Disclaimer: The rights to 'Star Trek' and 'Star Trek Online' are owned by its creators, Gene Roddenberry, CBS Studios, Paramount Pictures, and Cryptic Studios. This story is based on the idea from Gene Roddenberry and is used for entertainment purposes only and written without expectation of monetary or material profit.

Notes: The plot of this story is based on the Star Trek Online (STO) plot from 'Season 1' during the initial release back in 2010. While the original prologue has long been changed from the initial release, to the new prologue which tells the story of a class of cadets who are on the wrong side of a distress call and are attacked by Klingons. If those who remember the original tutorial, this was not the case. We will start from the original released tutorial which tells of a different plot point.

Timeline: The Stardate for STO starts on 87695.52 or September 11 2410. The Star Trek Stardates will also be used for anything before that Stardate. This timeline will be based on the fact that the current season started in 2409, with the latest being in 2411. I will use the date of May 20, 2405, or Stardate 81384.80. This makes it easier to reference dates both with STO and with the original Star Trek series.

Warning: This story is self-beta'd. If there are any spelling or grammar mistakes, please PM me the paragraph.

Star Trek Online: Reign of Terror

By

RyanSlicer

Book 1: The Klingon War

Part 1: Vega IX

"Ensign." Markus thought the voice sounded off, like it was far away from where he was.

"Ensign!" The voice was getting closer. Like they were walking towards them. The Ensign tried to turn his head to the voice before feeling a hand on his shoulder. He turned his head towards the hand and blinked a few times to try to focus.

"ENSIGN!"

The voice finally shook what cobwebs that were fogging up his mind. Markus looked at the man in front of him. Alarms were going off around him as the smell of smoke and heat of the fires felt close by. A hand was extended to him from a young man, possibly a bit older than him. Markus grabbed the hand and was pulled up from the floor, a tricorder was passed over him for a minute before the man who grabbed him looked up.

"You're okay for now, a few bruises and burns but survivable." The man stopped and handed him a standard type II phaser. "The Borg have boarded and the captain has required all available personnel to repel all boarders."

"This was supposed to be a standard patrol of the Vega system. Why the hell are Borg in this sector?" Markus asked, thanking any deity, except Q of course, that his training on verifying the weapon handed to him was second nature. He confirmed the power cell and settings before leaving the room that was on fire. "I thought that they were still in the Delta quadrant."

"Same here, but it looks like we got our work cut out for us." The man said, "Johnson, by the way." Johnson told Markus.

Markus looked at Johnson, noticing his pips as lieutenant junior grade before responding. "Sir. Ensign Darmoth."

"Easy Ensign. We'll be on a first name basis if we get through this." LTJG Johnson commented as they turned the corner to the turbolift. They heard the sound of a transporter and saw two Borg drones in front of them. The drones started walking towards them and the two fired their phasers, both drones going down as they hit them with the beams coming out of their weapons. They walked past the fallen Borg drones and stopped at a door labeled armory. As they entered into the armory, Johnson walked up to one of the panels while Markus stayed near the door, keeping watch down the corridor.

"Computer, override locker access in armory 227. Access code Johnson-29-Bravo." Johnson yelled out, his hand on the locker for the type III phaser rifles.

"Access Granted." The computer chimed back, the hiss of the lock opening before the wall slid down and extended outwards to provide access to the rifles. Markus stepped forward as Johnson grabbed one and passed it to Markus before grabbing his own. "How's your aim with these, Ensign?"

Markus checked the rifle over, then reached out for a remodulator for the rifle and phaser. "Best in the class, for an engineer. Rank 2 and sharpshooter badge."

"Rank 2 huh?" Johnson replied, grabbing a remodulator for himself. "MACO certification?"

"Just below the bar on that one." Markus replied, slinging the rifle over his shoulder and grabbed a few power cells just in case. As they finished arming up, they knocked elbows together and stepped out back into the hallway. Markus aimed his rifle one way, while Johnson aimed another. Both called out, "Clear." as they looked down each way. Johnson took the lead with Markus coming up behind him. When they reached the turbolift, Johnson tried to activate the lift and it chimed an error.

"Damn, lifts aren't working." Johnson growled, slamming the butt of his rifle against the doors.

"Jeffries tubes?" Markus replied, "There's an access panel right there." Markus then pointed to the panel less than 5 meters away from them.

"Looks like we might have to." Johnson replied before the ship started shaking. "Come on. We have got to get to the shuttlebay or the Bridge.

-LINE BREAK-

Markus and Johnson began crawling through the Jefferies tubes, the silence in the tube being shattered as they heard weapons fire and screams of their crew mates being assimilated by the Borg. Markus shivered before they reached the next hatch. Johnson opened the hatch and swept his weapon as they had been doing for the last twenty minutes. They got to a vertical shaft and Markus kept his rifle aimed back behind them as Johnson started to climb. Once Johnson yelled clear as he opened the last door for the vertical shaft, both of them climbed out of the shaft leading to the shuttlebay, where they saw plenty of wounded laying on emergency cots. A force field near the back of the shuttlebay was randomly rotating frequencies to keep the Borg on the other side of the shuttlebay while crew who were slightly injured were helping the local Emergency Medical Hologram treat the more severely wounded. As Markus and Johnson came up to the EMH, it turned around and noticed them.

"I hope neither of you are wounded." He stated in a flat tone as he turned back to the patient he was focusing on.

