A/N: I'm sorry it has been so long. October is a very busy month for me.
Picard's brow furrowed. Benjamin was sure that even with his clearance, the admiral wouldn't have heard of 'Project: Jumper'. It had been top secret from its inception. Benjamin wasn't even sure all the big wigs from the Federation knew about it.
"Project: Jumper is a top secret attempt to create a stable worm hole generator. If it works, it will change space travel as we know it. Think about it; instantaneous travel to anywhere in the galaxy. We could finally give serious thought to exploring the Delta Quadrant. We could meet thousands of new species and expand the Federation's reach to previously unimagined of levels."
Picard's next question was obvious, "What does this have to do with what happened in the Neutral Zone?"
Siegel decided to jump in, "As you know, the Davenport was the most advanced science vessel that the Federation had. That's why we were sent into the Neutral Zone. It was also going to be the test ship for the Jumper Drive."
"You think that these creatures, whatever they are, were after it," Picard surmised.
Benjamin nodded, "We know they were. They have it."
Picard paled slightly. Clearing his throat, he stood and walked over to a replicator in the wall opposite the window. "Earl Grey, hot," he ordered. The replicator hummed, providing the requested beverage. Grabbing his tea, he found his seat once again. He took a long sip from the cup.
"Perhaps you should tell me what happened after the Enterprise left you in the nebula."
"Sir," Lieutenant Johnson, the ops officer called, "We're getting a message from the Enterprise. It says they're going to chase the Kothre, and we're to stay put."
Benjamin shook his head. Figures, he thought, He's not going to let Donotra get away with his wife. The young captain got out of his chair and looked over Johnson's shoulder. He pointed to a readout, "I want continuous scans of the area, every method we have available." The lieutenant nodded.
Benjamin walked toward the turbo lift at the back of the bridge. "I'll be in engineering. Johnson, you have the bridge."
Johnson nodded, "Aye Sir."
"Engineering," Benjamin commanded as the doors closed behind him. The turbo lift dutifully moved in response. Something wasn't right. The Kothre couldn't be acting alone. Based on the sensor readings, the ship was at least ten years old, if not older. There was no way it could stand up to the might of a Sovereign Class Starship. Donotra said something about being 'collected'. Did that mean more ships were on the way?
A voice interrupted his thoughts. "Johnson to Benjamin."
"Benjamin here," he answered.
"Sir, there are two ships entering the nebula."
"Romulan?" he asked.
"Definitely not, Captain," Johnson answered, "I've never seen anything like this before. Well one thing sort of like it, but it can't possibly be, I mean it could bu-"
"Spit it out Johnson!" Benjamin interrupted. He normally would have allowed the man to get to the point on his own, but right now, he didn't have that kind of time.
"Sorry sir. It looks … Borg."
"Red Alert! Archer, get us out of here!"
"Aye Sir," the helmsman responded.
A sudden force rocked the turbo lift, nearly knocking Benjamin from his feet. The lights flickered for a moment before going out. The gentle hum of the turbo lift moving had been silenced. Great! Benjamin thought, looks like a long crawl through the Jeffery's Tubes. He dropped to his knees and began feeling around for the latch that would open the floor panel and allow him to escape.
His hand brushed the cool metal latch just as the lift rocked hard again. The lights flickered again, but didn't come on. Thankfully, the low hum of movement did start up again. Benjamin breathed a sigh of relief. His journey through the narrow tubes in the bowls of the ship was officially canceled.
As Captain Benjamin entered Main Engineering, the red alert alarms were going off and red indicator lights flashed all around him.
"Ellison," Benjamin called, "Report."
The chief engineer looked up from his pad. "Shields are holding, barely. I don't think their coming at us full power though," he showed Benjamin the pad in his hand and pointed to one of the read outs, "You see here the weapon configuration, and what our shields have sustained so far. It doesn't mesh."
He tapped a control on the wall and brought up a display of the forward sensors. The image filled the panel on the wall. Several ships moved in and out of view. They were spherical, like one of the smaller Borg ships, but four long, narrow projections jutted out from the center. The ship resembled, in the captain's opinion, a large insect.
