Disclaimer: I do not own Star Trek Voyager, I do however own this plot and the original characters.
The battle was not yet over, the fleet knew this, and they were vigilantly waiting more threats to arrive at any second, their eyes trained on the wormhole anxiously. Many of the Captains had been resentful for not being asked to be fleet commander, some having resented Icheb Hansen. A Lieutenant Commander, promoted to acting Captain and then fleet commander? At his age and his lack of experience? A lot of them had been outraged, most ordered to deal with it and get on with their orders.
But now? That green, wet behind the ears Captain had coordinated them into a winning form. He had done everything he could think of in defeating their most feared enemy, and had succeeded in making an impression on both the battlefield and on those who had thought scornfully of him. Icheb Hansen's career might have been aberrant, might have ruffled a lot of feathers, but his actions so far had been on par with everything expected of him.
Even so, the fleet was tense, the chatter to a minimum. How long had they been fighting for so far? Hours? Days? It felt like an eternity, but they had no time to check how long they had been endlessly engaging the Borg, too wrapped up with preparing for the next attack, offering aid to those who needed it the most, coping with the loss of family, friends, and comrades in arms. All was silent for the moment. They took advantage to repair what they could, split the crews up, balance ships out to offer more aid. They fleet worked together, coordinating relief wherever possible.
Icheb raked his hand through his hair, feeling the pulsing beat of the battle raging in his ears still. He needed to get a grip, needed to hang on, just a little longer... then he could crack if he wanted to. He opened a channel between Astrometrics and main Engineering, hoping for some good news, but knowing he wouldn't be getting any. "Hansen to Astrometrics... wormhole readings?" Icheb asked tiredly. He noticed then a few of the more injured officers on the bridge struggling with their stations and went over to offer them assistance.
"We're ready to try the feedback pulse again, we think the disruption will be long enough for us to get a clear picture of the Queen's forces," Lieutenant Jeremiah answered, offering aid to Naomi as she continued to struggle to stay on her feet.
"B'elanna, did you get that?" Icheb questioned, seeing her come on screen at the Engineering station. She looked about as tired as he felt.
B'elanna leveled him with a look of determination. "Yes, Captain, I'm sorry, just a sec," she answered, stepping away a moment to help one of her injured staff members lay against a far wall for support. She wiped the grime from her cheeks and made her way back to the appropriate console, placing in the commands needed. "We're ready to send the signal."
"Engage it," the young Captain ordered softly, too weary to put in more enthusiasm in his command as he stepped away from the console. He smiled and nodded in thanks when Kathryn placed a supportive hand on his arm as he made his way back to his seat.
The pulse went out and they held their breaths, hoping the Borg hadn't adapted to it just yet. Fortunately it didn't appear so and soon they were receiving sensor reading from the other side. "Two Borg cubes headed through, sir," Jeremiah announced from Astrometrics. Naomi had given up doing any of the heavy actions associated with frantically keeping up with the Borg signal blockage. Instead, she hung back and assisted Jeremiah, plugging in her input and rapidly refining skills where she could.
"Hansen to all units, two cubes detected coming through the wormhole. Prepare to engage," Icheb reported, nodding to Tuvok, conveying his meaning to attack at will. "Ensign, get is closer to the Defiant," he ordered, having noticed it's shields fail them a few times. Voyager rushed over, stationing right above the smaller ship, ready to defend it. Sisko tried to hail them, but their communications were down. Instead, they registered signals with the ship's lights, thanking them for the support.
The two cubes then made their appearance, holding position by the mouth of the singularity, but aside from scanning the fleet and the damaged vessels around, they did very little. "What are they waiting for?" Harry murmured in question. It didn't really matter though, the fleet wasted no time wondering why the cubes hadn't attacked, but instead took advantage of the situation. The cubes were very quickly and gleefully destroyed by the sheer ferocity, greater numbers, and advanced weaponry of the fleet.
