Chapter 21: New Faces

Alissa watched as Sinal slowly died. Nano probes could not isolate the poison in her system fast enough. It had already reached her brain. Finally the poison was neutralized, but was it too late?

"Run a medical scan," Alissa ordered.

"Bodily functions returning to normal. Massive brain damage. Regeneration in progress. Estimated damage, 90 percent memory loss." The Collective replied. Alissa hung her head.

"Revive her." Sinal opened her eyes and looked around in confusion. "Are you all right?"

"I think so, but who are you, and who am I?" Sinal replied.

"You are Sinal, and I'm Alissa, your big sister." Sinal tried to sit up but felt a stabbing pain in her back. "Don't try to move. You were badly injured."

Alissa gazed out the viewport at the world below her. Sin'tau had tried to kill his own daughter, the only thing that had kept Alissa from assimilating his entire race. She herself had told him that. But no longer. At her command fifty Borg Cubes decloaked and began firing on the Sinai homeworld. Cities vanished and bunkers were flattened. Fires raged across much of the surface. The orbital weapon platforms turned on their crews, killing them with gas and adding their firepower to that already tearing into the planet.

After a few minutes the Sinai homeworld was lifeless. Everything had been destroyed. Across Sinai space Borg vessels killed everything. The Sinai were wiped from existence. The Borg fleet began strip mining what they could from the former Sinai holdings. The Kreedak had intensified their attacks, and more Multi-kinetic mines were needed to repel them. Until the Borg could adapt to the newest Kreedak weapons the insects had the edge.

…

While Sinal was recovering, Alissa took a trip to the research labs. There the brightest minds in the Collective worked tirelessly to advance Borg technology. One of the scientists, the Krenim researcher Annorex, turned as he heard her enter.

"Ah, Queen Alissa. I'm glad you came."

"What do you have?" Alissa asked.

"As you know my people were advanced in the art of temporal weapons. Before my incorporation into the Collective I was working on developing a weapon capable of erasing entire species from time. However I was never able to perfect it. Instead, using technology taken from the Kreedak, I have developed a subatomic disintegration weapon. It uses a temporal field to penetrate energy shielding and instantly reduce a vessel to its component atoms. It takes quite a bit of power however, and I believe only Battle Cubes and above could mount the weapon without compromising its other systems."

"Excellent work, however the Kreedak torpedoes are what worry me most."

"I am aware. We are close to perfecting two new weapon systems which show great promise. The first is a point defense phaser array capable of detonating incoming torpedoes. The second is a phalanx torpedo to be that promises to be deadly to Kreedak fighters. I estimate both systems will be ready for deployment within a month."

"Excellent work. Get me those weapons within two weeks and I will allow you to claim you old homeworld as your personal research base." Annorex smiled.

"I will try my queen."

…

Back in her cabin, Alissa and Sinal talked. All she remembered was Alissa. She requested a new body and spent several hours designing it. It appeared around fifteen years old and had black hair that ended above the knees. Sinal had elected to keep her feline ears and tail, but the rest of her new body was human. Her eyes were yellow and she wore a suit of Borg armor.

"How do I look Big Sister?' Sinal asked.

"Perfect," Alissa replied. Sinal was already assimilating large amounts of information. Soon she would be ready to become one of Alissa's commanders. "I have to go now. The Kreedak are stepping up their attacks. Once you're ready, you may join me."

"Ok Big Sister!" Sinal replied, closing her eyes and concentrating on the information entering her brain.

…

The Borg defenders of system 15739 were holding their own against the encroaching Kreedak fleet. Cloaked subspace mines were slowing them down and long range salvoes from Borg Harbingers were taking their toll.

"Continue advancing," Commander Jess'nel replied. His fleet had lost nearly a quarter of its strength but the Borg defenders were beginning to fall back. The tri-phasic torpedoes tore apart Cube after Cube, but many were being intercepted by small disruptors. The mines were also forcing his force to move slower as they cleared them out. His Battle Hive took down the orbital battlestations one by one, clearing the way for the troop ships.

"My lord, the Borg vessels are withdrawing to the fourth planet," an officer called out.

"Good, pursue them. Let none survive." As the still 9,000 strong Kreedak fleet chased after the fleeing Borg, a massive number of small craft which had been hiding under cloak engaged their warp dives only a few thousand kilometers from the Kreedak. Ship after ship was blown apart in rippling multi gigaton blasts. Jess'nel was thrown to the floor as three of the flying bombs impacted the Battle Hive. "Report!"

"One third of our fleet is gone, and many more report heavy damage. The Borg seem to be using large shuttlecraft filled with anti-matter to ram our vessels at warp. Your orders my lord?"

"Are you detecting any more cloaked ships?"

"None within sensor range my lord, but Borg cloaks are difficult to penetrate."

"We must complete our mission. Bring us into range to strike the planet, and fire the main cannon at the closest station."

"Understood my lord." The Kreedak fleet continued toward the Borg planet, long range torpedo platforms savaging them with volley after volley of Chronoton warheads. Kreedak scientists still hadn't found a way to block them and so had begun adding additional armor to the Kreedak fleet, but this also reduced their speed and maneuverability.

As more and more vessels fell from both sides, several groups of Dark Bio Ships dropped cloak in the rear of the Kreedak fleet. Heavy bio beams tore through shields and armor, destroying hundreds of ships in seconds. The Borg fleet then advanced, losing over half its number to tri-phasic torpedoes but ripping through the Kreedak formation. The Battle Hive was destroyed by a Bio Ship planet killer formation. With the loss of their command ship the Kreedak ships moved to retreat.

As the Kreedak ships entered their subspace tunnels, a barrage of bio beams accidentally struck an opening aperture, causing a large explosion that destroyed a dozen Borg and Kreedak ships. When the light from the detonation does down a wormhole was visible. It was a dark blue with white streaks and opened and closed randomly.

"Analysis on the wormhole?" Commander Alana demanded.

"Type 2 wormhole. Aperture diameter 15 kilometers. High levels of tetrion and delta radiation. Exit point unknown." The Collective replied.

"Queen Alissa may be able to use this." With a thought Alana directed a Sphere into the wormhole. If its exit point lay in Kreedak space it cold provide the Borg with a way to strike the Kreedak from two directions. If not, there could be races on the other end of the

wormhole with technology the Borg could use. Either way, they would soon know.

So how was that? The Borg are getting smarter, using shuttles against warships. So where will the wormhole lead? I was thinking it could be used to bring another galaxy into the story, say Stargate Sg-1? What do you think? Well, see ya all in the next exciting chapter, and don't forget to review!

ENTILZA