Chapter 20: Changing Tides

Alissa and Sinal's Sphere dropped out of Transwarp in orbit of the Sinai Homeworld. It was surrounded by dozens of orbital weapon platforms and hundreds of warships. With the Resalian homeworld now under Sinai control, Emperor Sin'tau was preparing for a push into surrounding systems.

Sinal entered Alissa's chambers. She was about to beam to the surface, but she wanted to do something first. When she met her father, she wanted to show him both who she had become and who she wanted to be. She searched through drawers and chests until she finally found it. A small vial. It contained nano probes Alissa had developed just for her. They would assimilate her body but leave her mind intact. She slipped the vial into a fold of her dress and tapped a panel which beamed her to her father's palace in the capitol.

…

The Borg advance fleet dropped out of Transwarp in the Kreedak system of Kre'jet. Five thousand Cubes and twenty Battle Cubes, led by two Demon's Tooth Destroyers. Commander Alana directed the operation from the Demon's Tooth Black Nova. The Kreedak defenders in this system consisted of 24,000 vessels and 156 orbital stations. The Demon's Tooth ships immediately began targeting the stations while the Cubes fired Energy Dampeners, disabling hundreds of ships.

…

Commander Blzz Zant watched as the Borg fleet tore through the defenders of Kre'jet. His fleet was waiting, hidden, for just the right moment to strike.

"They approach the planet. We must strike now!" Hissed one of the officers.

"Not yet. Let them get a bit further," Zant replied. He watched the Borg mow down the Kreedak warships and assume a half sphere formation in preparation for an attack on the planet. "Not yet!" The Borg entered orbit.

"Commander!" The Fleet Commodore shouted.

"All ships decloak! FIRE!"

…

Commander Alana watched in horror as nearly 100,000 Kreedak warships decloaked around her fleet and opened fire. Cubes exploded left and right, and one of the Demon's Tooth Destroyers was torn apart by a barrage of Subspace beams. It was the first Demon's Tooth to be destroyed so far in the war.

The Borg fleet was not defenseless, and Borg batteries lashed back at the Kreedak, but their shields were far more durable. It took the combined fire of five Cubes to penetrate them. The Breen weapon still worked through, and a growing number of Kreedak ships were drifting. Still, the Borg were outnumbered nearly 20 to one. Suddenly a hail of bright purple torpedoes came in and annialated 300 Cubes. The remaining Kreedak ships closed ranks around the Borg.

…

"Good. The Tri-Phasic torpedoes work," Commander Zant said. The Tri-Phasic torpedoes worked by operating under a partial phase cloak and detonating within a Borg vessel. It took only six to destroy one of their mighty Cubes. The Subspace Lances and enhanced shields were also performing better than expected. The Plasma cannons burned through Borg shields easily, and already over half the Borg force was burning. The Borg had had their fun. Now the Kreedak would crush them, just as they had crushed any race that stood in their way.

…

"All vessels prepare to retreat!" Commander Alana ordered.

"We can't, not without running that gauntlet the Kreedak are setting up," an officer replied.

"Then I suppose it's time we used another way out. Open the singularities! It's time we reveal our Queen's newest weapon."

Out in space dozens of quantum singularities opened and disgorged thousands of 8472 bio ships, but these were different. They were more than twice the size of normal 8472 vessels and jet black. They fired angry red bio beams from a heavy mount on their nose and three smaller weapons mounted on their fins. Kreedak weapons struggled to find them as the bio ships darted and weaved with speeds no Borg vessel could hope to match.

…

Commander Zant gripped the arms of his command station as his Battle Hive was rocked by bio beam impacts.

"Target those new vessels! Destroy them!"

"We are trying Commander. These new vessels are extremely maneuverable."

"Destroy them or I will personally remove your intestines and feed them to the grubs!"

The Kreedak fleet launched swarms of fighters, who engaged the Dark Bio Ships with plasma weapons and subspace lasers, burning through their reinforced hulls and cleaving them into pieces. Gradually the Borg were driven back into a sphere formation.

