A/N: I redid this chapter for several reasons. The most obvious was that is was far too short. The second, and more important, is that it was missing a number of key elements that will become important later. Please leave a review and let me know what you think of the new chapter.
Captains Log: Stardate Six Six Five Zero Six Point Four. We have reached the edge of the Neutral Zone. Every member of the crew with any practical combat experience has spent the last three days with Commander Worf and Lieutenant Commander Meps. Lieutenant Commander Parsons reports that he and Captain Benjamin have come up with a command sequence that should cause the Jumper Drive to overload. Though I admit that I have reservations about this plan, with the Doctor's personal cloaking emitter and several of my most experienced officers leading the charge, I find myself growing more and more optimistic.
The ship bustled with activity as crew ran this way and that, going to assigned duty stations or running errands for senior officers. The Doctor felt the apprehension in the air as he made his way to Spike's quarters. This was it. They were going in to face an enemy they knew very little about. The only things the Doctor could be sure of were that their opponent was dangerous and devious.
He arrived at his destination and pressed the alert button. The door opened after Spike's muffled come in. He was amazed at how quickly the vampire had gotten used to the way the doors on a starship worked. He stepped into the room and saw Spike putting a couple of items from the trunk into the pocket of his coat.
"Hey Doc," Spike said, "What can I do for you?"
"I thought you might want this," he said, handing him the silvery bag of blood.
Spike's face lit up, "Right on Doc." He took the bag and cut it open with his teeth, drinking down the thick, red liquid inside. Looking down, the Doctor saw a silver bracketed ruby in the vampire's hand.
"What's this?" he asked.
Spike wiped his mouth and looked at the small jewel, "Don't know exactly. The note said to use it on the 'imposter', whatever that means."
The Doctor's brow furrowed, "Use it how?"
Spike shrugged, "I'm supposed to point it at them and say 'terminus praestigiator rapio veneficus'."
The Doctor's translation matrix brought him several possible meanings. He picked the most logical one and said it aloud, "End the imposter's trap magick?"
"Yeah, that sounds 'bout right."
"Siegel to Spike," the comm. chirped.
Spike tapped the badge that Captain Riker had issued and asked him to start wearing. "Spike here."
"Were ready in Shuttle Bay Two when you are."
"Right, on my way." Spike tapped the badge again, closing the channel. He put the ruby in his pocket and stepped passed the Doctor, toward the door. The Doctor called out to him, holding out the other item he had brought.
"You asked me to preserve this," he said, holding up the small vile with the lock of hair. Spike, his expression sober, took the vile with trepidation. As he did, he saw the chain attached to it.
"I took the liberty of putting it on a chain so that you could war it around your neck," the Doctor told him, "I hope you don't mind."
Spike gently lifted the chain over his head and placed it around his neck. "You never know, Doc. That little minx might just save my ass one more time. Thank you." He reached out and firmly shook the Doctor's hand.
"Good luck Spike."
The Captain's Yacht, disengaged from the Enterprise, hovered at the edge of the invisible wall that was the border of the Neutral Zone. On either flank, two runabouts sat in formation. The Enterprise sat just behind the other ships, like a mother bear guarding her cubs. Spike, aboard one of the runabouts, stared at the view screen at the front of the cramped interior. The void of space stretched out as far as the eye could see. Somewhere in that eternal darkness, Willow was enveloped in some unknown peril. The only thing he was sure of was that it had something to do with these Borg creatures. He had to save her. He had promised Tara.
"You ready for this?" a deep voice asked. Spike jumped. He had forgotten that he wasn't alone in the small craft. He turned to face Siegel, who was manning the controls.
"One thing I've learned over the centuries, Mate," he answered, "Is that you're never ready."
"Captain Riker to team leaders," the voice called over the comm.
"Siegel here," the big man answered.
One by one, Worf, Benjamin, Meps, and Tuvok responded.
Riker's voice was calm, controlled, and authoritative, "You all know your roles. Let's get in, get the job done, and get out. Mr. Worf, we'll move on your mark."
Don't worry, Tara, Spike thought, I'll save her.
"Warp three," Worf said over the comm., "Engage."
Parsons watched as the two larger ships disappeared into the Neutral Zone. Soon, this whole nightmare would be over, one way or another. The plan was simple enough, but it still seemed like there were so many variables they didn't know. Was it a ship or a space station? What kind of defenses did it have? Were there ships protecting whatever it was out there? All of these questions that no one thought to answer and yet here they were, flying into an unknown battle against an unknown foe.
He turned to face Benjamin in the dim illumination of the cockpit, "Do you think we stand a chance?"
Benjamin smirked at the question, "You tell me. The Enterprise is your baby."