Just before the final cube was eliminated though, it sent a feedback pulse through Voyager's phaser beam, striking the ship directly, the surge crawling its way up to the bridge. The energy surge spiraled through the consoles, as though seeking something, and then drove straight toward Icheb, striking his ocular implant as though attracted to it. Icheb cried out in pain, his body seizing from the electrocution and then he promptly collapsed to the floor.
"Icheb!" the older officers cried in alarm as their close friend and Captain lay unmoving on the ground. The former Captain of the ship watched worriedly from where she rested, after having collided with the railing during the chaos. She watched as Tom rushed, crawling over to his young friend's prone form, turning him over and checking his vitals. Icheb lay completely still, the web-like discharge dissipating for the most part, a lot of it clinging to his ocular implant for a moment longer. Even so, his eyes were shut and his complexion had lost most of the color he had left on his cheeks.
"Tom?" Kathryn questioned, hoping the former insecure boy turned starship Captain hadn't lost the fight to a simple, damn energy surge.
"He's alive but..." Tom trailed off, trying to shake his Captain awake lightly. "Icheb? Captain?" the Commander tried, but couldn't wake him.
Around them, Tuvok stood ready to call in a medical emergency while Harry stepped from his station to look down at them worriedly. Kathryn clenched her fists tightly, gazing over at the what could possibly be the closest thing she had to a grandson with apprehension. Part of her was worried that he wouldn't make it through the war, but that part was trumped by the part that simply wanted to see her figurative, surrogate grandson pull through and become one of the greatest Captains in Starfleet. High hopes, but she thought it was possible. Honestly though, she just wanted him to be okay.
Helmsmans Ensign Ellen Flores went from eyeing the wormhole warily to looking over at the tense situation in great concern. Engineering Officer Lieutenant Marcus Williams and Science Officer Ensign Gina Aida stood silently by their consoles, ready at a moments notice to offer aid. They had all come to respect their new Captain's intelligence, competency, and decisive commands, despite his own personal feelings over himself. So far he was turning into a worthy leader, to them at least, and felt troubled by the recently increasing stress clinging to him. They were aware how unusual his Captaincy was, that he was one of the youngest Captains in Starfleet, rivaling James T. Kirk, but that hadn't ever crossed their minds when they agreed to go on the mission. They were honored to serve with someone as unusual and unorthodox in his career as the former Borg, Icheb Hansen.
The security and tactical chief had seen enough, had been holding off long enough and knew it was time to get their Captain help. "Tuvok to Sick-"
"-Wait," Tom lifted his hand toward Tuvok, halting his actions when the young Brunali stirred. They all breathed a sigh of relief when Icheb groaned in pain, struggling to open his eyes. "You alright?" Tom asked carefully reaching for him when Icheb attempted to get up. He looked a little worse for wear, but aside from the shock, he seemed fine.
Icheb accepted Tom's help, latching on to the older man's forearm. Both men groaned in pain as they got to their feet. "I... I am undamaged," he assured them, straightening his uniform and assessing any internal damages.
"We should still get the doctor up here to make sure," Tom suggested, stepping back from him.
Icheb rubbed his aching head. "No, really, I feel fine," he insisted, not wanting to cause more trouble. Anyway, he seemed to be in working order, he didn't feel anything unusual. He felt a bit of residual pain from the shock and collapse, but otherwise he seemed fine. But then... something was off. Icheb frowned in confusion when he heard a whisper in his head, very faint, and he almost thought it was his imagination for a second as it seemed to flitter away when he tried to examine it closer.
"What do you think they were doing?" Harry asked curiously, interrupting Icheb's examination of his mental faculties.
Icheb looked over at him and thought about it for a second. "I believe those were scouts. The Queen must have been evaluating our strengths and weaknesses," he answered, a deep frown marring his face. If the Queen was sending two cubes just as scouts, that could only mean she had bigger and badder resources at her disposal. Just how many of them were there though?
"Maybe her majesty just ran out of ideas!" Lieutenant Williams joked weakly, glancing over to the screen tensely.