"Well with that bedside manner, I don't think I would want to be treated by you." Johnson made the comment. The EMH turned back to the two, his eyebrow rising as if he were a Vulcan.

"Clearly if you can make comments like that, you're far better than most of your comrades." The EMH replied, "Besides, I'm here to keep them alive, I'm not like the Doctor."

"Obviously." Markus responded back.

"Indeed." The EMH looked over at LTJG Johnson. "I can't seem to raise the bridge or any of the primary bridge crew. I don't know what is exactly happening, aside from the Borg trying to assimilate everything." He gestured to two Borg standing at the edge of the force field, trying multiple ways to break the force field, "Still, you are the highest ranking officer here who is not wounded or assimilated." The EMH remarked, pointing at Johnson, "I would suggest you find out what is happening, and quickly before we lose the ship."

Johnson gave the EMH a hard look, then turned to Markus. "I couldn't raise the bridge either and inter-ship communication is still functional." Markus nodded, looking over at a display panel and saw that it brought up the ship overlay. He walked over and accessed the current status and found that the bridge was functional, but cut off from the rest of the ship.

"Looks like they wouldn't even be able to command the ship with how badly damaged the area around it is." Markus commented, with Johnson looking over the display as well. "How about we transfer command over to the secondary bridge until we can get out of here to warn Starfleet?"

Johnson nodded, thinking of the same thing as he saw the ship overlay, "We could head down through the Jefferies tubes that the Borg haven't gotten to and make our way there."

The EMH came up and looked between the two. "Then you better get moving." He said. Both Markus and Johnson looked back at the EMH before being handed a few hypo-sprays. "Take these. If you need to keep going, this will help."

Both Johnson and Markus took the hypo-sprays and dropped down into the nearest Jefferies tube and made the crawl towards the secondary bridge.

-LINE BREAK-

The two opened the Jefferies tube right behind the secondary bridge and saw that no one was in there and the systems were all on standby. LTJG Johnson stepped out and swept his phaser rifle on either side before moving out of the way for Markus, who also did his own sweep as he moved towards the front where the access door was to the cold fusion batteries and EPS conduits. Markus locked the door, even though the Borg could transport anywhere, it made him feel better either way. He went back to Johnson, who was starting up the helm and tactical consoles. "Markus, take tactical, I'll manage the helm." Markus nodded and walked over to the console, bringing up the current overlay of the area.

"Lieutenant, there are two Borg probes and a sphere in the area. The probes have us surrounded and the sphere is doing something, but we don't have a science station enabled yet."

"Roger that." Johnson replied, their training kicking in during the battle. "Begin targeting the closest probe, rotating frequencies as part of the standard Borg practice." Markus grunted in acknowledgment as he targeted the closest probe.

"Probe 1 moving away. Probe 2 on an intercept course."

"Executing pattern Charlie." Johnson said, tapping on a few commands on the helm board, the ship moved away from the approaching Borg probe, shields started rotating before the ship turned towards the probe. Phasers lit up the space towards the Borg ship, hitting their shields a few times as they passed by them. The rear phaser banks that were available lanced out as well, hitting the probe again. The Argon turned once more and continued to pelt the enemy ship during the turn. Once the Argon was facing the probe again, the Borg's forward facing shields collapsed.

"Firing torpedoes." Markus said as the secondary bridge shook once more. "Forward shields at twenty-five percent." The torpedoes flew through the gap in the shields and caused the front of the probe to explode, which cascaded across the whole ship until it was destroyed. "Target destroyed. Probe 2 now back on an intercept course."

"Bringing the ship around, bearing 215.3." Johnson responded, turning the Argon towards the other Borg probe, "Give me a quick status report."

"Forward shields coming back up from twenty-five percent and is now at forty percent." Marcus relayed, "Dorsal and starboard phasers are inoperable and we're down to 45 torpedoes."

"Great, and I'm on the wrong side of the probe, moving to bearing 42.7." Johnson gave the console several taps as the ship moved again, "Divert shields from starboard and rear to port and forward. Begin transfer of any auxiliary power to shields and engines."

"Aye." Markus began to configure half the console into an engineering console, thanking the refit team for putting in the latest console technology instead of having the 23rd century consoles. Once the console was reconfigured, he started changing the balance of power between shields and engines, while keeping the tactical console active and diverting the shields so that the forward and starboard shields were brought up to seventy-five percent of their original strength. "Shields diverted, power balance completed."

"Continue firing on the rotational frequencies, but change the band timings to every 10 seconds instead of the standard." The bridge shook as plasma torpedoes from the Borg probe hit, causing the helm console to explode from a surge, catching LTJG Johnson off guard and tossing him out of the seat.

"Sir!" Markus left the console and went to check on him, most of Johnson's chest was black from the explosion and his face was red hot from the heat, causing him to have second degree burns. Markus grabbed Johnson's tricorder and checked him over, before taking one of the hypo-sprays and pushing it to his neck before depressing the button to inject him with a sedative and pain neuralizer.

Markus then got up after a few more torpedoes hit the ship as he headed back to his console, merging the tactical and helm controls before bringing the ship about for another hit and run.

The Argon was facing the probe, which was turning Markus got a good lock on the ship and began firing all available weapons. The phasers brought the probe's port shield down before the torpedoes managed to pass through them and slammed into the ship's hull. As multiple torpedoes hit, it caused the same cascade failure to occur with the first probe.

