Transporting the last of the goods onto the Delta Flyer from the planet Amarone, Lieutenant Emma Winchester secured the large grey barrels into place and made sure they wouldn't move when they got on their way back to Voyager. Looking at the haul she could easily identify oranges, rice, mixed grains, something akin to coffee beans for Captain Janeway, and one of Neelix's most used ingredients, the leola root which she wasn't really a fan of. The other dozen or so barrels Emma couldn't identify at all, all she knew was that it was edible, or so that's what Neelix told her and the rest of the crew.
Exiting the cargo bay and making her way back to the helm, Emma sat down in the empty chair and turned to face her partner in crime, Lieutenant Claire Novak. "I've secured everything in the cargo bay; we are set to go if you are."
"I've just finished talking with Quill and he has cleared us to take off as the storms have settled for now, he wished us a safe journey back to Voyager," Claire said, letting Emma know where they were up to.
"I know we have only been on this planet for a few hours but I'm going to miss it, it was nice to get out and breathe in some fresh air and feel the sun on my face, even if it was only for five minutes while the storm clouds moved," Emma replied, looking out of the view screen to the lush green planet they were landed on.
"It was nice, especially the coolness and the fresh water." Giving Emma a soft smile as the taller girl shook her head, Claire pressed a few buttons on the console in front of her and the Delta Flyer came to life. "Let's head home."
Returning the smile, Emma moved her fingers over the console and kept a close eye on the readings that were being displayed on the screen in front of her. "We are ready to go."
Feeling the Delta Flyer lift off from the ground, Emma watched as Claire guided them into the planet's atmosphere, flawlessly navigating her way through the stratosphere. Encountering some slight turbulence Claire adjusted the shields and continued to guide them up and into space.
"That was a little bumpy there for a moment, I think another storm might be on its way for Quill and his people," Claire said once they were in orbit of the planet and in open space.
"It was, we didn't have any problems entering the atmosphere when we got here so I wasn't really expecting it but yeah a storm is definitely brewing," Emma replied, turning in her chair to face the shorter blonde woman.
"It is just a change in the weather, nothing to worry about, I did a scan of the ship and nothing was affected," Claire responded, hitting a few buttons in front of her while making sure that Emma knew nothing was going wrong. "I've just laid in a course back to our rendezvous spot with Voyager, we should get there in a little over two hours at impulse."
"That's two hours to relax in," Emma replied, putting her feet up on console.
"If Lieutenant Paris saw you doing that you wouldn't have legs for much longer," Claire commented as she pushed Emma's legs off the console.
"You're no fun," Emma responded, scrunching up her nose and the blonde.
"I'm very fun thank you, I'm even participating in the next talent show in the mess hall, I'm just getting my skills up to scratch," Claire replied, surprising Emma.
"Claire Novak, I am truly shocked by this, like literally," Emma said, having no idea what it was that Claire could do.
"I am very good at the piano. I'm going to play a rendition of Ludwig van Beethoven's Fur Elise." Smiling brightly at Emma, Claire was impressed with herself that she had mastered the rather hard song and all of its notes.
"I look very much forward to hearing it. Hopefully the next talent night goes a lot better than the last one. I can't believe my uncle dearest attempted to throw knives at a target while blindfolded." Shuddering at the memory, Emma sighed and looked out the view screen.
"Sam didn't do that bad, only two knives went flying off the stage. I can still hear Neelix's scream as one of them hit the pot of simmering stew on the stove, now that was funny, and it saved us from having to eat it," Claire replied, giggling softly as she remembered the incident.
"And the other knife went flying, missed me by an inch and imbedded itself into the top corner of the empty seat next to me. I swear Sam doesn't like me for some reason," Emma replied, suddenly feeling not that good about her family.
"Em, I've known you since we were both teenagers, your dad and my Uncle Castiel are like best friends, I'm sure if Sam didn't like you we would both know about it by now," Claire said, trying to comfort her friend.
"That is true, hopefully next time Sam participates in a talent show he does something different," Emma responded, a small smile on her face.
