Chapter 27: Technical Difficulties
"Warning:
Warp core microfracture. Breach imminent."
"What's
the pressure of the warp coils?"
Jameston
paced around the bright blue warp coil containment field.
"I'm
reading 19602 kilopascals" Ming replied.
"Lock
down the magnetic restrictors!"
"But
if we lock them down now, the warp core may not restart!"
"Warning:
Warp core microfracture. Breach imminent," the computer repeated.
"Look,
if we don't, this ship will turn into the biggest fireworks
display the DQ have ever seen, and I'm sure the Borg would love
that! We can get back on impulse, it will only take… longer."
3000
years longer, thought Ming, but did what she was told anyway.
The
bluish material streamed from the coils into a container.
"Constrictors
online."
Pleakly,
who had woken up, was performing scans on all major systems.
"All
weaponry, propulsion and shield systems have been disabled."
Jumba
resisted the urge to knock Pleakly out.
"I
am already knowing that, tell me what I do not know!"
"Power
has reinitialised, though for some reason the lights haven't turned
back on…"
He
typed furiously at the keyboard. Jumba gave him a rather amused look,
as if to say 'Look at him, pretending to know what he's doing…
just like three year old toddler, no?'
"Ah,
here's the problem… broken power coupling, deck two, corridor
five."
Jumba's
jaw dropped about three meters.
"Er…
well… yes… 626, you go fix it."
626
gave him a rather annoyed look, as if to say 'Naga tobata nala
queesta!'
Steam
filled the engineering room of NCC-82535, accompanied by a loud
hissing sound.
Abruptly,
the hissing stopped.
"The
microfracture has been sealed," shouted Ming through the haze.
"OK,
move away so I can reapply the field," replied Jameston.
Ming
climbed down the console onto the ground. By now almost all of the
mist had dissolved.
"OK…
field activated… I'll just unlock the constrictors…"
Jameston
typed. The computer beeped. Woo-hoo.
"Done!"
The
blue stuff poured into the warp coils.
"Pressure?"
"Pressure
holding at 25032 kilopascals."
Just
then, Jameston's comm. badge beeped.
"Bridge
to Engineering… how can I help?"
"Malo!"
"Lilo
Pelikai."
Lilo
opened her eyes.
"You're
awake. Good."
Lilo
looked around. She was in a kind of rather wide corridor, with
another branching off. Lilo could only see three walls – one beside
here and one at either end of the corridor. Where there should be one
more, there was nothing but wide expanse – looking down would
reveal the next level some eight meters down.
Lilo
squinted… she could only just make out a giant barrier about
three miles away.
A
console was fixated in the wall beside her, displaying a picture of
what looked like a completely grey Rubix cube. She realised that this
was the ship, as it displayed the condition of vital systems
alongside.
She
noticed she was lying on a steel platform, or perhaps a bed. She tried to move.
She couldn't.
She
focused on the woman beside her. Lilo presumed she was a Borg drone,
though she had a gut feeling that this was not the case. The 'drone'
almost looked human, a human wearing what bore an extreme resemblance
to those suit thingys SWAT teams wore, sans helmet. Her
head appeared lime in colour, though that was probably due to the
green light flooding the area. She had… pipes? threading through
her head, as though a replacement for hair. There was something about
her that, to Lilo, made her look a lot like Susanna Thomason.
Lilo
thought she saw a tuft of fiery-red hair, but quickly shook off the
notion.
"Who
are you? How do you know my name?"
The
woman smiled a truly evil smile.
"Simple.
I am the Borg. The Borg is all."
Lilo
showed signs of puzzlement.
"You're wondering how I, one being, can be the Borg?"
"I know... you're the queen!"
"My, what a smart
girl, no doubt you were thinking of an ant or bee colony."
She smirked again.
"I am your worst nightmare."
She walked up to the bed upon which Lilo was lying on.
"I
am the beginning, the end, the one who is many."
The
Borg Queen gazed directly into Lilo's eyes.
"I
am the Borg. And soon, you will be too."