Chapter 116.

Collective.

(Leah POV)

We lost contact with the Delta Flyer and we headed to try and find them.

"Their Ion trail ends directly ahead," Tuvok said.

"I'm detecting another vessel, bearing 30 mark 112," B'Elanna said. "It's a Borg, Cube,"

"Red Alert, Alter Course to intercept," I said as the Klaxons went red. "Adjust shields to rotating frequencies, Have they detected us,"

"Unclear, the vessel's holding position," Tuvok said.

"As soon as we're within sensors range, Start Scanning for the away team," I said. "On screen,"

"Their propulsion system is offline," 7 said. "The damage is not that severe, the drones should've repaired it by now,"

"Lucky for us they didn't or we'd never have caught up with them, Any sign of our people," I said.

"Not yet," B'Elanna said.

As we got hit.

"They are targeting our warp core," Tuvok said. "Shields are holding,"

"Return fire. Target their weapons array." I said.

As we got hit.

"Now they're going after our impulse engines," B'Elanna said As we got hit again. "That one was meant for our sensors, They can't seem to make up their minds,"

"Their attack strategy is erratic, Inefficient," 7 said.

"You sure you never seen this tactic before at unimatrix 1," I said.

"Never," 7 said.

"And finished, We've disabled their weapons," Tuvok said.

"That was too easy," B'Elanna said.

"Far to easy," I said. "Maybe they're in worse shape than we thought,"

"I'm picking up non Borg life signs, One of them is definitely Talaxian," Tuvok said. "it looks as though they haven't been assimilated yet,"

"Try to get a transporter lock," I said.

"Their shields are interfering," B'Elanna said.

"Target their shield generators and fire," I said.

"Captain, I believe I can explain the unusual behaviour of these Borg. There should be thousands of drones manning the vessel, but I'm picking up only 5 signatures," 7 said.

"We are the Borg, you will be assimilated, Resistance is futile," They said.

"It doesn't sound like they've lost their confidence," B'Elanna said.

"Their shield generators are too deep inside the vessel, Our weapons can't reach them," Tuvok said.

"Open a Channel," I said. "Borg Vessel, This is the Starship Voyager, You're holding our crewmen, We're willing to cease firing if you return them,"

"Negotiation is irrelevant, You will be assimilated," They said.

"Not today and not by you. Agree or I'll resume firing," I said.

"They are scanning us," Tuvok said.

"We will return your crew members in exchange for specific technology," They said.

"Talk about unusual behaviour, The Borg Negotiating," B'Elanna said.

"What technology," I said.

"Your navigational deflector, Disengage it from your secondary hull," They said.

"Mute Audio," I said.

"If we surrender our deflector we'll be dead in space, We won't be able to go to warp," Tuvok said.

"What would they want with it," I said.

"When their communications array was damaged, it severed their link to the Collective, They intend to adapt our deflector to regain it," 7 said.

"And Call for reinforcements. Hell no. That's the last thing we need," I said. "We'll have to stall them until we can find another way out of this," I said giving Tuvok the go ahead to unmute. "I'll consider the exchange, but first I want to be certain my crewmen are unharmed and alive,"

"You have scanned our vessel," They said.

"Our scans were inconclusive, We want to see them for ourselves," I said.

"You may transport one individual," They said. As they cut the link.

"7, go," I said.

XXX

"No sign of Harry yet, but there are parts of that cube we can't scan," I said.

"Could the drones be holding him in another location," Tuvok said.

"Unlikely, 7 said they didn't seem to be aware of his presence," I said.

"If he ejected in an escape pod, We could have detected his beacon by now," Tuvok said.

"Try to activate his combadge. For all we know he could still be on the Flyer," I said. "match the carrier wave to a Borg interlink frequency, they shouldn't detect it,"

"Aye Captain," Tuvok said.

As we got to Sickbay.

"What have we learned from our friends here?" I said.

"The bigger they come, the harder they fall, Behold the David that slew our Goliath," Doc said.

"A pathogen?" I said.

"A spaceborne virus that adapted to Borg physiology, It's inert now, but in it's virulent state, it attacked the drones and killed them," Doc said.

"Why weren't the juveniles infected," Tuvok said.

"The maturation chamber is designed to protect developing drones, Malfunctions caused by the Death of the adults lead several of the chambers to open prematurely," 7 said.

"Does this pathogen only target the Borg," Tuvok said.

"The Borg and other cybernetic organisms it encounters, You're not thinking of using it as a biological weapon," Doc said.

"If we can revive the Pathogen and reintroduce it, we could neutralize the drones without harming the away team," Tuvok said.

