Multiple Starfleet vessels flew around the planet killer firing all weapons at it but it was like they were shooting holographic phasers at it. The doomsday machine fired its weapon landing a direct hit on the Excelsior class Righteous, destroying it. The Steamrunner class Hokkaido fired phasers along the rim of their enemy's opening without having any effect. The Thunder Child flew in firing phasers and photon torpedoes around the head of the planet killer and having no effect. The Nova class Solent flew straight at it firing into its giant opening. The doomsday machine fired as well and its beam collided with the oncoming phaser beams, negating them and continued on its way towards the ship.
"Hard to starboard." Captain Natalie Hinton said while getting up from her command chair. The ship moved to its right and the beam gazed the underside of the star drive section of the ship. Consoles exploded everywhere on the bridge that rocked violently, sending everyone who was standing to the floor. The red headed female captain got back to her feet and turned around to look at the tactical officer. "Report."
An athletic, green eyed brownish blonde haired girl at the tactical station responded. "Shields down to forty-eight percent."
"Zofchak, fire photon torpedoes." Hinton ordered.
She did as she was told and put the command into her console. The Solent fired torpedoes at the doomsday machine but they just impacted the outer shell and exploded without slowing it down.
"There's another starship coming in." Zofchak reported. "It's the Alexandria."
"Looks like your brother has come to join the party." Hinton grinned.
A smile grew on her face.
"It looks like they are towing something." Her smile disappeared and her face twisted into a look of confusion. "It's a Borg cube."
Hinton shot the young Lieutenant a very surprised look.
"Are they mad?"
The Sovereign class Alexandria swooped into the battle field out of warp towing the Borg derelict.
"Once we're in range disengage the tractor beam and launch the cube into that things mouth." Allensworth said.
The planet killer turned its attention to the incoming starship and fired its antiproton beam.
"It's firing, sir." Fulks said.
"Evasive maneuvers."
The ship moved out of the way of the beam but the beam slammed into the Borg ship, destroying it.
Allensworth slammed his fist into the arm of his chair. "Damn it. Now what do we do?"
"Sir, we are being hailed from the Solent." Merriell said.
"On screen."
The bulkhead shimmered away and was replaced with the image of the captain of the Nova class starship.
"Captain Allensworth, welcome to Ground Zero. If I may ask, what were your plans with that Borg cube?"
"We were going to use it to send down that thing's throat but that thing obviously destroyed the cube before we could use it."
"It seemed to stop paying attention to us when your ship came out of warp and turned its attention to you. Do know of any reason why?" Hinton asked.
"No I don't. It did that to us before…" Allensworth stopped in midsentence as if he had an epiphany.
"I have a theory, Captain but I need to know for sure. We'll keep you informed. Allensworth out."
The screen returned to its bulkhead form before Captain Hinton had the chance to reply. Allensworth pressed a button on the arm of his command chair.
"Zofchak report to the bridge."
Moments later, the chief engineer walked onto the bridge. Allensworth stood up from his seat and faced Dustin.
"Dustin, is it possible to forge a Borg warp signature?" The captain asked.
"I believe so but why…" It dawned on him too. "I'll get to work on it right away, sir."
Dustin sat down at a station on the bridge.
"Merriell help him out. I want you to create multiple Borg signatures outside of the Tucker system. Once it picks them up it should stop its attack and head for the signatures."
Alex Merriell got up from his station to be replaced by Kell Perim and went over to help Zofchak.
Nycz was a bit confused. "Why do you want to create a Borg warp signature?" She asked.
"If you noticed during our previous encounters, Counselor, then you'll notice that the planet killer stopped its attack on us to destroy the Borg ships. Captain Hinton even said that it turned its attention towards us when we came out of warp and it destroyed the cube. I think this thing is smart enough to tell apart its enemies. It must really have a grudge against the Borg."
"What if this thing was a weapon designed to destroy the Borg?" Sparhawk asked.
"It's possible." Allensworth said.
"But what about when Kirk encountered the one in his time?" Nycz asked.
"That could've had something to do when the Borg went back into time to prevent First Contact. They did succeed until the Enterprise went completely through the temporal vortex. It could've picked up on their signal and headed for Earth and just never stopped. The time between First Contact and the time the doomsday machine was encountered seems about the right amount of elapsed time from the Delta Quadrant to the Alpha Quadrant."
"We've finished forging the Borg signatures. Now we're transmitting them to make it look like they are outside the Tucker System."
"Good work you two."
The doomsday machine stopped attacking the Starfleet ships and turned away towards where the fake Borg signatures were positioned.
"It's moving off."
"Excellent. Follow it. Once it's out of the system we'll attack without having to worry about the planets' inhabitants." Allensworth said.