Benjamin tapped his badge, "Johnson, have the ships tried to hail us?"
"No sir," Johnson replied, "Every time we've moved to leave the nebula, they cut us off. They've been firing sporadically, but nothing major has been damaged so far."
They're herding us like a sheep, the captain thought, but why?
Something suddenly occurred to him, a thought that caused his stomach to drop into his feet. They were after the jumper drive. They weren't going to destroy the ship until they could force the shields to drop and take the drive. But how did they know about. Only three people on the ship knew about the drive; Benjamin, Ellison, and Siegel. They were supposed to be the only ones outside of Starfleet Command who knew about the project's existence.
"Ellison," Benjamin said, keeping his voice low, "We have a way to transport the … device safely? From ship to ship without revealing it?"
The engineer smiled, "Of course we do, Captain. We have separate cases for the drive and for the power source. They're shielded against transporters and sensors. Once closed, they can only be opened by you and Commander Siegel."
Benjamin nodded, "No matter what happens, we can't let them take the drive. Even if we lose this ship, we need to keep it out of their hands."
Ellison smirked, but his eyes were deadly serious. "I understand, Captain."
Taking his icy glare from Benjamin, the engineer went to one of the equipment lockers and pressed his thumb to the pad. The computer quickly red his thumb print and DNA, popping open when it cleared him as authorized. Inside were the two cases he had spoken of. Ellison grabbed them both and handed one to Benjamin.
"Come on sir," he said, "It's in the Main Deflector."
"You grab the power source, Sir," Ellison said as they entered the Main Deflector access room, "It's much easier to disconnect. I'll get the drive from the main defector."
Benjamin grabbed the case and moved to where the experimental power source was plugged in and began typing in commands to unplug it.
"Are you saying that I don't know what I'm doing?" he asked sarcastically over his shoulder.
Ellison smirked without looking up, "That's exactly what I'm saying."
The lock holding the power source in place gave a loud click as it unlatched. Benjamin pulled away the wire and lifted it carefully into the container. The soft, gel filled, plastic lining hugged the exterior of the machine, securing it in place. He closed the lid and heard click and hiss of the pressure lock sealing.
"How's it coming, Ellison?" he asked.
"Almost-" he paused, "Got it! I'll get it in the case and-"
The comm chirped, "Johnson to Benjamin, Our shields are down. We're getting transporter signals from the enemy ships."
Before he could digest the information, Benjamin saw a form materialize just behind Ellison. It looked vaguely humanoid, but with no discernible features; just a flat face with two slits where a nose should have been and no hair. It wore no clothing over its white skin, though it didn't appear to have any genitals to cover. The engineer turned just in time for the thing to grab his neck. With an awful SNAP, Ellison's neck broke. The thing dropped his body, grabbed the unplugged drive in both hands, and disappeared within a transporter beam.
In the space of a second, Benjamin felt an eternity pass. Whatever these things were, they clearly had hostile intent, and now they had something that would allow them to be everywhere at once. No one had ever seen them before, yet they seemed determined to get their hands on the jumper drive. Given the violent nature of first contact, Benjamin was certain they meant the Federation harm, and now they possessed the means to cause that harm.
A blast suddenly rocked the ship and Benjamin was knocked from his feet once more. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he wondered what had happened to the sense of balance he prided himself on.
"Engineering to Commander Ellison," a voice called over the comm.
Benjamin tapped his badge, "This is the captain. I'm afraid Commander Ellison has been killed. What did you need?"
The person on the other end seemed stunned, "Sir, I-I'm sorry to hear that-"
"What is it?" Benjamin interrupted. He didn't have time for shock or grieving at the moment.
"Sorry Sir," he said, "The warp core is overheating. We can't take another-"
He was cut off by another blast. This time, the shaking didn't stop for a full ten seconds. Several of the panels in the room sparked and exploded.
The computer's voice sounded, "Warning: Warp core breach is imminent."