"Neutralize, you mean murder don't you," Doc said. "Captain, they're children,"

"Need I remind you that these children have committed murder themselves in their futile attempts to assimilate others," Tuvok said.

"7, Tell me something, You saw them Talked to them, Do you think they'll kill the hostages if we don't give them what they want?" I said.

"Yes," 7 said.

"I want that pathogen as an option, Doc, but I won't consider using it until I've seen these drones for myself," I said. "Think you can arrange that," As 7 nodded. "Then you're with me,"

XXX

"Why are you here?" he said.

"I wanted to make a new proposal," I said.

"We've already negotiated, You've seen the hostages, now give us the deflector as agreed," He said.

"Maybe it's hard for you to accept, but you don't have to rejoin the hive, Our Doctor can remove your implants, you can come with us," I said. "You were individuals yourselves not long ago Children with families, you were abducted and assimilate, I recognize your species. You're Brunali, And you're Norcadian, Do you remember your world?"

"A Theta Class planetoid, Population 260 million, Binary suns," She said.

"And what did it look like when those suns set each night," I said. "Can you remember that,"

"Irrelevant, The Deflector, now," He said.

"We need more time, That deflector array is essential to our," I said

"No," He said as he grabbed me. "Give it to us,"

"Or what, you'll assimilate me, That won't solve your problem, I can't give you Voyager's deflector, But maybe we can repair your technology," I said.

"Clarify," he said.

"7 knows a good deal about Borg systems," I said.

"You have 2 hours," He said.

"I don't know the extent of the damage, it could take longer," 7 said.

"2 hours, or your hostages die," He said. "Don't come back here, Captain,"

"Those crewmen of mine Die. So does this cube," I said. "Voyager, one to beam back,"

XXX

"I bought us another 2 hours, the pathogen," I said. As I got to the Bridge.

"It should be ready by then," Tuvok said.

"Did you see the away team," B'Elanna said.

"I'm afraid not," I said. "But 7 assured me our people haven't been harmed,"

"I can't believe we're negotiation with adolescent drones," B'Elanna said.

"They're not exactly drones, Mature Borg are predictable, they'll ignore you or assimilate you, But these Juveniles they're unstable," I said.

"They are contemptuous of authority, convinced that they are superior, Typical adolescent behaviour for any species," Tuvok said.

"It's a transmission from the cube," B'Elanna said.

"7," I said.

"No, It's Harry," B'Elanna said. "I'm clearing it up now,"

"Delta flyer to Voyager, Respond," Harry said.

"We're receiving you, Harry where are you," I said.

"Still in the Flyer, It's locked up in some kind of hanger bay along with 2 alien ships," Harry said.

"I've isolated his coordinates," Tuvok said.

"How close is he to their shield generator," I said.

"Roughly 800 meters," Tuvok said.

"Harry are there any Plasma charges on the Flyer," I said.

"Yes, ma'am," Harry said.

"In that case how do you feel about going for a little walk," I said.

"I could use the exercise," Harry said.

"Tuvok will guide you to the shield generator, If you destroy it, you won't have to make the trip back," I said.

"Understood," Harry said.

"Tuvok track his progress, from Astrometrics," I said.

XXX

"I found some unsettling information," 7 said as she got to my ready room. "I Examined their communication records, The Collective did receive the drones initial distress call,"

"How long before they arrive," I said.

"A vessel was not dispatched, The Collective declared the neonatal drones irrelevant and severed their link to the hive permanently," 7 said.

"They see them as damaged, unworthy of reassimilation," I said.

"Precisely," 7 said.

"Are the drones aware of this," I said.

"No, they don't have the ability to decrypt the message," 7 said.

"Once they learn they've been rejected by the hive, they won't need our deflector. But the leader he will do whatever it takes to show them just have worthy they are to rejoin. As for the other 4, I don't know," I said.

"Agreed," 7 said.

"They meant be willing to release the hostages," I said.

"Normally when drones learn they're irrelevant, they deactivate themselves, but these neonatal drones are unpredictable, They may not adhere to Borg Protocols and the leader as you said would no doubt do just that," 7 said.

"There is another option," I said. " We could invite them to Voyager, When they realize they have no place else to go,"

"If you're suggesting transforming them into individuals, That would be extremely difficult," 7 said.

"You turned out pretty well, 7," I said.

"That's because I was prepare before you encountered me," 7 said.

"What," I said.