Marcus breathed a sigh of relief as he was about to begin calling for a priority one distress call before the computer started to beep at his console. He quickly looked at it and found that the sphere was still sitting there in space, before a Borg cube arrived. It moved past the Argon, ignoring the Miranda-class ship. Markus began turning the ship away from the Borg ship when more began to warp into the space where the Argon was.

"My God, it's an invasion fleet." Marcus whispered to himself. He turned the ship away and moved at best possible speed, before he saw the Borg ships warp out of the system. "But why did they ignore us?" He asked himself. He began to track where they were going and started that broadcast towards any ship within the vicinity.

"This is Ensign Markus Darmoth of the U.S.S Argon in the Vega system. This is a priority one distress call to any available starship. The Borg are here and are heading towards the Vega Colony on Vega IX. I repeat, this is Ensign Markus Darmoth of the U.S.S Argon in the Vega system.."

-LINE BREAK-

Markus set the distress signal on repeat, before taking a look at the ship status. He saw that the bridge and deck 3 were destroyed completely, and automatically thought that they lost the current bridge crew and possibly all senior officers on the ship. He then noted several hull breaches across the ship as well and started documenting them before the ship was being hailed.

"This is the U.S.S Argon." Markus asked, answering the hail.

"Argon, this is Starbase 36, we received your distress call and ships are enroute to Vega IX. However it will take five hours for them to get there." The Starbase communication officer began to relay. "But we need a ship close enough to start the evacuation process. Are you able to warp there and help get the evacuation started or help out?"

Markus looked at the view screen with almost a defeated look before checking the systems of the ship. He had warp capabilities and could reach the planet in less than forty-five minutes. He had tried to reach Vega IX, but with the Borg there, they might be jamming all communication to and from the planet.

"I'll see what I can do." Markus replied, "but we are heavily damaged and most of the crew is hurt. I'm going to see if there are any other people available to help or begin activating the emergency holographic crew."

"Ensign Darmoth." The communication officer was gently removed from the viewscreen and the base commander came on the screen. "I'm giving you a field promotion to Lieutenant

junior grade and reprogramming the Argon to transfer command to you. You are authorized to enable the emergency holographic crew for all stations to help get Vega IX evacuated." The base commander began typing on the console and received an acknowledgement.

The computer on the Argon spoke up. "Command transfer beginning. Starbase command authorization accepted. Command codes transferred to Lieutenant Junior Grade Darmoth. Lieutenant Darmoth, please acknowledge."

"This is Lieutenant Junior Grade Markus Darmoth, authorization code 42-Darmoth-351-Charlie."

"Authorization code accepted." The computer chimed before Markus turned back to the base commander.

"I'm sorry to ask you to do this with what just happened, but we need to try and evacuate as many people on Vega IX as possible." The commander responded. "Make best speed to Vega IX."

"Roger that." Markus replied, "Argon out." The communication dropped and the viewscreen showed the forward facing view of the ship. Markus walked over to the captain's chair and tapped on the arm console. "Computer, authorize emergency holographic crew. Authorization code 42-Darmoth-351-Charlie."

"Command authorization accepted. Enabling holographic crew." The bridge then had crew members appear at each station, enabling consoles and making sure the ship was as operational as possible. "Holographic crew activated and systems operational."

"Alright. Helm, plot a course for Vega IX, maximum available warp." Markus looked over at helm control.

"Aye sir." A male human with a 2360 uniform began plotting the course. "Warping to Vega IX at Warp factor 3."

"Let's jump." Markus replied. The crew executed the commands and the Argon lept out into space towards Vega IX.

-LINE BREAK-

As the U.S.S. Argon was in transit, Markus looked over at the comms officer, "Have you been able to reach the colony?"

"Negative. The colony hasn't responded to any hails." The holographic crewman replied. "All I'm getting is static, like something is jamming our signal."

Markus nodded, "Continue to reach out. Use different frequencies like with the phasers." The communication officer nodded as well before turning back to his station. "What's our status, Tactical?"

The tactical officer turned and looked over at the temporary Captain, "Sir, shields are now at seventy-five percent, we have multiple hull breaches across several decks. Decks 1 and 2 are completely open to space. Phasers on the port ventral have been damaged and non functional. Aft phasers are also damaged but functional. We have 41 torpedoes in the bay and the torpedo replication is not functioning."

"Good. Engineering report." Markus called out.

The engineer holographic crewman spoke up, "Power is fluctuating at eighty percent. Repair crews are working on getting the power stable. Impulse engines are at seventy-two percent of normal thrust, warp engines are at sixty-five percent and stable at warp 3."

Markus nodded at the report before tapping the console on the chair. "Medical, how's the crew so far?"

"Most of the crew is resting, the crew members that had minimal injuries are being resigned to assist the holographic repair crews."

"How's Lieutenant Johnson?" Markus was a bit worried about the Lieutenant, as he should technically be the new captain."

"Lieutenant Johnson is recovering." The EMH replied, "If we survive, I'm sure you two will be able to bond over this and develop a friendship."

"Keep me updated on the crew until we get to Vega IX." Markus responded before closing the channel. He turned to the XO, "When we get into orbit, I want you to beam me down to the planet surface and take the ship away from the planet until I call for transport. I'll see if we can get all the colonists off the planet that we can."

"Yes sir."

Markus sat in the chair for a bit longer before the helmsman spoke up.

"Approaching Vega IX. Dropping out of warp." The hologram tapped a few buttons on the transferred console before the ship dropped the warp field back into regular space. On the view screen, they saw multiple Borg ships in orbit around the planet. The lush blue and green planet was starting to look black and dull with the large spires dotting across the land. Markus watches with abject horror as the Borg was beginning to take over the planet.

