XXVI.

The day had been going by so slowly for the crew of the Enterprise. Each crew member received his orders and remained as calm as they were expected to be. Every one of them continued about their duty under the close and watchful eye of the Borg Cube. Not a single man on the ship batted an eye in the wrong direction as they traveled toward Earth's solar system, though all of them were drowned in anxiety knowing what they must do that very next morning.

Doctor Crusher rounded up a medical team in secret as she went about her day, choosing only the best that she knew. She packed her trays with instruments and scanners and kept them within arms reach of the medical beds. This would not seem suspicious to the Borg, they had to know that people would become injured in their heist.

Geordi checked, double checked, even triple checked the battle stations near engineering. He tested the thruster levels, the warp core load, the weapon status, and even took the time to read over battle protocol as he did so.

Deanna Troi had been sitting in her office the whole day trying to develop a connection with Heva, only to fail. There were times when she could maintain one from this far away; however she knew that wherever Heva was there must be some sort of barrier blocking her mind's eye. Still, she tried to reach her over and over again; determined to make it easier for the away team to find her.

The captain had sent another message to Star Fleet, making them aware of the strategy he and his staff had formed during the meeting. The Admiral was more than ready for the attack. To keep their conversation safe, they used many code phrases and words to make it easy to elude the ear of their watchmen. Once the message had been sent, all Jean-Luc could do was sit in the big chair and give orders to remain along side their enemy.

Riker, Worf, Data, and Sheridan examined the layout of the Borg Cube to find easier pathways to Heva and the shield modulator. Each path showed true difficulty but they had no choice but to take every last one. All of them had gone to see Truih and Yeuls to obtain their cloaking device only to find them still in the process of making it. The two Frugians had their hands facing toward the other and a small blue orb of light hovered between them. Below the orb were three phaser vests equipped with a grey button. These were to be worn on the away mission as the cloaking emitter for each man.

After the day ended, everyone attempted to either sleep or at least take a well deserved break to prepare them for the waking battle of the upcoming dawn. Only one person on the whole ship wasn't focused on the battle alone: Data.

Data sat alone on his bed for the remainder of the evening, doing nothing but calculating just how quickly he could get trough the Borg ship to Heva. He was unsure of how fast he could do it, but he still knew that he was determined. He and Ensign Sheridan were the rescue team on this mission, and they couldn't afford screw ups. He knew it, the ensign knew it, and the whole crew knew it.

He stood from his bed and peered through his window at the Cube, watching it with a determined and angry drive. "I will find you." He whispered to it. The cube spun on its regular axis back at him, dancing in the darkness of space as though teasing him, saying: "You will never get her back."

"I will find you." He repeated. "I will get to you, no matter what gets in my way I will find you and get you out of that ship if it is the final thing I do with my life. I swear it."

Heva lay curled in a corner of her confined area attempting to sleep for most of the day. All she thought about were ways to escape without being noticed. She eyed many of the walls, the many panels, hoses, and switches upon them blinking and beeping at her throughout her plotting. Occasionally, the drone that stood guarding her would turn to face her for a few moments as if waiting for her to try and escape. If she didn't know better, she would have thought he was grinning at her at one point.

Many times, she had considered killing this drone. If he was dead, the others wouldn't know for a few moments until they realized his voice was gone from the Hive. That way, she could send a message to the Enterprise to have her beamed aboard; the only reason she couldn't now was because her com badge was in the drone's hand. It shone out through the cracks in its fingers at her from time to time, tempting her. Her rage remained and her determination thickened within her as she went through escape plot after escape plot, each one feebler than the last.

Tomorrow the battle would begin and she would be forced into the weapon's chamber to keep control of the Frugian technology, she would be fighting against everything she knew and believed in to keep the crew of the Enterprise alive if she didn't escape before the next morning. The guilt inside her continued to swell, though she knew why she had agreed. She wanted so badly to see Data, to tell him that no matter what happened she would love him even in death. Death…it was one of the many things that entered her mind that night. For some odd reason, she had an assurance that she was going to die in the next day's battle.

The very thought of it shook her. Heva didn't want to die. But if she had to, she had to. If it was her time, she would welcome it only with the knowledge that she died trying to protect the crew that had welcomed her so graciously and the man she had come to love so dearly in only a matter of days. She supposed it was destiny; coming on this mission and having everything happen so quickly. Maybe she was going to die tomorrow after all. Maybe whatever higher power there was granted her a true and everlasting love as a good bye present for her life when she stepped aboard the Enterprise. Who knew? She certainly didn't.

Heva looked longingly at the wall beside her, wishing a window was there so that she could peer down at her beloved new ship. Most of all, she hungered to gaze out at the stars. Being trapped in this ship had given her a small paranoia that she would never feel the feeling she had when she looked at them.

Her guard drone turned to her again, flashing her com badge at her. Heva had come to ignore this mocking gesture toward her and turned away from him. She gripped one of the hoses protruding from the wall beside her and pulled herself closer to it. The drone stepped forward and spoke.

"We hope you are not thinking of any escape attempts, Commander. Though, we do not see why the event of being assimilated makes you resist in this fashion."

Heva turned slowly back to face him, giving a scowl that shook worlds far from them. "I've been assimilated before. I know what it feels like, I don't want that again. I especially don't want the people on my ship to feel that way."

The drone tilted his head to one side. "The purpose of assimilation is to remove chaos and add information and technology to our own. It is a method of perfection."

Heva scoffed. "If you remembered even half of what you used to be, you would understand that being assimilated takes away things that are precious. Like individuality, love, it takes away life itself in a sense."

"We are living." The drone argued.

"You're alive, yes. But you don't feel anything. You only serve one purpose, to assimilate and to obey. You don't even decide things for yourself. And you don't even refer to yourself as one living being, you speak like there's more than one of you in that body. Well…there is, technically…but still. Ugh…I don't even know why I'm trying."

She turned to the wall again and closed her eyes. The drone turned back away from her and continued its duty. Heva sneered into the wall, she knew full well she wouldn't reach the damn thing; she had no idea why she even tried. But now, all she could do was wait for the morning to come and the battle to rage.