Chapter 8

Janeway sat in her chair on the bridge and waited for them to drop out of warp. She was starting to get more nervous now that they stood practically on the Borg's doorstep. The fact that her stomach ached didn't help. When she got to the mess hall a sudden hunger had overcome her and she ate almost everything on the menu and had mistaken one of the ferns for a salad. Neelix had told her that the fern she had eaten was used on some planets as a cleaning agent and contained a large amount of bacteria that ate away at dead organic material. Neelix however confirmed that it wasn't fatal. Right now she could feel the food in her stomach being slowly digested by it and wondered if she should've taken the treatment that the docter had suggested. She let out a small moan. Chakotay looked at her.

"Are you ok captain?"

She looked at him and smiled faintly

"Not as well as I should be but I'm fine."

"Mmm."

"we're dropping out of warp captain.stand by." Tom said from the conn. Slowly the ship came out of warp.

"Onscreen."Janeway said as she stood up.The large screen that dominated the north wall changed into a view of the Crion Nebula. The yellowish orangish clouds swirled in front of them.

"Take us in Tom.One half impulse.Engage."

Slowly the large ship plunged into the nebula.

"Sensors and weapons are offline captain. As anticiapted the nutrogenic rays have disabled them." Tuvok stated plainly from the tactical station.

"Change the shield modulation to compensate Tuvok."

"Yes captain."

The bridge was silent as they went deeper and deeper into the nebula.Eventually Tuvok spoke up.

"I have made the necessary changes to the shields captain. Our weapons are back online."

"Thank you Tuvok." she said after a little while.They continued through the nebula hoping that they wouldn't be detected. Janeway fidgeted with her rank insignia and shifted in her chair. Chakotay noticed her unease.

"Is there a problem captain?" He asked cautiously. She worked her jaw for a moment and then replied "Yes. It's this mission. I have a strange feeling about it but I can't seem to...put my finger on it. I had a dream last night. Or rather the last two days. I was assimilated by the Borg...and the queen was...trying to kill me. Of course considering what we did to the them the last few times we encountered them in the Delta quadrant I'm not surprised."

Chakotays nodded.

"There was also someone else there to. But I can't remember who."

"Perhaps it was a vision."

"It better not be. Personally I've had it with the Borg. What is their facination with trying to assimilate US anyway? Why not the Romulans or the Cardassians?"

"The motives of the Borg are strange and unknown. They do not think the way we do."

Janeway rolled her eyes "Boy thats for sure. I still-"

"Captain. I think you'd better see this." Tom said.Janeway looked up and gasped. Out there among the clouds were borg cubes and spheres. But that wasn't what had caught her attention. What did was the frame of a much larger ship...An Exterminator-class Borg Cube. Janeway tried to speak but nothing came out. "There are fifteen Borg Cubes and Six Spheres." Harry said. "And one-"

"I know what it is Harry!" She barked. This isn't my day. Exterminator Borg Cubes were 6 borg cubes long, wide, and deep.Unlike it's smaller counterpart Exterminators were seldom seen and had ten times the fire power of one standard Borg Cube. They can hold over one hundred thousand Borg drones and have over four hundred phasers and three hundred photon torpedo bays...like they would ever use that many. Although considering how much resistance they'd meet while tring to take over the galaxy, they seemed to have prepared quite nicely. Janeway was so scared she could barely keep herself from shaking. Everyone else seemed to be the same way. Even Tuvok who was usually emotionless seemed a little scared.Finally Janeway spoke "Tom...take us out of here...slowly. We don't want to attract any attention."

"You got it captian."

No sooner had they begun to turn around when suddenly Harry Kim shouted "Looks like we've already attracted attention. Several Borg Cubes have just taken positions behind, in front, and to the sides of the ship!"

Janeway's heart skipped. They were trapped...trapped like lab rats in a maze. Yup this is definately not my day...not at ALL.