DISCLAIMER: Don't own, don't sue. Fair enough?
Again, thank you Amorcia. I know for a fact that a certain Del'Cera Osirin has been reading...care to review, Daikage-chan? Honestly...(shakes head at Del'Cera)...you sit right next to me in Geo and can give me input THEN...but only once now...you're a capital J genius, man. To all other readers, it's an inside joke. Please forgive it.
Anyway, this wasn't an actually planned chapter, as I'm kinda writing it as I'm coming back home from South Carolina. Alas, a car does not make for a good writing environment. Sorry people!
At the same time: Urgh...this was a VERY hard chapter. It's an uneasy and tenative chap., with the little snippets of the Queen coming in and whatnot. It was hard..I hope I got the right mood.
Prepare to engage the Borg.
THE MINDSET OF A QUEEN
The Borg were already advancing and seemed to leave no option for escape. Jayvin glanced around her, already preparing for her battle. Here was where everything mattered. Around an uncaring enemy, one that would sacrifice itself for naught if the need arose, caution was a different matter. It became something based on not instinct but more the tide of battle.
"It counts here, people," Jayvin said, already beginning to fire into the small crowd of Borg. A beep from her combadge reminded her of the one thing that she could do. "Away team to Azrael, get us out of here now!"
"Affirmative, Commander. Initiating now."
As the Borg shimmered around them, no one realized that perhaps someone more important than a few drones had been watching.
They escaped.
The resounding voice was definately female, and filled the room with the silence of artificial telepathy.
The source of the voice came from a glorious being. Half-machine, half-human, the Borg Queen understood regret, frustration, and still the promise of a challenge. Once Locutus had been part of her collective. Now she saw the dynamic young leader that had escaped without so much a single casualty. Then again, she had not fought yet.
Yet, she reminded herself. She could wait a little longer, but it had always been the reponsibility and duty of the Borg Queens to bring about one as a consort. The male had seemed curious to her, the one with the purple cat eyes. He would make an excellent consort. It would become his responsibility to see to the Speaker's duties, as it had always been. The duties of a Speaker were to straddle both worlds. And since no Queen was the same, nor could any Speaker be.
The time would come later.
"We need to return," Jayvin remarked quietly.
"Perhaps. But next time, we need to bring adequate weapons. There is only one way to approach this, and that would be caution," Hope answered.
"Whatever our motivation for going back, the safety for the ship comes first," the young commander said quietly.
"There was a Queen nearby," Tapel said. He was enchanted by the idea, apparently.
"Ladies and gentlemen, as of now this discussion is classified. No further discussion outside of this room, do you understand?" after recieving nods of assent throughout the room, she continued. "Those Borg we saw there, do you honestly think they didn't shoot for a reason? Or that they didn't react? Just because we saw Borg—wow. Alright, so we saw the bloody Borg. There's a reason they didn't raise shields. Or attack. It was rather anti-climatic compared to other battles we've all heard of. What, then, is to stop us from assuming that the Queen had a bad day?"
Hope was the only one that answered. "The fact that they were waiting for us."
On that ominous note, Belar dismissed them.
She had already ordered her sphere-like ship to the area of the Azrael.
Now, to just sit back and wait for them to fall into her trap.
Her drones had already been sacrificed. There was the first part. The commander was foolish enough...and not smart enough.
It wouldn't be long.
"Commander! Borg sphere dropping out of transwarp!" Sub-Commander Lak'tran shouted over the comlink.
"Damn!" came Belar's voice. "I'm tired of this game...time to turn...and fight."
"Shall we engage?"
"You're in charge of the bloody ship, Lak'tran. I'm trusting that your Romulan skills will give me something to beam back to. Away team out," Jayvin said, frustrated already.
"Attention all crewmembers! Prepare for battle stations, red alert. This is a red alert, prepare to engage the enemy. Don't let them touch you should they beam aboard, shoot to kill without hesitation. Out."
With that, the tall Romulan seated herself in the command chair, beginning to call the shots for her side.
It was one of the hardest firefights he had ever been in. Borg this way, Borg that way. Finally, they had found a safe haven aboard the small ship.
"All of you, we will make it out of here. Understand? We will. I'm trusting all of you to guard my back, and I'll do the same. Enaren, I want you and Hope to flank me. Let's go."
Leading the way out, they found themselves face to face with a legion of Borg titans. Firing wildly, Jayvin drew her katana-like sword, Miral, and sliced through the ranks of them, avoiding the chemicals that came from them as they were brutally ripped apart. Hope suddenly darted forward.
"Scuttlers!" Jayvin called, a sweaty lock of hair falling in her face.
Hope ripped through most of them, but wore out quickly. There was no rest here. All of them knew that. There was life, there was death, but no sleep.
More and more attempted to get past the Orion, but there was no passing her. Finally, she was no longer able to fight.
"Jay..." she cried, diverting the teenager's attention to her friend. Hope lay upon the ground, Borg scuttlers crawling upon her body. "You can't be taken...Just remember me...please..."
The look in her friend's eyes was unforgettable. Jayvin was as close to tears as anyone had ever seen her. Hope was asking for her to do the unimaginable. But it wasn't a request. No, it was a demand.
Hope's back arched in pain as the skuttlers began to drill through her skullcap.
"Uhn...Jay, hurry.." The plea was followed by a scream.
"I—I love you, Hope...Forgive me for doing what you wanted me to..."
Neither woman covered their eyes as Jayvin flicked her weapon from 'kill' to 'vaporize' and aimed straight at the lieutenant. A grim smile decorated Hope's face as the trigger was pressed.
The last thing the young Orion ever saw was a flash of green light.
"We've got to keep going," Jayvin demanded, tearing her eyes away from the blck scorch mark left by her own weapon. Her sadness was replaced by utter rage at these cybernetic monsters that had taken away her friend. Not just a friend, a lover of a sort.
She began to play the beserker of the group, but at the same time she allowed herself a watchful eye. No more deaths on her team. Already, four people had been lost to the Borg. One was Hope. Four were security guards brought along.
And now, they stood before the last Borg titans. Behind them lay the newly created hallway which led to the sphere.
"The queen's inside, everyone. Prepare to engage her," she cried out. Stepping into the tunnel-like hallway, the away team entered the sphere of the queen.
You've finally come.
She was eager to face them. There were only five now, hardly enough to hope to destroy the order she had created.
And I'll keep one of you as mine.
They were in the antechamber. Smiling sweetly to herself, she ordered most of her drones to stand down.
She knew what she was about to do.
Something the Borg never tried.
Aggressive negotiations.
Entering the chamber of the queen, Jayvin was more than a little amazed at the lack of activity. No Borg had entered this place. Enaren was struck with the word 'sanctuary' as he entered. The room was dark, but not like the usual Borg sturcture... it was inefficient. This was an odd queen indeed.
And there, before them, stood the queen in her mechanical body.
Belar motioned for her group to raise their weapons, and the plan was nearly executed. She almost killed the queen.
"You may not want to do that," the slightly seductive voice of the queen came.
"And why?"
"Look around you." Arrogant, the Borg superbeing turned her back to the away team. "You try to destroy the collective, they turn on you. We are Borg. And resistance is futile." Walking back over, she brushed a mechanical finger along Torias' jawline. "And of course, being the people you are, you want to escape."
Jayvin nodded, more than a little confused.
"There are two ways out of here, and only one will allow you to escape..."
Well that's it for now. Thanks for all your reviews, Amorcia and Del'Cera, it's more than appreciated.
Keep reading and I'll keep writing!
-Anij Jinn