"When I was first captured by the Borg, I was young and frightened, I watched my parents assimilated, Then I was placed in a maturation chamber, and the hive mind began to restructure my synaptic pathways purge my individuality, When I emerged 5 years later, the turmoil of my forced assimilation had been replaced with order, you may not be aware of this, but that order continues to be a source of strength for me," 7 said. "I could not have regained my humanity without it,"

"Just because they didn't have the benefit of your Borg upbringing, Doesn't mean we're going to turn our backs to them, There has to be another option," I said.

"Not all drones can be saved," 7 said.

"Maybe, Continue the repair aboard the Borg cube, We'll hold onto this information for now," I said. "They do have one thing going for them, you, if there's anyone who can reach them, It's you,"

XXX

Then I was called to Sickbay.

"What's the emergency?" I said.

"I thought you should see for yourself," Doc said. "Somebody left a bundle on our doorstep, I turned around and there she was lying on a bio-bed,"

"7," I said. "She must beamed her here,"

"A good thing too, a few more minutes, and I wouldn't have been able to do anything for her," Doc said. "It's hard to believe she could grow up to be a drone, Hold her for a moment while I take some readings,"

"Hey, what's all that about," I said.

"Oh I guess she just wanted to be held," Doc said. "Oh, that pathogen, I finished synthesizing it,"

"Start working with Tuvok on a way to deploy the virus," I said.

"Captain, you don't seriously plan to use it," Doc said.

"If I have to," I said. "Let's just hope your brothers and sisters don't force me to use it,"

XXX

"Comply," he said.

"Return harry Kim then we'll talk," I said.

"We've talked enough, Your requests are irrelevant," He said. "Comply or we'll assimilate the others,"

"Lt ready the tricobalt. Set to the same yield we destroyed the array with," I said.

"Now," he said.

"I can't give it to you now, It's complex technology that's part of our ship, We can't simply remove it, and no amount of threats from you is going to change that," I said.

As he cut the link and locked a tractor beam.

"They've locked a tractor beam onto the deflector," Tuvok said.

"They're trying to tear it off," B'Elanna said. "Hull stress is increasing, Breaches on decks 10 and 11,"

"Increase shields strength and randomize the harmonics. Put the ZPM's into if you have too," I said.

"They're adapting," Tuvok said.

"Hull stress is reaching critical levels," B'Elanna said.

"Reroute all emergency power to structural integrity," I said.

"That'll buy us another minute at most," B'Elanna said.

"Captain I found a Fluctuation in their shield grid near a plasma duct, It's too intermittent to beam out the hostages, But we could use it to deploy the pathogen," Tuvok said. "Captain,"

"Not yet," I said.

"There is no alternative," Tuvok said.

"There's always another way, We just need to find it, their tractor beam draws power from the same grid as their shield matrix, If we use the deflector to send a feedback pulse along the beam it could disrupt their shields, Do it," I said.

"Rerouting more plasma, if this doesn't work it'll do more damage to us than the cube," B'Elanna said.

"It'll work. Prepare to fire," I said.

"Ready," B'Elanna said.

"Do it," I said.

"It's working," B'Elanna said. "It's overloading the shield matrix,"

"Their tractor beam is fluctuating," Tuvok said. "Their shields are dropping,"

"I've got a partial lock on the away team, Boosting the confinement beam, I've got 3 of them," B'Elanna said.

"Confirmed," Tuvok said. "Chakotay, Paris and Neelix are in transporter room 2,"

"What about 7 and Harry," I said.

"They must be in a section that's still shielded," B'Elanna said.

"Amplify the feedback pulse," I said. "Fire,"

"We're overloading the induction grids," Tuvok said.

"Captain's they've dropped their shields and the tractor beam he been disabled," B'Elanna said.

"Lock onto 7 and Harry beam them out," I said.

XXX

"Captain's log Supplemental, Harry is recovering in Sickbay, and the rest of the away team is safe and sound, As for the drones, the Doc's removed most of their implants, leaving us with 4 very troubled kids, End log," I said.

We've sent out calls to any Brunali and Norcadian ships that might be in the vicinity, but we haven't gotten any responses so far, And we're still trying to figure out where the other 2 came from," I said. "It could take a while,"

"They could use the time, they have a great deal to learn," 7 said.

"It might help if they had someone around who knew what they're up against," I said.

"I've never been responsible for children," 7 said. "Neelix would be a wiser choice,"

"From what I've seen you're the only one they've established a bond with, they'll be looking to you for guidance," I siad.

"Perhaps I could help them avoid some of the obstacles, I've encountered," 7 said. as she started to head out.

"See you back home," I said. As she smiled at me then left.

That's all for this chapter.

More to follow.

Stay tuned and safe.

Love Y'all.

PEACE!