A/N: A new, extended episode today! had to make up for some lost time, and there was a lot to cover here. Huuuuuge thanks to kretolus, for the cameo of his Commander Grahm, and both him and DrZevil for the discussions we've had for how this story is going to pan out. Trust me, it's gonna be awesome!
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With minimal power running through the ship, it wasn't long before Azh and Elliot were climbing through the turbolift shaft, a task made more difficult by the blood still coating the young Trill's hands.
"We've...got to...head...to Engineering," she said, panting from the struggle of carrying Bobbi and trying not to fall off the ladder. "From there…"
"We can reroute bridge controls and essentially control the ship again," Elliot finished, offering his hand to Azhasca.
"Yeah," she sighed, nodding.
"Don't worry ma'am, there's a Jefferies tube just up here."
Azh was silent for a moment, then looked back up at him.
"When did you become so courageous, Elliot?" she asked. "You've always been...timid, shy...now you're...killing Borg and...saving your fellow crew."
Elliot shrugged.
"I don't know, ma'am. I guess…I guess we never really know what we're capable of until we're tested. I've never been truly tested until now, and...when I thought of never seeing my friends again, never...seeing you again, losing our new ship to the Borg, well...I couldn't let go without a fight."
"Well," Azh breathed, pulling herself up again, "I'm...certainly...thankful you did."
Eventually they made it to the Jefferies tube access hatch, and Elliot forced it open with the manual override. He moved to the side to allow Azh to climb through, helping to push the unconscious Bobbi in after her, then climbing in himself.
"I...have no idea how to do this," Azh said, sat against the tube wall, trying to catch her breath.
"Do...what?"
"Any of this," she answered. "Move her between us. Lead any survivors. Command a ship from the fucking engine room. I'm...I'm out of my depth here."
"Azh, listen to me," Elliot told her, his voice more confident than she'd ever heard. "I know this is basically a living nightmare for you, and I know this is hard, but this is what we have to deal with and getting lost in a cycle of misery won't change that. You aren't alone - you've got me, and I'm sure we'll find more survivors in Sickbay. And you have always led us well on the docks - why should your skill at leading change just because we're on a ship? You can do this. If anyone can, it's you. I believe in you."
Azh just looked at him, unshed tears in her eyes, and she wiped them away. For once, she felt she wasn't going to need them.
"When we get out of here," she said softly, "you and me are taking a trip to Risa." She chuckled softly, then stopped as she seemed to think of something.
"I've got it! Take your belt off, quick."
Elliot did as he was told, as Azhasca lifted Bobbi's arm so that her wrist lined up with Azh's own ankle.
"Tie Bobbi to me, then I can pull her with me. It's hardly dignified, but it'll work."
"It'll do, at least," Elliot told her, pulling the belt tight so that Bobbi and Azh were effectively joined.
"Let's go."
Azh began crawling through the tube, dragging Bobbi behind her, and Elliot followed them both.
They eventually made it to the exit that would bring them out closest to Sickbay, and Azh forced the hatch open before scanning the corridors with her rifle, while Elliot untied the belt.
"It looks clear," she said, easing herself out, sweeping the corridors with her rifle-mounted flashlight. As Elliot was attempting to pull Bobbi from the Jefferies tube, Azhasca gave a shout of surprise as her flashlight suddenly illuminated the face of a very much un-assimilated Trill woman, roughly the same height as Azh, but with dark brown hair tied into a ponytail that curled round and rested on her shoulder.
The Trill quickly swiveled her odd looking rifle up and down, shining light of her flashlight over the group, before lowering the weapon. "Friendlies," She said into the darkness behind her, and raised her hand in a placating gesture as she started to approach the Azhasca's group. A few more members of her team emerged from around the corner behind her, securing the corridor.
Azh panned her light over the others, noting their uniforms, and looked back at the Trill in surprise.
"Who are you? You're not with the Phoenix. Did...did someone hear our distress call?"
Behind her, Elliot yelped in surprise as he finally managed to get Bobbi out of the Jefferies tube, lost his balance, and promptly fell to the deck taking the unconscious commander with him.
The Trill gestured for one of her officers to help Elliot, while she turned to address Azhasca, glancing briefly at her rank pips. Her face lit up with a relieved smile. "Ah, Captain Pezhal, I presume. Commander Jidzi Grahn, ma'am, of the Relentless." She gestured to her team. "Someone did indeed hear. We're here to help repel boarders, while other ships secure the system."
Azh seemed to melt in relief, closing her eyes momentarily before looking at Jidzi again.
"Captain in rank only, I'm afraid," she said quietly. "Despite my companion's assurances, I'm feeling somewhat out of my depth."
Elliot glanced at her as he stood beside her, Bobbi draped between him and Jidzi's officer.
"My chief engineering officer, by the way, Elliot Womers," Azh said, gesturing to him. "We're heading to sickbay to round up survivors, then get this crate back on the offensive. If you and your officers could lend a hand, I'd be grateful."
Jidzi nodded, a serious expression on her face. "We were heading towards sickbay anyway, seemed like the largest gathering of survivors. We also have other teams trying to retake engineering and secure the bridge, so we can get power and control back." She gestured for her team to move out, before turning back to Azhasca. "Once this is over, I'm sure Captain O'Neill will want a full debrief."