"This is how they conquer planets." He spoke softly as he stared at the slowly creeping grey and black going across the planet.

"It appears that these Borg don't resemble the Borg captain Picard or Admiral Janeway encountered." The science crew member spoke up. "I'm reading quantum signatures that are hard to determine what changed within the collective."

"Let's keep as much of that data as possible, keep monitoring and recording everything in space and on the planet." Markus thought this would be a good opportunity to get everything he could before the fleet arrived. Markus stood up and headed to the turbolift, "Continue to try and reach any available ships within the area to begin helping with the evacuation and that this is a priority."

"Aye Sir." The bridge crew all replied. Markus stepped into the turbolift and turned around just as the XO walked over to the command chair.

"You have the conn." Markus nodded to the XO, "Transporter room." and the turbolift doors shut.

-LINE BREAK-

The beam of light materialized Markus onto the planet surface, but with the Borg blocking all types of transmissions and transporter signals, the EHC in charge of the transporter was only able to get him about a kilometer from the main colony. He stood on the mountain top and looked around him as the Borg spires towered over him. His phaser rifle was slung over his back and the type II phaser was attached to his hip. Markus pulled out his tricorder to make sure he knew where to go when he heard a scream coming from down the path he was about to take. Markus put his tricorder away and swung the rifle around, pulling the strap over his head and started running towards the scream.

He started hearing a phaser firing at something along with a few more screams from others as he turned the corner. He saw a female Andorian in a fully black uniform with the shoulders being red, along with a line of red going down her arms firing at the Borg, however they had already adapted to her weapon's frequency and they were closing in. She wouldn't have had time to remodulate the weapon. There were a few others, what looked to be colonists, backing away and starting to go back up the mountain where Markus had come from. Markus pointed his phaser rifle at the closest Borg near the Andorian and fired, causing the Borg to fall back. He didn't take the time to watch if his target was still down before turning and firing at another drone, downing that one as well. Markus continued to fire until he saw the green, transparent shield form in front of the Borg drones. He quickly dropped the rifle next to him and pulled out his hand-held phaser and fired at a few more that were left walking up the hill until they were down as well.

After a few minutes, a green transporter beam took all the Borg drones, leaving the group alone for now. Markus picked up the rifle that was next to him and started to change the beam frequencies as he walked towards the group. As the rifle was going through the different frequencies, he tapped his combadge, "Darmoth to Argon, I have five colonists and one Ensign to beam up."

"I'm not going to leave you to deal with this by yourself." The Andorian complained, setting her phaser to a different frequency as well, now that she didn't have the Borg almost on top of her. "Where is the rest of your away team, if you're calling the ship you're from."

"Right now, I was the only one transported. The rest of the crew on board the Argon is either dead, heavily injured, helping the injured or assimilated." That caused the Andorian to blink, her antenne twitching from left to right before dropping a bit.

"So if you're the only one here, then who's controlling the ship? A holographic crew?" she questioned, putting her phaser back into the holdster at her hip.

"Yes," Markus nodded, watching as the five colonists he saved were being transported back onto the Argon. "And before you ask, I'm the only non-injured personnel available." Once more, Markus pulled out his tricorder and started following the map shown on it, heading towards the colony. "You'd best get transported back to the Argon, I'll see if I can reach the colony and help get people transported off the planet."

"Oh no, you won't survive this on your own. Borg are swarming all over the colony and you could be assimilated." The Andorian replied back, following Markus. "I'm glad that you came when you did, I don't think we would have survived either."

Markus looked back to the woman, trying to figure out why she would continue on, even with what happened. "I really think you should be transported to the Argon. At least the EMH can check you out and you can help with the ship." The woman stepped closer to Markus until she was almost in his face. Her white hair cut short and parted across the right side of her face.

"Right now, you need someone to watch your back." She poked him in the chest and he stepped back, "And I won't take no for an answer." she continued before walking past him and down the mountain. "Follow me, I know where the main colony is. Last I heard the Governor was still trying to get people into a safe house until help arrived."

Markus looked at the woman with a confused look on his face before following her down the mountain. "Alright, you seem to know where you're going, so I guess I'll let you lead, Ensign...?" He left his remark empty for her to fill in.

"Ensign Mirra th'Zarth." Mirra responded, not looking back as she continued to show Markus the path she took to get to where they met. "What about you, Ensign...?"

"Lieutenant, actually." Markus responded, causing Mirra to stop and stand up straighter. "LTJG Markus Darmoth."

"If you're a Lieutenant, then where's your pips?" Mirra remarked calmly, slowing down her walk so that she was walking next to Markus.

"It was a field promotion, but I won't hold it against you because of the situation." Markus responded, knowing that because she was almost fighting a superior officer she could technically be reprimanded. However he would be a hypocrite by doing so as he was just recently given the rank to fulfill the current objective. "Right now, let's get to the Governor and help get the rest of the civilians to safety." The Andorian woman nodded and they began to pick up the pace.

-LINE BREAK-

Markus and Mirra reached the bottom of the mountain and were turning towards the direction of the colony when they saw a spire in front of them. Borg drones were surrounding the structure. Several drones looked to be recently assimilated and we're adding nodes to the ground. These nodes were then powered on and started pulsing in a dark green color. Markus pulled out his tricorder and started it to record everything when they noticed the ground around the node turned grey and was looking like the metal walkways of a Borg cube. They also noticed a large pipe coming out of the spire heading towards the node, which opened up and the drones next to it put the tube into it and the green hue became brighter.