"I think my favourite things about the last talent show were Naomi singing 'A Thousand Years' which was beautifully done and Lieutenant Torres and Ensign Vorik's bat'leth display with the many ways to use it both defensively and offensively. It kind of made me want to sign up to their classes they do weekly on different weapons," Claire replied, her blue eyes bright as she talked.
"I would like to sign up to their classes too; maybe we could do it together. My father is a hunter and he did teach me how to use knives and swords, I like to think I'm rather good at it," Emma said, feeling positive about doing something physical for a change.
"You are half Amazonian so I think you'd master it very quickly, especially since you have some practice."
Hearing an urgent beep coming from the console in front of them, they both turned to look at their stations, reading what was displayed in front of them.
"The Delta Flyer is picking up a distress call, I'm trying to pin point where it's coming from," Claire said, her brows furrowed as she narrowed in on the signal.
"I'll get a message ready to send to Voyager informing them that we are responding to a distress call. Do you have the coordinates?" Emma asked, concentrating on what she was doing.
"I've got it; I'll send them to you. The ship is about half an hour away at warp 6 and from what I can tell from scanning the area no other vessels appear to be in range, it's just us," Claire replied, laying in a course to the source of the distress call.
"Message to Voyager has been sent and our warp engines are online," Emma said, nodding to Claire as she took them to warp speed, heading towards the distress signal.
Dropping out of warp speed at the location of the distress call, Claire and Emma both looked out of the view screen and jumped in their seats. They immediately raised the shields and went to red alert.
"How the hell did a Borg Sphere not show up on the sensor readings?" Emma loudly asked as she armed their weapons while waiting for the traditional hail from the Borg.
"I've run a scan of the Borg Sphere and it is powered right down, that's why the scanners couldn't detect it. The Borg Sphere is also severely damaged, its weapons aren't charged, its shields are down and the scanners are detecting no life signs aboard," Claire replied, an eyebrow raised at how unusual it was.
"What do you think happened to them?" Staring at the unmoving vessel in front of them Emma felt a chill run down her spine, she could see no visible damage at all on the outside of the sphere.
"I'm not sure but I think it could have been something to do with the ship sending out the distress call. The signal is coming from inside the Borg Sphere and if the Borg didn't deactivate it I assume something happened to them shortly after assimilating the crew," Claire replied, watching as Emma nodded her head in agreeance.
"I just ran a scan on the ships being held inside of the sphere and there are two of them, the one with the distress call is from a race we haven't encountered yet and the other one is a small freight, Dinaali in origin. I've also tried to turn off the distress call and it can't be done remotely. I think we need to go over there and do it ourselves," Emma responded, pursing her lips together as a trip to a Borg Sphere wasn't something she had ever planned to do.
"I agree. I would like us to take weapons though, just in case something comes back alive. The maturation chambers usually have internal shielding we can't detect so they may be young children over there, possibly alive," Claire said. Getting up from her seat she motioned for Emma to follow her, waiting a moment for the woman to finish what she was doing.
"I just let Voyager know that we have come across a disabled Borg ship and that we are boarding it to deactivate the distress signal." Watching as Claire pulled open the weapons storage, she was rather surprised when the shorter woman handed her a phaser rifle.
Slinging a phaser rifle over her shoulder, Claire closed the compartment and went over to the closest console. "I'm programming the ship to beam us back once we have deactivated the signal. I can get us over there easily but I don't know if we should check for possible children in maturation chambers first or disable the distress call. What do you think?"
"I think we should aim for the maturation chambers. The ship is badly damaged and if any children are alive I'd like to get to them before anything else happens; they could use our help and I don't want to be responsible for dead children," Emma replied, knowing that children, even partially assimilated, wouldn't know what to do.
"I feel the same way too, they are children, and they're innocent. Are we ready to beam over?" Looking to Emma for confirmation, Claire braced herself, weapon ready, and beamed them aboard the Borg vessel.