The older man sighed and ran his fingers through his graying hair, "I'm not sure. She's the most advanced ship in the fleet, but we're going in half blind. We really don't know what we're going to face out there. Not to mention they wiped the floor with the Davenport." Glancing over, he saw the young captain's face lose all expression. "Sorry," he said, "I didn't mean that the way it sounded."
Benjamin leaned back in his chair, letting go of a heavy sigh, "It's okay, I know what you meant. And you're right. But the Enterprise has two major advantages that the Davenport didn't have. First, we were ambushed. Assuming we haven't drastically underestimated our enemy, we have the advantage this time. Secondly, the Enterprise is a Sovereign Class starship with enough weaponry to assault a fleet. The Davenport was a Nebula Class science vessel. Minimal weapons and defenses. Hell, I'm pretty sure this runabout has more torpedoes than the Davenport did."
Parsons nodded, "Yeah, I'm sure we'll be fine."
"You're not nervous, are you Commander?" Benjamin asked in a slightly mocking cadence.
"Damn right, I'm nervous," Parsons said, exasperated, "We're going into this situation like an ancient west cowboy going to a shoot out at the Okie Dokie Corral."
Benjamin chuckled, "First of all, Parsons, I'm pretty sure it's Okay Corral. Secondly, we have to do this. If these things are like the Borg at all, the Jumper Drive gives them a free ticket right to Earth's doorstep. It was less than twenty years ago that a borg cube, one borg cube, almost destroyed an entire fleet. If the Enterprise, commanded by then Captain Picard, hadn't shown up when it did, they would have very likely invaded Earth itself. We have to do something."
"Tuvok to team leaders," the vulcan called over the comm., "Set course for the energy signature and prepare to engage warp three on my mark." Tuvok paused for a full ten seconds, giving Benjamin time to input the coordinates.
"Mark."
Meps touched the control, sending the runabout into low warp. She glanced over at Ensign Vasquez. The young man was firmly gripping his rapier. She marveled at the beauty of the ancient Earth weapon. The pommel was intricately laced with gold and silver wire flowing together to create a stylized flame just over his knuckles.
Looking down at her belt, she saw her own weapon, a Klingon D'k tahg dagger. It had been a prize, taken off the corpse of and enemy from at least two lifetimes ago. Her combat experience had all been hand to hand and this was the only non-phaser weapon she knew how to use. Even so, Meps knew she could wield the blade with deadly intent. In her past life as Commander Axon Meps, he had carried it on all of his missions. At first, it was simply a good luck charm. During a botched attempt to free Betazed from Dominion control, he had used the blade to kill four Jem'Hadar when he had been cornered with no other weapon. From then on, he considered the blade a weapon and learned to use it as such.
The sensor alert chirped and Vasquez leaned over the console, "Approaching the energy signature…"
"…Preparing to drop out of warp," Torik said. The young vulcan disengaged the warp engines in sync with the other vessels. A gigantic complex of spheres and cubes stretched out before them. Each section could have stood alone as its own space station, yet they were all connected with metallic tubes big enough around to fit a Defiant Class starship. The complex looked as though it could house the entire population of all twenty nine federation worlds.
"What is this?" Torik heard himself ask, even though logically, he knew Tuvok wouldn't have the answer.
Amazingly, he did, "I have seen something like it before. If I had to guess, I would say that this is the new Unimatrix Zero One."
"How did they create such an immense complex in such a short time?" Torik asked. The young vulcan would never admit it out loud, but he was awestruck.
"I am unsure," Tuvok responded, "Sensors show the complex as nearly five hundred kilometers wide. I'm reading a population at least five hundred thousand; All borg."
"Are you sure?" Benjamin asked.
"Definitely," Parsons answered, "The life signs, if you can call them that, conform almost exactly to known borg signatures. I think we might be looking at Unimatrix Zero One."
"I'm pretty sure that is supposed to be in the Delta Quadrant," Benjamin said, "Maybe this is Zero Two."
Parsons raised an eyebrow, "You failed the borg section of the Interstellar Sociology, didn't you?
"Not a required part of the course any more," the young captain answered.
"Tuvok to team leaders," the vulcan interrupted, "I have located the Enterprise and the Captain's Yacht. They are attacking what appears to be the core of the structure. Set you coordinates to seven five nine mark four and engage at full impulse. Keep the comm. open."
Benjamin quickly did as ordered, aiming the runabout toward the center of the gigantic structure. The four vessels moved as one toward a sphere the size of a small moon. A battle raged between the structure and the Enterprise. The ship seemed impossibly gigantic from the cockpit of the small runabout, yet it dipped, dived and rolled as gracefully as a terran whale in Earth's Pacific Ocean. The Captain's Yacht flew around the Enterprise, using the massive ship as cover, appearing at random intervals and harassing the structure's defenses.
