She awoke in one of the beds in sick-bay. The other two beds were empty, so she was quite alone. Her blood had been washed from her talons and the cut on her finger tip was almost completely healed. Her head was pounding and she was dizzy.

She craned her neck up to see the monitor above her head. Everything looked normal to her, though she didn't feel like it.

McCoy looked into the room and smiled when he realized she was awake. "Ah, you're finally up," he noted as he walked over. "How do you feel?" he asked as he examined the monitor.

"Horrible," she groaned.

"I'm sorry to hear that," he sympathized. "Roll onto your back for me."

She sent him a look. "You're joking, right? Shall I pull my wings off for you too?"

"Fine, fine. your side, then."

Rin did as she was told and took deep breaths when asked. If she had the strength for it, she would've already launched herself from sick-bay and be running around the Enterprise like always, but she was too weak to do so.

"How long have I been out?" she asked quietly as he ran the scanner down the length of her body.

He measured the readings and responded, "Almost three days."

Rin eased herself up and peered into the next room. A puzzled expression appeared on her face. "Where's Callista?"

McCoy smiled and admitted, "I don't know how you did it, but she made a full recovery. We beamed her down to Tatooine with Revan to search for parts. Mr. Scott said he'd help them put the thing back together again."

She lay back down again with a satisfied look on her face. "She's alright," she told herself. "It worked" She switched over into her native tongue and started mumbling to herself.

"I think that smack to your head did a lot more than I thought," he commented when she didn't respond to him. He picked up an air-needle from the table beside him. "Sleep now, and rest easy," he told her as he injected her with the solution and she went under seconds later.

--

'Goodness, what are you doing in here?'

'I've come to update new-found information,' he responded smoothly.

'McCoy doesn't know, does he?' He didn't respond. 'Won't he become frustrated because of you disturbing one of his patients?' Rin asked thoughtfully.

'Indeed he would so become. I find human predictability quite advantageous,' he commented.

'And so you would,' she replied as she smirked inwardly. 'Oh, I've been meaning to relay some information to you relating to our captive Klingons. They are still onboard, are they not?'

'They are,' he confirmed, 'and growing more quarrelsome and irritable day by day,' he added.

'I managed to find out that there was a super computer running the ship, but that's not the worst of it.'

'How many computers are in use by the Klingons?' he asked.

'Unknown,' she responded. 'But there are enough to the point where they are teaching young Klingons how to operate the computers.' There was silence for a moment and she whispered, 'Let's face it, Star Fleet and all the Federation are in deep trouble with this devastating machine. If we can't put an end to them, it's Kobayashi Maru.'

'I appreciate the information. I shall inform the Captain at once.'

'Spock, wait a moment,' she called as he began to pull out. 'The computers are connected and form a sort of Collective, sort of like the Borg do.' She sensed puzzlement. 'I don't know what it means either. Basically, what happens to one, affects them all. What one learns, they all learn.'

'A formidable opponent, to be sure,' he commented, 'but nothing is undefeatable.'

'Agreed. That's all the information I have for you.'

He pulled out and she was alone again.

--

"Rin said that?" Kirk asked in surprise.

"I believe I already confirmed that, Captain," Spock repeated dully, "twice."

"If it learns as it travels through the galaxy," he hypothesized, "I find it unlikely that they will attempt to cross the Enterprise."

"Perhaps, or they will find the Enterprise's most vulnerable point and strike her there," the Vulcan offered emotionlessly.

Kirk nodded as he processed the information. "And after that," he concluded, "Star Fleet, and the Federation of Planets." There was a moment of solemn silence and Kirk suggested, "What would happen if we destroyed the Collective?"

Spock thought a moment and responded, "The computers would lose the connection between them all, and they would learn individually, or they would form another Collective until there were no more to make Collectives from. But even before then, they would need to meet to reestablish a connection."

Kirk was silent as he contemplated the situation. One Starship could not possibly wipe out all these computers. Fighting off an entire fleet of Klingon Birds of Prey would be suicide! There would have to be another way. If not to destroy the ships, then perhaps they could simply 'blue-screen' the super computers.

"Another thought, Captain," Spock proposed. "If we could create a sort of communicable virus that passes from computer to computer whenever contact or transmission was made, it could destroy the Collective and its subjects from the inside out."

"Thank you, Mr. Spock," Kirk ended thankfully and he called one of the crew-women into the room. "Yeoman, give this to Lieutenant Uhura," he ordered as he handed her a floppy-like cartridge. "Have her send this to Star Fleet and ask them to return suggestions as soon as possible."

"Yes, Captain," she responded obediently and she left to carry out his task.