"We've got to destroy those nodes or we're not going to make it to the colony." Markus remarked.

Mirra looked at the node and nodded, "Want to take it while I protect you from the drones?" Markus nodded and started heading towards the node, being ignored for the moment until Markus pointed to the closest drone for Mirra to attack. As she lined up for the attack, Markus fired at the node, causing it to light up for a moment before it exploded. Mirra started firing on drones that were coming towards Markus. The first few drones were taken out before their shields started to appear. But Markus and Mirra both noticed that the Borg were being pushed back when Mirra overloaded the beam attack even with their shield.

Markus headed towards the next node, changing the frequency before firing, the node took a bit longer before it exploded as well. The drones stopped for a moment before turning towards the spire, ignoring the duo as they continued towards the colony.

"Why are they heading towards that spire?" Mirra asked, stepping closer to Markus as they walked away from the node that they just finished attacking.

"I'm not sure." Markus replied, "Maybe we should see if we can take it out." Markus then started towards the spire, green tubes coming up from the ground filled with a liquid that both Markus and Mirra didn't know what it was. They were making progress towards the towering spire that is twice as tall as Starbase one. Tubes and spikes appeared in various places on the spire with some moving towards grounded nodes Markus and Mirra started destroying. Drones continued to move around placing new nodes as they continued to destroy them. Mirra came up to Markus, touching his shoulder to let him know she was behind him. Due to the war happening, most Starfleet personnel went through some basic team tactics, to include signals and touches as needed.

"I don't like this." Mirra complained as they got closer to the spire, noticing something that was in a regeneration alcove. And it didn't look like the standard Borg. It was bigger and looked like a Gorn. And it didn't look like it was a drone that assimilates it's victim. "That Borg doesn't look like a standard Borg."

"If we destroy the tubes of green, we might be able to slow them down as we get the colonists out." Markus thought out loud. "It will make them focus on the repairs than the colonists."

"I agree, but this seems too dangerous." Mirra nodded and came up, aiming her phaser at the tubes. "Hit them at the same time?"

"Yeah, but watch your back." Markus pointed with the rifle to either side of them. "We could be overwhelmed by them." Mirra patted Markus' shoulder and nodded. "On three. One." Markus took aim himself, kneeling down to steady his aim.

"Two." Mirra held her phaser out, also aiming at the other green tube of liquid.

"Three!" Both fired at the same time, their phaser beams hit the two biggest pipes. The beams hit both of the pipes and took a few seconds to get past the protective clear section of the tubes before the liquid started escaping before they broke apart, expelling the rest of the green fluid out into the ground. As soon as the liquid was empty, the behemoth shook itself from the chamber, pulling away from tubes that were attached to the back of it. It stood to its full height of ten feet, towering over the two Starfleet personnel.

"We are the Borg, resissstance is futile." The Borg called out, stomping towards the two. Both took a few steps back and aimed their weapons at the Borg. "Your life asss you know it is over. You will ssserve us." An arm was raised up above it's head. "Or you will die." The a cam swinging down towards them. As it was moving down, both Markus and Mirra jumped away on either side, rolling and coming back up to a crouch.

"That's new. They never told us to die before." Mirra yelled out, firing her phaser at the Borg, the beam of light stopped short of the Borg as a hexagonal shield appeared. "Damn it! Cover me while I remodulate!" Mirra yelled, running away as the Borg came up to her and slammed his augmented arm down, nearly missing her as she started the remodulation of her phaser.

"Got it!" Markus replied, firing his phaser, which got through the shields for two or three shots before the same hexagonal shield appeared. Markus grabbed a rock about the size of his fist and threw it at the massive Borg unit. It hit the Gorn-Borg who turned his head towards Markus leaving Mirra alone long enough to get her phaser fixed. Markus also started his remodulation while backing away.

The Gorn-Borg stomped over and raised both of his arms above his head before a shot from behind hit it in the head. He stopped for a moment as if to realize that he was hit. Markus looked up at the small hole that was coming out between its eyes as it fell forward. Markus ran to one side before the massive creature fell on top of him. He looked over at Mirra who gave him a grin.

"Come on, let's get going." She said before starting back towards the colony. Markus nodded, taking a few deep breaths to calm his body of adrenaline as he followed her out of the canyon towards the colony.

-LINE BREAK-

As they arrived at the colony, they noticed a few Borg that were not moving, as if their connection to the collective dropped. As they got closer to where most of the colonists were gathered, there was a gate that stopped them from going further.

"Look, it's Starfleet." One of the colonists noticed them as they got closer.

"Hey, I've seen that Andorian around, she survived!" Another one said.

"What happened to the rest of you?"

Mirra frowned, her antenna drooped downing sadness as she turned away, seeing an opening down further that someone had opened up for them. The rest of the colonists turned to Markus, who shook his head. "I'm guessing they didn't make it."

"You're guessing?" One of the colonists called out, "Weren't you with them when they left to protect the colony?"

"No." Markus replied, "I just arrived in the system and beamed down. I have a ship in the area ready to take everyone we can, even if we have to drop unnecessary equipment."

The colonists cheered when they heard him and the news spread fast as he walked to the gate. He walked through the colony and found the head administrator of the colony. "Lieutenant Markus Darmoth, U.S.S. Argon."