"Commander Meps," Tuvok said, "Engage attack pattern omega three. Target the shield generators. Siegel, follow me for a pass and target the disruptor banks. Benjamin, have you detected the Jumper Drive yet?"
Benjamin glanced at Parsons, who shook his head. "Not yet, Captain."
"Very well, continue searching," Tuvok ordered.
The ships broke off and Spike felt his stomach drop as Siegel followed one of them. Beams shot from both ships and hit an energy field just above the surface, causing green glowing waves to flow from where the beams hit. Green beams lanced from the surface, cutting at the areas between and around the two ships. Spike ducked when one beam passed just above their ship, then felt a little a little silly when he realized it wouldn't have made difference.
"So how's this work?" he asked, "Do we just keep shooting until one of us is dead?"
"Spike," the big man said, "I know it doesn't look like it, but this is actually very difficult and requires a great deal of concentration."
"Sorry, Mate," Spike said. He absently rubbed the small vile on the chain around his neck. With his other hand he felt around in his pocket for the ruby and the other item that he hoped would be his ace in the hole, even though he had no idea what it was supposed to do.
"Generators in range," Vasquez reported.
Meps smiled, "Fire at will, Ensign."
The phaser banks lit up, lancing deadly beams across the strange devices generating the shielding for the moon sized structure. The green hue of the energy reacting to the incoming attack lit up the area around where the phasers hit.
"Shields unaffected," Vasquez said as he hit the controls to launch the photon torpedoes. The dots of light hit the green energy barrier, creating twin explosions. The shields shimmered for longer this time, but still the structures remained intact.
"Still no effect," Vasquez said as the runabout passed the generators and Meps brought it around for another pass.
"Pay close attention, Ensign," she said, "I'm about to teach you something they don't teach at the Academy. Power up the deflector dish, then use it to fire a tachyon beam right at the center of the shields."
Vasquez did as ordered, even though he knew what she was suggesting wouldn't work. A tachyon beam could drain shields, but they couldn't fire any weapons while the beam was on or it would just drain that weapon's energy as well. That would create a feedback loop that would burn out the deflector dish at best, if not destroy the runabout. He was about to say so when Meps began speaking again.
"Here comes the tricky part," she said, "Your going to fire a torpedo at the spot where the beam is penetrating the shield. You need to time it so that it can get through the hole you've punched before it closes, but it can't collide with the beam or we're dead."
Vasquez nodded, "But then what? Even if I get it right, one torpedo won't be enough to destroy the generators."
Meps smirked, "We don't need to destroy them, just disable them. Leave that part up to me."
Vasquez let out a breath and set about the task. With the deflector dish powered, he fired the tachyon beam. It hit the shields, causing them to flicker at the point of impact. His read out told him a hole had begun to form. When he judged it large enough, he fired a single torpedo. The warhead went obediently to its target. Just before it crossed the beam, Vasquez cut power to the deflector dish. The hole in the shields immediately began to close, but the torpedo made it across the barrier. Just as it passed the threshold, Meps fired a phaser bank. It hit the torpedo, creating a shockwave that hit all of the generators, shutting down each in turn. Vasquez stared in awe as the shielding around the entire structure immediately dropped.
"A Photonic Burst," Meps said, answering his unspoken question, "Acts like an anti-matter powered electro magnetic pulse. Now let's destroy those generators. We won't have much time before they recover."
"Shields are down," Parsons said "I have the jumper drive on sensors."
"That was fast," Benjamin said over his shoulder.
Parsons smirked, "It's lit up like a solar flare. So much for them not being able to power it." Parsons stared at his readouts for another second, "I've never seen this kind of power consumption on anything short of a colony power grid."
"That's not good news," Benjamin said, "If they can power the drive, then we might be in a lot of trouble."
"Don't worry, Captain," Parsons said in a surprisingly confident tone, "We'll destroy the drive and-"
"I'm not talking about the drive," the young captain interrupted, "I'm talking about the power. If they can power that thing, it means we seriously underestimated their capabilities."
The engineer looked uncertain, "Should we abort?"
Benjamin thought a moment before deciding against it. "No. Spike is right. We have to do this now. Let's transport down and have a look. Benjamin to attack teams, Parsons and I are transporting to the location of the drive."
The sound of the transporter faded into the background and the area around them became visible. The thing Benjamin noticed first was the color. He didn't have any firsthand knowledge, but he had been told that borg technology caused their ships and structures to give off a greenish hue. Looking around the interior, he felt repulsed. Having grown up in one of the lushest places on Earth, he had come to feel that green represented fertility and life. This place had taken that wonderful color and twisted it into something harsh, devoid of being. It wasn't the green of the jungle near his home; rather it reminded Benjamin of rotting meat.
