Uninspired Voyages
A Star Trek: Voyager fanfiction by Andrew J. Talon
DISCLAIMER: This is a non-profit fan based work of prose. Star Trek: Voyager, Deep Space Nine, The Next Generation et al are the property of CBS Television, Para creation of Gene Roddenberry. Please support the official release.
This takes place before State of Flux...
Shepherd paused in his story and looked over at Harry's incredulous expression. He gave him a smile.
"Don't believe me?" He asked.
"There are all sorts of rumors about Wolf 359 and what happened aboard the Enterprise," Kim said. He shook his head. "But your parents...?"
"I'm amazed you turned out as normal as you did," Paris quipped.
"So what happened next?" Mari pressed, clearly impatient. Shepherd looked around the sudden crowd at their table. He sighed.
"Am I that good a storyteller?" He asked.
"It's basically being a professional liar. Just like a spy," Torres teased. "Now, what else?"
Shepherd sighed.
"Well, I was in surgery after that," he said, "and then recovering. So what happened after is stuff I wasn't there for. But I did get to see recordings, and heard it from my parents and others involved."
- - -
Reginald "Reg" Barclay wasn't really familiar with many of the astrometrics staff. Or the security staff. During this Borg crisis, he was hard at work on repairs in Engineering.
The PADDs on his workbench were abruptly brushed away, tossed off onto the deck. He looked up in shock at the slight, blood covered and furious woman who slammed a sword onto his workbench. He looked down at the sword, and then back at the woman. Her name was Shepherd, right?
"Mister Barclay," Shepherd stated in a voice as cold, hard and unyielding as the Andorian glaciers, "we spoke about a few upgrades you might make to my sword?"
"I, uh, y-yes-" Reg stuttered.
"Good," she stated, "you have thirty minutes to implement them. Get to work."
"B-B-But-!" Barclay was going to argue that she wasn't able to order him around. He was an officer, after all. She was also being rude.
Her stony facade cracked.
"... Please, sir," she said, contritely. "My son is in sickbay because of those monsters. I can't let them hurt anyone else."
Barclay took a deep breath... And sighed.
"I'll have them done in twenty five," he promised. Mrs. Shepherd smiled warmly at him.
"Thank you," she said.
A tall, strong man in Security amber walked up to the table. He stopped short, his eyes narrowed.
"I see you're monopolizing him," Master Chief Shepherd said.
"I'm sorry," Mrs. Shepherd apologized to her husband. The master chief sighed, and shrugged.
"I'll just go with my original plan then," he said.
- - -
The group that materialized on the Borg cube thirty minutes later consisted of Commander Shelby, an anti-Borg expert; Doctor Crusher; Lieutenant Commander Data, Lieutenant Worf, Master Chief Shepherd, and his wife Specialist Shepherd. Shelby, a young blonde woman, had seemed only a bit dubious at the two joining them before learning of their records.
Even so, she seemed a bit incredulous as they went through the Borg cube. The drones went about their work, ignoring the away team entirely. Mrs Shepherd's eyes narrowed, her hand ever on her sword.
"Why do they ignore us, sir?" She asked.
"They do not react unless they consider us a threat," Data explained.
"All of them were once individual beings, weren't they sir?" Mrs Shepherd asked further. Data paused, considered.
"While we have observed Borg reproduction in maturation chambers, the Borg do assimilate beings from other species into their Collective," he continued. Master Chief Shepherd tightened his grip on his phaser rifle, while several weapons clattered in his large, heavy pack.
"So they seek to consume all life in the universe, eventually," Mrs. Shepherd concluded. Data nodded.
"That seems likely," the android replied.
None of them dared speak the thought as to what the Borg were doing to their captain. It seemed obvious, when they saw his uniform in a storage bay. Nevertheless, they had more pressing concerns. How to slow down the Borg Cube to allow their secret weapon, using their main deflector as a gigantic energy weapon, while onboard the leviathan.
It was Doctor Crusher who came up with it, quite easily. Make enough of a nuisance of themselves that they needed to stop. They accomplished this by blasting distribution nodes, nodes that distributed energy and information around the ship. Phaser blasts took them out, one after another. They kept moving through the ship, blasting away, trying to keep away from the drones who would respond.
Eventually though, they ran out of room. At a four way junction, drones converged on them from all directions. Shelby raised her phaser.
"Assume a defensive formation," she ordered. "Ready phasers-"
"Commander," Master Chief Shepherd spoke, "forgive the interruption, but I believe the best decision is to save our phaser shots. If you will allow us?"
Shelby frowned. They didn't have much time for a debate, but...
"Show me what you've got. Now!" She ordered. Mrs Shepherd nodded, and turned to face the first drone. She advanced on it slowly, her hand resting on her sword.
"Borg," she spoke, "you can hear me, can't you? All of you? You seek to assimilate all life. Make it like you."
Her eyes narrowed.
"You are a plague upon all life and freedom in the universe," she declared, "and you use the bodies of your victims to spread your evil. I return their stolen souls, and free them!"
She squeezed a trigger on her scabbard, and her sword launched. It spun like a top, slicing through the first Borg drone and bisecting it. Mrs Shepherd held out her hand, upon which was a small electronic bracelet. The sword was pulled back, propelled by the same technology that send it flying. Mrs. Shepherd charged, swinging her sword and then throwing it as hard as she could at the next drone!
The blade pierced its chest, a green forcefield roaring to life to try and stop it. Mrs Shepherd solved the issue, jumping and landing both feet on the hilt of her blade to send it through the torso of the drone. She flipped back up onto her feet, yanking the sword out and swinging forward to bisect the next drone behind it.
"If I must kill a million of your puppets, free a million slaves of this hell, I will swing my blade! AS MANY AS IT TAKES! DO YOU HEAR ME, BORG?!" She roared, now a whirlwind of death as she sliced and diced through more drones. "AS MANY AS IT TAKES!"
Shelby watched in morbid amazement. She glanced over at Master Chief Shepherd, who had pulled out a strange rifle from his pack.
"Will you be making speeches too?" Shelby wondered.
The 21st century man chuckled.
"Not my style. Besides, she's so good at it," he said with a loving sigh. He advanced on the marching line of drones, "I prefer a more pragmatic approach."
He raised his rifle, and pulled the trigger. He fired a powerful phaser blast, but not at the drones directly-Rather, at their feet. The metal melted, and the Borg stumbled and stacked up. He then switched modes on his rifle, and it spouted flames in the form of superheated fluids. They stuck onto the Borg drones, burning their flesh and their circuitry. They didn't react with pain, but Master Chief Shepherd's fiery deluge burned them, slowed them.
Only then did he charge in, swinging a miniaturized chain saw. He chopped through the Borg, taking them apart brutally and messily! He looked like he was almost smiling as he cut through the masses, brutally massacring them.
Shelby looked over at Worf and Data. The big Klingon already had his mek'leth out, and was slaughtering his way through approaching Borg with vicious glee. Data had advanced in the other direction, and seized hold of a Borg drone. He then threw it into the line of approaching drones. He looked back over his shoulder.
"I did not think to bring a melee weapon, so I must improvise, Commander," he called.
Shelby allowed a small smile on her face, despite the desperate circumstances. A smile shared by Doctor Crusher.
"Didn't expect a crew of violent maniacs, huh?" The doctor asked.
"It's not that. I'm just reminded of my ex," Shelby admitted.
How was that?