"Lieutenant, thank God you're here." Administrator Willa Post declared. Coming up to Markus, she reached out to shake hands with Markus, who brought up a gloved hand and shook her hand gently. "You say you have a ship?"

"I do Ma'am. Once we set up the pattern buffers for more people to be brought up, we'll start beaming you all aboard." This brought a sign of relief to Willa as she walked him over to a box of emergency equipment.

"Here are the pattern enhancers. We knew we might not know if a ship was close by, but I'm glad that these can be of use." She opened the box that houses multiple pattern enhancers. Markus nodded before he felt a hand on his back. Mirra had come up behind him and was looking at the crate.

"Ensign. Let's get these up and operational. Two sets of four enhancers so we can get as many as possible." Mirra nodded to Markus' order, grabbing two and walking away to set them up. "We'll get these going and I'll call the Argon."

"Thank you , Lieutenant. I'll start organizing the colonists to line up." Willa walked away from Markus and started calling out to the closest group to get lined up.

Markus tapped his badge to contact the Argon, "Darmoth to Argon."

"Argon here." The voice of the communications officer came out.

"Prepare the evacuation transporters and cargo transports to pick up all the colonists within the pattern enhancers. We need to do this quickly."

"Aye Captain." The XO replied before the chirp of the signal being disconnected came out of the badge as Markus grabbed another two enhancers and began to help set them up.

As they both finished the two sets of pattern enhancers for the evacuation to begin, they heard several screams as people began running away from the gate. It became prevalent why the colonists were running. Several Borg were coming up to the gate and we're banging on it. A few, which had mechanical attachments, started cutting into the fence.

"Mirra! Defend the colonists!" Markus yelled toward Mirra, who nodded and grabbed a phaser rifle from one of the weapon crates. He turned towards the administrator. "Administrator Post, start getting the colonists in the pattern enhancers." The administrator nodded, herding the colonists towards the square section with four short tubes with cone shaped lights on the top. Markus then tapped his combadge. "Darmoth to Argon, as soon as the colonists are in the enhancer's field, start transporting."

"Acknowledge, Captain." The XO's voice replied, Markus turned and saw the first groups of colonists disappear in a cascade of light. He then turned towards the gate and moved the rifle on his back into his hands before heading closer to the gate. As he got closer, he started firing at the Borg closest to the gate and continued to fire until he had to remodulate his rifle. Mirra, just on the opposite of the gate entrance was also shooting at the Borg and modulating her rifle, even going as far as having two or three rifles where she could reach one and replace it with another one, a colonist behind her would begin to resequence the frequency on the phasers so she had a steady supply of rifles. He grabbed a few rifles himself and started towards the gate, firing at a few Borg that were closer to the gate before watching for any more.

Markus continued to hear the transporter beam colonists off the planet as more Borg started to swarm the gate, realizing that their supply of additional bodies was leaving the planet. Both Markus and Mirra continued to fire and change rifles. Markus starting the resequence program, while Mirra's companion helped her. As they dropped more Borg than what was expected. Both Markus and Mirra heard the Administrator yell out.

"You're the last of the people here. More ships arrived and picked up as many colonists as well." Willa said, getting into the pattern enhancer's field before she was transported up.

"Ensign, take the last colonist up and I'll beam up right after I destroy the enhancers." Markus yelled at Mirra.

"Yes Sir!" Mirra replied, grabbing the colonists and dragging him to the pattern enhancers. As soon as they were within the field, the two were beamed up to the Argon.

Markus tapped his commbadge after he tapped in the sequence to overload the rifle. "Markus to Argon, fire a torpedoes on my position as soon as I'm aboard."

"Targeting your position." The tactical officer replied. "Ready to transport you back to the ship."

"I'll let you know when to do it." Markus responded, throwing the rifle in front of him as he backed up towards the enhancers. The Borg stopped over the phaser and looked at it before it exploded, taking out five of the Borg surrounding it. A few shots from Markus' phaser rifle he grabbed took down the rest as he got into the field.

"Markus to Argon, one to beam up." As soon as he left the planet, a torpedo slammed into the ground around the colony, destroying the Borg surrounding the colony and the colony itself.

-LINE BREAK-

Markus appeared on the transporter pad and immediately tapped his badge. "Markus to Bridge." He started towards the turbolift at a jog. He saw Mirra at the lift as he got there and they both entered.

"Bridge here." The XO replied.

"Get us away from the planet. Let's keep away from the Borg." Markus ordered.

"Sir, there are civilian ships being attacked by the Borg." The XO replied as the turbolift opened behind the XO. He turned and saw Markus and Mirra step off the turbolift. "I suggest that we assist the civilian ships escape."

"You're right." Markus. Looked at the helmsman, "Turn us towards the closest civilian ship and make best speed towards it." He turned to Mirra, "What's your specialty?"

"Tactical, Sir." Mirra responded.

"Good. Tactical, relinquish command of the tactical station."

"Aye Sir." The tactical officer stood up and disappeared, while Mirra took over the tactical station.

"Ensign, target the nearest Borg ship attacking that civie ship and fire at it." Markus took over the command chair and the XO moved over to the conn station.

The Argon flew towards the first probe ship and began firing at the ship. The tractor beam that was holding the ship disengaged and the probe started following the Argon as well as the lone sphere, ignoring the civilian ship. Just as the ship started moving, it hailed the Argon.

"Thanks Argon. We'll buy you a drink at Starbase 39 if you're in the system." The civilian cargo freighter then warped out of the system, taking the colonists with it.

