Chapter 14

One hour later Janeway was still giggling about the torpedo in the shuttle bay. To some it seemed to be a waste of a shuttle, but if it was what they needed to do, then so be it. Currently she was on her way to the bridge, they didn't have much time before the Borg did away with them, and they needed to get out, fast. Entering the bridge she stopped and looked around the bridge, knowing that this could be the last time she saw it. She sat down in her chair, shifting around in it until she was comfortable. Then she gave the command.

"Red alert. Begin mission: Gamma-16."

The lights on the bridge turned down, and red lights came on all around them.

"Tuvok, torpedo status."

"It is ready to launch. The shuttle bay doors are unlocked and ready to open." He stated plainly.

"Good. Harry, when can we fire the deflecter?"

"In five minutes, captain. it's almost completely charged."

Janeway nodded. "Tom, take us out. Maximum impulse."

"Yes ma'am."

Tom jacked throttle to full and began driving Voyager to freedom.

>

The Queen had been regenerating when the message came, which came instantly through the collective mind. Voyager was moving. She commanded all ships within range to close in. Right as victory was at hand, Voyager dove down like a snub-fighter would in the atmosphere on a planet. 'Bout time someone finally realized they could dive down like that. She thought. Soon the Voyager was on the outskirts of the blockade. But not for long. They were still flying without sensors, they would have to have visual contact with any obstacles in their path. But the Borg had an advantage, they could use the Cubes and Spheres to act as targeting sensors for the Exterminator's weapons.

>

"All torpedo and phaser banks lock onto Voyager and fire." She loved giving orders like that.

"The Borg are firing captain." Tuvok said calmly.

"Evasive maneuvers!" Janeway yelled. Tom sent the ship into a barrel roll and pulled up as they came out. Most of the shots missed, while about fifty others grazed, or hit them.

"How much longer before we can use the deflecter Harry?" Janeway asked.

"One more minute if I can get some extra power to it. Otherwise it will be another three."

"Reroute the power from the shields."

"That is inadvisable captain." Tuvok said "if we lose shields, we will be in grave danger."

"Then we're in grave danger." She mumbled.

Harry did as he was told and began using the shield's power to charge the deflecter. A phaser beam slammed into Voyager's starboard side, sending it into a nasty roll and making everyone aboard sick. Tom tried his best to control the ship, but it refused to level out. He began feeding impulse power into the maneuvering thrusters to help level the ship out. Their spin began to slow down, and soon Tom was again in control. Only now, seven Borg Cubes were in front of them. Great. Tom flipped Voyager on it's side and pulled up, turning back in the direction they had come. Then he leveled out and pushed Voyager's nose down. They saw clear nebula skies for a second before several torpedos, that had missed them, filled the view screen.

"Main deflecter dish is charged captain!" Harry exclaimed.

"Activate it!"

Harry's hands flew scross the console. In front of them, a tunnel began to form. A tunnel through the nebula's gases.

"Tuvok, target that Exterminator cube and launch the torpedo."

Tuvok opened the shuttle bay doors, and activated the photon torpedos on the shuttle which shot out of the bay and towards it's unsuspecting target.

"Time until impact is forty seconds." Tuvok announced.

"How much time will we have once it detonates?" Janeway asked.

"Five minutes."

Janeway nodded. This is going to be one hell of a light show.

>

High levels of Trilithium, and Anti-matter detected. Trillions of voices said simultaniously Source is unknown. There was a brief pause. An unidentified object has been detected, it is moving at a constant velocity in our direction. Impact is immenent unless proven otherwise. Queen stared at the hologram floating in front of her, which showed detailed positions of all ships within range as tiny little blips. The ships were little blips because visual scanners couldn't penetrate the nebula. One blip in particular, red and moving very quickly, had cought her eye, and it's course was leading it straight towards a very large green blip: The Exterminator. Clearly it was an attempt to destroy them...a sad one at that. They had no hope of destroying her ship with any weapon, even if it was packed with highly volatile materials. Unless they knew something that she didn't...but that would mean that they had superior technology of some sort, or some knowledge that the Borg did not have. But that was impossible, they had assimilated a starfleet ship less than two weeks ago, and It had contained no technology more advanced than what Voyager currently had. Something wasn't right, and Queen didn't like it. She sent out an order, which was carried out immediately.

Your ship is ready. They said. Five drones await to escort you.

>

Voyager had just started into the tunnel when a bright light shone forth from behind them. Janeway activated a screen on her chair and accessed a holo-cam on the rear of the ship. Unfortunately she couldn't see anything, the brightness of the explosion drowned out everything around it. But there was no doubt in her mind that the explosion was quickly catching up to them.

"How long until we can activate the warp drive?" She asked

"About three-" Harry never finished, for at that moment something form behind hit them.

"Captain, a Borg ship has just fired on us." Tuvok reported.

"What ship?" Janeway asked "I thought they were all destroyed?"

"It is the Queen's private vessel." Tuvok announced.

A tremor shook Voyager again, and the consoles began to flash eratically.

"She's penetrating our shields!" Harry yelled "She just hit our deflecter dish!"

Harry really hadn't needed to say that, it was already pretty apparent. The tunnel was collapsing. An evil cackling sounded over the comm system.

"Did you really think you could get away?" The foul voice of the queen taunted "You really are nothing more than a bunch of fools!"

She fired again, penetrating the shields and directly hitting the right warp nacelle. Voyager swerved to the right, veering off course.

"As you can see I really am in now mood to be messed with. You have been more than enough trouble to the Borg for too long!" She fired again, hitting the other nacelle, causing Voyager to veer again, this time to the left. Tom corrected the change and continued on course.