Chapter Four: Revenge
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DrkDrake: Good choice. So what would your form be if you had to choose one? Would you be a Bio-Titan? Yep, and now they're back. Cloaking is simply one of the many technologies the Borg assimilated but never used. Glad you're enjoying it. As Janeway will soon find out.
The starship Voyager was cruising trough space. She had just left Utopia Plenitia after receiving a refit to equip her with various technologies developed during her journey through the Delta Quadrant. Their first assignment after leaving dry-dock was to survey a nebula that had just finished forming.
Janeway was in her ready room reading a letter from Mark. His marriage had been going badly for the last few months and it appeared he was close to a divorce. Once the survey was completed she would meet Mark and discuss the future. Her door chimed.
"Come in," she called. The door opened and Seven of Nine entered.
"We have arrived and are beginning the survey of the nebula."
"Good. So, did you need something? You didn't need to come all the way up here just to tell me we arrived."
"Indeed. When I was regenerating last night, I experienced a dream similar to the one when the Queen contacted me back in the Delta Quadrant. However, this time it was different. It was as if the entire Collective was resetting itself somehow. All the voices stopped and then resumed. I thought nothing of it until I realized it may have been a delayed reaction from the destruction of the Queen."
"So you think the Borg were trying to adapt to function without a Queen?" Janeway asked.
"I don't know, but I do feel that something is about to happen."
"I've learned to trust your hunches. If there's any Borg activity over the next few days I'll inform you immediately."
Several hours later however, it seemed Seven wouldn't have to wait a few days.
Ensign Kim was analyzing the incoming telemetry from the probes mapping the nebula. They were coordinating their efforts with the Drake, a Nebula class ship which was surveying the opposite side of the nebula. Suddenly the sensors picked up a Transwarp signature closing quickly.
"Kim to Janeway!"
"Go ahead."
"Sensors just picked up a Transwarp conduit approaching fast."
"I'm on my way. Alert the Drake, have them form up with us and prepare to head for Starbase 157 at maximum warp. I'm on my way.
When Janeway arrived at the bridge she was just in time to see a Transwarp conduit open and release two Borg Tactical Cubes.
"Looks like they decided to skip the whole let us know they're coming thing this time," Tom remarked.
"Take us to warp now!" Janeway ordered. Tom raced to comply, but a salvo of Borg torpedoes impacted and the lights flickered for a moment.
"Warp Drive's offline," Kim reported. "They're targeting our shield generators."
"Fire all weapons. Target the first Cube," Janeway ordered, wondering why the Borg would send two of their strongest vessels to assimilate a single starship.
"They must be wondering why we've come for them," Alissa said.
"The second Starfleet vessel is entering weapon range," the Queen said.
"Have the second vessel assimilate it. We will focus our attack on Voyager." Together Alissa and the Queen watched the Drake fire phasers and torpedoes at the second Tactical Cube. Its weapons only inflicted the most minor damage. The Borg adapted quickly.
"Captain Janeway, my ship will tractor you and get us both out of here," Captain Thomas Gale said.
"It's too late. The Borg have us surrounded. Go, we can handle ourselves. We can hide in the Nebula until you can gather a fleet. Don't worry Captain, I've outfought the Borg before," Janeway said. She watched as the Drake engaged its warp drive and vanished. "Tom, take us into the Nebula. With any luck the Cube's sensors will be as blind in there as ours."
"Yes mam," Lieutenant Paris replied. "Laying in a course." Seconds later the orange and yellow gases of the newly formed nebula surrounded Voyager.
"They think they can hide from us in the Nebula," Alissa said. "Fools. Have the other Cube circle the perimeter. Our vessel will enter the nebula and force Voyager out into open space." Alissa and the Queen watched as the nebula engulfed them. Sensors were reduced to one tenth of their normal range, but the Cube would never give up. No one could hide from the Borg.
"Warp drive should be back online in about two hours," Be'lanna stated.
"We still have to figure out a way to evade the Cube on the outside," Harry replied. "Our last scans before we entered the nebula showed the second Tactical Cube was circling the nebula's perimeter."
"And with sensors practically useless, we have no idea where it will be when we leave," Chakotay said.
"My question is why the Borg suddenly came after us. Any ideas Seven?" Janeway asked.
