Upon seeing the people, transformed into Borg, Deanna gasped and backed up slowly, people began coming out of their new homes, slowly as they Borg appeared. Picard, Wesley, Geordi, all of them were Borg. People began running, causing a Borg to follow and attack them. Deanna stood paralyzed in fear, and some of the residents were as well, or they didn't know what was happening.
"Resistance is futile," Picard, or now Locutus said, "We are the Borg. Prepare to be assimilated."
"O-Ok we will, but can you tell me what happened first," Deanna said, trying to keep the Borg occupied, but it became even more dubious as more Borg beamed down.
"No, you will be assimilated and then you would know," Locutus replied.
"Give us a few minutes?" Deanna asked trying to gain time.
"No, you will be assimilated," Locutus stated.
"Then why haven't you yet?" Deanna asked.
"We… don't… know," Locutus replied. Deanna was surprised at this.
"Why not now?" Deanna asked.
"We… don't know. We are alone. We are separated. We can only hear ourselves," Locutus responded.
"I see, so there is some kind of shield here preventing you to join your Collective. You hear that Geordi?" Deanna said, extremely brave to do this. Most would be paralyzed in fear, but Deanna was there, talking to the Borg that were separate.
"I am 6 or 10, not Geordi anymore," Geordi's Borg self answered.
"Sorry, 6 of 10, you hear that?" Deanna said.
"Yes I did," Geordi's Borg self replied.
"I?" Deanna questioned smiling.
"We said we," Geordi quickly said.
"No I don't think so, I am pretty sure I heard I," Deanna said, not moving in fear of them assimilating her.
"No you did not," Locutus stated, "But we remember, we are now separate. We are Borg, but alone. This planet, it doesn't like us. Enterprise, Beam us up." No answer. Nothing happened. The ship remained in orbit silently.
"The atmosphere," Wesley's Borg self stated, truthfully unsure, "Romulans must have set up a shield, we cannot communicate through it."
"Then why don't you stop assimilating us, and let us help you get back to the Collective," Deanna suggested, thinking of deception, "If you assimilate us you won't know how to."
"If we assimilate you we will have all of your knowledge," Locutus said.
"Not unless you can transfer it to your Collective," Deanna noted.
"Fine we will allow it," Locutus replied after thinking about it for a little while.
"Good, so I am allowed to help you out?" Deanna asked.
"Yes, but the others will be assimilated," Locutus replied.
"No! I need them without them you will not be reunited with your collective," Deanna insisted.
"We will allow them to stay, but afterwards we will assimilate you; find the source of the shield and destroy it," Locutus stated.
"Locutus, that will not be possible. We know why we can't. There are elements in the atmosphere that block us. They cannot be harmed down here." Geordi interjected.
"Why didn't we detect it before?" Locutus asked.
"Very faint, only detected by our visor," Geordi replied.
"Then we will either let them come or die," Locutus stated.
"We will submit ourselves willingly," Deanna lied.
"Very well, bring us to the collective now," Locutus demanded.
"We will, just let us work on it, stay put, and don't assimilate anyone else, it would be… futile," Deanna stated. She looked around at the Borg, not noticing Data or Riker, or even Doctor Crusher. The rest she recognized from sessions they had before, including Barclay.
"Agreed," Locutus said his eerie appearance unsettling to the ones frozen in fear nearby. Deanna walked over to a few ensigns nearby, slightly afraid they would lunge at her and assimilate her. It really was a perfect planet to be on. It seemed that it was the only Borg proof place people could live on.
"Locutus, we need you," Deanna called. The Borg walked over stiffly.
"Yes?" Locutus asked.
"We need to learn more about your species without being assimilated, please?" Deanna said.
"I will allow it," Locutus said and lied himself on the table.
The days went by as Deanna continued keeping the trust of the helpless Borg from their ship. The Enterprise remained in orbit according to scans. As Deanna stealthily turned them back into humans, in small enough increments they had no detection of it, up in the ship something was stirring.
Before the assimilation of the crew, three passengers had made a plan, one not shared with anyone and under no detection by filming equipment. The three were now at the air lock of the ship, opening up the hatch. Riker, Data and Crusher had created realistic bodies that were unable to tell if it was real or not and faked their deaths. They quickly masked their bio-signs and headed out onto the top of the ship. They routed oxygen, for the two that needed it, from the ship undetected by the Borg or anyone. They had ridden on the ship all the way from Earth to Arcturus II. It was quite a bold move, since it was dangerous being on the ship at warp, and they were quite lucky they didn't die, or be dismembered in Data's case. Sneaking Data away was the hardest, but it worked making his fake death be that he was disintegrated. The three had finally decided it was time since they were at the planet now. They all headed for the airlock and made it inside.
"Ok the Borg won't know we are still alive," Riker said as they entered the airlock, "But they will adjust quickly. What we need to do is put up the shields at maximum breaking their link from the collective and perhaps there will not be as many deaths."
"So we will head to engineering, the fastest route would be up the turbo lifts, but that would be dangerous, so we should use the passages in the walls," Beverly nodded.
"Correct Doctor. Once we do that, they should be reliant on themselves, and perhaps we can change them back to humans, and their original species," Data replied.
"Sounds like it's our only hope," Riker replied.
"It is," Data plainly stated. They looked at one another, well Riker and Crusher did, Data just stared ahead.
"Still have phasers on stun and rotating frequencies, I don't want one of us to kill a crew member," Commander Riker replied looking at them. The two of them nodded and headed for the door that separated them from the Borg. When the door opened, no Borg were present, so they hurried to the wall and entered the cramped passage behind it. Data took the lead and Riker took the rear, keeping the doctor in the middle because she wasn't as trained in fighting. They climbed various ladders, climbed through small crawl spaces and were only half way to engineering when the doctor pleaded for rest, to which they allowed a few minutes, before moving on.
Their bio-signs still masked the sensors didn't pick up the three moving through the passages. When they finally reached engineering, they quickly moved in. The Borg were walking around the engineering section, ignoring the three who had just entered. The three stealthily moved through the room, towards the controls.
"They don't see us as a threat, let's hurry up," Riker whispered. The three moved over to the shield control. Data quickly pressed a sequence of buttons raising shields to the maximum, where they were like those in the brig. The Borg quickly turned to the three. But they didn't do anything else, they just stood there. It was an odd eerie feeling that filled the room. Crusher walked up to one and touched it bravely on the shoulder, but it didn't move.
"They have had an odd reaction, they have all shut down," Beverly said fascinated, "Help me get them to sickbay. I think I can turn them human enough to act like one, and remember." Riker and Data nodded moving the motionless people to the sickbay. One by one, they slowly became half Borg and half human. It was like they were humans with a few Borg enhances, making them see sharper and process things quickly. This process took days, and within those days the people grew even more worried that the Borg would come to retrieve them, but they never did. It was like the Borg didn't even know they had lost a hundred or more Borg.
Now it was time to plan a better approach, or just leave Earth alone. They were safe from the Borg on Arcturus II because of the extra gasses on the planet blocking the Borg transmissions.