A/N: Well, that escalated quickly! I think this one came out okay, at least I'm proud of parts of it, so I hope you enjoy it too! Many thanks, as always, to Kretolus and DrZevil, my advisors and friends. Please leave a review if you like this!


Evasion tactics could only ever have lasted so long, surrounded as they were, but a vast Cube cut them off even sooner, ensnaring them in a shimmering green tractor beam.

"We're losing shields!" Toski shouted, fingers darting across his console. "Dammit! I'm sorry Commander, I tried to lock them out but they've boarded us, decks Five, Seven, Nine through Twelve, and Fifteen."

"Commander Lehar to all hands, we've been boarded by the Borg," Bobbi declared across the comms. "Set all weapons to a rotating modulation, that should buy some time." She then got out of her chair and crouched by Azhasca, still cowering by her own, and grabbed her friend by the shoulders.

"Azh. Listen to me. We need you, right now. I know you're afraid, I know what you've been through, but we need you to stand with us. Come on, Azh!"

The young Trill continued crying, oblivious to the words of her friend, and Bobbi slowly let go of her, her heart twisting as Azh scurried back under her chair like a wounded animal.

"Comms," she said, standing up, "send out a general distress call, to any ships in the area. We need all the help we can get."

"I can try ma'am, but-"

"Interference, I know, just...try. We'll be dead without support."

The comms officer met Bobbi's eyes, and nodded slowly.

"Aye aye, ma'am. Sending distress call now, and I'll set it to automatically cycle. Even if I die, the signal will keep going."

"Good. Toski?"

The Caitian looked up from his console.

"Yes ma'am?"

Bobbi's voice was flat and cold as she spoke again.

"Break us out of here."


A fresh torrent of crimson beams stabbed at the immense cube, finally hitting the mark and breaking the tractor lock. The Phoenix suddenly surged forwards at full impulse again, shields shimmering back to life as Toski maintained his assault. They began surging towards the Starbase, beyond which lay a massive transwarp conduit. Destroying that would halt any Borg reinforcements, but actually getting there was going to be the first major hurdle to that objective.

"Viirtali, all power to the engines, give me everything you've got!" Bobbi yelled, gripping her armrests.

"If I push her any harder, we'll lose the ship!" Viirtali snapped back, not daring to take her eyes from the console in front of her.

Bobbi opened her mouth to reply, but at that precise moment the ship lurched horribly, several EPS conduits in the ceiling blowing out in a shower of smoke and sparks, feedback causing the helm console to blow blow out as well.

Secondary explosions ripped through some of the bulkheads, hurling debris across the bridge, a jagged sliver shredding the tactical console and slicing Toski in half.

Bobbi, thrown from her chair by the initial lurch, escaped the worst of it, and she looked over at Azh from her position on the floor.

"Azh, honey...come on now girl, we...we need you…" She pressed a hand to her side, wincing when it came away moist and dark red. "If you're gonna pull a comeback...now's about the time."

Azhasca stared in horror at Bobbi, the blood staining her hand, tears coursing down her cheeks.

-The blood, the screams, echoing down the corridor, louder now-

"Azh...please," Bobbi half-growled, suddenly realising that Borg had materialised on the bridge. "Fight. Back."

-The faces of her friends now coming for her, arms outstretched, lifeless but sickeningly alive-

Azhasca shook her her head, stifling a whimper, noticing Bobbi's body trembling with effort now.

"Azh...this...is your fight. Your moment. Use it. Make...them...pay."

Azhasca couldn't even cry. Her entire body was locked up with horror and memory, and all she could do was stare at Bobbi's body.

Then she heard it. The tell-tale sounds of augmented feet, thumping closer to where her friend lay, the click and whine of servos giving away the other's identity.

Azh knew she had to fight, but-

-she was too weak-

-her body wouldn't obey her, knew she had to-

-run, keep running, never look back-

-get up for the sake of her crew, but she was-

-too weak, too afraid-

-too weak, too afraid.

The intruder stopped by Bobbi's inert body, kneeling down to turn her over, and still she couldn't-

-fight-

-bring herself to-

-fight-

-Stop the Borg-

-Fightfightfightfightfight-

-FIGHT-

With a scream of rage, terror, and fear Azhasca launched herself forwards, crashing into the Borg intruder and hurling them both over Bobbi's body. Grabbing a razor-sharp fragment of debris, she straddled the Borg drone, and screamed again as she drove the fragment down. The sharp, serrated edges punched through the drone's throat easily, and it spasmed beneath her as she severed its spine. She pulled her makeshift blade free, and brought it down again, and again, and again and again, giving vent to all of her emotions as she did.

As she stared down at the ruin of the drone's head and chest, her hands bleeding profusely, she felt...numb. So much fear that she had carried for so many years, and now that she had purged it all she was unsure how to feel.

The other three drones stomping towards wouldn't give her chance to find out, however, and she readied herself for a fight, holding the piece of bulkhead like a sword.

She swung at the drone that approached in front of her, connecting with its head and killing it in one blow, but without the benefit of her fury the pain in her hands became noticeable...and immense. She dropped the makeshift blade as soon it struck, and she suddenly felt the drone behind her wrap its arms around her in a restraining embrace. She watched helplessly, struggling against its vice-like grip as the other one raised its arm, ready to inject her with the nanoprobes that would begin-

-A broad, green sword blade erupted its chest, and it slumped to the floor as soon as the blade retracted. But its bearer was already moving, and with a shout they carved into the drone restraining Azh. She fell forwards as it released her, and she turned around to see the sword-bearer knock the drone to the floor and finish with a stab to the throat.

After making sure it was dead, the man turned around, offering his hand to Azh, and she stared at him for a moment.

"...Elliot?" She asked, her voice hoarse. "What...what are you doing here?"

Elliot smiled as he took her hand, helping her up regardless of the blood seeping from her palms.

"As soon as the Borg started boarding...I knew you were going to be suffering, and I needed to get up here to help you. No use for me in Engineering, since the hit we took to our nacelles fried all our power, and I lost most of my staff to assimilation."

"And...the sword?"

"Apparently it's a 'Terran Emperor's sword', found it in a holodeck programme." He turned the weapon, showing her the mobile emitter he'd fixed to the sword's hilt. "Here, I brought you this."

He unslung a rifle weapon, one that looked like no phaser Azh had ever seen, and passed it to her. It was black, stocky, nad shorter than most rifles she was used to, more like a carbine but one designed for specialised use. She took a moment to examine it, finding the trigger easily enough and taking hold of the foregrip, and stood ready.

"We need to get you and Bobbi to sickbay first, then work on getting rid of these bastards. You up for that?"

Azh nodded, fighting back fresh tears.

"Elliot...thank you."

She leaned forwards and gave him a small kiss on the cheek, before bending down to lift Bobbi onto her shoulder.

"Let's get going."

With that, she led the way to the turbolift, Elliot following behind her with a pistol held ready.

Neither of them noticed the Ops display, indicating several incoming warp signatures.