Chapter Nineteen

Tex was hurt – badly. It was not until I attempted to get him up from the floor that I noticed a pool of blood spreading from beneath him. A nauseating laceration ran from the right side of his neck to the base of his skull. His breathing was extremely shallow, and I realized with a sudden horror that he was probably dying.

"Do you have a medkit?" I yelled at Shailin frantically. It'll be all right, I told myself. This is the twenty-fourth century; this is nothing more than a flesh wound.

Shailin jumped up from her seat and walked over to an instrument panel. From beneath it she produced a battered metal box with some sort of Romulan symbol on it.

"I don't know what this will do for him," she said, "since he is not Romulan. But I will try."

I moved aside to let her kneel next to him. She opened the box and pulled out a kind of dermal regenerator. She waved it over the cut for several long seconds. I watched with slight relief as the ragged flesh began to close itself crudely. As would be expected, Romulan medical equipment performed more functionally than aesthetically. Tex would have a hell of a scar, but he would probably live. Shailin took a hypospray and placed it against the other side of his neck. Tex's eyes fluttered open as the hiss of the hypospray expelled itself. He slowly sat up, wincing as he did.

"What happened?" he asked, his drawling accent thicker than usual. Then he promptly vomited on the floor in front of him. I glanced at Shailin. She shrugged.

"I told you it was for Romulans."

"Coming up on Romulus," Spock said. Everything had quieted down on the bridge. Tex was in Shailin's cramped quarters, sleeping off the effects of the medicine and his wound. Johnstone was with him, in case he needed anything. I was still a little worried about him; he didn't seem nearly as recovered as I would have thought. But then, what did I know, really? I found myself leaning on Johnstone's ability to take care of him while I worked. It was actually kind of a good feeling to know that this all really was a team effort.

"Slow to impulse," Shailin said. The streaking of the stars ended, and I felt a slight lurch as we left warp speed behind us. Ahead, Romulus loomed. It was strangely alone in space.

"Where is Remus?" I asked, afraid of the answer. Picard looked at me for a moment, seemingly speechless. Then he answered.

"In real life, Mr. Allen, there is a significant distance between planets. Remus is several billion miles away from here."

Oh yeah, I thought, wanting to kick myself. I silently cursed the magic of special effects.

"Admiral," Spock said, with a strange tone in his voice. I looked up at him immediately, and saw that something was not right.

"Yes, Spock? What is it?"

"Romulus, Madame. It is overrun." We all turned to look at the screen as Romulus became much, much larger.

There were dark spots on the surface of the planet. Some places seemed pitted and scarred, as if something huge had battered it over and over. Portions of the atmosphere were pitch black with what must have been smoke. The planet looked ruined.

"Life signs, Mister Spock?" I breathed.

"Approximately three billion, Captain." Spock said. That did not sound too bad until he continued. "The last known population of Romulus was around sixteen billion."

"It's been utterly decimated," Weston said, never taking her eyes from the screen.

"Scanning," Spock said. "The damage to the planet matches Borg weapons specifications in many places. In others…" he looked up, "Type Four Romulan disruptors."

"Damn," Weston said, staring forward. As we got closer to the planet's surface, we could see bits of debris scattered above the atmosphere in the places with the heaviest damage. "Looks like the Remans had a hand in this, too," she said.

"Indeed," Spock said. His face remained passive, but I knew that he must be under considerable emotional strain. He had refused to speak on the subject of Valeris before, which told me that he was having a difficult time dealing with his emotional approach to her. Now, before us lay the wrecked world that Spock had spent so long trying to unify with its roots. I imagined that he was feeling as though a good portion of his life had gone to waste. Shailin, strangely, seemed indifferent to the whole thing, though she was silent as she stared at the planet.

"I'm detecting twelve vessels approaching," Picard said, his voice edgy. "Eleven of them are Romulan, and one is Federation." His face brightened. "It's the Titan," he said.

Will Riker seemed much more imposing in person than I had always imagined him. He stood almost a head taller than me, with the barrel-chest of a sailor. He greeted us as we stepped off the transporter pad.

"Captain, it's good to see you again," he said with a smile. "You'll forgive me if I'm still very surprised to find you in these parts."

