CHAPTER 9
The Enterprise approached the nebula, coming to a stop just outside the outer part of the cloud. "Mr. Worf, status report," asked Jim.
"Shields are up to 79%, hull integrity is holding at full efficiency. Long-range sensors are inoperative. Warp drive is still down due to the damage sustained on the warp engines. Impulse engines are fully operational. All other systems are operating within normal parameters."
Jim nodded, "Thank you, Worf." At least most of the ship remained intact, he thought. "Commander, you have the bridge, I'll be in my ready room." Jim stood up and walked off the bridge. The door slid open and Jim sat as the desk.
"Computer, pull up all files from 21st century Earth regarding the name 'Camilla Hawke'."
The computer processed the request and replied in its standard female voice, "Name does not match any records." Jim slumped back in his chair. "She was right," he said to himself. The woman he felt like he had to protect from the moment he saw her had become his greatest enemy. And she had been created for that purpose, to become the greatest threat to the Federation. "Computer, pull up all files regarding Captain Picard's assimilation and later resuscitation." The computer again processed the request and the information appeared on the desk monitor. He had a glimmer of hope that she could be brought back; she could become human again and stay that way. He hoped the human part of her was not gone completely.
The Borg cubes and spheres gathered in orbit of Earth, preparing for their assault against the human population. Thousands of drones were coming together to prepare for battle against any resistance from the humans. Camilla looked at her viewscreen and saw the army lined up, ready to march into battle at her command. "This is where it starts," she said to herself, "The end of the future begins here." Through the link of the hive mind of the Borg, she gave the command to begin the assault, starting with the city the Borg first touched down on. The drones marched out of the tunnel system and onto the destroyed streets of New York City. Small groups broke off from the main force and began implanting their technology in the hollowed out buildings around them, creating the beginnings of a new Unicomplex, from which the Borg would start their conquest of Earth. The main force started making their way to the security bunker.
The military forces at the security bunker sounded the raid sirens and locked down the building, moving everyone from the main floor and bringing them down into the fallout shelter underground. Soldiers took defensive positions around the compound and trained their weapons towards the approach of the Borg troops. The compound was located in a slight valley at the base of several high hills, and then surrounded in perimeter defenses. The civilians in the shelter were all very quiet, waiting to hear the sounds of the battle starting overhead. The soldiers all held their positions as if they were frozen, looking at the top of the hills waiting to see the Borg come over the crest. The sounds of heavy footsteps approaching the compound were soon heard after the defenses were prepared. Shortly after hearing the steps, thousands of drones came from over the hill and moved down towards the compound. The soldiers opened fire; the sound of automatic gunfire drowned out the heavy marching. Artillery was fired at the drones as well, causing more damage to the forces numbers. After about twenty minutes of constant fire into the lines of Borg, the soldiers stopped firing, allowing the smoke to clear from the valley. After the smoke cleared, they saw no drones coming over the hill. Several hundred lay dead on the hilltop and in the area around the compound. The soldiers cheered in victory, but realized it was short lived after they heard more marching. Taking their positions back up, they saw more drones coming over the hill. They opened fire again, killing a few dozen Borg but then they saw the weapons were all missing. No, not missing, but not hurting them. The soldiers didn't understand what was happening; a moment ago their guns were wiping them out and now, nothing. Some of the Borg raised their fully mechanical arms and fired Romulan phasers from a new implant. The phasers punched right through the military defenses and killed about half of the soldiers within seconds. The remaining soldiers were all approached by Borg and, using the tubules implanted in their fingers, assimilated the soldiers, adding to the numbers of the Borg invasion force. The civilians below heard the sound of the battle stop. Cheering rang out across the shelter, all coming from the assumption that the military forces were successful. The next thing they saw changed their attitudes very quickly. The huge door, designed to withstand a nuclear attack, was being broken through very easily by the Borg. Within minutes they were through and started their assimilation of the people there, taking over the entire compound. Similar incidents were occurring all around the world; the Borg were taking over, and fast.
The Queen watched as her armies cut across the countries with no resistance, unmatched by the inferior 21st century weapons. There was nothing the military forces could do to stop them. The Queen smiled and laughed at the easy conquest of her 'home' planet. As she was watching the invasion, the cube suddenly shook with the impact of several torpedoes. The screen switched over to the attacking the ship. The Enterprise had come out of hiding.
