Episode 11: Surprises

USS Enterprise – Conference Room

Captain Picard settled into his chair, nodding at Data and LaForge at the head of the table, flanking a viewscreen. Around him sat Mr. Worf, Seven of Nine, Dr. Crusher and the Doctor.

"Everyone, you know Seven of Nine and the Doctor. They were kind enough to take the time to travel here and assist us. Mr. Data, have you had time to go over the Assembled databanks?" Picard began.

"Yes, sir." Data replied.

"Excellent. I know Seven has not had the time to be briefed about the situation, so this is would be a fine opportunity."

"Correct, Captain," Seven said, "other than some preliminary information provided by Starfleet, I am unsure of what my function will be."

"What we need is some expert knowledge on cybernetics, Seven. You have more insight into that than most of this room put together. With the exception of Data," LaForge added, smiling. Worf mumbled something under his breath at that, uncomfortable with a Borg on the ship.

"I shall do what I can," Seven said.

"First, let me display the construct we encountered, Seven," Data said, keying a command into the monitor. On the display a schematic of the scout robot that attacked the Enterprise was displayed, alongside the basic information they were able to scan. Seven examined the display and immediately released a terrifying cry, jumping from her seat and sending it spinning to the floor. The Borg backed against the wall, eyes shifting around the room in panic.

"Seven!" the Doctor called out, rushing to her side, "Data, turn that screen off!"

Data did so, casting a curious glance over to Picard and LaForge. Seven had collapsed to the floor, pleading out loud, "No, no, no, no…"

"Perhaps we should get her to sickbay," Crusher said. The Doctor quickly agreed when Seven gripped the hologram's arm, her eyes clearing somewhat.

"It…it is all right. I apologize," she said, rising shakily to her feet, "I was overwhelmed for a moment." The Doctor helped her to her chair, a worried look on his face.

"If you need some time, Seven, we can postpone this meeting," Picard said.

"That will not be necessary, Captain Picard," Seven replied, "I have regained control."

"I assume from your reaction you have encountered this race before?" Data said.

"I have," Seven said, "or rather, the Borg have."

"Indeed?"

"Yes. Many centuries ago, but the Collective memories are still fresh.

"I don't recall any kind of reaction to them," Picard said, somewhat confused.

"You were a drone for only a short time, Captain. I believe the Hive was somewhat reluctant to share all of their knowledge with you. Surely you may have noticed some gaps in your knowledge about the Borg."

"I suppose so," Picard said.

"I never knew their name," Seven continued, waving at the monitor, "only that they represented a grave threat to the Collective."

"What dealings did the Borg have?"

"Early in their development, the Collective assimilated a species that were not native to this universe. This race was able to cross the dimensional threshold between parallel universes, using this technology to escape their own alternate reality. Unfortunately for them they crossed over into Borg space."

"My God," Crusher said.

"The Borg were quick to adapt this technology, and used it to cross over to the other dimension. They used the vast Collective to transfer several Cubes to this other universe at great cost. There, they encountered the Assembled," Here Seven paused, her eyes growing cloudy, "the Assembled were, to the Borg, perfection. Robotic intelligence never before encountered but visualised. Completely inorganic, yet sharing one mind. Unlike the Borg, it was not one Voice through many, but many voices speaking with one desire. No dissension, no emotion, only cold pure logic moving towards one single collective goal. The Borg tried at first to assimilate them, but this was a quick failure. The robots were simply too advanced. Imagine, enormous fleets of ships acting as a single functioning machine, nanotechnology more complex than anything we have yet encountered. For the first time in their history, the Borg tried to compromise," Seven paused, collecting her strength.

"But the Assembled were seemingly enraged by the Borg. To their way of thinking, the Borg were an abomination. To merge metal with organic was a monstrosity. They attacked the Borg without mercy, slaughtering all that they encountered at first and then beginning terrible experimentation with them. Experiments beyond…imagination."

"How did the Borg stop them?" Picard asked wit concern.

"They did not. The Hive quickly realized the one weakness of the Assembled was their inability to improve on their own knowledge. They had been at a standstill for generations, unable to improvise new devices or technologies. The Queen knew that if this robotic intelligence was able to access the Borg means of moving from one dimension to another the Assembled would be able to move entire fleets to other universes, beginning with Borg space. The previous species from the Assembled's universe had been able to transfer only a few people at a time, but the Borg's combined intelligence was able to improve on this. The Queen knew she was in danger. She destroyed the Cubes remotely after purging their databanks and closed the gateways, wiping the knowledge of the technology from even her own memory."

"I thought the Borg couldn't destroy their Cubes like that? It would be like one of us cutting off an arm or a leg." LaForge stated.

"This was still early in Borg history," Seven explained, "the Collective was not as unified as it is now."

"Fascinating," Picard said, "but it does not help our present situation. We need some means to stop them."

"What we need," Worf added, "is practical information on them."

"We may be able to find that out," Data said, "Mr. LaForge and I have been able to locate the homeworld of the Assembled."

"Data?" Picard said in wonder.

"It was fairly easy, Captain. Each of us has a unique energy signature that can be detected. If you were to scan the humans from the Stargate Earth, they would have a unique and different energy signature from our own. We were able to isolate the signature the robot scout had during its attack from the transporter logs. If we are right, we managed to locate their Earth."

"We believe a small away team would be able to travel there and access their databanks," Data said, "The information would be invaluable."

"It sounds like suicide, Data," Crusher exclaimed, "These robots hate organic life."

"Our initial evidence indicates the planet would be inhospitable to human life, Doctor. And the robot sensors would no doubt detect a human the moment they arrived on the planet."

"What we suggest sending Data," LaForge said, "we can add sensor dampeners to him and adjust his signature to mimic the Assembled constructs for a brief amount of time."

"I don't like the idea of sending Mr. Data alone," Picard said.

"Well sir, we may not have to. There is another crewman who could travel with him."

All eyes turned to the Doctor, who was reading a datapad.

"Why are you looking at me like that? The hologram asked nervously, looking around the room.