Looking around the beam in site, phaser rifles drawn, Emma and Claire made sure everything was clear. Lowering their weapons, Claire pulled out her tricorder and scanned around them, double checking her readings.
"It's weird that this area has no drones in it," Emma whispered, the flickering dim lights making her feel eerie.
"This area is only a few hundred metres away from the maturation chambers, not many vital systems are controlled from here. Most of the drones were likely either assimilating the crew, regenerating, or busy protecting the ship," Claire replied in a normal volume as she started to walk towards a corridor.
Heading down the corridor Emma felt a sense of dread, the ship was too quiet and empty for her liking. She didn't like the Borg to begin with and being aboard one of their ships wasn't her cup of tea. The lights kept flickering as the power cut in and out and the eerie green glow of the alcoves only enhanced her sense of dread.
Putting her arm out to stop Emma from walking, Claire placed a finger over her lips and pointed to the floor where a door was situated. A cybernetic leg was visible from where they were, slightly twitching as it moved on the spot. Drawing their weapons Emma and Claire slowly crept forward, their eyes trained on their surroundings.
Facing into the room, Claire lowered her weapon and had to stop herself from throwing up. The twitching leg on the floor wasn't connected to a body; blood was pooled around the top of it, like it had been savagely ripped from its body. Pieces of bodies were thrown around the room, blood was everywhere. They were facing into an assimilation room that had been attacked by something more vicious than either of them could imagine.
"I think we need to be very careful, whatever did this to the Borg could still be in the area," Emma said, entering the room, stepping over a humanoid torso to get to the console.
"What are you doing?" Claire asked, trying to not look at the carnage in front of her, her stomach beginning to protest at the smell.
"I'm checking the logs to see when the Borg got these poor people and who they are," Emma replied, hitting the console on the side to try and get it not to flicker on her. Going through the records and reading the information it was giving her, Emma pursed her lips together and turned to Claire. "The Borg got this ship six days ago; they are from species 5537, Allerexian, native to the Delta Quadrant."
"Does it say anything about being attacked?" Claire asked, stepping to the side so Emma could exit the room, seeing that the condition of the room was getting to the taller woman.
"It said nothing, not a thing," Emma replied.
"The maturation chambers are only about fifty metres down this corridor, we should get a move on," Claire said, leading the way to their destination, more body parts littering the floor as they entered the room.
Looking around the room it was clear of debris and body parts. Six tanks for infants were on the walls, all flickering with the lights. Two chambers for adolescent and teenage drones were on either side, the doors firmly closed. Inside of the tanks only one infant was present, the baby looking like it was struggling while being suspended in a form of liquid.
"I'm going to see if I can get the transporters on long enough to beam the baby out of that tank and onto that table looking thing," Claire said, quickly getting to work.
"Scanning the rest of the maturation chambers there are no life signs, only the baby. The baby is Allerexian, these logs even have a name, she's a girl named Remy, five months old." Checking the rest of the information on the Borg system Emma checked to see how far away the homeworld of the baby was while she downloaded what little information was available.
"I have transporters up, I've locked onto the baby and energising," Claire said, quickly rushing over to the table and scanning the baby girl. "She's needs some oxygen but otherwise she's healthy from what I can tell."
"We should head back to our transport site and get her onto the Flyer and on some oxygen; the distress signal can wait five minutes. Remy's life is more important than another ship picking up on the call and joining us," Emma replied, leading the way through the corridors as Claire carried Remy, cradled to her chest, as she made soft cooing noises to keep the baby calm.
Reaching the beam in site without any issue, they transported back to the Delta Flyer and took Remy into the back. Laying the baby down on one of the beds, Claire quickly put a force field up around the bed and programmed the computer to maintain the temperature and oxygen flow around the baby.
"I think that should do it until we get back to Voyager, I'm no doctor," Claire said, feeling a little unsure as she wasn't used to caring for babies.
"It's the best we can do, Claire," Emma replied, gently rubbing Claire's back, reassuring the shorter blonde woman.
