Who are we?"
"Mmm," Tenchi replied after a moment. "Who?"
"Tenchi, don't you remember us?" Aki asked, stepping forwards.
Tenchi got up and looked at him. "Nice ring," he said. "No funny hair. You ring guy."
"He doesn't remember us," Ryoko said, fighting back the welling tears. "How? I thought Ayeka said he was still there?"
"He was," Ayeka insisted. "I talked to him before. But he did say he was struggling to maintain his ego, remember?"
"I think his self has been destroyed," Washu said. "That, or it's just buried so deep within him that he can't access it. Without knowing he has that within him, he won't try to bring it back. He can't access it, so he's just like a baby."
"No," Sasami said quietly. Tsunami comforted her. "I'm sure he'll be alright," the goddess said. Sasami sniffed. "We just need to get him to remember who he is."
"Sasami's right," Ayeka said. "We need to remind him who he is."
"Ring guy looks me," Tenchi said. "I no ring. Why you ring, me no?"
"I'm dead," Aki said. "Do you remember? You fought me ages ago. You were a Super Saiyan. You let me keep my body, because you trusted me to be good. And I was. That ring above me shows that I'm dead. Do you remember any of this?"
Tenchi stared at Aki for a moment, then laughed. "Say-yah-yin funny word." He laughed again.
Aki turned around. "Anyone else want to try?" he asked.
Sasami walked up to Tenchi. "Tenchi, do you remember me? I'm Sasami. I live with you. You trained me, and helped me to become a Super Saiyan. You were always there for me, whenever I needed you. Please. I need you now. Please come back." Tsunami took over. "Hello, Tenchi. My name is Tsunami. I am a goddess. I helped you to discover your Jurai powers. You let me keep my own powers, even though I was fighting with some other people, including Lady Washu here. Do you remember?"
Tenchi shook his head slowly. "You two girls?" he asked.
Tsunami bowed her head, realising they hadn't succeeded. "Yes. I am two people." She stepped away.
"It's no use," Ryoko said. "Tenchi just can't remember. It's hopeless. Tenchi muyo."
"Tenchi muyo." Tenchi repeated. "Tenchi muyo. Me muyo. Muyo Tenchi."
"I'm afraid Tenchi is gone forever," Washu said. "His mind must have been destroyed by the Borg."
"Borg," Tenchi repeated. "Tenchi muyo. Borg." Tenchi frowned and licked his lips in concentration. "Borg bad. Must kill Borg."
"Tenchi?" Ayeka asked. "Are you remembering anything?"
Tenchi gazed at her blankly, before looking towards the door. "Must kill Borg," he repeated. "Plan. Know how."
"He's remembering things!" Sasami said, moving next to him. "How much do you remember, Tenchi?"
Tenchi looked down at the young girl. "Super Say-yah-yin Sassy-me. No." He shook his head violently. "Kill Borg. Must. Borg bad. Must destroy!" He slammed his fist down onto the bed, a slight metallic creak audible from the contact.
"Calm down," the doctor said. "You're over-stimulated. You need to rest."
"Destroy!" Tenchi shouted. He stood up, glancing around at everything in mild surprise. "Get there. Where? What?"
"You want to go there?" the EMH exclaimed. "I can't allow that. Your condition is too precarious to even think of..."
"Deactivate the EMH," Washu ordered. The EMH faded out. "Tenchi, can you remember instant translocation?"
"Tran-what?"
"Okay. Well, I think you could use the transporters. The Borg shields are down at the moment due to the regeneration..."
"Transporters," Tenchi repeated. "Transporters." He lurched forwards suddenly and made for the door. It slid open as he reached them. He stepped back in surprise, but then walked through them, looking side to side. He turned right and walked off.
"Tenchi!" the others called, running to the door. They reached it just as Tenchi stepped into the lift.
/--------------------/
The lift doors opened to reveal five worried girls and an equally worried Aki. They poured out from the lift and hurried up to Tenchi. Tenchi was standing back from the transporter console, which was opposite the transporter pad. It was a large hexagonal floor plate on the floor, and just that. Tenchi was pondering.
"Tenchi, why are you still here?" Aki asked. "You've been here long enough to transport onto the cube."
"I, umm," Tenchi said. "Don't know how this works. Maybe you do it?"
"What were you doing, then?" Ayeka asked.
"Remembering how to use energy," Tenchi replied. "And speaking. I think I remember some of it. I need to get there now. Please."
"No," Ryoko said. "It's too dangerous. You've already been assimilated. What makes you think they won't just take you over again?"
Tenchi held up his arm to make a point, but then stopped and looked at it. It was the artificial arm, created by the Borg and attached to the stump left when they removed his real right arm. He grabbed the top of it and twisted it sharply, pulling it off. He dropped it to the floor. "I am not Borg," he said. He moved over to the transporter pad. "I do remember this. I remember you my friends. My friends help me always. Help me save everyone. Transport me to Borg."
Washu slowly moved over to the console and started tapping in commands to initiate the transport. "Washu, what are you doing?" Mihoshi asked.
"I'm helping Tenchi," Washu replied, continuing to enter commands. "I don't know what Tenchi's thinking of, but he's our only hope."