Ensign Aida sent the young Engineering officer an annoyed look, wondering if that was going to bring bad luck on them now. Being of Japanese descendent, Gina Aida, or Aida Gina as was properly said way back when, had an understanding of Yin and Yang and knew that the universe always balanced itself out... even however small this victory had been. She might have been exaggerating, might have been seeing a pattern where there was none, just her nerves playing tricks on her, but she still wished people wouldn't joke like that during tense situations.
Icheb sat in his seat, his arms folded over his lap as he leaned forward, staring tensely at the screen. No, the Queen had not run out of ideas, she was just biding her time. Icheb knew a big part of her tactics, when she didn't just send a single cube, when she attacked personally, was psychological warfare, intimidation, disorientation, and demoralization. The strange whispering was very noticeable in his head now, distorted, almost inviting, but he still couldn't reach it, examine it. It was as though there was a coded transmission flowing directly through his head, trying to tap into his synapses, into his implants. Fear tingled up his spine, was he going insane? Or was the Queen trying to reach him? Had he been compromised? It seemed the Queen's tactics were working... Icheb folded his hands, supported by his elbows over his legs, and rested his chin on them, still very intent on the spiraling wormhole on the screen. How long would she make them wait? Doubt themselves?
A soft voice interrupted his morbid thoughts. "Sir?"
Icheb looked over to the frightened helmsman, doing everything she could to keep it together. "Yes, Ensign Flores?" he asked, his tone as calm as he could get it.
"We've reached the rest of the fleet," she told him just as quietly. "We're holding position next to the Challenger."
"Thank you," Icheb nodded and ordered to get visual on the rest of the fleet. Seeing them come on screen, they all grimaced as they took note of their condition.
The fleet was holding position in a flanking patters on either spectrum of the wormhole, all of them pointed toward the singularity. Some of the ships looked fine, a few scorch marks and scratches over the 'paint jobs', but otherwise in working condition. Some appeared to be missing half or more of their ablative armor, but fine. The others however, some were missing entire decks, the charred outlines visible as forcefields kept the vacuum of space from draining them completely. Some of the ships were missing a nacelle, some visibly still smoking, mangled and scarred. It looked bad, they were in rough shape and nearly half were dead in space, floating some ways away. How much more could they take?
"Activity from the wormhole, sir!" Flores pointed at the screen in a panic. They looked back over to the singularity and saw it fluctuating, a clear sign something was coming through.
"Sensors?" Tom asked, looking to Tuvok.
The Vulcan tactical officer reviewed the ship's scanners, courtesy of telemetry from Astrometrics. "Readings indicate cube configurations," he answered swiftly.
"How many?" Icheb questioned.
"Ten. However, they appear to be..." Tuvok trailed off, his eyebrow hiking up.
Never a good sign.
"Commander?" Icheb prompted curiously, trying to keep the stress from filtering into his tone again.
Tuvok looked up then. "The dimensions are consistent with Borg cubes, however, it is difficult to register their exact configuration." he told him.
"Does it matter what their configurations are? They're cubes, we can handle cubes, right?" Tom asked.
"Not those cubes!" Harry muttered, eyes wide at the appearing enemy. They all looked over and saw ten heavily armored, much larger cubes come through. While some of the crew on Voyager found them frighteningly familiar, the rest of the fleet looked on in shock, never having seen cubes like that before. They were twice as large as a normal cube, and had extra added hull plating, making them appear more solid.
"...Tactical cubes..." Icheb groaned, staring at the screen in dread. The information he had on them was limited, including the knowledge he had of the one Voyager had encountered years ago. The bit he did know was that they were five times as destructive and difficult to deal with than normal cubes. On board the cubes were scores of elite tactical drones, tasked to wipe out the most difficult to deal with civilizations. They were massive, mostly entirely mechanical, and ruthlessly powerful, picked personally by the Queen. If they managed to capture one of their ships and board it, Icheb feared not even their modulating weapons would be able to withstand them.
"Hansen to all ships. Those are Tactical Cubes. Voyager has encountered one once before. Do not underestimate them. Keep visual contact with them at all times. Do not let them get too close. Increase shield frequency rotation and stick together. Share shields if you have to." Icheb then coordinated with the original Voyager crew on what they knew about then, and then with the other Admirals, relaying the information.