"Perhaps there is something aboard that the Collective desires," Seven of Nine replied.
"But what?" Kim asked. "If the Borg wanted the new technologies Starfleet's developing why not just go for Earth again?"
"He's right. It has to be something that only exists on this ship," Janeway replied. Then it hit her. "The Doctor's mobile emitter! The Borg learned of it when Seven's Nano Probes merged with it."
"If the Borg gain possession of it, the Collective would become far more powerful," Seven stated. "If we are unable to escape from the nebula, we must destroy it."
"Be'lanna, I want Warp Drive back online in one hour. We have to get back to Starfleet and warn them about the possible change in the Borg."
"I'll get right on it," Be'lanna said, getting up to head back to Engineering.
"We should have them soon," Alissa said. "The second Cube hasn't detected any readings, so that means they are likely near the center of the nebula." Alissa and the Queen watched as a map of the nebula slowly shrank until they had Voyager on their scanners. "Lock on a tractor beam and take down their shields," Alissa ordered.
Voyager suddenly rocked violently.
"It's the Cube," Harry reported. "They used a radiation cloud to mask their approach."
"Full impulse. Take us out of the nebula," Janeway ordered. The ship started moving but stopped with a jolt.
"They have locked on a tractor beam," Tuvok reported. "They are draining our shields."
"Have a security team secure Sickbay. The Borg are sure to try and obtain the mobile emitter."
"Shields are gone," Kim reported. A moment later ten Borg drones beamed onto the bridge. The senior officers drew their phasers and killed half the drones before the rest adapted. Tom was retuning his when a drone grabbed his shoulder and injected its tubules into his neck. He fell to the floor.
Janeway raised her phaser and cut down the drone that had assimilated Tom. His body had vanished a moment after he had fallen. She made for the turbo lift, but was caught and thrown to the floor by a drone. Chakotay killed it but was injected in the back by a drone Tuvok had knocked down. She retuned her phaser and killed a drone which was interfacing with the helm station.
In Sickbay a team of five security officers kept their phaser trained on the door. Fist marks began appearing. Then suddenly there was a whine of transporters behind them. Five Borg drones beamed into the back part of Sickbay: four tactical drones and Alissa. She raised her arm mounted weapon and fire five times. The small metal pellets hit the security officers and they fell, veins bulging and skin turning gray.
"Perfect," she said. Her weapon fired small blocks of Nano Probes which stunned a body and assimilated it. She walked over to the Doctor's office, where the mobile emitter lay in a capsule. She reached for it when one of the security officers, who had only been hit in the shoulder, raised his phaser and fired, vaporizing the emitter. Alissa screamed in anger, stalked over to the man, and broke his neck in her small hand.
"No matter," she said. The emitter had not been the only thing she had come here for. She extended her tubules and interfaced with the computer, swiftly finding the information on the modified Nano Probes. She downloaded it to the Cube and beamed out, leaving the other drones to complete the assimilation of Sickbay.
On the bridge, Janeway was the only one left. She had tried to order a self-destruct, but the Borg had locked out the main computer. She fired her phaser again, but the Borg had adapted and her shot was absorbed by the drone's shielding. She was about to turn her weapon on herself when two of the drones grabbed her. They forced the phaser from her hand and stunned her with Nano Probes. With their objective complete, the drones and Janeway were beamed back to the Cube.
An hour later the assimilation of Voyager had been completed. The Cube secured it to the hull and exited the nebula. The second Tactical Cube formed up with them. A small Federation fleet had just dropped out of warp, led by the Enterprise.
"Picard," Alissa said. "I believe I will allow him to escape this time. We have what we came for, but I promise you, when we return to the Alpha Quadrant, Locutus will rejoin the Collective," Alissa said as the two Cubes entered Transwarp and vanished, along with the means for the Borg to assimilate the most powerful race ever to challenge the Borg. Species 8472 would soon feel the wrath of the Collective, as would Janeway.
How was that? At least Janeway put up a fight, and Alissa was kind enough to let Picard go, for the moment. In the next chapter the Borg will begin an offensive against Species 8472, and Janeway will meet the new leader of the Borg. What will become of Seven of Nine? Will she join Alissa, or will she merely be used to find the key to creating loyal, independent drones? Keep reading and find out. Well, see ya all in the next chapter, and don't forget to review!
ENTILZA