"Mr. Worf, get together every crew member that isn't needed to run the ship and bring them down to Earth, I need you to take on the Borg troops and prevent them from killing or assimilating anyone else." "Aye, sir," replied the Klingon. He stepped away from his station, the stand-by officer taking his place. "Mr. Crusher, take us in close, Ensign Roake," said Jim, talking to the replacement tactical officer, "prepare a rotating frequency phaser spread followed by a barrage of torpedoes." The Enterprise cruised right over the top of the cube, firing its ventral phaser banks along the cube. After passing over the cube, the Enterprise fired its aft torpedo bays right into the side of the cube. In a quick maneuver, the Enterprise came about and fired its forward phaser banks and torpedo bays. "Mr. Data, status of the cube," asked Jim, hoping that there was enough damage to disrupt its weapons and engines. "Outer hull breaches detected, along with minor disruptions in their weapons array." "Roake, target the weapons array and fire." The Enterprise came around again, firing any phaser bank that was in range of the cube. The cube began to return fire as the Enterprise made its passes. Again the Enterprise came around and fired their forward weapons at the cube. The accuracy and magnitude of the cube's weapon systems were drastically reduced. "Keep up the pressure, Mr. Roake. Bridge to Worf, is your team ready?" "Aye sir, I have approximately 120 officers standing by." "Once the cube is disabled be ready to beam down." The cube fired one final barrage of torpedoes before finally having its weapons disabled by the Enterprise's constant fire. The Enterprise came to a full stop facing the cube.
"Mr. Worf, you have permission to beam down and begin your assault. Good luck. Roake, lower shields and lock on to the beam down coordinates."
The Enterprise's shields lowered and the attack force beamed down to an area in central New York, the theorized place of attack.
The security bunker there had its defenses set up and took aim at Worf and his team. "We're not your enemy," said the Klingon gruffly, "the Borg are our enemy as well, we have come to assist." Worf tapped his communicator, "Worf to Enterprise, beam down the supply crates." Seven crates supplied with many type 2 and 3 phasers. "Your weapons have no effect since the Borg have adapted. Use these." Worf and the officers started handing out the weapons to the soldiers, who were standing in shock because of the situation. "There is no time to explain, just fight, the Borg are approaching." The soldiers grabbed the weapons and took their positions again, alongside the Federation officers. In the distance, the defenders spotted the oncoming Borg attack force. Within moments they were in range and the battle began. The red phaser beams and the green disruptor blasts light up the darkening battleground as night began to fall.
The Queen was furious with the failure of the attempted destruction of the Enterprise. Her collective mind was forcing the drones to work faster at getting the weapons back online and at killing the Federation troops down on the planet. "There's got to be more I can do," she said to herself. "Surrender," came a voice from behind her. She spun around and saw Captain Jim Bullock standing there, a look of confidence on his face and a firm, courage-filled posture. "It's over, you've lost." "No, the Borg must live on, I am their leader and I will not give up." "Camilla, I know you're in there. This is not where you belong. You're human, not Borg. They just want you to think you're Borg so you they had someone to control them. I know the young woman I met down on the planet is there. Fight it, Camilla, fight the Borg." The Queen just smiled,
"Camilla is no longer a part of me. I am the Borg Queen now, this is who I am, no one else. Your attempts to revive the human are hopeless."
"There is no such thing as a hopeless situation." Jim reached put his on his belt and pulled out his phaser. "If the human woman is gone then I have no choice but to fire."
"Go ahead, shoot, you kill me then you kill her too. And you since the ship will go into lockdown and prevent anything from getting off. In which case the self-destruct sequence will start."
A look of pain shot across the Queen's face. She leaned up against the wall and put her hands on her head, fighting the pounding in her head. Jim took a step forward but the Queen shot him a look and stood back at attention. "Don't come any closer. I don't need your help."
"Its her isn't it. Camilla is still there, in your mind and your heart. She's fighting you, and she's winning."
