CHAPTER 5
Jim, Camilla, Riker and Data all made their way to the cargo delivery area near the rear of the bunker. There weren't many guards around since they were all closer to the front of the front gate and patrolling the perimeter of the compound. Data approached the first guard from behind and grabbed the base of his neck near the shoulder and the guard fainted. Camilla watched in disbelief at what just happened. Jim saw her face and just smiled while shaking his head, "I'll explain later," he whispered back to her before signaling to Riker and Data to follow him. As they approached the gate that led out of the compound they came across four more guards with no easy or quiet way to take them all out. They took cover behind some crates and Jim started thinking. "Ok, what if we set a phaser to wide beam on stun, do you think that'll work, Data?" The android looked blankly at the floor and tilted his head to the side slightly, running through the scenario. "I believe so, sir however, the sound of the phaser firing may draw attention to our escape, in which case we will only have approximately 14.7 seconds until additional guards arrive." Jim nodded, "Understood, but we'll be out of here in 8." Jim moved out from behind the crates and approached the soldiers very slowly. Looking around he saw an empty aluminum can, picked it up and threw it near one of the guards. The clanking of the can startled the guards and they all moved in the direction of the sound, which was away from Jim's location, exactly how he planned it. Once they were all close enough Jim stood up after adjusting the settings in his small hand-phaser and fired at the guards. The beam shot across the room in multiple directions with a resounding hiss and hit all four guards at once, resulting in them all collapsing from being stunned. Data, Riker and Camilla quickly rushed over to the drawdown gate and found the controls to open it. Data keyed in the command and the gate started to rise open. Once it was high enough for the group to duck under they slipped away and out onto the compound. Near-by was a military jeep that had just been parked by one of the soldiers. They quickly ran to the jeep and climbed in. The keys were still in the ignition and there was no one in sight yet. Jim slammed on the gas and drove off into the direction of the city, with no kind of pursuit in sight. "See, Data. I told you. 8 seconds." Jim said as he smiled at how smoothly the escape went. "Actually sir, it took 8.649 seconds." Data replied. Riker and Camilla both laughed. Jim rolled his eyes and looked at Data in the rearview mirror, "Thank you, Data. Thanks you very much." Jim said sarcastically while grumbling something under his breath. The jeep sped off into the direction of New York City where, hopefully, some questions would be answered.
Worf paced on the bridge of the Enterprise, waiting to hear from the captain, Riker or Data. Ensign Hydel had already beamed back aboard, but he was worried most about the main bridge officers down on the planet. The 30-minute mark was almost up. "Bullock to Enterprise, do you read me Enterprise?" came the captain's voice over the bridge speakers. A sigh of relief came from the entire bridge it seemed like. "Worf here, captain. Go ahead", replied the Klingon. "We've left the security bunker and are on our way to the city to check out what's going on. Will has decided to beam back up to the ship once we reach our destination. Once we do, I want you and a security detail to beam down. And be sure to bring me a type 3 phaser rifle and my uniform." "Aye, sir. Worf out." The channel was closed and the jeep was getting closer to the city. "Jim, you're sure you want me back on the ship?" asked Riker, hesitant about the captain of a starship being on an away mission. "Yes, Will. I am sure. The Enterprise needs a commanding officer aboard and I need Worf and Data down here. I'll be fine don't worry. And don't try to convince me otherwise, Picard told me the stories." Riker sighed and sat back. The jeep crossed one of the many bridges that lead into the city, which one though Camilla wasn't sure of since there were no landmarks left to determine anything. "Oh my God," she said very quietly in the passenger seat, "it looked bad from the bunker but I didn't think it was this bad." She looked at the burnt remains of the tallest buildings in the world. Everything was decimated. The highest building left stood probably 20 feet, if that. Camilla was in shock at the sight of her hometown being basically wiped out. She can't imagine what the death toll would have been if the city were never evacuated. They drove around piles of rubble and around splits in the ground. Finally they arrived at what was once Central Park. Jim stopped the jeep and they all got out. After giving the area a quick sweep they found the most open area. Riker pulled out his communicator and tapped the center. "Riker to Enterprise. One to beam up." Riker looked at Jim, "Good luck, captain. Oh and Camilla, take this." Riker tossed his hand phaser to her. "Jim will show you how to use it. Energize." In a few seconds a blue light shone around Riker and he dematerialized right before their eyes, Camilla once again looked on in awe. A few minutes later Worf, his security team and the supplies they needed were beamed down. He approached Jim to hand over the items he asked for. "Thank you, Worf." Jim said. Camilla looked up and jumped back in surprise at the sight of Worf. "I am a Klingon," he said in his gruff voice and he walked off to make sure the supplies were organized and distributed. Jim had excused himself to change quickly and came back wearing his Starfleet uniform. "It feels so good to be back in uniform." Jim said, brushing some dust off the sleeves and chest of the uniform. He walked over to where Worf and some security officers were standing looking at a three dimensional map of the area. "We received these scans from the tricorders before the last team that beamed down disappeared. It seems there is a system of tunnels and caverns beneath the city, below the subway tunnels. However, there also seems to be force fields surrounding the tunnels, which prevents direct transport and it also resists further scans as to determine the creators of the tunnels. You should also know that since we'll be so far underground, communication will be limited. We'll be able to contact each other but not the Enterprise." Data, who also changed into uniform, returned with three security officers after doing patrols of the area. "Captain, it appears that the splits we encountered earlier are direct links to the tunnel system. I believe we can attempt to rappel down." "Good suggestion, Data. Everyone, suit up, we're going in." Jim started to walk away when Camilla grabbed his arm and turned him to face her. "What do I do? Stay up here?" she asked. "I said everyone didn't I?" Jim replied smiling as he continued towards the rappel gear.