"Good to see you too, Will. I wish it were under better circumstances," Picard replied. Riker's smiled turned to a quick frown.

"Agreed, sir." He turned to look at the rest of us. "Ambassador, always a pleasure." Spock nodded. Riker looked at me. Then at the pips on my uniform. "I'm sorry, Captain, but I don't think we've been introduced."

"Michael Allen of the Ascension, sir," I said, trying not to shake his hand too vigorously – I still hadn't gotten used to meeting fictional heroes in real life. Riker must have noticed something in the stupid grin on my face. He looked askance at Picard.

"It's a long story, Number…uh, Will." Picard almost blushed. Riker's smile returned.

"Gentlemen…" he looked behind us, "…and ladies, I can tell that you all need some rest." He was looking especially at Tex, who was standing on his own, but barely. He sniffed the air. "And a shower probably wouldn't hurt you either."

"All in due time, Will," Picard said. "But first, tell us what's going on. How's the battle faring?"

I could tell from Picard's tone that he didn't really want to know. Frankly, I didn't either. It is a rare and very uncomfortable thing to need to know something that you would rather let alone. The grim look on Riker's face did nothing to ease the tension. He motioned for us to follow him. We stepped into a corridor that led us to a turbolift. Two ensigns on duty met us there.

"These men will escort the rest of you to your quarters, and you to sickbay," he said to Tex. "Please make yourselves at home. I need to speak with the captains and Ambassador Spock." He nodded at the ensigns, and the rest of our crew was led away. Shailin looked sheepishly at Riker.

"If it is all the same to you, Captain, I would rather return to my ship. I have a feeling that I need to get out of this sector very quickly," she said. Picard nodded to Riker, who stepped back and let him handle it.

"Admiral," Picard said, "you've been most helpful. If there is any way we can further show our appreciation…"

"Just don't tell them it was me if they catch you," she said. "That will be sufficient payment. To be honest, Captain, I shall be glad to be rid of you." With that, she went back into the transporter room. Riker shrugged and stepped into the turbolift.

"Bridge," Riker said, and we were moving.

"How bad is it, Will?" Picard repeated.

"Well, Captain, they've managed to surprise us again. As you saw out there, they laid waste to most of Romulus. And, as you might expect, the Fleet hasn't been able to do much to stop their advance into Federation territory."

"How many ships?" Picard asked, his voice catching a little.

"At the moment, we're not exactly sure." The turbolift doors opened to reveal the bridge of the Titan. It was a wreck. One of the far stations was heavily damaged, its glasslike frame shattered to reveal naked circuitry. Around the bridge, several panels blinked yellow; this ship was on alert. The young ensign at the conn – an attractive young blonde woman – turned toward Riker as we entered.

"Report," Riker said.

"Captain, the Praetor has signaled the okay for us to leave."

"Excellent. Break orbit, and plot a course for the rendezvous, maximum warp. Engage when ready."

"Aye, sir."

We followed Riker into the conference room. I noted that Picard had shown the wisdom to wait to continue the conversation until we were out of earshot of the rest of the crew. No need to scare them if they didn't know the whole situation.

"What do you mean by 'not exactly sure', Will?" he said.

"Just that, Captain. For one thing, they've destroyed half of our outposts; so long-range scanning has become more and more difficult over the past few days." As Riker said this, I could see Picard's face fall.

"You said that they've surprised Starfleet. What you're describing isn't very surprising."

"No, it's not. What is surprising is that after they took out the perimeter of posts, they just stopped."

"What?"

"That's what we said, too," Riker said, punching up an image on the display screen. It showed a map of Federation space. The space began to populate with tiny green dots, representing the Borg. A long line of cubes stretched in an arc, forming a kind of border across space. There was a very large concentration at one of the far ends of that line.

"What do you make of this?" Riker asked to the room in general, pointing to the cluster of ships.

"It would seem that they are grouping for a massive attack," Spock said.

"Right," Riker agreed. "But there's a problem with that. Even with every ship in the Fleet, they don't need that much firepower. It's serious overkill. And yet as we've watched over the past day and a half they've been doing it, more and more ships are clustering to that spot."

"Processing," Spock stated flatly. We looked at him. Spock folded his hands behind his back and began to pace. "It would seem that the Borg are building a base from which to process the human genetic material, of which they will shortly have a mass quantity."