…

"We've lost here. All ships enter the singularities! We must escape while we can!" Commander Alana ordered. She watched as the few Borg vessels that could still function entered the quantum singularities. "We may have been defeated, but I have a last surprise for you," Alana whispered at the Kreedak fleet. As her vessel entered the last open singularity, a cloaked Multi Kinetic Neutronic Mine detonated, destroying nearly all the Kreedak ships and covering the worlds of the system with nano Probes. The Borg never left a system in enemy hands.

…

Commander Zant picked himself up off the smoldering floor of the Battle Hive. Most of the consoles were shattered, and the bridge crew, apart from two officers, were dead. He lifted a fallen support beam off his First Commander.

"What is the fleet's status?" Zant demanded.

"Only three hundred ships on the periphery of the fleet are still functional. Many report Borg components taking over. Our vessel has lost most of its armor but there are no reports of Nano Prone infestation."

"Than we succeeded. We tested the effects of our new weapon systems. We know from the data we recovered from the Borg that they have only a limited number of those mines, and once the main swarm is gathered we will overwhelm them. Tell the remaining ships to cleanse the infected worlds and return to the fleet base at Jen'fal."

The Kreedak warships sterilized the worlds infested by the Borg, then opened subspace tunnels and vanished.

…

Sinal looked out from her room at the rising sun. Her father would be here in a few minutes. The nano probes had already completed their work. Sinal had an implant above her left eye, and a mesh of metal traveling down her left arm. More implants were forming inside her body, and she could already hear the Collective. Then she heard the door to her room hiss open.

"Hello Sinal, I'm glad you made it."

"Thank you Father," Sinal replied. "Your present is on the desk." Sin'tau opened a small box ad found one of Sinal's pendants. It had a long golden chain and a ruby stone.

"It's beautiful. Thank you Sinal. Sinal, is something wrong?" Sinal turned to face her father and Sin'tau saw her Borg implants. "What have they done to you!"

"Nothing," Sinal replied. "This is my work. Ever since Alissa saved my life and those of every one of our people, you have not trusted her. You think she wants to harm our people after they gain our trust."

"That is not true," Sin'tau replied.

"I have seen the power of the Borg, and they could destroy us in an instant if they wished. The only reason they have not is me. Alissa and I have become close friends. She is saddened by the fact you have barely allowed us to see each other. I had to beg you to let me go with her!"

"I wanted to protect you, and look what has happened to you! You've maimed yourself with those hideous metal implants. You've betrayed me Sinal!" Sin'tau moved toward Sinal, who backed away.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm going to free you from whatever spell Alissa has placed over you!" Sinal cried. He slammed Alissa to the floor and tried to pull her eyelash implant off. "I lost your mother to the Resalians! I won't lose you to the Borg!" Sinal suddenly curled her legs and threw her father off her.

"I only wanted to bring out people and the Borg closer together, and this is how you reward me!"

"Listen to yourself Sinal! You're not-"

"Stop it! You've never respected me! It was always Sinia! She was born first! She was your pride and joy! And the SECOND I do something on my own, you react like this. Well, if that's how you're going to be, then I'm leaving." Sinal prepared to beam back to the sphere when she felt a searing pain in her back. She fell to the floor and saw her father holding a bloody dagger. "F-Father?" Sinal whispered. She could feel the blood leaking out of her back and forming a purple puddle beneath her.

"Alissa has corrupted your soul. This in the only way to free you," Sin'tau said, tears running down his eyes.

Sinal's vision began to darken. Then, just before she blacked out, she felt the tingle of a transporter beam. Then she knew nothing.

So, how was that? So the Kreedak are about to go on the offensive again. Will their new weapons be a match for the Borg? Will the Borg find a way to beat the Kreedak back and defeat them once and for all? And what will happen to Sinal? Keep reading and find out. In the next chapter the Independent Drone Fleet will leave on its maiden voyage. Well, see ya all then, and don't forget to review! The Emperor protects.

ENTILZA