Chapter Five: Introductions
Reviewers:
DrkDrake: A good choice. I'd probably be a winged Tyrant with every possible upgrade. Glad you liked the chapter. They were designed to stun her. I'm sure he does. They will assimilate all the 8472 technology and then wipe them out. Sound good? Yes, a long boring speech followed by a healthy dose of Nano Probes.
Vortex Inferno: I'm glad you like it. The Queen had a thing for Picard I think, but since he was resisting nothing ever happened.
DarkOZ: Indeed. Hahaha! Lameway. Haven't heard that one before, funny.
angelus288: Indeed, sorry to have kept you waiting for so long. I imagine she'll be in for a shock. That will be coming up in the next chapter. Because the emitter is from the 29th century. Did you ever see the Voyager episode One? The mobile emitter created a drone with personal transporters, kinetic shields. Just imagine what it could do to a Borg vessel.
When Captain Janeway came to, the first thing that hit her was that she was lying on something soft. Slowly her eyes opened and she sat up. She was in her quarters aboard Voyager. Her head felt like it had been hit with a hammer.
"Was it all a dream?" She asked the empty room.
It wasn't. The lights suddenly turned green and two Borg drones stepped through the door. Janeway looked around for something to fight them with, but other than the bed the room was bare. So she flung the comforter onto the two drones and shoved them into the wall. She burst out into the corridor and found it lined with Borg Alcoves. Several drones activated at either end of the corridor, and from within Janeway's quarters came the sound of ripping fabric as the first two drones freed themselves.
She ran down the corridor, but a Borg force field trapped her at one end. The two drones from her quarters grabbed her, and the three of were transported on board one of the Tactical Cubes.
Four droned escorted Janeway through many corridors until they reached a door, an unusual feature on a Borg vessel. It opened with a hiss, revealing the last thing Janeway would have ever expected to see on a Borg vessel. She was standing in what, to all intents and purposes, looked like a child's room. A large bed sat in one corner, a bookcase in another. There were posters of Federation starships on every wall, and a small photograph of two adults and a child in a silver frame sat on a desk. A computer screen was playing the assimilation of Voyager in a loop.
"What do you think Captain?" A voice asked. Janeway turned and saw the Borg Queen standing at the far end of the room. Her breath caught in her throat.
"But you're dead," she said.
"Not yet. The Borg can never be defeated, and I am part of the Borg, so I can never truly die."
"Why did you come after my ship?"
"You possessed technology that would benefit the Collective," the Queen replied. "You're wondering what the purpose of this room is aren't you?"
"The thought had crossed my mind."
"It was created partially to confuse you, and partly because it was requested."
"Requested. By who?" Janeway asked.
"By me," a small voice answered. Janeway turned and saw a small girl, no more than twelve years old, enter through a door. She was clad in Borg armor, with a metallic mesh covering her left arm, ending in some sort of weapon, but other than that she appeared human. She had dark brown hair that spilled down her back, ending just below her waist, and bright green eyes.
"Who are you?"
"The Borg," the girl replied. "You may call me Alissa."
Janeway was stunned. The Queen she thought had been destroyed by Admiral Janeway's sacrifice was now standing right in front of her, along with a girl who claimed SHE was the Borg leader.
"I imagine you're wondering how there can be two Queens. The answer is there aren't," Alissa said, passing her hand through the body of the Queen.
"A hologram," Janeway said.
"Yes, but no ordinary hologram. She was created in case the Borg ever suffered the loss of their leader. After you destroyed her and the Unicomplex, the Collective chose me to lead the Borg. So I guess I should say thank you for creating me."
"You haven't assimilated me, so I assume you were waiting to show me something."
"Not really," Alissa replied. "I just wanted you to live long enough to see the fate you brought upon the galaxy." The computer changed to show an armada of hundreds of Borg Cubes gathering around what Janeway realized with a sickening feeling was a quantum singularity.
"You're going to war with species 8472 again," she whispered.
"Correct," Alissa replied. "Of course, it's all thanks to you." A moment later the Doctor appeared in the room, but he was different. He looked like a drone, except his face was still the same, and he still had both his hands.
"Doctor?" Janeway asked.
"Not as you remember me. I am part of Alissa's collective now," the Doctor replied in a calm voice.
"You see Captain, the Doctor's program in very easy to modify, especially when you're a child prodigy like me," Alissa said in a bragging tone. "Just a simple matter of deleting his ethical subroutines and a few other alterations. You see, I've been experimenting, and I've discovered that the core personality of a person can be preserved through assimilation. It's a simple matter of altering other neural pathways. So far the subjects have all expired, but I am making progress."
"Expired! You mean murdered don't you?" Janeway replied. She was horrified. The original Borg Queen had been cold, but this Alissa was beyond that.
"It all depends on your point of view. Consider this Captain: The galaxy as it is imperfect. It is filled with war, disease and famine. Races fighting each other for the smallest and most trivial things. The Borg experience none of this. That is because we do not care for the trivial aspects of life. We do not fight over resources. We do not contract disease. We are the perfect race."
"No, you're the worst race," Janeway replied. "You don't understand that sometimes conflict and chaos is a natural part of life. Everyone has their own opinion and way they want to live. The Borg only seek to take those freedoms away. You're right that there is no disorder in the collective, but that is because there is no free will."
"That may soon change. Once I have perfected my neural reconfiguration process I intend to create a series of drones with independent will. They will serve as commanders, each tasked with a single purpose. I could make you one of those commanders. You could be tasked with exploring new sectors of space and identifying potential races for assimilation. If you agree I promise that when we assimilate humanity I will allow Mark to be with you. I may not even assimilate him," Alissa said.
Janeway froze for a moment, then realized the Nano Probes she had been injected with were affecting her mind.
"Never. You think I'd condemn billions to assimilation for personal gain?"
"Very well then," Alissa said. She slipped a gauntlet onto the Queen's arm and she stuck her assimilation tubules into Janeway's neck. She went limp but didn't feel her mind being eaten away. "The Nano Probes I gave you were special. They will assume control your autonomic systems but leave your mind intact. You will carry out your task, but you will have no choice. I can think of no worse a fate for you. Farewell, Kathryn Janeway," Alissa said before Janeway was beamed to Voyager, where she would remain for as long as Alissa willed. "Now, let us observe 8472's response."
The first wave of the Borg invasion entered Fluidic Space and was set upon by a wave of bio-ships. Bio-beams cut Cubes apart, but waves of Borg torpedoes lashed back, and Bio-ships wrinkled up and were destroyed, except one which was damaged by hundreds of Cubes and boarded. The pilot was killed, and the ship taken back to the Unicomplex. The Borg's ascension had begun.
How was that? Alissa sentenced Janeway to the worst fate imaginable, and the assimilation of species 8472 has begun. How will it end? Will 8472 manage to beat back the Collective again, or will the most powerful race the Borg have encountered join with the Collective? Keep reading and find out. In the next chapter the first of Alissa's Borg Commanders will be found, and 8472 will begin their counterattack. What will happen next? Find out in the next chapter. See ya then, and don't forget to review!
ENTILZA