RAGNAROK 2
Author: Rocky

The two fleets, Collective and Alliance faced each other silently. They were still not quite within weapons range of each other. Still, it almost seemed that neither side wanted to fire the first shot. And then, an emerald-green beam lanced out from the tip of the pyramid-ship, striking the vessels that formed the vanguard of the Alliance.

"Is that a weapon?" Chakotay asked sharply.

"It appears to be a probe of some sort," Tuvok said, studying his display intently.

The energy beam reached further, till it approached the inner line of defense, where Voyager was positioned. It came closer and closer to their location, and then all at once, the entire bridge glowed with an unearthly light.

The image on the viewscreen changed. In place of the starfield, the Borg Queen appeared.

A small smile played along her lips. "I've been waiting for you, Harry. I said we'd meet again, and I always keep my word. Remember that." Her silvery gaze shifted to Janeway. "That goes for you as well, Captain. Seven months ago I had you within my grasp, and I shall once again. Only this time you will know what assimilation truly means. In the final seconds of your meager individuality, that is. Afterwards, you will know only the mind of the Collective."

Janeway's jaw clenched, but she kept her voice steady. Deliberately turning her back on the Queen, she said, "Lieutenant, cut off that transmission."

"I'm trying, Captain, but it's not coming through our regular channels," Harry said in dismay.

The Queen laughed, a sound which was even more chilling than her earlier threats. "Yet another futile attempt, Janeway. But do not despair. It won't be long before you and your crew-what's left of them-achieve perfection."

The glow receded, then vanished altogether. Almost as abruptly, the battle ensued. Weapons fire erupted along the front line, as ships from both sides surged forward to attack.

"Message from the Surt, Captain," Kim said, referring to the Alliance ship positioned just off Voyager's port bow. "They're going in."

"Acknowledged," Janeway said. "Helm, prepare to follow up on the Surt's run. Take advantage of any opening they give us." She leaned back in her seat, checking the tactical display once more. She returned her gaze to the screen in time to see a large cube bearing down on them.

"Helm, hard about!" A moment later, the bridge rocked. "Return fire!" She was heartened to see that Voyager's phaser blasts were not deflected harmlessly. On the other hand, they didn't they prevent the cube from getting off another volley.

"Targeting the weapons array," Tuvok said. A moment later, "Their weapons are off-line." Almost immediately, however, another vessel took its place, and Voyager was hit once more.

"Shield status?" Janeway said.

"Down by 8% but still holding," came the answer.

"Mr. Kim, anything further on the ships nearby?" Chakotay asked.

"From the readings I'm getting, the majority of the ships within a 500,000 kilometer radius of our position are not linked," Kim said, his fingers flying rapidly over his console as he sought to correlate the data from the readouts and transfer it over to Tactical.

"I concur," Tuvok said. "However, the Queen's ship is staying well behind the front lines, keeping the linked vessels in her immediate vicinity. It is possible the Taj will be able to cleave a path to get within range, but unlikely."

For several minutes, the same scenario repeated over and over-fire, attempt to evade return shots, alter course, regroup, fire again. Nearby, other ships were engaged in the same macabre dance, with still others permanently sidelined-dead or crippled beyond repair. And yet they were no closer to their goal.

Janeway frowned. "We manage to get some good shots off, but aren't able to follow up on our success."

"More importantly, our only successes have been against the pirates. We're having no effect against the core of the Borg defense lines," Chakotay added.

Janeway came to a decision. "Janeway to Korok."

"Korok here."

"We seem to have trouble executing our game plan, General."

"So far. But do not give up so easily, Janeway. Our strategy is sound-it is only a matter of time until one of our vessels manages to penetrate their inner line."

"In the meantime, we have lost eight Alliance vessels, and four others have shown a marked drop in performance," Tuvok pointed out.

"We have destroyed twice that many enemy vessels," Korok said, his impatience very near the surface. "We will yet succeed!"

Janeway sought to forestall any further argument. "Time is running out," she said firmly. "We need to implement the second phase. Now."

Voyager rocked under the steady barrage of weapons fire.

"Voyager to Kry'afe. Come in please." Kim looked at Janeway. "No response, Captain. For all intents and purposes, they're dead in the water."

Janeway's mouth tightened. The same thing had happened to the Tyr and Surt moments earlier. Voyager was on its own.

"Without our escort, we're being deliberately targeted," Chakotay said grimly. He did not add that with each successive impact, Voyager's shields weakened further.

Another boom. Paris swore under his breath, and slammed his hand into his console. "We just dropped out of warp. The engines are off-line."

Before Janeway could react, the comm sounded. "Torres to bridge."

"B'Elanna, how soon can you restore warp power?"

"That's why I'm calling, Captain-we've got a problem," Torres said bluntly. "Our systems are badly stressed. These hits-they're concentrated at our most vulnerable areas. Conduits and relays are blowing faster than we can repair them."

"Damn it!" Janeway took a deep breath. "Sorry. I know you're doing the best you can, Lieutenant." She refrained from saying that without warp capability, they weren't going to last much longer, let alone achieve their plan. Even if they could get close enough to the pyramid ship... "Janeway out."

Torres felt like swearing as well, but that wasn't going to do her any good. She turned to Vorik. "All right," she said more calmly than she felt, "We can't keep everything going, so let's concentrate on priorities."

"Shields," he said at once.

"Yes, as well as weapons, and life support," Torres said, rapidly recalibrating the isolinear nodes.

"What about communications?" asked Carey.

Torres hesitated. "I'd sooner concentrate on getting the warp drive back on line." She turned around. "Ashmore, start rerouting the GS-relays. Baytart, get to the upper level of the main engineering section and monitor the matter/anti-matter mix. We're going to try to hot-wire this thing."

At Vorik's puzzled look, she added, "A twentieth century metaphor. Now get moving!" Torres moved over to a console near the main reactor. "Carey, I want you to call out the variances."

Another boom. Another fried console. Both were occurring with increasing frequency.

"Phasers are off-line," Tuvok said.

Not that they had been terribly effective up to that point, Janeway thought. "But we've still got torpedoes, don't we?"

"Yes, Captain," Tuvok answered. "We have 15 regular photon torpedoes remaining. As far as the others are concerned-"

Janeway gave a quick shake of her head. "No, we'll continue holding those in reserve for a while longer."

Chakotay looked at her in surprise. "We're well past the point of 'tipping our hand' too early, Captain."

"I'm aware of that, Commander," she said. "But unlike the photon torpedoes, these modified warheads have a much more limited range. We've got to get closer."

"I don't see how that's possible," Paris objected, "without making ourselves even more of a target."

Janeway bit her lip. "Harry, contact the Taj. Perhaps General Korok can provide us with the cover we need."