"We need to beam back over and deactivate that distress call before anyone else comes to find nothing," Claire responded, gently leaning into Emma as she changed the subject.
Giving Claire a quick kiss on the head, Emma moved over to the console and ran her fingers over the controls. "I'm scanning the Borg Sphere again and nothing has changed since we got here. I'm setting a new beam in location so we are near the hangers. I can get us one hundred and seventy metres from the door." Checking to make sure she still had her phaser rifle on her, she gave it a pat and moved over to Claire.
Beaming back aboard the Borg Sphere, Emma wrinkled her nose and looked to Claire. The smell of rotting flesh was strong and it made her stomach turn. There were hundreds of dead bodies lying on the floor, limbs torn from torso and thrown around the room; some cybernetic parts were still twitching in the pools of blood.
"Oh God, this is bad," Claire said, rushing towards an alcove and throwing up, emptying the contents of her stomach over the floor.
"It's real bad, we need to get to the Allerexian ship and see if they have any data on what happened," Emma replied, knowing that there was a slim chance of the ship having recorded any information.
Thinking she heard a sound, Claire wiped her mouth on her sleeve and turned to Emma. "Did you hear that banging sound?"
"I heard nothing," Emma replied, scanning the area with her tricorder, locating the position of the hanger bay.
"Must have been nothing," Claire responded, following Emma down a long corridor and into an open room where the door to the hanger sat. The lights were still flickering on and off and it made her extremely uncomfortable.
"I wonder what happened to cause this amount of destruction," Emma said, shocked at seeing large cut marks in the wall behind them. Frayed wires hung out, sparking as power tried to run through them.
"I don't think I want to know what caused this," Claire replied, walking over to the hanger door and hitting the wall console, opening the door.
Seeing the two ships docked in the hanger, Emma and Claire made their way over to the old, banged up, small Allerexian ship and boarded it, heading straight for the control centre. Sitting down at the main console Claire went through the ships logs as Emma deactivated the distress call.
"The distress call has been deactivated," Emma said, pulling a relay out of the ship and tossing it to the side. "I even made sure it wouldn't start up again unexpectedly."
"That is good to hear. I've set up my tricorder to download the ships logs and other useful information so we may know a little more soon. Going over the most recent entries... oh no... this isn't good," Claire said, her eyes darting back and forth as she read the information in front of her.
"Claire, what is it?" Emma asked, wondering how bad it could really be.
"The Allerexian's found a broken down android-like machine three weeks ago. From the rough outline it's about six foot five, is semi humanoid, and was used as a war tool. It has four large arm things coming out of its torso, or maybe its back and two of them are weapons that can cause great destruction. There really isn't much more about it description wise other than it is known as a Preyvus. The ships engineer, a man named Eton repaired it as best he could but couldn't do anything about the programming. It was so dangerous they didn't even turn it on out of fear. Skipping ahead a few logs, when the Borg tractored this ship into the hanger and started to board it Eton turned on the Preyvus and that's the last entry." Turning in her seat to face Emma, Claire couldn't shake the bad feeling she had about the Preyvus.
"If the Preyvus thing was set loose wouldn't we have detected it when we scanned the ship if it were still functional? Borg Spheres usually have a crew of anywhere from a few thousand to eleven thousand drones depending on its mission, it surely couldn't have taken them all out," Emma replied, trying to think a little more positively than Claire.
"It may have blended in with the minimal power readings if it is damaged; I think it would be best if we headed back to the Delta Flyer. If it is still functional we need to get out of here as soon as possible," Claire said, tucking away her tricorder as she stood up and checked her phaser rifle, holding onto it tightly.
Exiting the hanger bay, Claire and Emma carefully made their way back through the corridors of the Borg Sphere, stepping over body parts and avoiding pools of blood while holding their rifles out in front of them, their eyes trained on their surroundings.
Hearing the same banging sound she heard earlier, Claire stopped where she stood and listened intently. Hearing the sound again she motioned to Emma to follow her. Ducking behind a row of broken alcoves they held their breath and waiting for the sounds of the banging to stop. After a few minutes they slowly started to walk back to their beam in site which was about a hundred metres in front of them.