"Benjamin to Engineering! What the hell is going on?" Benjamin yelled over the noise of his ship falling apart.
"We can't eject the core, Sir!" Lieutenant Rilly called, "The controls are locked!"
"Bridge to the captain," Johnson called, "The Enterprise is back. They've destroyed one of the enemy ships."
Please let it be the one carrying the drive, Benjamin thought, letting go of a relieved sigh. "Send a message telling them that our warp core is about to breach," he said "And then give the order to abandon ship."
"We abandoned ship and the Enterprise picked up our pods," Benjamin finished his story, feeling a knot tighten in his stomach at the thought of the lives lost, lives that he was supposed to be responsible for.
Picard nodded solemnly, taking another sip of his tea. He set his now empty cup down and studied the two younger officers.
"I want you to know," Picard said in a somber voice, though with no less authority, "I understand your reaction to Caption Riker's decision. I'd imagine that you've gone over that scenario in your head a thousand times, trying to find what you could have done differently."
The young captain looked at his hands on the table as he fought back the growing lump in his throat. When he finally felt in control, he looked back at the admiral and nodded, still not able to find his voice. All of the weight of his responsibility came crashing down in a sudden rush. The strain caused him to suddenly exhale and visibly crumple.
"Losing people under your command is never easy," Picard said flatly, "But it is part of being a captain. I recommend speaking to the ship's councilor when you have some free time. It might help."
Benjamin took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. Feeling his emotional walls slide back into place, he regained his posture, nodded to Picard, and said, "Yes Sir."
"Now, you mentioned another piece of equipment, a power source?" Picard asked.
Siegel nodded, "The drive consumes way to much power for a standard anti-matter core to handle. In order to power it, they had to create a whole new way to power it. I'm afraid that we don't really understand how it works. Ellison was the expert."
Picard's eyebrows rose, "And you still have this power source?"
Benjamin nodded, "Yes Sir, locked up safely in my quarters in the secure case. If they even knew about it, which I'm pretty sure they don't, they wouldn't be able to scan the Enterprise for it."
"Very well," Picard said curtly, "I'm going to have you advise Captain Riker and Commander Worf of the existence of the Jumper Drive as well as it falling into enemy hands."
Benjamin and Siegel shared a look. "With all due respect, Sir," Benjamin said hesitantly, "That isn't your call to make."
Picard's features hardened into stone, causing both men to shrink in their seats. "It damn well is my call. I realize that you've been special authorization for this mission, but I am an admiral and I have the authority to grant the same special authorization to anyone I see fit. Considering the situation, I not only find it appropriate, but absolutely vital to grant such clearance to Riker and Worf," Benjamin opened his mouth to object, but Picard held up a hand, "Before you say anything, I realize that I am showing those two favoritism, but they served under me for more than a decade and have earned every bit of favoritism that I give them. Computer," the computer chimed in response, "End Conclave Mode. Authorization Picard one one nine delta."
"Conclave Mode ended. Doors have been unlocked and communications have been unblocked."
Benjamin felt emasculated. This was his project. He had been promoted to the rank of captain specifically for this, and now it was being ripped from him. He pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to will away the headache he could feel coming.
Picard touched the badge on his chest, "Picard to Riker."
"Riker here, Sir" came the response, "It's good to hear from you. Where were you?"
He waved off the question, "I'll explain later. Right now I need you and Mr. Worf to come to the conference room. We have a matter of some urgency to discuss."
There was a short pause before Riker answered, "Yes sir, but I'll need to bring the Doctor and Spike with me. I believe that he might be able to shed some light on the events of the last few days."
Picard raised his eyebrows and looked to the other two officers, who simply shrugged.
"Very well," he said, "Call a meeting of the senior Officers. We'll need to inform everyone and decide what to do from there."
Benjamin grimaced as he felt the final nail go into the coffin on his career. He knew that he would probably face a court martial for his failure to keep a lid on the project, to say nothing of him losing the drive itself. He took some comfort in the fact that he might be able to keep himself out of prison by explaining that Picard hadn't given him much choice.