A hand on his shoulder brought him out of his thoughts. He turned to a very nervous looking Parsons. "Do you think they're working?" he asked.
Benjamin looked at his arm, examining the device the Doctor had given them before departing the Enterprise. He shrugged, "I guess we won't know until we come across one of those things."
Parsons' wide eyes scanned the interior, "Do you see the drive anywhere?"
Benjamin had seen the half meter cylinder before he asked. It sat on a small pedestal with a thick cord coming out of one end. He grabbed Parsons' arm and pulled him over to it. They opened the control panel cover, revealing the single most complex control interface Starfleet had ever conceived of. Parsons let out a low whistle and Benjamin nodded his agreement. The display flashed a series of complex equations too quick to comprehend. As Parsons began typing in commands, Benjamin's gaze slid to where the cord hooked into the machine. As he examined it, his stomach dropped into his feet. He wasn't an engineer, but it looked exactly like the one that had hooked the drive into the Davenport.
"We need to do this as quickly as possible," he said.
"No problem," the other said, "Just let me concentrate. Do you think the others made it in?"
Benjamin took deep breath, "Let's hope so."
Spike looked around, trying to get his bearings. He had never been teleported before and it was disorienting. He saw Siegel standing next to him, checking his little device. He looked around again and took in his surroundings. It looked like the set of Alien, except everything seemed to glow faintly green. It smelled sterile, but not in the 'everything is so clean'sense. The place seemed to be simply devoid of life.
"Are you ready for this?" the big man asked
Spike smirked to himself, "Always."
"Good," Siegel said, pulling out a small scanning device like the one he had seen the Doctor use, "Our goal is the vinculum."
"Vin-what?" Spike asked.
Siegel smiled, "The vinculum. It's the thing that allows all of the systems and drones on a ship or in a unimatrix to work in tandem. Think of it as a central processing unit for the Borg. This way." He raised the sword in his right hand and pointed down a hallway. Spike followed as he moved quickly through the area, deciding not to ask what a 'central processing unit' was. They didn't have to go very far. After only a moment of walking, they came to a large, circular room with a narrow cylinder in it. The ends glowed with demonic energy so powerful, Spike could feel it in his chest as he neared the device. Siegel leaned his sword against a nearby control panel and started entering commands.
"Careful, Mate," Spike said, "This isn't what appears to be."
Siegel looked at him quizzically, picking up his little scanning device again and pointing it at the thing. "It reads as the vinculum. Subspace signals on Borg frequencies."
"I feel the energy, Mate," Spike answered, holding his hand a few inches from the metal, "It's demonic, and powerful."
Footsteps caught his attention and he turned to the sound. Siegel, apparently not having heard it, followed his eyes. Spike tensed and Siegel raised his sword. Both men stood prepared for whatever was coming down the hall. After another few seconds, the shadow lifted like a curtain off the faces of Rajda and another human Spike didn't recognize. Both men breathed a sigh of relief.
"You scared us half to death, Love," Spike said.
Rajda seemed surprised, "You heard us coming?"
He smirked, "Of course I diaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!" A tendril of energy had come out of the device and was now griping him in immense, paralyzing pain. Though the agony, he forced his tearing eyes to open. Tentacles of demonic power had reached out and grabbed the other three. Desperately, he fought the pain and the blackness that was threatening to engulf him. In the end, he lost and fell into nothingness.
Benjamin stood watch over the only two exits in the room while Parsons continued to work on the Jumper Drive. He had been at it for several minutes, but Benjamin knew that he might be several more. The calculations he was imputing were light years beyond complex. The third time Parsons swore under his breath, however, made him take notice.
"Is something wrong," he asked.
"No. I mean yes," He exhaled sharply, "I've had to keep re-inputting calculations. Every time I get close to finished, something comes and erases one the early equations, so the whole thing comes unraveled. To be honest, it's pissing me off."
Frantic footsteps echoed down the hallway to Benjamin's left. He dropped into a ready stance and waited for his attackers. Tuvok and Torik came running into the room.
"They are right behind us," Torik said.
"Correction," Tuvok replied, having stopped at the entryway, "They were right behind us." He stared down the hall, searching for any sign of their pursuers.
Benjamin asked the obvious question, "What happened?"
"I do not know," Tuvok answered, "But it would appear that the Doctor's device did not work as well as we had hoped."
Torik spoke up, "The creatures seemed to be forcing our path, though I do not know to what purpose."
"Umm," Parsons said, "This might be why."
All three men turned to see the drive emanating a faint green hue. As the watched it got brighter.
Benjamin wanted to yell RUN. He wanted to run himself. But before he could do either, a brilliant flash blinded him. There was an instant of searing pain, then nothingness.