"Helmsman, move us to the next ship." Markus turned to the Engineer holographic crewman, "Redirect power from weapons to engines until we get to the next ship, then reduce to thirty percent."

"Aye, Captain. Transferring power." He replied.

"Ensign, just like last time, we want to pull the other ships away from the civie ship and lead them away." Markus ordered.

"Yes, Sir." Mirra responded, starting to target the Borg ship attacking the second freighter.

"We're within range. Transferring power back to weapons." The engineer called out.

"Ensign, fire at will."

The Argon's phasers began lighting up the area in space, the beams splashing on the shields of the Borg sphere attacking the freighter. This time the sphere shot off one beam at the Argon, causing the ship to shake as the shields took the hit. Once again, the Argon fired once more at the sphere and the other probes started to follow. The freighter became free of the sphere's tractor beam and warped out of the system at the first available opportunity.

"Engineering, just like before, engines a priority and the weapons down, but give the Ensign enough power to still fight."

"Aye, Sir."

"Ensign, keep firing while we're moving away."

"Yes, Sir." Mirra continued to fire the phasers at the ships as they fled. However there were ships in front of them as well. "Sir, the Borg are surrounding us."

"Helm, break away to bering 250.3." Markus told the helmsman, looking over a tactical map of the battle.

"Bering 250.3, Mark." The helmsman replied to the command. "Sir, more Borg vessels are on an intercept course. Including a Borg cube."

"I don't want to be the one who loses all these colonists, begin the evacuation of the colonists first aboard all available shuttlecraft before we start to abandon ship." Markus tapped the comm on the command chair. A sharp whistle came out of the speakers before Markus spoke. "Everyone, this is Acting Captain Markus Darmoth. We will start the evacuation of the civilian crew members and wounded onto shuttlecraft in the main shuttlebay. All civilians, please follow the instructions of the holographic crew as they escort you to a shuttlecraft." the ship shook as Markus finished.

"Sir! The Borg cube caught us in a tractorbeam, I don't think we can escape it this time." The helmsman called out, the viewscreen showing the tractorbeam holding onto the saucer section of the ship, while the tactical display showed the other Borg vessels were approaching.

"Begin the procedures to abandon ship." Markus responded, tapping the console in the arm and the sound of general quarters began. The ship's computer began to respond.

"All hands, abandon ship. All hands, abandon ship."

The Argon sat in space, her impulse engines trying to push away from the Borg cube that held her in its grasp. The Borg cube hadn't fired any weapons or done anything except hold the ship in place, as if it was waiting for instructions.

"Sir, new vessels are on approach. I can't tell who or what they are." The XO replied at the conn station.

"I guess we gave them a good fight. Or at least made sure that they couldn't get their hands on the colonists." Markus remarked, "continue with the evacuation, make sure everyone is aboard before..."

Beams of orange light streaked across the view screen that was watching the tractor beam, hitting the focal point of the beam several times before it disengaged from the Argon. With the beam gone, their forward momentum shot them away from the cube and other vessels. As they started to clear from the Borg weapons range, they finally saw what was happening.

A fleet of various ships from Starfleet had arrived, including an Exeter-class vessel, it's hull designation NCC-91227. U.S.S. Kirk.

"Sir, incoming message. It's from the Kirk." The comms officer turned towards Markus.

"On Screen." Markus' voice came out excited that the fleet had finally arrived.

The viewscreen changed from the rear camera to the face of an Andorian male, the red and white armor uniform he was wearing, along with the pips across his right breast showed he was the captain of the U.S.S. Kirk. "Glad we made it in time. You were the last ship still in the system." He spoke. "Captain Shon, U.S.S. Kirk."

"Acting Captain, Lieutenant Darmoth, it's a relief you are here, Captain." Markus stood from his chair and gave a salute.

"At ease, Captain." Shon replied. "You may be acting, but you still hold the rank of Captain." This caused Markus to relax and sit back in the captain's chair. "I would have been here in the Belfast, but she was in the drydock for some refitting." Shon turned to his tactical officer. "Tell the fleet to engage the Borg and notify Starfleet that we have the Argon and will be bringing back her and her crew to Starbase 36."

"Of Coursse, Captain." The purring Catian voice off screen spoke, "The fleet has been notified and will begin engaging the Borg."

Shon nodded on screen before turning back to the viewscreen. "Captain, make your way to Starbase 36 at best possible speed, we'll be right behind you."

"Sir, I'd like to give the Borg a farewell gift." Markus sat up straighter. "A few hundred kilotons of gifts."

Shon chuckled. "Of course. Fire away." And with that the screen flickered off.

"Mirra." Markus spoke, breaking protocol for a moment. "Load up the last of our torpedoes and launch them all at the Borg. Spread them out as much as possible. We want to make sure that they enjoy our parting gifts."

"Of course, Sir." Mirra grinned, loading the tactical station with targets and firing solutions. "It'll take a few minutes to 'deliver' the packages."

"As long as we're on our way out, I don't see a problem with that." Markus turned to the XO, "Belay the abandon ship and evacuation orders, tell the crew and colonists we're on our way to Starbase 36."

The Argon turned around towards the Borg ships still following and fired the last of her torpedoes still in the hold as she swiveled on her port axis back to going away from the Borg ships, pointing to Starbase 36 and leaping into warp along with the Kirk. Leaving the fleet to handle the Borg invasion.