Entering the room, Claire and Emma froze as a loud scratching sound echoed throughout the room. Raising their phaser rifles they looked around the room and tried to narrow down the source of the noise. Hearing a clang Claire turned around and her eyes locked onto the Preyvus, it was large and bulky, made out of many different kinds of materials. It had four limbs coming out of its torso which contained various weapons, two of them sharp and moving. The wiring for it was hanging out and blue fluid was leaking down its legs, dripping onto the floor. Without having time to react to the android like creature Claire felt a sharp blow to her back and she went flying across the room, screaming out in pain as she slid across the floor and banged into the wall.
Aiming her phaser rifle at the large Preyvus standing before her, Emma opened fire and hit it on one of its limbs, damaging it further than it already was. Quickly running back and circling the Preyvus she fired on it again and hit some wiring, more blue liquid leaked onto the floor. Hearing Claire groan in pain, Emma fired a few more shots at the Preyvus, knocking it back enough so she grab hold of Claire. Dodging a blast sent out from the Preyvus she quickly tapped her com badge and got the Delta Flyer to beam them out.
Throwing her phaser rifle aside Emma helped Claire remove her weapon, being careful of her right side. Sitting Claire down on the chair, Emma grabbed the medical tricorder off the console and scanned Claire with it, grimacing when she saw the results.
"What is it? I can tell you now that whatever it is it is very painful," Claire asked, holding her right arm against her body as she wiped a few fallen tears off her face.
"You have a fractured shoulder blade and internal damage to your nerve in the area. We need to get you back to Voyager as soon as possible so the Doctor can fix it. For now I can give you some strong pain killers and pull out the medical thingy that will immobilise your arm and shoulder but I'm no doctor," Emma replied, quickly getting the hypospray and loaded it with the pain killers. Pressing it against Claire's neck and injecting it into her body, she waited a few minutes before helping her into the immobiliser, taking care to try not cause the shorter woman any more pain.
"How is little Remy doing?" Claire asked, trying to distract herself from the pain.
"She looks fine, she's currently holding her foot and trying to put it in her mouth," Emma replied, looking at the baby on the bed. Quickly scanning Remy, Emma let a small smile grace her face. "Her oxygen levels have increased and she's still healthy, hopefully once the Doctor is done fixing you he can remove the small amount of Borg technology on her chest."
Hearing a loud beep Claire and Emma headed to the front of the Delta Flyer and checked the source of the warning.
"The Delta Flyer is reading energy signals coming from inside of the Borg Sphere," Emma said, double checking that their shields were raised.
"Um, Em, the Borg Sphere is turning and coming closer to us," Claire said, pointing to the looming vessel in front of them.
Quickly pressing some buttons on the console in front of her, Emma engaged the thrusters and moved them a safe distance away. Seeing the ship still coming towards them, Emma changed their course again as the Delta Flyer beeped at them just as the Borg ship fired at them, missing by about forty metres.
"I'm charging the phasers and locking onto their weapons array, hopefully a direct hit will disable the ship," Claire said as she one handedly fired at the Borg Sphere.
"Direct hit... wait, I'm reading a power surge..." Looking out the viewer Claire and Emma watched as a chain reaction went through the Borg Sphere and it blew up in front of them, debris flying everywhere, rocking the Delta Flyer from side to side.
"I did not expect that," Emma said, manoeuvring them out of the debris field.
"I didn't either," Claire replied, getting up from her seat and heading into the back of the Delta Flyer as a high pitched cry filled the cabin.
Getting them clear of the debris from the Borg Sphere, Emma sent a message to Voyager and set a course to their rendezvous location. Joining Claire, she picked up Remy and gently rocked the baby, calming her down. Making sure Claire was okay and the pain was manageable, she sat down next to her and hoped that Voyager was already waiting for them, after the day she had had she really needed a sonic shower to get the smell of death off her body.