V.

A day later, Data and Heva rounded up Ensigns Sheridan and York to join them on the first planet's surface. Data had had trouble concentrating on his night assignment of scanning each planet for life forms and Borg activity. He excused himself twice to go out into the lift and jump up and down in frustration.

He later decided that once the away team returned, he would report to the counselor for an update. It had only been two days since Heva had arrived, and already Data was beginning to feel stronger and stronger attractions to her. He couldn't understand why it was becoming harder to concentrate because of it, so he hoped that the away mission wouldn't reveal anything to her or the ensigns accompanying them.

They met in transporter room one and began preparing to beam down to the planet's surface.

"Everyone here?" Heva observed. Data nodded. "Yes, unless we recruited another crewman I would say that everyone is accounted for." Heva sighed. "Alrighty, lets go then." They all stepped onto the transporter platform and awaited the captain's signal.

"Bridge to away team, are you ready?" he called.

"Ready," Heva replied.

"You're free to go."

Heva looked at the transporter operator. "Energize."

The four of them dematerialized and reappeared on the surface. It was as if the creator of the planet was in love with the color of lavender. Everything around them, from the dirt to the clouds in the sky were a different shade of purple. They stuck out like a sore thumb standing in this environment.

Each of them took out their triquarters and began to scan for anything they could get, life, civilizations, anything. "I am picking up a small life form behind this tree here…it's some sort of insect."

Heva knelt beside him and inspected the creature. It was the only thing they had seen so far that wasn't purple in any way. The thing was about the size of a thumbnail. It's tiny, green body crawling on legs that covered the brim of it's circular body. It occasionally spun around and went the other direction. It had two little tubules for eye stocks that gazed lazily up at them, uninterested in their intensions. It resembled a spider, but with more than eight legs.

"I would place it as an arachnid." Data said, standing up and continuing scans in another area of the clearing. Heva looked over at Ensign Sheridan, who was scanning a farther part of the clearing, then over to Ensign York who seemed to be having trouble with his triquarter. She went over to assist him and caught Data's gaze following her.

When she looked at him to see if he was staring, he had his eyes fixed on his triquarter, scanning every direction he went.

She slowly smiled, feeling an anxiousness rise in her chest.

"Lieutenant Brookes!" Ensign Sheridan called out. "Get over here, I found something I think you should see."

Heva rushed over to the hill that Sheridan was standing on and looked down into the valley below. It was an awful sight, thousands of humanoid life forms lay therein. Every single one of them had been killed. Some of them were decapitated, others had phaser burns that covered their whole bodies.

Heva called Data and York over and they all stood in shock for a few moments. Finally they ventured into the valley, scanning each body for even the smallest sign of life. These were unlike any species they had seen before. They had a human like body, but their heads were bald and they only had eyes. No nose, no mouth, just eyes. The females had breasts which set them apart from the males, but they also had smaller ears than their other gender counterparts.

"Lieutenant! I found one that's still alive!" York cried. "She's fading fast!" The rest of the group joined him above the female in question. She looked up at them with her large, blue eyes. A tear fell from one of them and she reached a hand up.

"My name is Lieutenant Heva Brookes of the Starship Enterprise. Can you tell me what happened here?"

The female nodded and put two of her fingers onto Heva's forehead. Heva closed her eyes and took in the knowledge being transferred to her, repeating it aloud for the others.

"They are called Frugians, they inhabit this whole system. They were attacked by…strange beings with mechanical body parts."

"The Borg." Data confirmed.

Heva nodded, continuing. "They attempted to make them the same way they were. Assimilate them…then when they resisted, they just…attacked them. That doesn't sound like something the Borg would do."

Right as she was finishing her sentence, the Frugian woman faded and took her last breath. Her hand fell to the ground and she turned a horrible shade of grey. Heva pressed her com badge.

"Away team to Enterprise…"

"Go ahead Lieutenant." the captain replied.

"We have found an entire civilization of a species called the Frugians…all of them are dead. The Borg killed them all."

"The Borg? Are you certain?"

"Yes, captain. A female told me just before she died."

"Understood. Remain close to the body, I'm having it beamed to sick bay for an autopsy and a full organism layout examination. I want you, Ensign Sheridan and Ensign York to beam there as well, I want to make sure neither of you were contaminated with any sort of disease or viruses."

"What about Commander Data?"

Heva's concern for him made Data's emotion chip surge uncontrollably with a desire to smile. He tried his best to control it, but he couldn't help but at least form a small one on his lips. Ensign Sheridan smiled at him and gave him a nudge, making Data's smile fade and give a look to the ensign that made his smile fade as well.

"Data will report to Commander LeForge for a maintenance check. Clear away team?"

"Clear, Brookes out."

They beamed to their respective destinations and the Frugian appeared on a table in sick bay. Doctor Crusher immediately tended to it.

"This is…unlike anything I have ever seen before." she said, awestruck.

"It's obviously a telepathic species. To communicate with me she pressed her first two fingers to my forehead."

Beverly nodded. "I will do the autopsy as soon as I check you and the ensigns out. Are you feeling dizzy at all?"

Heva's thoughts began to drift. "Yah, just a little dizzy."

Crusher began to do medical scans on each of them, but Heva was hardly concerned with her own health at the moment.