-LINE BREAK-

The Argon traveled in it's warp bubble, keeping steady at warp 2 as during the battle, the starboard nacelle received some damage, but not enough to cause issues with their warp drive. Still they went from being able to go to warp 3 down to warp 2, a good survivable loss to the ship. Markus turned to the helmsman. "How long until we reach Starbase 36?"

"Three hours, Sir." The crewman stated. Just then the EMH appeared next to him.

"All crew and civilian medical emergencies have been taken care of and they are stable. Out of 389 crew, we have 114 crew members currently not in sickbay, 75 in sickbay with minor injuries and 120 in critical conditions."

"What happened to the rest?" Markus asked, not wanting to hear it, but needed to know for his report.

"Of the 80 crewmen left, they were either assimilated or killed during the battle." The EMH spoke in a cold tone.

Having been given the information, he looked at the EMH, "Please make sure that's in the report you provide to me, I'll note it in the battle log. Also begin writing up notes to the families for me as I don't think I would have the willpower to even begin writing 80 condolences to their families."

"It's not your job to do that, Lieutenant. Leave that to the station administrator." The EMH replied, gently patting the young man on the shoulder. "While I'm not very empathetic about what happened, I do know it was not your fault."

"Right." Markus nodded, standing up from the command chair, "However I still need to report it to them so they are aware."

"You will get your report after some rest. We have three hours before we arrive. I suggest you get some." The EMH grabbed a PADD and tapped out a few options in it before handing it to Markus, "Your quarters have been reassigned to deck 5, down the hall from the starboard turbolift." The EMH walked over to Mirra, giving her the same thoughts that she should get some rest as well. Markus stood up and looked at the XO before speaking up.

"XO, you have the bridge, notify me when we get to Starbase 36." Markus began to walk toward the turbolift as the XO got up from the conn station, a new conn officer appeared and took his place. Once he entered, he turned and saw that Mirra was also there as well. "Deck 5."

As the turbolift moved to the deck above, Markus looked over at Mirra. "Same deck?" Markus asked.

"Quarters right next to yours. In case something happens." She said, patting him on the shoulder. "You did good, Lieutenant. Don't let this change you for the worse." The turbolift stopped and the doors slid open.

The deck wasn't as damaged as the dorsal decks. In fact it seemed to be in better condition. The holographic crew and active crew were trying to do some repairs as they walked down the corridor. Markus really wanted to get back to helping with the repairs, but he was the acting captain. And he needed the rest that the EMH recommended. As he got to the officers quarters, along with Mirra. "I guess I'll see you in a few hours?"

"Sure. Get some rest." She nodded as he went into the quarters. "You have no idea what's in store for you." She remarked before entering her quarters.

-LINE BREAK-

The Argon had arrived in the system for Starbase 36. Markus sat in the command chair while hearing the communication officer reach out to the dock manager.

"Sir, incoming message from the base commander. He's providing us priority docking. He also wants to speak with you."

"On screen." Markus replied. The viewscreen changed from the forward view to the station's commander.

"Lieutenant. I'm glad you and your ship are alright. If you follow the dock master, we've put you into a dock where we can help unload all your passengers."

"Roger that. And thanks, Commander."

"Alexander." The commander replied, "I'll talk to you tomorrow about your report."

"Yes, Sir." And the viewscreen changed back to the forward view, showing the station doors sliding open to let them in. As the Argon slid through, the doors closed up behind them and they were shifted over to a docking station with a large 4 on the front of it.

After the ship was moored to the bay, airlock tubes extended to all available ports. The crew and civilians on board exited the ship calmly, while critical patients were beamed over to the station's sickbay. As the last of the crew and civilians left the ship, a team of repair crews began heading into the ship, while workbee shuttles from the ship and the station started work on the outer hull.

Commander Alexander came down to the ship and went to the secondary bridge. There he saw only Markus and Mirra. Mirra stood at attention, with Markus next to her, PADD in hand. "Lieutenant Darmoth."

"Sir." Markus put his PADD at his side and was about to salute before the commander raised his hand to stop him.

"We're waiting for Captain Shon." The commander spoke up. Just then, the turbolift lift doors opened and in came the Andorian captain, who stood next to Commander Alexander.

"Lieutenant, you did a very good job of keeping the ship operational and continuing onwards with a mission while heavily damaged. We present to you with the Medal of Honor. We also present to you with the Starfleet Cross." Commander Alexander spoke, handing over the two metals and military decorations to Markus. "You'll keep your field commission as long as you receive the proper training and keep this up." Both Commander Alexander and Captain Shon saluted Markus before Markus responded with his own salute back.

"Thank you, Sirs." Markus replied as he relaxed into a at-ease position.

"Relax Lieutenant. You'll be fine." Captain Shon smiled. "For now, get some R and R. Commander Alexander will let you and the crew of the Argon know what your next assignment should be." Shon gently patted Markus' shoulder.

"Yes, Sir." Markus once more replied. He turned to Commander Alexander. "Here's the report for the whole scenario. Including all casualties."

"Thank you for the report. I'll look it over and put it in my report." Both he and Shon headed to the turbolift. "We'll talk to you later, Lieutenant." And the turbolift doors shut on the two as they left the Argon's secondary bridge.

Markus looked over to Mirra, who nodded and smiled, "You deserve those. You stepped up and got everyone you could home safely, along with a bunch of colonists." She grabbed his arm. "I know we've only gotten a few hours of sleep, but let's get something to eat and then crash into our assigned quarters." She pulled him to the turbolift lift, "Deck 8." She called out as the turbolift doors shut on them as well.