"Human genetic material?" said Riker. "What do you mean by that?"

"He's referring to the Omega particle," I said. Riker's eyes went wide.

"Captain Allen, that is highly classified information! You should know that we can't discuss this in front of…"

"Ambassador Spock is already aware of the particle, Will," Picard said.

"Indeed," Spock said with a nod. "There are certain priveleges which accompany a lengthy tour of duty in Starfleet."

Riker seemed to cool a little. "All right," he said. But I think that for now, we can all agree that the conversation we're having does not leave this room." We all nodded. "Now," he continued, "what is this all about?"

Picard sat down at the table. "The Borg's alliance with the Bek'Tal has produced a rather fearful new problem, Will. The Bik'Tal have researched the Omega molecule, and they have found a way to stabilize it. At least, that's what their leader has claimed."

"You met their leader?

"Yes. I'll explain all of that later. What's important, Will, is that the key to stabilizing Omega is apparently coded into the human genome structure. Therefore, humanity is not merely set for assimilation, but also for total annihilation."

Riker sat down heavily, passing a hand through his hair.

"This is bad news, Captain."

"Yes, it is. If what the Ambassador suggests is true, then it's likely that the Borg mean to use every single human they assimilate as part of their project to create perfection."

"The question," I said, "is what can we do about it? I mean, we can't exactly evacuate Earth. And even if we could get some people away, where could we go? We don't have transwarp, and at this point there's nowhere we could escape to where they wouldn't find us." Everyone was silent for a long moment. Spock, who had stopped pacing, turned.

"There is one detail which may be of use," he said. "Valeris seemed to indicate that it was the Bek'Tal who had discovered this human link to the Omega particle. Frankly, I find that most unlikely, as it implies an almost impossible."

"How so?" I asked.

"The Borg, to our estimation, have assimilated multiple thousands of species. To assume that the Bek'Tal discovered the way to stabilize Omega makes sense. However, to assume that they had the 'luck' to be in the right place at the right time, and discover humanity to be the correct genetic structure, is illogical at best.

"Further, I believe that we have seen evidence of a somewhat preferential treatment on the behalf of the Borg toward humanity. For example, Captain Picard was assimilated into their collective with the purpose of acting as a bridge between the two races. Of all the records that we have on the Borg and their habits, this particular gesture has never shown up with any other race. In fact, it seems that the Borg have been bent on conquering humanity for some time now. For example, years ago at the battle of Wolf 359, the Borg directly attacked the Federation. Specifically, their attack was aimed at Earth. It would be only slightly logical to assume that they were attacking Earth because it is the cornerstone of the Federation. After all, the Romulan and Klingon Empires, both of which stand between the Federation and the Delta Quadrant, were left completely unscathed."

"But they're being attacked now," I said.

"Indeed. But it seems as though the attacks the Borg have made thus far may only have been made to prevent other powers from interfering with their plans. A decade ago they had little to fear from the Romulans, because the Romulans would not have done anything to help the Federation. Now, the Federation has the Romulan Empire on its side, and that is a formidable threat, even to the Borg.

"I would postulate, therefore, that the Bek'Tal were not the first to discover the human genetic factor. I believe that the Borg had knowledge of it, and their alliance with the Bek'Tal is based solely on the secret to thelaron radiation."

"How does thelaron radiation come into this?" Riker asked.

"It removes the pseudo-organic matter from Omega," Picard said. "Without it, they cannot stabilize the particle."

"How can this knowledge be useful to us?" I asked.

"I do not know at this time," Spock said. "But it is inherent that in a partnership where one or both sides are deceiving the other, there will be a weakness. Possibly one which can be exploited."

Picard stood. "How long until we reach the rendezvous, Will?"

"About forty-eight hours, Captain."

"And the Enterprise?"

"Waiting for the return of its captain, sir," Will said with a smile.

"What about the Ascension?" I said. Will frowned, and tapped at the console on the wall. A list popped up, displaying the ships at the rendezvous.

"It appears that she's there too, Captain. Looks like a Commander Foster is presently in charge."

Relief washed over me. Maybe the universe hadn't completely gone to hell in a handbasket yet after all.