They decided to split the fleet into groups of five, each group handling a cube with the least damaged of the ships supporting the more damaged. The damaged ships were relegated to the back of the group, firing long range weapons while staying behind the ships with the most shielding. The faster ships of the group were tasked to circle around the cubes, laying mines when they could as they flew by while also serving as a distraction.
The cubes powered their weapons and began their attack, pulsing, powerful bolts, widespread, long-reaching, shooting at them in devastating frequency. Voyager shook with the intensity of the attack, one of the cubes heading directly for them, faster than any of the other cubes in the area. "This one seems to be gunning for us!" Tom blanched, his voice still rough from his earlier injury. The cube rolled onto them and it was everything Flores could do to keep it away from them, lead it away from the group.
"It appears to be trying to single us out," Tuvok informed them.
"The Queen must want us dead badly," Aida muttered to herself, though was heard by the Captain.
"Not us, me," Icheb murmured quietly, eyes fixed on the target, knowing the Queen must have found him somehow. The teams of ships circled around the cube, staying in formation as they fired quickly, modulating the frequency of their blasts on it to compensate for Borg adaption.
"Phasers have no effect, Captain," Tuvok told him, gripping his console as the ship took another hit. Sparks from the consoles around them sprayed the dark room, smoke still clinging to the ceiling being lit by them. "Our forward shields have failed," he said then.
"Reroute auxiliary power to shields," Icheb ordered, thinking hard. A normal cube was difficult enough to fight and they had few vulnerable spots... a tactical cube's hull was even greater to penetrate. "Status on Tetryon Cannons?"
"Operational, sir," Tuvok responded.
Icheb nodded, figuring it might work on tactical cubes at a high enough frequency. "Ensign Flores, initiate attack pattern omega-six. Williams, power the deflector plates but reroute shields to forward," he tapped his badge then. "B'elanna, I need more power to the cannons. I want them as high in energy as you can possibly get them. Reroute power from reserves if you need to."
"On it, Captain," B'elanna signaled her staff and went to the power relay console, siphoning as much power from the ship that she could.
The crew had to quickly grab on to something as the ship took another severe hit. "Forward shields down to thirty percent!" Harry mentioned in a panic.
Icheb turned back to his tactical officer. "Tuvok, target their shield generator, concentrate the cannon beams to puncture through their hull. As soon as you have an opening, fire two transphasic torpedoes into it. They have multi-regenerative shields, much like the command ship had, so you'll have to be quick," the former drone Captain ordered in a rush. The whispers in his head were becoming louder and Icheb feared he would not be able to ignore them soon.
"Aye, Captain." Each officer replied, setting off to work.
Voyager got into position while the tweaked lateral shielding plates powered on, boosting the ship's front shields. The cannons readied and then Tuvok fired them at the greatest opportunity. The intense blue beams of the cannons tore past the cube's shields, breaking into the hull. As soon as a big enough hole registered, Tuvok cut the cannon fire and sent off the torpedoes. The high-yield explosives shot into their target and they watched as the cube's inner compartments exploded.
Unfortunately, the structure of the cube was still intact and it continued to fire on them. From the other end of the cube, the rest of Voyager's group circled around, firing into the hole created by Voyager. The combined forces of the ships forced the cube to crumble and a direct hit to the central plexus caused a cascade. The resounding explosion of the cube shattered into space, throwing the nearby ships off.
"Damage report!" Tom questioned, remaining on the floor where he fell for a few minutes, trying to catch his breath.
"We have lost all ablative armor, and our over-all shields are down to twenty-three percent," Tuvok informed him. All things considered, the fact that they hadn't completely lost their shields hours before was a very good thing. It meant the upgrades to the shield matrix technology was working better than expected. Just a few years ago they would not have been able to withstand so much enemy fire.
"Tom..." Harry wheezed, his eyes clouded over with pain where he clung onto his console. His old friend craned his neck, contorting in pain with the movement, but looked over anyway.