After a few moments everyone was suited up and ready to explore the tunnels. Jim, Camilla and one security team were in position at one split and Data, Worf and the other team were positioned a few miles away at the other. Jim tapped his communicator, "Data, Worf, do you read me?" Jim waited to hear the reply. "Loud and clear, captain," replied Data. "Excellent, keep this channel open so we can monitor progress." "Aye sir." Jim was the first to start down followed by Camilla and then the security team. "This is Alpha team, we've touched down and are making our way to cavern one," said Jim over the channel. "Bravo team," replied Data, "touched down and proceeding to cavern two." The two teams proceeded slowly, using tricorders to scan and try to map the area. "This is Bravo team, cavern two is empty, moving on to cavern four," came the android's voice over the communicator, "sir, I am also picking up very faint life signs coming from down one of the halls. Permission to investigate." "Granted, just be careful. We don't want to split up the teams too much," replied Jim. Data, Worf, and five security officers stayed on the path to cavern four. The other five officers proceeded towards the life sign readings. Jim, Camilla and their ten officers stayed on track for cavern one. "Alpha team, cavern one is empty, proceeding to cavern three," said Jim. "This is Bravo team two, sir. We're getting closer to the life signs captain. I can see some lights at the end of the tunnel. It seems like-" static cut off the rest of the transmission. "Bravo team one, are you getting a signal from Bravo two?" asked Jim. "Negative, captain. Their communication signal and life signs are not on scans. It is possible the force fields are interfering," replied Data. "Understood, keep an eye out though, I don't want to leave anyone behind." The teams continued down the tunnels. Camilla got caught on a rock and got tripped up slightly. Bracing herself on the wall she steadied herself, but only briefly. She felt another shooting headache and heard the whispers again, louder this time but still incoherent. Just like the last time, the pain went away just as quickly. Jim held her steady, waiting for the pain to pass. Camilla looked up and looked around, trying to remember where she was. "What happened?" asked Jim. "I don't know," she replied, "I was about to fall, braced myself against the wall and then the headache hit. And I heard thousands of whispers all at once. I couldn't tell what they were saying though." Jim pondered this for a moment, but could come up with nothing. "That's strange, I've never heard of that happening. Are you ok to walk?" "Yeah, I should be fine." They continued on, coming to cavern three. They hadn't gotten any updates from the other team so they assumed they lost contact as they did with Bravo 2. "Ensign," said Jim, calling one of the security officers over, "can you boost the signal of the communicators using the tricorder so we can try to get past all this interference?" "I believe so sir," replied the officer. A few moments passed and he returned to Jim with the upgraded communicator. "Let's see what we can get." Jim opened the channel and changed a few settings on the tricorder. A voice started to come trough the static. It sounded like one of the voices of Bravo 2. "I repeat, we have engaged hostile forces near cavern seven. The smoke is making it difficult to see our attackers but-oh my god. All Starfleet personnel have to leave immediately, I repeat, all Starfleet personnel must leave now. We have engaged the Borg. Again, we have enga-". Static cut the rest of the message off, but Jim didn't need it. They were here the whole time and we had no idea, he thought to himself. "Run," he said in a hushed tone of voice, "go, now, NOW!" The security team all turned in the direction they came in from, almost reaching their rappel-down point so they could get back to the surface. However, a squad of Borg drones awaited them at the rappel site, blocking their escape, and only chance of survival.