CHAPTER 8
Jim stared at the viewscreen, unable to move, unable to speak. The image before him was the most frightening thing he had ever seen. On the screen stood Camilla, aboard the Borg cube, however she did not appear to be assimilated. "Hello Captain Bullock of the USS Enterprise, designation NCC 1701-E," said Camilla, somehow changed; not assimilated, but not completely human either. "Camilla, what is going on? Stand-by, we're getting you out of there." "No need, captain. This is where I belong. It all makes sense now, the reason I had no family or friends, the reason why I have no memory of my past. Its because I didn't have any of those things. My place is here, amongst my people, with me as their queen." Jim gave the kill sign to Worf. The screen shut off and the audio transmission ended. "Mr. Crusher, get us the hell out here, full impulse. Worf, ready quantum torpedoes. If any of the ships move, fire at will." "Captain, may I remind you we are no match for a single cube. A cube with support craft will surly lead to the destruction of the Enterprise," commented Data. "I'm aware Mr. Data. Bridge to Engineering, is warp drive ready yet?" "Not yet, captain," replied LaForge from the Engineering deck, "I should have it back in ten minutes." "Understood, work as fast as possible." Jim sat in his chair, reassessing the situation. A Borg cube, two spheres and two warbirds. Talk about outgunned, he thought to himself. "Mr. Data, scan the area for any nebulas or asteroid belts. Let's se if maybe we can use the elements to out advantage." Data keyed in the commands on his console. "There is one nebula, unnamed, approximately half a light year away. It is comprised mainly of ionized gases and is showing signs of static discharges." "Run a scenario through the computer, how would passing through the nebula affect the Enterprise or task force." "Processing," said Data, moving quickly to give the best results. "According to data retrieved from the USS Enterprise, NCC-1701, refit, Admiral James T. Kirk employed a similar strategy against Khan Noonien Singh after he hijacked the USS Reliant. Shields and sensors will be inoperative and the viewscreen will be greatly interfered with. There is no risk to the ship itself or the crew." "Mr. Crusher, set a course, best speed. Mr. Worf, keep weapons trained on the ships." The Enterprise started to back away from the small fleet of ships, eventually coming about and heading towards the nebula. The Romulan warbirds followed closely, opening fire on the Enterprise. Worf returned fire with phaser blasts on the closest warbird followed by a volley of photon torpedoes. The warbird closed the gap, moving into position just above the Enterprise. The second warbird moved directly behind the Enterprise, opening fire at the same time as the first. Sparks flew out of consoles and wall panels on the bridge. The officers held on to their consoles to prevent themselves from being tossed around the bridge. "Report," called out Jim over the sound of alarms and the sound of weapons hits on the hull. "Shields are down to 46%. Minor outer hull breaches along the aft sections," replied Worf. "Status of the Romulan vessels?" "The dorsal ship has sustained damage to its hull, shields are inoperative. The aft ship has minor hull breaches and minimal shield damage." "Concentrate fire on the dorsal ship. Once its destroyed attempt to lock a tractor beam on the largest debris segment you can find and put it in the aft ship's path." Worf nodded in acknowledgment. The Enterprise stopped firing it's aft weapons and concentrated fire at the dorsal ship. The phasers eventually cut through parts of the warbirds lower hull and sections of the neck. The Enterprise then sped up enough to have the dorsal warbird in torpedo range. Three photons from the aft launcher traveled up towards the warbird, two hitting the forward sections of the head and the last hitting the neck. The last torpedo ended up being the killing blow. Smaller explosions from inside the ship appeared all over the hull, the major one being right at the neck connector which was blown apart completely, sending the head of the ship floating away. This was the break the Enterprise needed. Within seconds of the warbird's destruction, a tractor beam quickly locked onto the head and pulled it down towards the Enterprise's engines. The second warbird, just starting to clear the debris, had no time to change course after the Enterprise released the fragment of ship. The collision slowed the pursuit significantly but the ship still gave chase. "Mr. Worf, fire a concentrated phaser beam at the neck of the warbird, low power so it doesn't drain the energy too much. Once the shields begin to buckle under the stress, fire a quantum torpedo along the same line as the phaser." A weaker, thinner phaser beam fired out from the aft phaser array. It was apparent that the beam was impacting the shields but it was unknown if it would have the desired effect. Jim watched intently, waiting for the ship to open fire again. Just then, a ripple in the shields around the neck appeared, giving Worf his brief window of attack. Not three seconds after the ripple appeared did Worf fire the torpedo. The entire bridge crew watched in the hope that this plan would work. The phaser was losing energy and starting to fade, slowly closing the shield break. Mere seconds before the phaser went out the torpedo made contact with its target and punctured right through the hull of the warbird's neck/body meeting section. The warbird came to a stop and vented warp plasma from its engines. The Enterprise continued on its course to the nebula, leaving the warbird as its warp core failed and caused the ship to explode, leaving behind little sign that a ship was ever there.
Camilla watched her viewscreen as the warbirds were destroyed. So the Enterprise fought off two birds huh, she thought, well, I think its time for the big guns. Using her link to the Borg Collective she brought two cloaked cubes to attention, giving the crew orders t pursue and destroy the Enterprise. Camilla was slowly becoming more and more Borg-like in appearance. Her skin had become the sickly grey color that all drones had, there ports created for her soon attached mechanical implants, and she was already fused to the jumpsuit that served as her body armor as opposed to the bulky and heavy armor of the drones. The outfit clung to her body, becoming one with her as she was becoming one with the collective. She was scared at first when the Romulan officer had sedated her, and when she woke up later to the image of tubes all over her body running the nanoprobes into her bloodstream. She had been created for this purpose. The Borg had somehow placed her on 21st century earth so she could be recovered and named the new queen if the one at the time had been destroyed. After the Battle of Sector 001 and the events that took place after that, the queen had been destroyed, leaving the Borg without a single controller. They functioned but minimally, enough to find their back up and put her in command. Camilla knew she didn't belong where she was. She had always wondered why she couldn't remember her past very well or why she didn't seem to blend in with society. Now she understood, she was the Borg's back-up plan after they were left crippled. They believed that with her in charge, they could raise their race back to the power they once were, with Earth as the center of the new Unicomplex. She accepted the new her, but the human side was still present in her. Every so often she would think about how Jim looked devastated at losing her to the Borg, and she felt guilty, she felt like she wanted to break out of her Borg shell and go straight to him. Even though she had only known him for a short time, she came to like Jim very much. He protected her, he made sure she was aware of everything that was going on, and he smiled a lot with her around, apparently not something he did very often according to the security personnel who were with her on Earth before the attack. She caught herself longing for the human side and the Borg side quickly came back into the reality of what she was now. She was the leader of the most powerful empire in the galaxy. Great civilizations would fall with just a thought; thousands of troops march into battle with a look in the direction of the aggressors. All that was left was to pull the thorn out of her side, the Federation. One ship is all there is; a single Federation ship, no match for the numbers of ships that were under the queen's command. Soon the Enterprise would be gone, and Jim along with it. Then the Borg could finally rise to the power they once were. Only one thing stood in her way, one person. But unfortunately for her, he was the one person the Borg would fear most if they felt fear. Even more so then Jean-Luc Picard or Species 8472, the only race ever known to be able to defeat the Borg with ease. They were fighting the greatest tactician in all of Starfleet. All good things must come to an end, she thought, smiling.