"Ensign Aida, take the Lieutenant-Commander to Sickbay," Tom rasped and watched his friend struggle to make it to the turbo-lift with the Ensign's help.
"Tuvok, what is the status of the fleet?" Kathryn asked.
"Each group is engaged in combat. The Enterprise is taking heavy fire, deflecting damage from more damaged vessels. The Defiant is out of commission but in one piece. The Titan is offering assistance to the Challenger. The Destiny is holding position next to Voyager. Our allies are giving supporting fire and protecting the inoperable ships." Tuvok explained how the fleets groups were being systematically whittled down by the tactical cubes, but another two cubes had been destroyed anyway. Kathryn suggested then to Icheb that the teams should regroup into bigger lances, concentrate fire on the remaining cubes. She frowned in concern when it took the young man a bit longer than it should have to respond to her.
"...Yes, you're right," Icheb finally said, and relayed the idea to the fleet.
"Are you alright, Captain?" Kathryn questioned.
"I'm fine I... I'm just..." Icheb grimaced in confusion, finding it exceedingly difficult to concentrate. "Forgive me, I seem to be- I can't-!" Icheb suddenly clenched his head, squeezing his eyes tightly as the whispers in his head turned into a roar. He moaned in pain, doubling over.
"Icheb?" Kathryn forced herself up and stepped around the railing, going over to kneel next to his seat. "What is it?"
"I hear... I can hear them... I can hear her..." Icheb gasped. Kathryn shivered fearfully, knowing who she was. If she was in his head...
"Who is this? Who are you?" The Queen asked curiously, probing her connection. Icheb recoiled painfully. "Hmm, what do we have her? Male in mental structure... species 2461..." Whoever he was, the Queen had the distinct impression that he had been a former drone that had not fully developed. A neonatal drone... wait, she remembered this one, he was an anomaly.
"Yes, I remember you now. What is your designation?" Icheb held firm, refusing to answer her. "Ah, I see, your designation was... first..? No, second... how appropriate, my little chaos bringer. You've been causing me quite a lot trouble. Why do you resist your perfection? Why do you insist on aiding lower life-forms? Come back to us, ….Icheb, is it now?" Icheb let out a rasping breath as desperately tried to keep her from his thoughts. "Stay... out of my head..." he whispered to himself harshly.
Kathryn watched him struggle with a deep sense of dread. "Icheb, resist her," she told him firmly.
The Queen smiled to herself, catching his hatred for her and deep fear he tried to hide. "Such devastating thoughts inside you. Come, let me soothe those away." Icheb grimaced at the suggestion the Queen had sent him, seeing himself lose all will and feeling, repulsed by it. He would never join them! He would never sully himself with innocent blood again!
The Queen smiled again, detecting his strong resistance to her. No matter, she would crack him, and she would have him. "This was your home for many years. You were once a part of us, nurtured by us in the comfort of your maturation chamber. We can help you connect with us again. Come, join us, come back home..."
Icheb shook his head, trying to clear the voice but was unable to. "She's... too strong, Kate..." Icheb whispered to her fearfully.
"Resist her, Captain, that's an order," Kathryn growled.
Then the Queen picked up on something else inside his head, something that had troubled her for a time. "You are sick, my dear Icheb... a virus? Come, let me fix you, let me make your transition easier this time. I can forgive you of your treachery." Icheb's eyes widened, she knew about his pathogen! But did she know how to fight it?
"You can hide little from me, chaos bringer, whatever it is you are keeping from me, I will find out. I will tear apart your neural network if I have to. Such a waste to a brilliant mind. You are talented, I can see that. Perhaps you could serve as a new Locutus? Together we would bring ultimate perfection to the collective..." Icheb held his hand to his head, trying desperately to block her. No! He would not join her! He would rather become a mindless vegetable, rotting away, let all his brilliance fizzle out of existence than let her use him!