"Thank you," Tenchi said, smiling. "I know what to do now. Any sacrifice."
"What?" Ayeka asked. But the question came too late. Tenchi shimmered and vanished.
"Any sacrifice?" Aki wondered. "What'd he mean by that?" He looked up. "Oh no."
/--------------------/
Tenchi appeared on the cube in a corridor. He looked round and started walking.
"Locutus, you require regeneration," came the Borg collective voice, spoken by a thousand drones, all regenerating in alcoves throughout the ship.
"No I don't," Tenchi replied, still walking. "What I require is you destroyed."
"We are Borg."
"I'm not Borg any more," Tenchi said, turning into an opening. Beyond it lay a walkway across the vast hollow interior of the centre of the cube. He started to proceed across it.
"Resistance is futile," the Borg said.
"Sometimes," Tenchi said, "it's the one person that can make all the difference."
"We are perfect. You cannot destroy us. Your efforts are useless."
"Oh, I don't think so," Tenchi replied. "I know exactly how to destroy you. And for that, I'm going to use my energy. Something you should have adapted into yourself."
Tenchi flickered his eyes as he accessed the Borg technology within him. He activated the communications port and sent a message to the entire Resistance fleet. "Everyone, pay attention. I am going to destroy the Borg. Get out of the sector now. There are no planets around, so you can get away right now. Do so. Don't question me."
Tenchi reached his destination, and looked around. Reaching out around him was empty space, bordered by the interior of the cube. Only at the centre was there empty space, for expansion after assimilating more drones or technology. The centre of the lone walkway through the centre was where he stood. At his feet lay a round metal ball, about the size of a cannonball. Across its surface was an irregular mesh of Borg technology, the proof that Washu's bomb designed to destroy the cube had been assimilated.
"Do you hear me, Borg?" Tenchi shouted. "I'm going to kill you. Say goodbye to your Collective."
Tenchi reached his one hand forwards, palm up, and formed a small dot of energy there. Satisfied that he remembered how to do so, he made the energy bigger, until it was as large as a beach ball. He increased the intensity of the energy until the ball glowed a brilliant light blue.
"We have adapted," the Borg said. "Your efforts to destroy us are irrelevant. We will remain."
"Well, yes, if I just throw this energy at you," Tenchi said. "But what about if I add it to the energy inside my body? That energy will be enough to destroy you. You can't adapt. You will die."
"You will also die," the Borg said. "Your life will end."
"Yes, it will," Tenchi said. "But at least I've lived a good one. Your existence, as pathetic as it has been, is finally over. We humans overestimate the many, lots of times, but you underestimate the one. Me."
Tenchi moved his wrist, so the energy ball was between him and his hand. He closed his eyes and breathed deeply a few times, before opening them again.
"Assimilate this." Tenchi plunged the ball into his chest. It expanded rapidly, engulfing everything in its wake. It reached its full size, occupying most of the cube, and exploded, vaporising the entire cube. The shockwave continued out, hitting the white dwarf star in the sector. This caused it to unbalance and expand rapidly, destroying any improbable trace of the Borg still remaining.
The Borg were gone. Tenchi was dead.
/--------------------/
As the Resistance fleet was heading back to Jurai at super-light speed, the ships detected a huge explosion behind them.
"Marshall!" an officer announced. "The star has gone supernova!"
"What?" the Marshall asked. "It was a white dwarf. It's already gone nova!"
"I know, sir, but it has done again." The officer checked the sensor readings yet again. "It's now a Class Seven stellar entity."
"But how?" the Marshall wondered. "How can that possibly have happened?"
Aki and the girls knew. "Tenchi," Aki said. He bowed his head deeply. "He's gone." He blinked rapidly, trying to remove some of the moisture building up in his eyes. "We weren't allowed to have friends on planet Vegeta," he said, mainly to himself. "It got in the way of training. But Tenchi came along. He was my first friend." He shook his head. "It's funny. I've never cried before. My teachers told me it was a sign of weakness. Still..." A tear dropped to the floor, followed by another one, and then some more.
"He's really gone this time," Sasami said. "Tsunami, what do we do?"
Tsunami faded from Sasami's body, removing their connection. "You must do what you feel you want to do," the goddess said. "This is your path, and yours alone."
As Tsunami disappeared completely, Sasami started weeping, as did Tenchi's other friends.
Tenchi was dead.
/--------------------/
All elements bigger than hydrogen or helium were created by the repeated fusion of these two elements in the centre of early stars. As the stars died, they expelled their contents across the universe, where, later on, they would join together into bits of dust, then small rocks, then into planets. Everything on every planet was once at the centre of a star.
Born of a star, Tenchi's resting place resides at the centre of that from which he was created. The star child had returned home.
Welcome home.
In the next episode of Apex AZ:
Washu makes a vital discovery, as everyone else is trying to cope with the death of Tenchi. With something forgotten, Tenchi returns and slips into a deep comatose state, fighting within himself to keep his mind. Meanwhile, early entrants to the galactic martial arts tournament are signing up.
All this and more in the next episode of Apex AZ: "Return of the Dead Guy".