"The bridge is a lost cause, ma'am," Elliot said. "The tactical station was destroyed, and there's too much debris in there."
Azhasca nodded, readying her unusual rifle.
"What he said. So I recommend we head to Sickbay, then move on to Engineering. And I hope your captain won't mind a debrief that involves a lot of crying," Azh added, moving to the front of the group. "Feels like that's a very real possibility right now."
"I'm sure she won't mind." Jidzi replied, before turning to one of her crewmen. "Redirect our bridge team to start sweeping decks instead." She turned back to Azhasca, readying her rifle. "Once we secure sickbay, we can rendezvous with the other teams. I'd love to say they would have retaken Engineering by then, but even with these rifles I don't expect an easy fight."
"I'm just glad of the support," Azh said, smiling weakly. "Sickbay should be just up ahead. Let's move out, then kick these bastards off my ship."
She turned around and began leading the way, rifle up and ready, a renewed sense of purpose in her step.
The combined team pushed ahead to Sickbay easily, the kinetic rifles of Jidzi's team making light work of Borg shields and armour. When they reached sickbay, they found the doors frozen open, a pair of crewmen with antiproton rifles keeping watch for Borg attacks. The team moved in, finding a darkened Sickbay filled with wounded and half-assimilated crew, and a weary doing far more work than one doctor possibly could.
"Katrice!" Azh called wearily, as Elliot and one of Jidzi's officers got Bobbi onto the last remaining spare bed.
"Unless you're dying, I don't have time!" the normally skittish woman shouted back, pressing a hypospray to her patient's neck before moving to another.
Azh hurried over, interrupting Katrice in her march and meeting her eyes.
"I'm not, but Bobbi is," she said, "and I need my First Officer. If you could stabilise her at least, I'd appreciate it."
Katrice sighed, swearing under her breath, and headed to Bobbi's side with her medical tricorder. She snapped the device shut, rushed off to get a tray of tools, hurried back and got to work.
"Where are your staff? Or the EMH?" Azh asked, looking around at the multitude of wounded officers.
"Some are dead. Some are assimilated. Some are here." She shoved an unneeded tool into Jidzi's hands, picking up another and carrying on. "Sickbay lost most of its power, so no EMH. I've been running on backups since this happened, and I've lost twelve patients as a result. I expect I will lose more."
"Katrice...I'm so sorry," Azh breathed, tears stinging her eyes. Katrice looked up for a brief moment, met her eyes but said nothing, and returned to her work.
Elliot, however, was attempting to make himself useful. After hearing of Katrice's plight, he made his way to an access panel and eventually pulled it free, and began his own work. After moving a few components around, he punched an instruction into the small keypad inside the panel, and Sickbay suddenly lit up again.
Katrice looked up in momentary wonder, before shouting, "computer, activate EMH!"
A hologram appeared of an averagely-sized male, with serious features and an almost non-existent hairline.
"Please state the nature of the med.."
His voice trailed off as he took in the scene in front of him, eyes rapidly picking out the chief medical officer.
"What is going on here?" he demanded, as Katrice stood up and took the tools from Jidzi, giving them to the EMH.
"Neither I nor my patients have the time, just pick a patient and get to work."
"Excuse me, but I spend all my time in an electronic oblivion, I think I'm entitled to some answers right now!"
"You're a hologram!" Katrice snapped. "I'll be glad to fill you in detail, but right now we have lives to save. Are you going complain, or are you going to do your job?!"
The EMH was stunned into silence by Ktrice's tirade, and she took the opportunity to press on.
"That's what I thought. Here, help me with this one." She moved to another crew member, his eyes glazed over and staring at nothing, and she grabbed one of the tools from the EMH.
"Wha- this man is in the middle of being assimilated! It's irreversible!"
"Really? Well unfortunately no-one told me I couldn't do it, so look sharp. We're about to do the impossible. Captain?"
Azhasca came over, trying to force her expression into some kind of neutrality.
"Yes?"
"If you could take any of the walking wounded with you, I would appreciate it," Katrice told her, getting to work on the assimilated man. "Also, our restored power will make us a target again, so if you could leave some reinforcements-"
"Done," Azh told her, and moved back to the combined team. "Jidzi, leave four of your people here to help with defence. Anyone in here not currently unable to function, grab a weapon and come with me."
It wasn't long before two women came out of the mass of injured crew. The first was a tall Bajoran, with short, dark blonde hair swept to one side, her hands resting on a pair of antiproton pistols. The second was a woman of unknown origin, with dark, grey-blue skin and a series of deep orange spots running around the outer edges of her face, arcing between her eyes and the corners of her chin.
"Pekeez, Oysyoe, thank you," Azh told them, as Oysyoe passed an assault minigun to Elliot. He took the weapon and passed the sword to Azh, who slung it over her back, before she addressed the gathered team.
"Alright people, we're making a push for Engineering, and from there we can reroute bridge functions and basically fly the whole damn ship. It's going to be tough, but we'll have another of Commander Grahm's teams working that way as well, so we're aiming to catch the Borg in a crossfire. This won't be easy, but I know you can do it. You with me?"
There was no hesitation in the cheer from her own crew, and she grinned wolfishly.
"Then let's get going."
She turned on her heel and headed for the door, readying her rifle as she did, and the combined team fell in behind her.
It was time to take the Phoenix back.