"It matters not, I could still use a drone with your talents anyway. You will make a fine drone indeed, such power, such anger, you would be among the elite." Icheb groaned, images of himself completely assimilated, barely any natural flesh left, wearing heavy armor and mercilessly tearing apart civilizations, rushing through his head at the Queen's hand. So much blood, so many screams, so much death... "Such a fine specimen..."
"Get out of my head you... bitch!" Icheb growled, hoping none of the others heard him. Surely they would think of him as going insane if they did. Putting all his mental braces he still had, he poured his negativity into a single thought. 'NO!' In his mind he felt the mental link shudder and felt the Queen's anger at being repulsed.
The Queen redoubled her efforts and assaulted him with terrifyingly gruesome images. "Very well, my lost little drone, if you won't come peacefully I will break you until you beg to rejoin us. If I have to destroy your mind to do it, so be it."
"Captain, the tactical cubes are increasing their attacks!" Flores said in alarm, trying desperately to avoid being hit at the same time. The cubes tore through the fleet and it was everything they could do to keep up. Icheb looked up in despair, seeing the horribly dismal image flashing on the screen. His mind conjured horrible scenarios and Icheb did all he could to keep himself sane.
"Captain?" Tom questioned when his commanding officer had yet to issue any others.
Icheb clutched his head, gasping for breath as image after image flooded his thoughts, making tears spring into his eyes. "She's... the Queen is in my head! I can't... I can't stop her!" The senior officers stared at him in shock, seeing him lose his mental control, shaking with the effort just to keep from crumbling over his own weight. Whatever this battle and the Queen was doing to him, was torturing him profoundly.
"Don't let that bitch get to you, Icheb," Tom Paris yelled through his ruined throat, trying to get through to his suffering friend and Captain. "You're stronger than she thinks you are!"
Icheb twisted forward in agony, his head still clutched in his hands as the Queen relentlessly sent him disturbing images. "I... I don't know if I can..." he repeated, his tearful eyes shutting tight again, trying desperately to stop from crying in pain, in horror, in anguish. Icheb knew in the back of his head somewhere that the Queen was mentally raping him in an effort to break apart the fleet.
The Queen hissed in his ear. "I will assimilate everyone you hold dear, one by one. Starting with... this one..."
Icheb then had a flash of Naomi being savagely tortured endlessly, brutally, seemingly without order, just for the pleasure of hearing her scream. He then saw himself as her tormenter, doing abominable things to her, rending her to pieces and enjoying it. Icheb howled in agony at the sight, but still they persisted. He saw her assimilated by him, and made to do the same to all of their friends. He recoiled violently. "No!" Icheb screamed, not aware he was being watched with intense worry by his friends and his subordinates.
"Icheb!" Kathryn yelled, trying to reach him. She tried to place her hand on his arm, try to soothe him, but he jerked away from her. Icheb lurched forward, falling to his knees as the Queen sent him ceaseless images of grisly, bloody torture, going past assimilation and simply using psychological torment to compromise his sanity. Sounds of screams, Naomi's screams, mixing in with Borg chatter, filling his abused mind.
Still the fleet persisted. Still they remained orderly, carrying out their last commands and fighting hard. It didn't seem like it was working as planned. The Queen knew that at this point, she would lose with or without their fleet commander to guide them. She had run out of options. "Very well... you want your end to come poetically? I can do that for you," she whispered in an almost gentle way.
"Sir! They're... the cubes..." Harry blinked at what he was registering on his sensor sweep. "I think she's sacrificing her cubes."
"On screen," Kathryn ordered for their still incapacitated Captain. They watched as many of the armored tactical cubes began flying toward clusters of their ships at ramming speed. Most of the cubes had very dense armor, so might survive the collisions... but their ships?
"You will fail, my damaged little drone... you will lose everything you worked so hard for and your whole universe will fall into my hands."
Icheb saw Brunali Prime being systematically assimilated, followed by every allied world they had come across, until she made it to sector 001 and began assimilating Federation planets. The last images he got were of Ktaris and Earth. Every compulsion in his body screamed for him to react. He could hear Naomi screaming for him, screaming for his help and it spurred a deeply seeded hatred for the collective that surge through him.