"No," called out the Queen, "I am in control now, I am the Queen. Camilla is dead. And soon you will be too." Two drones came from a bulkhead door behind Jim. One tried to grab him but he pushed it into a wall and kicked the other back. He raised the phaser to shoot the drones but the first one hit him in the chest with the mechanical arm. The phaser slid across the floor of the Queen's room. Jim grabbed the mechanical arm and pulled it off the drone, tossing it aside. He then grabbed the drone's head and snapped its neck, causing the implants on its head and neck to spark and fail, killing the drone. Jim slid to his phaser and fired at the drone, causing it spark and collapse. He stood up and turned back to the Queen. She was on the floor, wincing in pain from the headache. Jim ran over and kneeled by her side. He tapped his communicator, "Bullock to Enterprise, stand-by two to beam up directly to sick-bay." Jim saw the command console and walked over, but he didn't recognize the markings on the console. He looked around for anything he could find that would power down the cube. Stopping mid-turn he looked up and saw an inverted pyramid hanging from the ceiling. There was a yellow-green glow emanating from it and it sounded like it was operating. He pulled out his phaser again and held it up to the pyramid. "Energize," Jim said as he fired. Shortly after the beam hit the pyramid, Jim and the Queen were transported back to the Enterprise.
The medical officers aboard waited for the pair but were taken aback at the sight of the Queen in Jim's arms. "Can you make her human again? Can you get rid of these implants?" Jim looked at the doctor. He had faith in her but this was a complex operation for the young chief medical officer. "I can try. Her collective link has to be severed though, otherwise they'll both die," replied the doctor. Jim grabbed the Queen's hand and looked down at her. Camilla is in there somewhere, I know it, he thought to himself. He tightened his grip on her hand and tried to call out to Camilla. "I know you're there, Camilla. You can fight this. This isn't who you are." Jim leaned down and whispered to her just as the medical team asked him to leave so they could conduct the operation. Jim walked out and heard the hiss of the door shut behind him. He walked off to the nearest turbolift and gave the command for the bridge. He hoped that wasn't the last time he would see Camilla.
The turbolift door slid open and revealed the battered bridge of the Enterprise. Consoles were inoperative, the smoke marks of extinguished fires were scattered around the bridge, officers held their posts despite their injuries. Riker turned to see the lift and rose once he saw the captain. Jim walked to the captain's chain and stood in front of it, looking out the main viewscreen at the Borg cube in front of him. "Report on the cube, Mr. Data?" asked Jim expressionless. "I am detecting power failures and fluctuations throughout the cube. It appears that the self-repairing hull functionality is inoperative at the moment. The drones seem confused as to what to do without their Queen aboard." Suddenly, the doctor's voice came over the communication system, "Captain, according to our scans the hive mind link is deteriorating. However, there doesn't appear to be any memory recall or a sort of reboot of her brain. Its almost like there are no memories to be returned." Jim smiled. "Its ok doctor that is exactly what I expected. I'll be down shortly."
"Sir," Data chimed in, "I do believe the drones on the planet are shutting down. I am picking up less and less signatures as the seconds pass. I do believe the severing of the link from the Queen has caused a cascade failure in the operations of the Borg." "Its over then," replied Jim. "I agree. The Borg have been defeated, this time for good," said Riker. Jim looked back at the cube and saw small explosions erupting around the hull of the ship. He sighed and turned to Riker. "You have the bridge, number one. And check in on Worf."
Jim walked off the bridge to the turbolift before Riker could reply. Its over, he thought, its finally over. The Borg have been defeated, the Romulans are crippled, and Earth has been saved, both this Earth and the future Earth. The lift doors opened up and Jim walked to sickbay. The first thing he saw upon entering was Camilla sitting up, most of the Borg implants gone. The color was returning to her skin and her voice had returned to the soft, soothing sound it originally was. Jim smiled and walked over leaning against the bio-bed across from hers. She looked up. "What-what happened?" "The Borg assimilated you. They took you, implanted tiny nanoprobes into your bloodstream and turned you into one of them. But that's not the case anymore. You're you again." "How come I can't remember anything? Being assimilated, following orders blindly like that." "Well, that's the thing. You weren't a drone. The Borg work in a very specific way. They all have one mind in which they receive orders and then carry out those orders. You were the Queen of that hive mind. You were the Collective." Camilla looked at the floor, a glazed expression on her face. "How many people did I hurt?" she asked, sorrow and grief filling her voice. Jim stepped forward and placed his hand on hers, "That doesn't matter now. What matters is its all over now. After severing you from the link, all the Borg shut down and their ships are self-destructing one by one. Now get some rest, you need to regain your strength after having beaten back the most powerful adversary of all time." Jim smiled and started to walk away when Camilla stopped him. "I may not remember anything about being assimilated or anything at all, actually. But there is one thing I remember." She looked up at him, smiling. "I love you, too."