The Queen's attempts had backfired.
Unable to take it anymore, Icheb shot to his feet, almost knocking Kathryn Janeway over, his reddened eyes twitching from the excessive effort to keep his mind focused. From the corner of his eye, past the muggy cluttered ache of his failing mental capacity, he saw a sphere some distance away, hidden behind the cubes. She was there! How long had she been amongst them?! "...Hansen to all ships. Concentrate fire on the Queen's sphere!" he ordered the fleet abruptly and told them where exactly she was.
The Queen had called him chaos bringer... well then, he would live up to his name! In the vestigial part of his mind, that wasn't completely rendered inept by the Queen's influence, his knowledge over the complexities of the collective spurred to life. He understood that without the Queen, without the one giving them their orders, bringing order in general to the chaos that was their hive, they would fall into confusion and disorientation. "Destroy the sphere! Destroy her! The Borg will fall into disorder without her, so break her order!" he commanded viciously through clenched teeth.
The forces had managed to destroy another three cubes so they only had to look out for the remaining four. Eight of the most fit for battle ships remained behind some to redirect the fire from the cubes, holding them off so the rest of the fleet could charge the Queen. The Queen realized she had been spotted then and ordered her cubes to regroup and defend her. The cubes ignored the weapons fire from the eight ships and barreled past them. Tom crawled over to Flores and the Ensign immediately relinquished her station, letting the Commander take over. Voyager charged in, swooping over many of the other ships.
"Lieutenant, get the chief to give us more shields," Tom ordered.
"Aye," the Lieutenant agreed and spoke to the chief Engineer, hoping he could appeal to the half Klingon's rational side.
The other eight ships regrouped and followed the cubes, rushing over to block their paths. The Enterprise shot continued turret fire, their energy reserves quickly depleting and the tension from the excessive use burning out relays. Still they fought on, grasping at whatever they could to defend their comrades. Most of the ships were using life-support to power their weapons and shields now, desperate to bring hell down on the Queen. The Queen viciously tore apart a nearby drone, angered by her quickly approaching defeat. Giving word, she forced the tactical cubes to turn and attempt to ram into the remaining fleet.
The Queen's attention slipped from Icheb's mind then, allowing him a breath of fresh air. He quickly shot to focus then on scrutinizing the battle. "All ships. Avoid the cubes but concentrate fire on that sphere!" Icheb snarled, his hand shooting to brace himself on the back of his chair as the ship brutally rocked again. The fleet swarmed in, using everything they had. Icheb heard her scream in rage in his head but was too distracted by the glorious sight of the sphere detonating into a brilliant green spectacle to bother registering it. "Finish off the cubes while they are distracted!" Icheb ordered.
Without their Queen to lead them, the remaining cubes seemed to pause for a moment, unsure of what to do without orders, disorientated just as Icheb had predicted. The fleet poured into the cubes, firing their strongest weapons. It must have taken two hours, but the cubes were finally destroyed. They had done it! The Queen was once again removed and the remaining cubes dispatched! Voyager quickly scanned the wormhole, but found no further trace of Borg. Icheb felt darkness surround him then, the last thing he felt was his body slumping into his seat, and the last thing he heard was the worried voices of his friends.
TBC...
End A/N: I'm aware that in the last episode of Voyager, they had destroyed several cubes with just a few transphasic torpedoes, but I thought that was unrealistic and boring lol. I hope no one minded the increased difficulty fighting them here! Chapter influenced by the atmospheric music "Time" by Hans Zimmer from the Inception soundtrack.
Be warned, I don't have my other chapters finished like I had so far, one or two in reserve, "real life" kept me away from writing, so it might be a few days before I update! Possibly early next week, Monday or Tuesday. Who knows, maybe much sooner! Your input on the story so far will keep me encouraged :)
Shout Out
The Cheshire Cheese: One of the main things I tried to bring across was the fear associated with the Borg and how Icheb isn't immune to it. I hope I did that well! Of course I would have DS9 references! The Queen is a bitch lol.